Peter Beck
Peter Beck
darker moving north slowly towards
It's getting darker by the day. We are slowly moving towards a showdown with North Korea.
alter costs course expect greatly large potential risks three
The potential costs and risks for all three governments are too large to expect any one of them to alter course greatly
believe both help imports loosen mexican parts south southeast supply
We believe that's going to significantly loosen up imports of Mexican cement, which I think will help not only with construction of hurricane-ravaged parts of the gulf, but also the South and Southeast both with supply and pricing.
double held india north standard
I think most of the world can live with that India is held to a double standard with North Korea.
bring help korea north serious sure ultimately visit
I think the visit will ultimately help them bring North Korea back to the table, but I'm not sure Pyongyang is serious about negotiating.
assume certainly economic external learn photo purely special zones
Were (Kim's trip) purely for external consumption, there certainly would have been some photo ops. We have to assume that this was educational to learn how special economic zones function.
embrace north shows surface
It shows at least on the surface that the North would like to embrace China's reforms.
band cliched connect floor forget great hear hours jump lovely moment nice people sounds tough watch
It sounds cliched but we live in a tough world at the moment and to jump away for two hours and look at some lovely costumes, hear a great band play with some great singers, to watch two people connect on the floor is a nice way to forget about all this other stuff.
closely korea washington watches
Any American who watches Korea in Washington will watch closely how it will unfold.
demands lack peace progress worried
That's a non-negotiating point. It's demands like these that have me worried there may be a lack of progress in the peace process.
accepted agreed disagree korea member north parties time
The two parties agreed to disagree and papered over the differences. It will take a long time before North Korea will be accepted as a responsible member of the international community, at least 2 years.
accord achieving beijing china committed communication keeping lines means nuclear open purely role satisfied status talks
Thus, China is committed to the six-party nuclear talks as a means of keeping the lines of communication open and maintaining the status quo. Beijing is satisfied to play the role of convener and occasionally arbitrator, not dealmaker or enforcer. Achieving a nuclear accord is purely optional.
act attention continues goes korea missile north nuclear saying squeeze time waiting washington
As time goes on, I am expecting, I am waiting for North Korea to act in a provocative manner, to lash out verbally, potentially even with a missile or even a nuclear test. Especially as Washington continues to try to squeeze them, and they are going to look for a way to get the world's attention by saying or doing something that is provocative.
activities bad banking beijing china immune north outside pressures rein remaining shut though unlikely
Even though the crackdown on North Korea's illicit banking activities in Macau demonstrated that China is not completely immune to outside pressures to rein in bad behavior, Beijing is unlikely to shut down the North's remaining banking activities.