North Korea proves impervious to the VSG's attempts at patty-cake

 Kim - who, by the way, proved once again that speculation stemming from his occasional absences from the spotlight that he might have been incapacitated or died is off the mark - may write beautiful letters to buffoons in order to stroke their egos and buy time, but made unequivocally clear that the real agenda has nothing to do with summits, letters and other place-holding gestures, but rather this kind of thing:

North Korea unveiled what analysts believe to be one of the world's largest ballistic missiles at a military parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Workers' Party broadcast on state-run television on Saturday.

The massive weapon was carried by an 11-axle truck at the climax of the almost two-hour ceremony and military parade in the capital of Pyongyang.

Analysts said the new missile is not known to have been tested, but a bigger weapon would allow North Korea to put multiple warheads on it, increasing the threat it would pose to any targeted foe.

"Largest *road-mobile* liquid-fueled missile anywhere, to be clear," tweeted Ankit Panda, senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"Liquid fuel, Huuuuge, capable of carrying MIRV nuclear warheads," tweeted Melissa Hanham, deputy director of Open Nuclear Network at Stanford University.

"What North Korea has shown us, what appears to be a new liquid-fueled ICBM that seems to be a derivative of what was tested back in late 2017, known as the Hwasong-15, is much bigger and clearly more powerful than anything in the DPRK's arsenal," said Harry Kazianis, senior director of Korean studies at the Washington DC-based Center for the National Interest.

North Korea can now hit North America with multiple warheads in one strike.

And the Supreme Leader was one proud tyrant:

Speaking before the tanks and missiles rolled by, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touted his country's military and said it was there to defend the people.

"We will continue to strengthen war deterrence as a means of self-defense," Kim said. 

"Our war deterrence will never be abused or used preemptively, which will contribute to protecting the sovereignty and survival of the country and pursuing regional peace," he said.

"However, if anyone hurts the national safety or threaten to use military force against us, I will preemptively mobilize all of our strongest offensive forces to punish them," Kim said.

And it appears that the hermit kingdom understands that its stooge in the White House may be an ephemeral partner in patty cake. No matter; summits and letters were merely the tactic that worked best over the last four years. NK was willing to bide its time during the Agreed Framework, the Six-Way Talks and the era of strategic patience. None of it has any effect on the long-term pursuit of the Kim dynasty's aims. 

The summit collapse - initial thoughts

Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute saw this coming a few days ago.

Kim sees his nuclear program as essential to his ability to have influence on the world stage. And, like his summit counterpart, the Very Stable Genius, he doesn't take Kindly to gestures of disrespect, which is how he views sanctions.

So he basically said to the VSG, when the terms - get rid of your program, and then we lift sanction - became clear, "You have that backwards, pal."

Donald Trump's talks with Kim Jong-un ended abruptly on Thursday as the president said he was forced to walk away after the North Korean dictator demanded that all sanctions be lifted in return for giving up only some of his nukes.

Trump said the final snag that caused the sudden breakdown was over sanctions – and Kim's push to have all of them lifted in exchange for a concession Trump and his secretary of state could not live with.  

But right now I have a question for the shills and throne-sniffers, who got all gooey in the britches over the prospect of a new era of unicorns and rainbows (including most definitely Sean Hannity, who was dripping his bodily fluids all over the scenic parks of Hanoi): Can we finally jettison the talk of 5-D chess?

Conservatives with their heads on straight have always understood that obsequious appeasement of rogue-state dictators always ups the danger level. It's why we had a Cold War with the Soviet Union. It's why it was widely understood that the JCPOA was a disaster. (And take a moment to note that the current president - he of this collapsed summit - had the good sense and courage to get out of that deal. Exhibit A in the case for his complete lack of a set of guiding foreign-policy principles, and lack of consistency more generally.)

If you want to just consider his inconsistency within the parameters of North Korea policy, consider that he has surrounded himself with advisors who well understand the principle state above, about dealing with rogue-state dictators, and has then proceeded to exhibit behavior we've always found disgusting and alarming in leftist peaceniks, and, until the advent of the VSG phenomenon, would never have tolerated in a Republican president. (The closest we came to doing so was Bush 43 and the utterly useless Six-Way Talks, but I know I personally was not on board with that program.)

I mean, "beautiful letter," "talented leader loved by his people," "warm relationship" - this is VSG-style winging it in the most flamboyant manner.

And now it appears we may be back to the basic situation we've been dealing with for decades.

Brad Thor's tweet sums up the essence of the problem succinctly:

Doesn't read his briefing reports, doesn't listen to experts, and thinks his "gut" is better-tuned than everyone else's"brains." What a narcissistic amateur.

The shills argue that the VSG has always been a doer, not a reader, and that that's what makes him such a refreshing figure on the scene, able to take unorthodox approaches and get surprising results.

Except, at least in this case, the result was not surprising at all.

He's talented and he loves his people

The Very Stable Genius's partner in patty-cake has a unique way of boosting morale in his armed forces:

KIM Jong-un had a top army officer riddled with 90 bullets for giving his troops extra rations of food and fuel.

The high-ranking official was publicly executed by nine military death-row convicts who made up the firing squad.

Lieutenant General Hyon Ju-song was put to death after being found guilty of charges of abusing authority, profiting the enemy and engaging in anti-Party acts.

He was shot at the firing range of the Kang Kon Military Academy located in the Sunan District of the capital Pyongyang.

Online newspaper NK Daily said his “crime” had been to redistribute extra supplies to his men at a satellite launching station in April.

The high-ranking officer told soldiers to send out the food and fuel as they were no longer tightening their belts to pursue Kim’s weapons programme. 

While checking oil supplies for the Sohae Satellite Launching Station on April 10, Hyon reportedly said: “We no longer have to suffer and tighten our belts to make rockets or nuclear weapons.”

He told troops to send out a ton of fuel, 1300lb of rice and 1600lb of corn to soldiers at the Launching Station and their families.

But Kim took a dim view of his actions, viewing them as treason and ordering his death.

A source in Pyongyang revealed the irate dictator blasted the “corruption in the People’s Army” and demanded the “ ideological poisoning” be “nipped in the bud”. 

Inventory control with a bang.