Gen. John Hyten
Breaking Defense: North Korean Denuclearization Potentially Moving In ‘Positive Direction’: Gen. Hyten
"Things are moving (in) a positive direction," Gen. Hyten said of North Korean, while Russia's new 2-megaton underwater drone "does not change" the strategic balance.
OMAHA: Gen. John Hyten, the man who might wage nuclear war should North Korea strike, says the prospects for “the potential denuclearization” of North Korea are moving “in a positive direction” since the Singapore summit.
“From my perspective, the belief in a potential denuclearization of North Korea has changed,” Hyten told me at a press roundtable during Strategic Command’s annual deterrence conference. “The direction that things are moving is a positive direction. I don’t think anyone can deny that.”
That is a stark contrast to what we heard last year ago from Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, who said Kim Jong-un “does not intend to negotiate those (nuclear) capabilities away at any price.”
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WNU Editor: General Hyten is probably right, but the North Koreans are getting impatient .... North Korea urges US to drop sanctions as it accuses Washington of 'acting opposite' to Singapore pledges (The Telegraph). The North Koreans also want another summit .... North Korea hopeful for 2nd Trump-Kim Summit: source (CNN).
Update: Details on how Russia evaded North Korean sanctions are now leaking out .... Report: Russia Set Up Clandestine Network For N. Korea Oil Shipments (VOA).
1 comment:
Moving in a "positive direction," This is probably an accurate assessment. The Japanese certainly think so. They've lowered their alert level. The South Koreans certainly believe so as this process has an 80% or so approval rating last time I checked which was not long ago. Clearly it appears something happened here and the statement put forth by the pundits that nothing happened seems to be inaccurate based upon the reactions of those in the regions.
Admittedly when it comes to conflicting information and we lack real time data from the inside these things can be hard to determine. So whom do we trust? I would say in the following order, 1.)South Korea and Japan, as they are in the region, have excellent intelligence services, and their lives are more dependent upon accurate assessments of situations like this, 2.)South Korean and Japanese military sources for much the same reason as 1. 3.)Assessments by men like this US general as they lead people into combat and wrong decisions get people killed for which they tend to pay a heavy price, and 4.) US (un)intelligence services the media pundits and the politicians who parrot what they say. Essentially no one should ever rely on group 4 for anything as a primary source for anything. They may have utility as third or fourth level source to corroborate what first hand or second hand sources are telling us but that would be about it.
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