Upcoming General Assembly. We have a great Current Events panel. Then, the aftermath of hurricanes irma and harvey. The destruction was widespread, the power and flood levels almost unprecedented. But the white house doesnt want to talk about the role of Climate Change. Is that a mistake . I will talk to two brilliant scientists, climate expert cathl Catherine Hayhoe and Neil Degrasse tyson. I worry we might not be able to recover. Finally, a happy story about a refugee. Really. Aya, whose story was featured on humans of new york and gps has found a new home and i will tell you about it im sometimes asked what world figure i would most want to interview. For me, the answer is obvious kim jongun. The general impression around the world continues to be that the north Korean Leader is crazy, provocative, and unpredictable. But i wonder, he might well be strategic, smart, and utterly rational. Since im unlikely to get that interview, ive decided to imagine it instead. I would first ask, mr. Kim, why do you built weapons even when they result in massive crippling economic sanctions for your country. I imagine he might answer like this my nation faces a fundamental challenge, survival. The regime and i personally are more threatened than i and ever before. My fore fathers had it easy. My great grandfather ruled with the worlds other superpower, the is. As well as china. My father, dear leader, as we called him, still had beijings help for the most part. But today the sole superpower, the United States, made it clear they seek regime change. Yet we have survived with our ideology and system intact. How . Because we have built a protection for ourselves in the form of Nuclear Weapons. So i might follow up with kim, but china still provides you what crucial supplies of food and fuel. Dont you see them as an ally . What would he say . Well, maybe he would say china is ruthlessly pragmatic. It sports us for its own selfish interest. It doesnt want millions of refugees or a unified korea on its border one that would be a larger version of what south korea is now with american troops and a Treaty Alliance with washington. But i believe china no longer considers us an ally. After all, it voted to sanction us in the United NationsSecurity Council time and again. Xi jinping cultivates close relations with south korea. At the grand celebrations in beijing two years ago commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of world war ii he placed the president of russia and the president of south korea at his side. In north korea, as you know, we pay a lot of attention to ceremonies and what they signal. And then i would wonder, so will you come to the negotiating table . Will you agree to denuclearization in return for the lifting of sanctions . Kims answer in my imagination, would go like this. Yes and no. Yes, we will come to the table but we will never give up our arsenal. Were not stupid. Its all thats keeping us alive. Look at saddam hussein. We never forget north korea was named as part of the axis of evil one year before the United States invaded iraq. Look what happened to qaddafi in libya after he agreed to give up his Nuclear Weapons program. Look whats happening to iran right now after washington signed a deal and the iranians have been certified to be adhering to it President Trump now says, well, he might tear it up anyway. Do you think we would be stupid enough to believe american promises after all this . We are now a nuclear power, that is nonnegotiable. But were willing to talk about limits, test bans, freezes. We would need to be given something in return, not just money, we need security in the form of diplomatic recognition by washington and guarantees of nonaggression from china, japan and the u. S. Finally i would say to kim, Many Americans worry you will soon have the capacity and intention to launch missiles at the u. S. His response might well be, we will have the capacity and it serves my purposes to keep you off guard. But why would i strike america and invite a retaliatory counterstrike that would put an end to my regime . Keep in mind, the whole point of this, my entire strategy, all our efforts and the hardships we have borne are to ensure that my regime and i personally survive. Why would i risk that . If you look at how i have stayed in power, you know i believe in assassinations, not suicide. For more, go to cnn. Com fareed and read my Washington Post column this week. Lets get started. It has been a busy couple of weeks from north orea, yanmar, russia, iran and more and its sure to be a busy next couple of weeks especially with the u. N. General Assembly Debates starting next week in new york. Let us get to it with a great panel. Frazier nelson is editor of t spectator, the venerable weekly conservative paper in britain. Ann appelbaum has a new book requested red famine, starlins war on ukraine will be published soon. Martin wolf is the chief economics commentator of t financial times. Let me start with you. With brexit in britain, martins still seem remarkably stable and, in fact, booming. Are the markets right that we should simply the slogan is dont worry, be happy . I think the markets are probably right which doesnt mean theyre certainly right. If you look at the history, we always have an enormous amount of political noise and most haas any committed or economic