Summaries of various, interesting Wall Street Journal articles you may have missed, provided by Zach Robinson;

Small Chinese banks deal with North Korea.

One problem with the United States’ current regime of sanctions on North Korea is that the restrictions already in place have been a mere shadow of those imposed effectively upon another dangerous nation, Iran. Another issue has been that the many small Chinese banks that deal with North Korea have proven adept at concealing their transactions using fraudulent means so that their involvement flies under the radar. Also, the U.S. has no ties to North Korea, so its intelligence is limited about activities under way there, and it has been reluctant to jeopardize its trading relationship with China by making generalized accusations. Now, however, after North Korea’s latest missile launch, the American government is expected to press the Chinese more forcefully in meetings to be held next week about closing the spigot to the secretive communist state.  However, it’s unclear whether China is willing to deal in good faith with its counterparts in this risky, troubling situation.

 

Peggy Noonan knocks Trump.

Peggy Noonan described Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian attorney who offered to provide unflattering information on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as “classless” and contrasted his cooperation with previous Republican presidential candidates who had not fallen for similar such bait.

Russia in Ukraine: horrible stuff.

A Journal guest columnist ticked off a long list of Russian outrages in its conduct with Ukraine, which is now more united than ever before in opposition to rule by the Kremlin. Yesterday, a German company, Siemens, was found to have allowed a pair of its industrial turbines to be installed in that part of Ukraine seized by Russia in a trade deal contrary to well established sanctions, with initially the terms calling for the equipment to be sent to the Balkans.