Wall Street Journal (May 8)
“The new hard line taken by China in trade talks—surprising the White House and threatening to derail negotiations—came after Beijing interpreted recent statements and actions by President Trump as a sign the U.S. was ready to make concessions.” A resolution to the vexing trade dispute may no longer be near at hand. “A week ago, the assumption was that negotiators would be closing the deal. Now, they are trying to keep it from collapsing.”
Tags: China, Collapsing, Concessions, Derail, Hard line, Negotiations, Trade talks, Trump, U.S., White House
USA Today (March 18)
“It would be foolish to think that Putin — basking in record popularity and surrounded by hard-line advisers — will do anything other than press the objective he has pursued for years: restoring the historic subjugation of Ukraine to Russia’s will.” The U.S. and “Europe, which has deeper trade ties to Russia” must not mislead themselves. They “must make clear how high the price of further aggression will be.”
Tags: Advisers, Aggression, Europe, Hard line, Objective, Popularity, Price, Putin, Russia, Trade, U.S., Ukraine
Wall Street Journal (April 15)
North Korea’s new leader Kim Jong Eun addressed the public for the first time in a speech lasting 20 minutes. “The speech stuck close to the hard-line orthodoxy of the Kim family regime, which has controlled North Korea since its founding in 1948, that is built around extreme race-based nationalism, Confucian hierarchy and a nominal embrace of socialism.” Military might remains top priority.
Tags: Hard line, Kim Jong Eun, Military, North Korea
