Show Notes
On Today’s show (recorded Tuesday, April 18th, 2017) we talk about Derision at the 38th Parallel – referring, of course, to the current nuclear threat from North Korea. Special guest, David Sanger, National Security Correspondent for The New York Times, joins us today to try and make sense of it all. Today’s show is a bit of history mixed in with current events – to the 38th Parallel we go!
Background
Not yet 100 days in power, Trump finds himself amid world chaos. Maybe it started on the 13th of April when The United States dropped the “mother of all bombs” on an IS cave complex in Afghanistan. Almost immediately, reporters asked if this was a message to North Korea, to which Trump said:
“I don’t know if this sends a message, “It doesn’t make any difference if it does or not. North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of… I will say, I think China has really been working very hard. I have really gotten to like and respect, as you know, President Xi. He’s a terrific person. We spent a lot of time together in Florida. And he’s a very special man. So, we’ll see how it goes. I think he’s going to try very hard.”
–President Trump, April 13, 2017
Whether this bomb was intended as a message for North Korea or not, the message has been delivered directly by our own media. But I question the U.S.’ dependence on China to come to the diplomatic rescue in this case.
About Today’s Guest, David Sanger
National Security Correspondent, The New York Times
David Sanger is the National Security Correspondent for The New York Times. He’s a graduate of Harvard and has been writing for the New York Times for over 30 years, covering foreign policy, globalization, nuclear proliferation, and, of course, the presidency.
He has been a member of two teams that won the Pulitzer Prize and has been awarded numerous honors for national security and foreign policy coverage. David is the author of two books: Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power, and The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power.