So they've pissed off Spain. So what? Arrogance is a characteristic. Maybe they assumed Spain was like other Latin American countries where they could operate freely.
The Saudi murder of Khashoggi was similarly blatent, and that's not really affected US support for them.
* He isn't particularly concerned with pissing off allies.
* He has taken a particular interest in North Korean negotiations so is likely taking more direct control on this front.
* These actions demonstrate a desire to increase US negotiating leverage especially in light of the last failed summit.
Spain is a European country.
I don't follow the argument that this makes the CIA implication less probable.
Surely all the spook agencies of any country understand that and yet it happened.
If something, we could ask ourselves "who's is arrogant enough to do something like that in a foreign country?"
North Korea just isn't that important. Seems to be connected to a top DPRK diplomat who is involved in the Trump meetings, but roughing up an embassy doesnt have any obvious benefit.
Which doesnt mean the CIA wasnt involved, but the comment you are replying to seems to be largely reacting to how curious this event seems.
No question, like none at all?
The fact that this is only making bigger news after weeks, and only because the police was actually called to the scene, ultimately leading to the CIA connection, does kinda contradict that idea.
Who knows if the Koreans would even have been willing to call local police themselves, embarrassment can play a very big role here, just like having a foreign police force go through your embassy isn't without its own set of very relevant security issues.
Trump constantly insist on "not taking any options from the table" to stay "unpredictable" as such this would fit neatly right in there along the lines of "We can do this to you, and there's literally nothing you can do about it, don't forget who's holding all the cards here!"
> What’s more, unlike other intelligence activities – such as cyberattacks, which are characterized by their discretion, the attack on the North Korean embassy was especially violent. On February 22 at 3pm, 10 masked men carrying alleged imitation weapons broke into the embassy, located north of the capital in the residential area of Aravaca. They tied up the eight people inside and put bags on their heads. The victims were beaten and interrogated. A woman managed to escape from a window on the second floor and her screams for help were heard by a neighbor, who contacted the police.
> Officers arrived at the scene but when they tried to enter the embassy a man opened the door to them and told them that there was nothing going on. Minutes later, two luxury vehicles sped out of the embassy. The cars used for the getaway belonged to the diplomatic mission and were later abandoned in a nearby street.
This doesn't add up at all. An operation like this would be guaranteed to blow up into a major diplomatic incident with repercussions far more negative than whatever the US could hope to gain. Surely real CIA agents understand that.
This "operation" literally sounds like some James Bond plot.