But just hours before Mr. Xi was set to address the carefully choreographed meeting on Sunday, North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, detonated his sixth nuclear bomb.
  Mr. Kim has timed his nuclear tests and missile launches with exquisite precision, apparently trying to create maximum embarrassment for China. And on Sunday, a gathering in southeast China of leaders from Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa, members of the so-called BRICS group, was immediately overshadowed by news of the test, which shook dwellings in China and revived fears of nuclear contamination in the country's northeast region.
  This is not the first time Mr. Kim has chosen a provocative moment to flaunt his country's weapons. In May, he launched a ballistic missile hours before Mr. Xi spoke at a gathering of world leaders in Beijing assembled to discuss China's signature trillion dollar One Belt, One Road project.
  The confluence of North Korea's nuclear testing and Mr. Xi's important public appearances is not a coincidence, analysts said. It is intended to show that Mr. Kim, the leader of a small, rogue neighboring state, can diminish Mr. Xi's power and prestige as president of China, they said. In fact, some analysts contended that the latest test may have been primarily aimed at pressuring Mr. Xi, not President Trump. Article

++ Russia and China are objecting to even tougher sanctions on North Korea. 

  "They'll eat grass, but they won't abandon their program unless they feel secure," Russian President Putin told reporters Tuesday at an emerging markets summit in Xiamen, China, which was hosted by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. 

  U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said Monday the Trump administration would seek the strongest possible sanctions against Kim Jong Un's regime. Kim was "begging for war" after testing what he claimed was a hydrogen bomb, she said after a meeting of the UN Security Council. Haley said the U.S. would circulate new draft sanctions and wants the Security Council to vote on them Sept. 11.
   Japan is singing the same tune as the U.S., with Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso on Tuesday calling for additional measures. "There's no chance of talks progressing without increasing pressure," he told reporters in Tokyo.
   Putin condemned what he described as a policy of whipping up war hysteria, which he said could lead to a "global catastrophe and a huge number" of human casualties. "There's no other path except for a peaceful, diplomatic resolution of the North Korean nuclear problem," he said.
   Even before North Korea detonated its most powerful nuclear bomb on Sunday, Japan was calling for moves to cut off its oil supply. Afterward, Trump threatened to halt all trade with any country that does business with Kim Jong Un's regime. China, which supplies most of its food and fuel, called the warning "unacceptable."
  Since the Korean War, Beijing has avoided prodding North Korea to the point it might collapse, fearing a destabilizing economic blow and the possibility of the U.S. military gaining influence on its border via a unified Korea. That calculation has held even while China's interests have diverged from those of North Korea.
  Even so, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa said Tuesday that her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi told her that Beijing is open to additional sanctions. Kang told parliament that her nation is working with the U.S. for the "strongest" measures against North Korea.
  Trump agreed on Monday to support billions of dollars in new weapons sales to South Korea. Hours later, the Seoul-based Asia Business Daily reported that North Korea was preparing to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile before Saturday. More

   Comment: A brother pulled duty in the towers lining the 38th Parallel, looking for infiltrators from the North. In fact, he was instrumental in getting released a prisoner he knew, that his own government stated several times was not in the North POW camp. John kept seeing him and insisted it was true, the man havuing been his shop teacher back in South Lyon. Michigan Sentor Bob Griffin helped pop that prisoner at our request. It was a hell hole then, and still is. Policy makers need to duplicate what brought down the Berlin Wall and unified a split Germany.