As tensions between the US, its regional allies and North Korea continue ebb and flow, depending on what and where Kim lobs the next missile and whether Kelly can block Trump from tweeting for the next few hours, Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to personally weigh in on the conflict for the first time since the UN passed new sanctions against the North earlier this month. In an article published on the Kremlin’s web site, the Russian president warned that the two sides are “balancing on the verge of a large-scale conflict,” adding that any efforts to pressure the North to end its nuclear program would prove “futile,” and that the only tenable solution to the standoff would be a “dialogue with preconditions.”
“It is essential to resolve the region’s problems through direct dialogue involving all sides without advancing any preconditions (for such talks),” Putin wrote. “Provocations, pressure, and bellicose and offensive rhetoric is the road to nowhere.” His remarks about a diplomatic solution alluded to a “road map” to peace formulated jointly between Russia and China…. without the U.S.Advertisment According to the joint Russian-Chinese deescalation plan, North Korea would stop work on its missile program in exchange for the US and South Korea halting large-scale war games, allowing tensions to gradually subside. Here’s more from AJ: “Russia believes that the policy of putting pressure on Pyongyang to stop its nuclear missile programme is misguided and futile,” he wrote in the article sent to media in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – the BRICS member states.
“The region’s problems should only be settled through a direct dialogue of all the parties concerned without any preconditions. Provocations, pressure and militarist and insulting rhetoric are a dead-end road.” As recently as last week, tensions between the two sides appeared to be easing, with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson praising the country’s restraint after the North went nearly a month without a new missile test, despite restrictive new UN sanctions that took effect on Aug. 5. That quickly changed with the beginning of the US and South Korea’s annual 11-day joint military exercises, which appeared to provoke an especially vitriolic response from the North this year, prompting not one but two rocket launches over the next few days. Source: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/putin-warning-north-korea/
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