You can also ask the huge booming middle class there what kind of place it is. There are poor people in every country. Making 25 cents a day isn't an example of a communist economy. In some examples like minimum wage, worker's rights, and environmental regulation the Chinese have a more a laissez faire model than the United States. What they have is an authoritarian government that doesn't allow dissident but sees the huge benefits of capitalism flowing into the country, even at the expense of workers, the environment, and human rights.
The "communist" government has the ability to run everything because they have absolute power but they definitely follow more of an Adam Smith model on economy than Mao or Karl Marx in the last few decades.
"All roads lead to Putin" -- Thomas Jefferson
I think it looks like the administration has made very important progress with NK as a result of all this. The Chinese have clarified their 1961 treaty, and now KJU knows that big brother won't lift a finger to stop us from wiping out NK if they attack first. Now, we should define to the Chinese and NK where that line is. If they target Guam and put a missle within X mile radius, we interpret that as an attack. We could even say "in the direction of." Point is that now, we can define what that action is to the Chinese.
The Chinese Communists make their own rules and really don't care what arbitrary definitions the US Government may make. What the Chinese Communist mean is if North Korea attacks USA or its Allies with nuclear or convention munitions then it on its own. Launching a missile into International waters isn't an attack on the US.
"All roads lead to Putin" -- Thomas Jefferson
RhythmDawg's point is we need to clarify that with the Chicoms. He wasn't advocating that we render an arbitrary definition of "an attack" then expect the Chicoms to agree...after the fact. Get an up front agreement prior to any NK military actions. Make sure the Chicoms agree with that definition. Seems reasonable to me.
North Korea is all talk when it comes to their threats. They are not going to attack the United States or its Allies unless we attack first. All Trump is going is escalating the tension between the 2 countries without producing any results. The danger is that either country will start to make emotional decisions based on fear or irrational thinking. There is NO GOOD OUTCOME FOR ANYBODY if there is a war between N Korea and the US.
"All roads lead to Putin" -- Thomas Jefferson
How will you explain being so wrong so many times in one thread? You have broken records here. Will you now take up the CNN mantra that he backed down because Trump stopped the statements of what would happen if...?
I have no idea what CNN's mantra but I bet you could parrot FoxNews's from your memory.
I will admit tensions appear to have de-escalated since my previous posts. Whether it was from Trump's rhetoric or back-channel diplomacy, I couldn't know. Tensions are still elevated relative to when he took office, but ultimately he will get blame or credit as to how the situation with North Korea goes.
You guys seem to give him a pass on everything - kind of a rehash of what we lived through with Obama blaming W for everything.