Tillerson Ready For North Korea Talks...But Is Trump?
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told an audience this week that the US was ready to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions. But the White House has denied that the Administration's position has changed. Is Tillerson free-lancing it? Or is something else going on?
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told an audience this week that the US was ready to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions. But the White House has denied that the Administration's position has changed. Is Tillerson free-lancing it? Or is something else going on?
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told an audience this week that the US was ready to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions. But the White House has denied that the Administration's position has changed. Is Tillerson free-lancing it? Or is something else going on?
Hello, everybody, and thank you for tuning in to the Liberty Report.
With me today is Daniel McAdams, our co-host, Daniel.
Great to see you.
Good morning, Dr. Paul.
Very good.
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Very good.
Daniel, I would like to talk a little bit about North Korea.
We visited North Korea problems over the years now.
It's been going on, seeing that it's only been about 50 or 60 years that we have been messing up the affairs of the Korean Peninsula.
And of course, we have complained a whole lot about Trump's position because it seems like he has, since in office and even before, have become much more aggressive and looking for a conflict.
And in many ways, the Secretary of State has gone along with him.
But we noticed something yesterday.
There was an announcement of sorts, and we could look at this as maybe something very important and very worthwhile.
It came from Tillerson.
And he said that he is ready for talks with North Korea with no preconditions.
Sounds like something we would ask them to do.
And so he says we need to talk about diplomacy.
But what I'd like to visit with today is why now, and is it authentic?
And what do you think the president's going to say about this?
Has he turned it over to Tillerson like he turns the military operations over to the generals?
Is this going to happen?
But I think we can endorse this whole principle, but we have to keep our fingers crossed because there are a lot of questions.
And first thing, I don't know whether they're doing this from a position of strength or weakness.
We have heard that the sanctions aren't doing a bit of good.
And maybe North Korea has a capability of dropping a nuclear bomb on us, which I doubt, but maybe he's dealing from that position.
So he's stronger.
The sanctions aren't working.
And they're in a position that maybe we can get to the table.
And maybe this is indicating that the United States is operating from a weakened position.
That this shows that we're losing credibility and we have to go along.
I don't think you and I know the final answer on that, but I'd like to talk about that and why you think this has come up at this particular time.
Yeah, it's interesting.
Secretary Tillerson was addressing the Atlantic Council, which is a group that gets a lot of money from the defense industry.
A lot of neocons are getting a lot of big paychecks at the Atlantic Council.
So they must have probably gasped when he said this.
I haven't watched the tape.
But what he said that was significant is that it's, quote, not realistic for the U.S. to demand that North Korea give up its entire nuclear weapons program before we sit down to talk.
That's significant.
Also significant is that later that day, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the spokeswoman for the White House, was asked about this, and she said, well, the President's position hasn't changed on North Korea.
So there is this ambiguity in the foreign policy.
Well, and that's why this is not easy to figure out.
You said that the Atlantic Council, they must have gasped, but maybe not.
What if the situation is that we want to look like come to the Solution to this with them at the more high ground, you know, and we are the ones.
Yes, we're backing off, no more threats, and what we want to do is diplomacy, then find an excuse for them not coming to the table.
Then, all of a sudden, that could be turned around if that's their strategy.
I sort of doubt that it is, but if it is, it turns out that way, that means that we can expect a stronger position.
Say, look, we've done everything in the world we can.
It's just North Koreans, that crazy guy that runs North Korea wants to defend his country as he sees it.
And maybe things could actually snowball and get worse.
But nevertheless, this offer should be heralded as a good step.
And hopefully, there'll be enough pressure for Tillerson and Trump to pursue this.
But you raised the issue, the big question, where does Trump come down on this?
This is something that this isn't the first time we've asked that same question because we never know exactly what he'll say.
And we agree.
I mean, we admit that we're reading tea leaves here.
This is one theory, and I think it's a reasonable one.
Is this a pretext?
You know, we're going to get together, no preconditions.
Come on, let's meet, and then do something that makes it not happen.
And I would, something to bolster that theory would be what Tillerson also said.
I will continue our diplomatic efforts until the first bomb drops.
Which, that's a very ambiguous statement.
What does he mean by that?
It sounds scary.
It might go into that theory as well.
But there are a few other theories.
Well, it invites the question of a false flag.
