Do you believe them? Even if NK is telling the truth, they can resume at a moment’s notice. And by getting talks with POTUS - even if it is Trump - NK has scored a significant diplomatic victory.
Only time will tell.
Yeah, nuke and missile tests are easy to detect, so I suspect they actually are telling the truth about suspending them, at least for now. Obviously that’s only one modest step in a process that the USA hopes will eventually lead to complete denuclearization, but it does appear to be a step in the right direction.
Josh Marshall came up with “Trump’s Razor” back in the summer of 2016:
Trump’s Razor says that the likeliest explanation is that he was in fact this stupid.
I’m afraid trump believes horseshit like that too. Denuclearization in a world where the US won’t talk about Israel’s nuclear program, but will about NKs? See the Vela incident, 9/22/79.
Well yes, but what about the work-ups to the tests? Have, for instance, they stopped production of nuclear materials? What about rocket parts?
I’ll wait to be impressed when they denuclearize without having to send them tons of money and/or remove our troops from S Korea.
In other words, the “deal” is, you denuclearize and we’ll let you stay leader of your pissant country.
When you build the nukes in order to ensure that your regime is not toppled by foreign interests, you don’t give them up. Kim will not give them up, denuclearization will never happen. Anyone who thinks that this is in the cards will be disappointed.
Do you really think the U.S. is the one in charge of who gets to be leader in N Korea? That’s some breathtaking arrogance. The U.S. can lead sanctions and other diplomatic angles of attack but they aren’t remotely in a position to decide on a regime change.
Nope, I don’t think that. I also don’t think anything of substance is going to come of this exchange, other than a photo op for Kim to legitimize himself as a world leader.
They’ve already got the bomb. They’ve already got an ICBM that is a reasonable threat to the US. There as big a threat as they’ve ever been.
So, saying they won’t test or detonate if we (insert random capitulation here) is just more of the same. A joke. A joke that will last maybe a few years until they rinse and repeat and do it again, same as before.
This is exactly what will happen, meanwhile the administration will tell everyone who will listen that they have removed the nuclear threat from the Korean peninsula.
No, they’d click.
None of this explains why you said “In other words, the “deal” is, you denuclearize and we’ll let you stay leader of your pissant country.”
My point is, Trump goes in with brass balls or not at all.
We can, and have, made regime changes. Some overtly, some covertly.
So you think it’s … what, exactly? A step in the wrong direction? The world was a better place when North Korea was regularly launching missiles over Japan? I think your hatred for Trump has blinded you to reality.
Too bad he can’t go in with a brain.
It won’t be him who goes in, either. None of his family members, for that matter.
By your definition, a school shooter who stops to reload is making a “step in the right direction”. Sorry, once you’ve passed a certain line, whatever small feints back toward the line no longer count.
Those missiles will be repainted with DPRK Space Exploration on their side, and then shot over Japan.
I don’t hate trump, I just fear that he’s incapable of doing anything unless it involves a tantrum, a cookie and a hooker peeing on him. And, as long as she’s over 18, I’m perfectly happy if he spends the next 2 years “in the shower.”
I’m not claiming the “small feint” absolves them of past misdeeds, or means they deserve our unqualified trust in the matter, but it seems obvious to me that it’s an improvement, like when a school shooter drops his weapon and throws up his hands, signaling his surrender to law enforcement.
Which is not at all, like not even close at all, to what Kim is now doing.