White House contradicts Tillerson and says not right time for North Korea talks

[Equinox Moon]

Source: Guardian

Spokesman says ‘clearly right now is not the time’ for talks, going against what Tillerson had said and underlining chaotic nature of Trump’s foreign policy.

The White House has ruled out a dialogue with North Korea until it “fundamentally improves its behaviour”, once again contradicting the secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who said on Tuesday the US was ready to begin direct talks without preconditions.

A statement given to Reuters by the National Security Council spokesman, saying “clearly right now is not the time” for talks, following North Korea’s test launch of a intercontinental ballistic missile last month.

The statement seemed to close the door on a diplomatic window only hours after it had been opened by the administration’s top diplomat.

The mixed messages underlined the chaotic nature of Trump administration foreign policy, and raised new questions over how long Tillerson can stay in the administration that has persistently undercut him.



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/13/white-house-north-korea-tillerson-mixed-messages

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Toxic administration

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. He will start a war the day Mueller files charges, which is why they are taking this

stance here.

The absolute LAST thing bannon, trump and putin want is peace with NK.

NK will be used to manipulate the investigation and everything else.

[rpannier]

6. The difference between trump and bannon is

I don't think bannon wants war with NK
I think he wants NK nukyoulur armed (to us the bushism) to keep people frightened and keep chaos flowing
the problem with bannon's world view is that it's a hundred people standing around a giant gas leak, each person flicking a different lighter. One day it will explode and he (bannon) doesn't care
il douche is just f-ing stupid and is one of the people with a lighter rather than the guy releasing the gas

[maryellen99]

12. Or they are waiting until after the Olympics nt

[riversedge]

2. good god!! The chaotic WH will kill us all some day!

[NastyRiffraff]

3. Tillerson is a dead man walking

Nobody can believe anything he says will become policy.

[disalitervisum]

4. A trump attack on North Korea will probably take the form of sinking one of their submarines.

[snort]

5. It's the right time for a distractive nuclear war.

[C Moon]

7. Putin must have heard.

[Equinox Moon]

8. Good one! Moon!

[drray23]

9. I wonder why Tillerson does just say the hell with it, Im out.

he does not need that job. He has hundreds of millions, he could just be retired enjoying his money.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

10. How many times does this make that Trump has cut his SOS off at the knees?

Like W., Trump probably thinks being a "war time president" will raise his stature, not realizing that making a preemptive strike on North Korea or any other country will make him a war criminal.

[displacedtexan]

11. Is Tillerson trying to stop a war?

I still hate him with a purple passion, but if he's telling the world we're ready to talk, I can't help but hope he's signaling to the intelligence agencies that Dumbass Donald is on the verge of pushing the button.

[Blackjackdavey]

13. Truly nuts

To me this is the first truly nuts thing Trump has done. By that I mean, all of the other stuff I would expect from scum like him. In this case, he was walking away from an obvious, slam dunk opportunity to have an actual accomplishment he would get away with taking full credit for. These people are really bad at their jobs.