The first bomb, well, the bomb dropped, and a thousand South Koreans were killed, and it was a false flag.
Should World War III start?
You know, that's the big question.
But, you know, if they're sincere, if Trump is going along with this and wants to move it along, the most important thing that they could do now is just cancel all these military exercises, these war games that they do on the borders of North Korea.
Just provoking and aggravating.
And then they say, I wonder why North Korea wants to have a weapon.
They have a bad system, and they want to defend it, right or wrong, but that's what they want to do.
And why provoke them?
They'll self-destruct.
We just leave them alone.
It'll happen just like the Soviets.
We did not have to fight the Soviets because it would have been ridiculous.
We don't have to fight the North Koreans.
We just leave them alone.
Even the sanctions, they don't work, so why worry about them?
That just undermines the diplomacy.
So sincerity would be canceling the military exercises and canceling the sanctions.
They're not working anyway, and we can't enforce them because China and a lot of, if there's 49 countries that are violating it, Japan must be doing it.
So how are we going to enforce that?
That's how silly the whole thing is.
But those are the kind of things, if they're serious, those are the two things I'd suggest they do.
I think if you wanted a real change of system in North Korea, you would encourage North Korea and China to have more and more trade because they probably would learn from the Chinese and transition toward a more free market system.
But, you know, they mentioned a period of quiet before the talks.
You know, I think Tillerson said this.
There needs to be a period of quiet before we can sit down, a period of quiet without nuclear and missile tests on the part of North Koreans.
That sounds reasonable, but the U.S. would have to put something on the table too.
And that's what you said.
This is the idea of freeze for freeze, where both sides freeze.
And why don't you just set it up where you have a six-month period, six-month freeze-per-freeze to cool down the tensions, and then in June, let's have a talk somewhere.
Seems simple.
And I have another suggestion that should come along if they're serious.
You know, that is when there are efforts made by some families in South Korea who would like to visit North Korea, and there's an open policy where North Korea is saying, yes, we're willing to, but we get involved and we tell the South Koreans don't do it.
And we roadblock that because, you know, we're on the line, we're defending your country, and why go up there and you have to do what we tell you.
But they should at least permit that and let the two countries decide who's endangered.
You know, there's probably danger on both sides, but especially South Koreans going to North Korea.
I mean, they're not a libertarian society, so who knows what will happen.
But they probably can estimate the great danger better than anybody else.
There's probably some communication with families in the South and the families in the North.
So if they would just, you know, legalize a little bit of people diplomacy.
And I've always argued the wars all start by the governments, never by the people.
The people never get together.
And the people who have to fight the wars in South Korea, the teenagers that are drafted, and the teenagers in North Korea, they don't get together someday and say, well, it's just go and kill South Koreans.
Young people don't do that.
They get motivated with the propaganda as well as painting the enemy as monsters.
Then you can motivate people to do that.
But it's not initiated by the average person.
So I think the average person, especially young people, probably would be very open to more talking with the North and traveling back and forth, which I think would be a great benefit.
Different Motivations for Peace00:06:41
Well, you found that out with young Cubans.
You remember when you were on the campaign trail?
Young Cuban Americans were not in the old line.
They wanted more communication with Cuba.
You know, even Republicans.
I remember that clearly because one night when I brought up and stated this position I'm talking about, a little bit more openness and talking and trading.
Can you imagine somebody booing me?
That made me feel bad.
Right in Miami, they were booing me.
I thought, well, I guess it'll be a few more years before this is accepted.
But then the next day, I had a meeting with the young Cuban Americans, and it was completely different.
Completely different, completely different.
That gave me some hope again.
Well, so our first theory would be that this is kind of a trick.
The second theory, I would guess, would be that this is sort of a sign of discord.
You have Tillerson over here doing diplomacy, which he should do, but then you have Trump undermining him every step of the way.
It was only in October when he said that Tillerson is wasting his time trying to talk to them.
We know that Trump has called a lot of names to the North Korean leader.
So maybe there is discord.
Maybe this is another sign that Tillerson is on the way out.
Yes, I think this would be a big issue.
And if Tillerson leaves here shortly, then we'll know that as the answer.
But if he's acting on his own to try to take charge and take a position and sort of getting the upper hand over the president, that's a different story.
But the president still will come down on it.
But I don't think that'll be too long until we find that out.
