Page 281 - Bluff News Today

Passivity of previous administrations and the way they have been handling north korea. i dont get the sense and we dont have reporting that these specific remarks were kind of a well thought out, you know, kind of thing that went through a national security process that ended up in those particular words. look, i think part of the issue here is, when you bluff, when youre playing poker and you bluff, one of the worst times to bluff is when your opponent is not a rational player and is not going ...

The state department, we should have a process. we had a wonderful process. well, it was a great fantastic process, wasnt it? because its ended up with north korea nuclear iced in 2017. like it was a terrible process. it didnt work. you know, and for 30 years the west has been paying off north korea, trying to buy its way through grain deals and direct aid and this and that and kick the can down the road and kick the can down the road. and now the bluff of the west has been called by kim jong-un...

And this goes back to a conversation we were having yesterday. i think there are some generals that regret that north korea doesnt believe the u.s. will ever use its military option, right. there has been -- the fact is they didnt do it in 99. they didnt do it -- no matter, three presidents chose not to do this. its hard to get that -- its hard to get your bluff taken seriously. >> it is. well, the ace here is that trump is such a loose cannon that they probably dont really know if in fact hell ...

Bedminster, talking to his voters in the heartland, or do you think he had any sense of talking to the capitals in beijing and tokyo? >> i think in this case the president is making a calculation and is thinking about this strategically. whether its wise, i think he is being strategic because he is conferring with top military and diplomatic advisers on this. theres been a process according to people ive talked to over the past months indicating there is a seriousness about this, to reach a dipl...

Part of the reason why the president is taking his vacation at this time. lawmakers weigh-in on the presidents warning to north korea with fire and fury a strong message, an empty threat. you heard former defense secretary cohen saying it was a bluff. well heard from members on capitol hill next. honey? can we do this tomorrow? (grunts of effort) can we do this tomorrow? if you have heart failure symptoms, your risk of hospitalization could increase, making tomorrow uncertain. but entresto is a ...

Important to distinguish between what is on paper and what we actually enforce, why senator toomey and i introduced bipartisan legislation to ratchet up the enforcement just like we did with the iran sanctions. the u.n. passed stiff sanctions on iran, but much of the world was look the other way. the united states needs to say to chinese banks and financial institutions and others, if youre serious about stopping north korea, you got to stop doing business with north korea. if you dont, you wont...

Obviously ask questions. what does this mean? is it ambiguous? is ambiguity a good things? there a couple of things here for me. dean atchison, one of our great secretary of states, henry kissinger wrote this in his memoirs. he said a bluff if taken seriously can be helpful, a serious threat that is taken as a bluff can be catastrophic. those words are really important to make sure that were not seen as bluffing. someone will call that bluff or were doing something seriously but its not taken se...

Diplomacy -- >> i inherited this mess. >> the sanctions didnt work. clinton, bush, obama. and they have to figure out how to put the military option back on the table. i get that. but boy, its a little bit rattling. >> a little bit? just the body language. if you look at the tape, his arms are folded. i mean, glenns right. theres a strategy, but the question is whether or not the rest of the world community really understands how this president operates. how he operates, you back him in a corner...

Consequences of 20 years of failed diplomacy. and what happened when a country calls the worlds bluff? are we staring at the product of that? joining me is msnbcs senior national security analyst. very active in the early parts in the bush administration. juan, is this the result -- is this north korea calling the worlds bluff? and then ive got to ask you about the presidents rhetorical response today. >> chuck, i think there are a couple of things at play. one, this is a regime trying to not on...

Option. >> so peter, to your point, abundantly clear that they have prepared, at least, a military option should the president choose to go in that direction. >> yeah, thats right, exactly. you cant make this bluff work if it is a bluff unless you are prepared to take, you know, take action. now the question is what would trigger that action? weve already seen several red lines crossed in the six months of this administration. the test, seemingly successful, intercontinental ballistic missile, n...