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Monday, July 1

H/T SST commenter

Speaking of SST, the Colonel's Tour d'horizon post today provides his quick takes on various situations -- Mainland China, Hong Kong, Turkey, North Korea, Iran. By 'stache' he means John Bolton, aka known as The Mustache. Talk show host Tucker Carlton has been making so much sense in several of his commentaries at Fox that I think some people aren't joking when they wish he'd replace Bolton at the Security Council. They can dream on. 

As to the Colonel's discussion of Turkey's actions in Syria -- is the situation really that bad? It's pretty bad, although one SST commenter suggested that the regime doesn't want to go so far as to outright annex northern Syria and instead control the region through puppets. We'll see. Syria isn't Cyprus, so the commenter's analogy is limited. 

Regarding North Korea -- well, I think Kim might wait to see if Trump is elected to a second term before he commits to anything more than a few cosmetic concessions with regard to the nuclear program. I think he'd consider it suicidal if he made concessions that the next U.S. president ignored.   

In addition, Kim knows he is walking a very thin tightrope with China. Only by deploying the most brutal means was he able to purge the North Korean military of outright Chinese control, but their influence is still very active.  

So the question is how far he thinks Trump would go to help him with the Chinese if he sticks his neck out in making concessions on the nuclear front. One thing is certain: he would get no help if Biden is elected U.S. president, and he very well knows it.  

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