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April 26th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : U.S. President Donald Trump summoned the entire U.S. Senate to the White House on Wednesday where members of the Senate will be briefed by senior administration officials on the looming crisis between the U.S. and North Korea.
(archives)
The meeting was scheduled within the context of the Trump administration’s declared “end of strategic patience” with Pyongyang and North Korea’s missile and nuclear program. After a meeting with UN ambassadors from a number of countries on Monday, Trump said “The status quo in North Korea is unacceptable and the council must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions on North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs. … North Korea is a big world problem, and it’s a problem we have to finally solve.”
On Friday U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is set to chair a UN Security Council meeting of foreign ministers on the issue in New York City. It is expected that the United States (and others) will reiterate calls for the full implementation of existing UN sanctions against the Democratic people’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) a.k.a. North Korea or new measures in the event of further nuclear or missile tests.
It should be noted that sanctions against the DPRK adopted by the UN Security Council (UNSC) are not necessarily legally binding or legal just because they were adopted with the concurrent vote of all five permanent UNSC members. The DPRK is not violating any treaty or body of international law by developing a nuclear program, a nuclear weapons program, or missile programs for military or civilian purposes.
However, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner commented on the planned foreign ministers session at the UNSC saying “This meeting will give the security council the opportunity to discuss ways to maximize the impact of existing security council measures and to show their resolve to response further provocations with appropriate new measures.”
On Wednesday Senators at the White House are to be briefed by Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. It is very rarely that such briefing sessions for the entire Senate take place in the White House which does not have large secure facilities for such classified sessions as Congress. The briefing will reportedly be held at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Michael Anton, a spokesman for the national security council, stressed that the meeting is still a “Senate meeting”, not a White House meeting” even if it is helt in the White House.
Several Senate aides questioned the utility of the meeting. Comments were made to the effect that the “extraordinary circumstances” of the session may have more to do with Trump wanting to boost his image as “assertive president” as he approaches 100 days in office than with “a crisis meeting in preparation of a war” against North Korea. However, such a diplomatic “gamble” could reflect what some psychologists and political analysts would want to call “reckless risk taking behavior”.
The DPRK repeatedly stressed that it is developing its nuclear weapons program because the United States reserved for itself the right to launch a nuclear first strike, admitted that it prepares scenarios to launch so-called “preemptive decapitation strikes” – or as DPRK hed of state Kim Jong-un put it “brandishes its nuclear stick like a cowboy”. Pyongyang has also, although in its traditional bombastic rhetorical style warned that it is prepared to counteract any act of aggression.
The US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and its battlegroup are due to arrive off the Korean peninsula after exercises with the Japanese navy. An Ohio-class guided missile submarine, the USS Michigan, docked at the South Korean naval base of Busan on Tuesday, the US navy reported, in what was described as “a routine visit”. The battle group will be joined by Japanese naval forces, an unprecedented event.
China’s President Xi Jinping reportedly held a telephone conversation with Trump in which he called for “calm”. China’s Foreign Ministry stated that Beijing “hopes all parties involved will exercise restraint and avoid doing anything to exacerbate the tense situation on the peninsula”.
CH/L – nsnbc 25.04.2017
Recommended cross section from nsnbc international’s background articles:
North Korea blasts South and USA over Preparation for Special Operation to Decapitate DPRK Leadership
North Korean Missile Launch Prompts Criticism – Especially from Powers Armed to the Teeth with Nukes
Hypocritical Security Council Blasts North Korea for Nuke Test
Why Would Pyongyang Denounce US – South Korean Military Drills as Outrageous Provocation?
How Russian Policy Experts Try To Justify Illegal Sanctions Against North Korea
Legal North Korean Satellite Launch Draws Superpower’s Condemnation
North Korea may be Next US Target for “Revolution” by Special Forces
Korea Crisis and Sanctions Designed to Sabotage Transformation of DPRK Economy in 2013
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/04/25/trump-summons-entire-senate-to-briefing-on-north-korea-at-the-white-house/
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