effect. But there is always the possibility that something will happen which is of immense important politically. Ill leave aside financial or economic crises. Bilge big wars, that would certainly change things. If the north korean event lead the a war, then it would change things. But as we look back on history, it turns out to be economically insignificant. One of the best examples is 9 11 which we had a big debate at the time, would this be a big economic event. As it turned out economically it was insignificant. Geopolitically it changed the world so the markets are probably right. So when you look at, anne, from europe the way in which the Trump Administration seems to be trying to maybe provoke north korea or in some way be more aggressive. Are people worried or is there a sense that this is all kind of negotiating posture . I think people are worried and there is a sense of helplessness. This is a major crisis that europe has no role in. Europe has a whole has not managed to forge a Foreign Policy. It doesnt speak with one voice so isnt able to influence the Korean Peninsula were watching the major actors without being able to contribute much and i think it tells you something about the state of european Foreign Policy that its were wordless right now. What happens in europe with brexit . It seems the longest nights ever . It will get longer. Theres no question of it reversing, Public Opinion in britain is as supportive of brexit now as it was during the referend referendum. We had Jean Claude Juncker laying out a federalist vision of the United States and dwlurp britain was never going to sign up to so if anything the decision of brx looks more secure even though the economic arguments about trade regulation relations are going to help with the eu afterwards. But it seems like theres some waning of the populist fire in europe. Merkel seems to be handily ready to get reelected. Macron is doing reasonably well in france. One of the effects of brexit as well as the election of trump is that it served as a counterexample. I agree with frazer that many people who supported brexit still support it but its not an attractive picture. Britains trading relationships are unclear. Quite a lot of what will happen when britons leave the e soviet union that theres going to be more bureaucracy not less. They have to recreate inconstitutions and regulatory tasks that europe does on the behalf of britain and other people see that around nobody wants a part of it. The same is true of trump. We see chaos, incompetence, promises that were made and arent being fulfilled and political discomfort and the attraction of merkel is really just that shes more of the same. I would im a little more worried about the german election than you are. I think because of these small parties there could be an Unstable Coalition after she wins and theres probably more support from the far right than we can see from the outside but nevertheless the fact that there was a swing to her, and you saw the swing to macron, is a reaction against the perceived anglosaxon mess. You think brexit is going to be a disaster . Financially for britain, economically . Disaster a big word which i try to avoid using. It are di pends epends on the n the negotiators, i agree with frazier that it will happen. It will happen. But the sort of agreement we will have in the process will affect enormously what happens. Will there be actually a deal . Will we reach a deal . If we do reach a deal, what will that look like . All these are highly uncertain. My own view is that it could be anywhere between a very large mess in the short run which will over time obviously attenuate and relatively mild event and it does depend on things we dont know yet. The only final thing i would say and i think we do disagree on this, the negotiations are getting absolutely nowhere at the moment. On that note, well take a break. When we come back, what to do about what the United Nations now calls ethnic cleansing in myanmar. A question with no easy answers. What powers the digital world. Communication. Thats why a cutting Edge University counts on centurylink to keep their global campus connected. And why a Pro Football Team chose us to deliver fiberenabled broadband to more than 65,000 fans. And why a leading car brand counts on us to keep their Dealer Network streamlined and nimble. Businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. These make cleaning between myi love easy. Sy. Gum brand for healthy gums. Soft picks, proxabrush cleaners, flossers. Gum brand. We are back with frazier nelson, Anne Appelbaum and martin wolf. Frazier, myanmar. What do we make of whats going on there. Hundreds of thousands of rohing rohingyas, muslim minorities being ethnically cleansed in various ways. We thought Aung San Suu Kyi was the good guy or the good gal in this story. What does it tell us . Here we have a Nobel Laureate presiding over a government which is denying anything isnt happening, which isnt letting the u. N. Have a look at whats happening. It seems like an angel turned into a devil, how could bit she is being so blind and refusing to do what the other Nobel Laureates are begging her to do. I think the answer is that she doesnt have proper control over the government. Sure nominally shes head of state but does she really control the army or the Border Regions . This