Trump and Abe Stress U.S.-Japanese Cooperation and Weapon Sales at Joint Press Conference

President Donald Trump’s first stop on the longest trip to Asia in twenty-five years is Japan. During a joint-press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the two leaders affirmed their commitment to cooperation in the region. Abe also affirmed his support for President Trump’s aggressive stance towards North Korea by providing a brief review (from the Western perspective) of diplomatic efforts to prevent North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. Abe stated, “[n]ow is the time not for dialogue but for applying maximum level of pressure on North Korea.”

There is no point in the dialogue for the sake of dialogue with North Korea. Now is the time not for dialogue but for applying maximum level of pressure on North Korea. – Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe

Brothers in Arms

The two leaders also affirmed Japan’s commitment to “the purchase of lots of additional military equipment from the United States.” The additional military equipment specifically mentioned during the joint-press conference were Lockheed Martin’s F-35A stealth fighter jets and Aegis warships, as well as Raytheon’s SM-3 Block IIA ICBM interceptor missiles. In response to questions from the press in attendance, President Trump pointed out the missiles were for Japan to be able to shoot North Korean missiles “out of the sky”.

Unmentionables Not Mentioned

North Korean Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un, is the kind of psychopath that makes a convenient rallying tool for America’s seemingly bottomless appetite for war-making. North Korea is clearly going to be at the top of the agenda during President Trump’s Asia trip. But the mainstream media continues to fail to ask “The Donald” some very important questions, like:

• How does the United States justify threatening North Korea for developing nuclear weapons that the U.S. itself possesses, particularly when the U.S. is the only country in history to use them?
• How does the United States justify its position to interfere with the right of another sovereign state to develop its defensive capabilities?
• Don’t the unprovoked, devastating military escapades of the United States into Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Libya (2011), Syria (2014) and now apparently in North Africa justify North Korea’s desire to arm itself to the teeth?
• If “The Donald” is so good at making business deals, why isn’t he trying to make a business deal with North Korea in the interests of peace rather than peddling weapons for U.S. arms manufacturers?

Whether or not the mainstream media asks these questions, isn’t likely that many people around the world are?

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You can watch the White House video of President Trump and Prime Minster Abe’s joint-press conference here: President Trump Participates in a Joint Press Conference with Prime Minister Abe