It would also be a pleasant surprise if Trump was secretly finalizing his unified field theorem, solving poverty, and ending violence in the Middle East. Maybe being an imbecile is a strategic negotiating advantage that he’ll also manage to solve the North Korea problem with a series of tweets. Personally I’m not going to hold my breath.
Hmm. What do you suppose this means?
“Only one military dog tag allegedly was provided to U.S. officials last week when North Korea handed over 55 boxes of what it said were the remains of American soldiers killed in the Korean War, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.A U.S. defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the AP that it could take months or years to identify the remains. The official could not say what name was on the dog tag or whether it even belonged to an American.”
It means the first order of business is to verify that the remains are actually human.
Uh … So why was canceling the deal where they gave up nuclear weapons development so bad? Your stance doesn’t seem completely consistent.
$400 million? All this right-wing constipation and bitter spittle-speckled splutter, and all we owed them was $400 million? I think the cost of the laxatives and expectorants needed to remedy the hypocrisy-fatigued right-wingers must have exceeded the payment itself.
Back on topic, North Korea may be finding that their main benefactor, China, is far more willing to help them violate sanctions going forward. This article, along with several others, describes how China is already helping North Korea with power shortages again.
It seems that in addition to underestimating the costs of his trade war on US farmers, Trump may have also failed to consider how a trade war ends up sacrificing major leverage on North Korea. China has no reason to help the US in imposing international sanctions now. And if China can help the regime stay alive, then North Korea can continue to defy the US, if it chooses to.
This doesn’t mean that China wants North Korea to lash out again, nor does it mean that North Korea has a desire to kill the spirit of detente. But the US has been approaching relations with both China and North Korea with the assumption that it has the ability to apply extreme pain to both countries and force them to capitulate.
And whereas China, assuming that it was not initially a target of Trump’s ire, was willing to be an instrument for the US in applying that pressure in hopes that it would lead to a more stable regional political environment, now realizes that they, too, are in Washington’s cross hairs. China now realizes that it’s being used. It still wants regional stability, but it’s not going to be suckered again. Any ‘deal’ between North Korea and the US is going to have to satisfy China’s regional interests, as well as North Korea’s.
In short, achieving a long-term peace deal acceptable to all parties involved has become more complicated, in large part due to the fact that Trump has picked multiple fights with multiple countries at the same time. He’s fighting multi-front wars. Moreover, it’s not clear to anyone what Trump really wants. Thus, it’s unclear to other countries what they should do to help resolve some of these conflicts. The assumption from their point of view is that Trump is not really negotiating; he’s just trying to intimidate and humiliate, which sows confusion. It’s also dangerous as hell.
well, that was amazingly fast -
Kentucky Soldier Killed In Korean War Identified
But I can’t quite tell if thats from this most recent set of remains or something earlier? the timing seems off.
On re-read - said they were identified July 3rd - and I don’t believe these latest remains have even made it to the US yet.
Not going to happen. Kim cannot be trusted though Trump will claim he has won.
The talks have collapsed.
I can’t say I’m surprised, and as I mentioned earlier in this thread (and in others), the sticking point is sanctions on North Korea and the complete dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
There has to be an intermediate solution that both sides are willing to accept. We have to be willing to accept NK as a member of the nuclear club and we have to be willing to offer some concessions on sanctions - which won’t be easy because Japan will have something to say about this as well.
In exchange, North Korea needs to accept a freeze to its missile and nuclear weapons programs, and it must allow UN inspections unfettered access 24 hours a day any time they want. Even that concession is going to be hard because it’s not the nature of a totalitarian thug to agree to such concessions in practicum (remember Saddam Hussein, for instance).
My personal disdain for Trump aside, his unique position in American politics arguably positioned him uniquely to be someone who might actually have an opportunity at getting some traction in dealing with North Korea. Trump’s not accountable or tethered to status quo politics, which is an opportunity for change. Unfortunately, I think having Bolton (and perhaps Pompeo as well, but especially Bolton) means that the US is probably going to make offering a ‘middle ground’ possible, and I think a middle ground is the only real way out of this impasse for the time being.
Even so, for the time being, agreeing to deescalate is something positive. But it’s a question of how long things last. I’m curious to know how the Kim regime views Trump’s political position and how he perceives his value as a counterpart going forward.
As has been said before, the talks only “collapsed” from the US’s point of view. For Korea, it was a smashing success, when their leader forced the President of the United States of America to meet him in Vietnam so Jong could say “Thank u, next” to Trump, causing the US Presidential Delegation to flee Vietnam with Trump’s tail between his legs.
You know. Like a dog.
Shirley, you meant to say “running dog”?
The fat orange dog doesn’t run. He barely walks.
I expect that as Trump’s position weakens. the Kim regime’s propaganda will shift (perhaps quite suddenly) from relatively polite and respectful to full-bore mockery of the “American running-dog leader” who was completely dominated and outwitted by the Grand High Supreme Leader.
I’m the setup guy. It’s up to someone else to deliver. Burns to your Allen, iow.
He can manage walking most of the time. Cite.
I was thinking of his penchant for using golfs carts while other world leaders walk, or driving one across the greens on his golf courses.
I’m surprised he doesn’t insist on an escalator for boarding Air Force One. He could avoid that small bit of exercise, and the TP would not have been visible.
A shorter term goal might be to drive a political wedge between South Korea and the United States. In this case, it wasn’t Kim Jung Un who walked away from the negotiating table; it was Trump.
I cannot help but think Trump was going to be OK with any outcome of this meeting. Agreement reached - yay, see how I am the bestest negotiator?! No agreement reached - yay, now I can say that I should stay in office to continue the work we are doing with Kim, because if I am impeached and thrown out, North Korea will attack!
I’ve seen the insult “running dog” more times than I can count and have never understood it - what is so much more insulting about a “running dog” than just…“a dog?”
Ah thanks.