conflict has been going on since the 1980s and a long track record of persecuting the Muslim Minority and i dont think its within her power so were seeing a classic kpal nepexample of so who is technically the head of state but doesnt have the authority and is in a bind. Her office personally she has said yes, sure, shell welcome suggestions to help them out but when it comes to what she can do politically, thats a whole different matter. Fraser had a phrase which i think is telling buddhist mobs. When you think of buddhism you think of it as a religion of peace. Even buddhism when you get into these power relationships is as prone to violence as any other religion. My understanding and i have no expertise of this is that the relidge i dont know of the japanese samurai as zen buddhism and you cant describe the samurai of peaceful people. My view and the history of civilization tells us strongly that religion is something that can be used and is used and belief can be exploited in many different ways, all of them human and some being human are very unpleasant. As you said, christianity was founded by the prince of peace and yet has a checkered track record. Inquisition and a few other the crusades and a few other things which people havent forgotten, including the middle east. Do you think there are people who say Aung San Suu Kyis nobel prize should be withdrawn. This is the kind of rhetorical point but how you think about somebody like her . I think that would be a pointless gesture, if we started going back through everybody who won a nobel prize and looked at what their qualifications were we might have a lot of questions. I think it makes for an interesting different point, though, which is how will the Trump Administration deal with this . In the Previous Administration and, indeed, going back some way, there is an american tradition of being against genocide, of wanting to stop these kinds of disasters. There was a great feeling of guilt, for example, after the failure to stop the rwandan genocide during the Clinton Administration and the u. S. Involvement in libya was partly justified on those grounds. We are americans, we want to stop what seemed like about to be a genocide at that time in bosn benghazi. Is ethnic cleansing something they care about . Theres been no indication of what where they see their role, americas role, as a moral power in this crisis. Fraser, how is trump playing these days . Youre attune to conservative party politics. Theresa may made a bet that seeming to be Donald Trumps closest european friend would help her. For other leaders its been the opposite. The fact that Angela Merkel and trump dont get on benefitted merkel and germany. The fact that macron is seen as different from trump has helped him. Has it helped or hurt me that shes seen as trumps best friend. Domestically its hurt her, of course. Anybody in europe can win points by being rude to the american president but theresa may took a different view, that britains interest lies in close to being close to the United States of america. And that shes going to turn a blind eye to the coarser aspects of a Trump Administration and remember the brexit context is crucial. Here she has in donald trump somebody who says hes eager to do a free trade deal with britain when we leave the eu. This is what britain needs more than anything else. I spoke to a cabinet member who said its like youre on a life raft and this big shift comes by the welcome you. Whether its a free trade deal with america or not remains to be seen but the fact that weve got one willing to offer britain exactly what it needs at exactly this time, that is enough to overlook the various coarse aspect of trump which is appalls so many voters. On trade, martin, do you think the Trump Administration is likely to go through with the kind of tough trade talk that it has had . Are you does that worry you . Would that worry markets . Globally that is really one of the most interesting the dog that hasnt barked yet. What does trumps global trade, globalization rhetoric mean . The one big thing he did he did on the first day, he pulled out of tpp which i think was the transpacific partnership, extraordinary mistake, just a freebie for china. But the we dont know what hell do with nafta, hes still talking about something theyre going to do with china but the moment i would have to say, one that i follow more closely, that his bark is much worse than his bite. He hasnt done much. He tweeted out during the north korea thing that were going to shut down all trade with any country that does dealings with north korea which, of course, is china, which is 5 of americas gdp being shut down to zero. I was struck by how the Chinese Government didnt even bother to respond. The feeling was its trump. It probably Means Nothing. We have to end it on that. Martin wolf, fraser nelson, Anne Appelbaum. Pleasure. You know who likes to be in control . This guy. Check it out selfappendectomy oh, thats really attached. Thats why i rent from national. Where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. Which makes me one smooth operator. Ah still a little tender. vo go national. Go like a pro. Custom tshirts and other great products for every occasion. For the first day of school to game day and everything in between. 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