It's not going to be a year or two from now.
I think, you know, by the beginning of the year or something, we're going to hear.
But a lot of times, these rumbles, these rumors we hear about somebody's on their way out, so often that comes true.
And what can we expect there?
Can we say, ah, finally, we got Mike Pompeo in.
And he will come to our conferences and he will listen to our programs and the world will be at peace.
I don't think that will happen if Mike Pompeo goes in.
He's already declared war on WikiLeaks and he's a hardliner.
But the other one that you suggested, the other theory you suggested, I think is also relevant that maybe we are in a position of weakness.
And that would also be suggested by the fact that an arrival today of a Russian Ministry of Defense delegation into Pyongyang to meet with North Korean leaders.
So you have, you know, President Putin just did his victory lap in Syria this week, and then you have a Russian delegation in North Korea.
The Russians seem to be doing pretty well at international diplomacy, while the U.S. sits rigid in the same old sanctions pressure, sanctions pressure.
So maybe the U.S. is feeling that its foreign policy is not working.
The Russians are running circles around us.
Maybe we should try something different.
I think there's a strong possibility of that because when you look at the weakened position that Trump has now after declaring Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, whether you're pro or anti, I mean, it hasn't brought a lot of support to the president.
And the president is vulnerable and they're out for him.
And even if they agree with him, they're still going to be using some of these issues against them.
So I think he is in a weakened position because I think also financially that we're in a weakened position too.
In spite of on the surface, it looks like we're still the kingpin and still our dollars is the reserve currency.
I think that's very vulnerable.
So I think he's working from a weaker position.
I think that was natural and was going to happen.
But I think his style is helping it along.
And if they're doing that from a weakened position, you know, if it's weakened and they're using this, say, well, we're not quite as strong.
We better be more cautious.
That's good.
You know, if Tillerson said that, if Trump will go along.
But the big issue is going to be the Trump reaction to this.
Yeah, it definitely will be interesting.
Well, I'm going to use my closing a little bit to once again thank the people that have come forth on Giving Tuesday and made a donation.
I would encourage everyone else to subscribe to our YouTube channel, but also if you can make a tax-deductible donation to the Ron Paul Institute, RonPaulInstitute.org, especially at the year end, Dr. Paul, a lot of people are looking for what to do with their money for the tax benefits.
So I want to thank everyone for that and look for your names at the end of the show.
Thank you.
And I want to thank our viewers very much for being with us today and talking about an issue.
A lot of times we get comments made that say, you guys don't talk about anything positive.
And I disagree with that.
Yeah, we point out a lot of things, but I don't think we ever fail to mention the very positive thing of what the answers are.
It's not complex, and maybe that's why it's missed.
It's just non-intervention, mind our own business, promote the cause of liberty, and you can solve so many of these problems.
So today we found this item.
I think it's very positive.
We're hoping that it really means something.
The Secretary of State says it's time without conditions to talk to North Korea.
That's a starting point.
And of course, we talked about the pros and cons on this.
Is it real and what's going to happen?
But we've started with a very good statement from an individual that holds a very important position in this country, and he needs support.
But the problem is that there's not going to be many members of Congress coming to his support because too many of them are neocon influence and they want to have a war.
And if you want to think about influence, you know, you have McCain.
Is he going to give us support for this position?
No.
Is McCain or Graham?
And what about Tom Cotton, who's moving up the ladder rather quickly?
No, he's not going.
And obviously Mike Pompeo and CIA, he's a big player too.
So there's a lot of people there vying for this who would disagree.
So there will be a major decision made probably within a month or so about exactly how this is going to play out.
And hopefully, we can help influence the decision and saying, look, this is opening the door crack.
Let's open the door much wider.
I want to thank all our viewers today for joining us.
And please come back soon to the Liberty Report.
Red Sun Rising00:00:59
Have you heard the prayers of soldiers who are weary from the fight?
Have you heard the voice of wisdom in a time of pure deceit?
Have you heard the path to freedom is the road you rise to meet?
Have you heard the bonds of slavery, our fortune with favor chains?
And the red sun that is rising sets on all of us the same.
Unless we stand together now, we all will surely fall.
And I heard the call in the words of Dougaball.
Have you ever seen a country bent and broken on its knees?
Or a line ten miles long of hungry homeless begging pleas?
Or a banking institution funding both sides of war?