As speculation mounts that Kim Jong-un and Trump could meet this month, analysts say Pyongyang will continue to see nuclear weapons as a matter of survival

North Korea’s launch last week of a missile from a naval destroyer elicited an uncharacteristically prosaic analysis from the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un. The launch was proof, he said, that arming ships with nuclear weapons was “making satisfactory progress”.

But the test, and Kim’s mildly upbeat appraisal, were designed to reverberate well beyond the deck of the 5,000-tonne destroyer-class vessel the Choe Hyon – the biggest warship in the North Korean fleet.

His pointed reference to nuclear weapons was made as the US and Israel continued their air bombardment of Iran – a regime Donald Trump had warned, without offering evidence, was only weeks away from having a nuclear weapon.

  • TronBronson@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    With the administrations effort to collapse the value of the US dollar, I think we may be getting to the point where they stopped caring about the stock market gains too. Which would make them irrational actors. They already own most of the stock market anyway. They can crash the market and still control the companies.

    • 73ms@sopuli.xyz
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      10 hours ago

      Well as soon as oil prices surged and markets dipped, Trump switched from “war could go on forever” to “almost done”. I guess it remains to be seen if it is only a rhetoric switch but if that was the case it wouldn’t help for long. The less certain thing is whether Trump can even get the strait to reopen by withdrawing at this point.

      • TronBronson@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Ya I mean he’s making a lot of money moving markets with his tweets. That’s the side gig. But eventually manipulating markets, makes people get suspicious and step away. You don’t want people losing faith in your faith monetary system.

        I’m not sure if it’s shortsightedness and greed or an actual plan to collapse and consolidate but I don’t think he really cares about the health of the stock market. I think it’s just being useful to siphon money away right now.

        I mean, we just had the strangest situation with the oil prices and the European Union dumping its oil reserves. The whole world declared an emergency because the oil speculators managed to get the price up to 120 a barrel for 30 whole minutes. I don’t think anyone seriously cares about markets anymore.