Here’s the thing: If Trump actually opposes the John Boltons within his administration and is part of brokering an actual peace agreement, and if he’s able to overcome the objections of militarists within the government and if he can get Congress to support him…then yes, I will give the man his due. It might feel like I’m cutting off my right testicle, but I’ll give Trump credit if he can actually be an innovator when it comes to US foreign policy. That also means, however, that Kim has to hold up his end of the bargain and he has to be prepared in case he doesn’t. This looks easy now; it won’t be easy, and that will be revealed in time.
Pfff…that guy’s an opportunist. I don’t feel sorry for Moon – like at all. In fact, I suspect that he’s just trying to throw the US under the bus.
That would be like North Korea throwing China under the bus. It ain’t going to happen.
They’re gonna need a bigger bus.
I doubt it. South Korea still needs America as a counterweight to China.
Kim seems to be looking to take North Korea from its outlaw status to regular dictatorship status.
Here’s the thing, NK will not denuclearize anytime soon. Everybody that knows anything knows that. Trump needs a win on a pretty tight time frame and the biggest component of any such possible “win” is actually pretty obvious. He’s going to “throw SK under the bus” by forcing them to pay and/or provide for their own defense, with some U.S. troops stationed there coming home immediately upon the announcement for show. It’s something he and KJU both already want and can call a win. Throw something in about nuclear tests and missile ranges. Done deal.
Are you the guy who cares about what experts think when they are mildly supportive of Trump, and then thinks they are part of the swamp when they are extremely critical? There’s so many posters around here I can’t keep track.
Surely part of the credit for this breakthrough should go to Trump’s handpicked ambassador to South Korea. That guy has been a master as working so far behind the scenes, his role in history will surely never be recognized.
You’re probably correct, but the some segments of the left wing in South Korean politics believe that the US has conspired to disrupt ties between the North and South, and they wouldn’t mind seeing the US out altogether. I’m not saying all South Koreans feel that way - the right and the centrists probably want the US to stay. But Moon represents a center-left position that sometimes leans away from the US.
I think what all South Koreans see the value of the US as a trading partner, and as you say, this enables the rest of Asia to have some balance in dealing with China’s ascent toward being a superpower. On that note, Trump’s proposed economic policies (tariffs and pulling out of TPP) with respect to South Korea would seem counterproductive.
Perhaps Kim is the Gorbachev of N. Korea? Like Gorby, it is possible Kim has reached the conclusion that things must change in order to stay the same. He has grown up in the system, he has consolidated his power over it and he understands it is not sustainable over the long-term (especially with escalating sanctions). Perhaps N. Korea’s nuclear weapons program was always intended to be given away for long-term regime survival vis-à-vis the West. Regardless, there can be little doubt Kim understands that to actually use a nuke would mean the end of N. Korea, and that the West is just as unlikely to use them against N. Korea. With no practical utility in terms of use or even deterrent, giving them away for what the regime wants most of all – i.e., a guarantee of survival – does not seem too illogical as to defy credibility. I don’t actually believe it, but at this early point - and notwithstanding N. Korea’s long record of broken promises (all or certainly most of which pre-date l’il Kim’s reign) – it seems to me the possibility cannot be completely discounted.
Sure, it worked for Khadafi. Oh, wait…
I prefer “Mango Mussolini” but to each their own.
I can’t see Kim being as intelligent as Kahdafi. Not even possessing a certain low animal cunning.
Let’s give the credit to the proper person here.
*“The fact that when I went over there the last time for [Jong Un’s] birthday, I gave him Donald Trump’s books. … I think he didn’t realize who Donald Trump was at that time. I gave him the books so he could understand him,” Rodman said.
“I don’t want to take all the credit. I don’t want to say, ‘I did this, I did that,’” Rodman said of any progress in the relationship between North Korea and the United States. *
It was Dennis Rodman who made this all possible. Thank you Dennis.
whistles
Why did it have to be Rodman? Wouldn’t Jordan have been a better diplomat? I mean, Kim could watch Space Jam to get up to speed on his golfing/basketball/saving the universe skills…
Jordan might have been a mistake. To Air is human.
Looks like you’re not alone in thinking this – the author from 38north.Org says some of the same things in your post.
https://www.38north.org/2018/04/rcarlin042318/
I’ve not had the feeling that Kim’s putting on an act. He’s still going to be a brutal sonofabitch, but I think he genuinely wants to take North Korea in a new direction. The sanctions are crippling his country, and people can’t continue to live in misery forever without the itch to fight back at some point. He knows that.
The linked article puts some of Kim’s more ruthless behavior into perspective: killing off his enemies so that they don’t get in his way later, and making sure everyone else around sees what happens when you cross Rocket Man. This might make it easier for him to make changes happen.
The 3 big questions (there are more but the central ones) are:
-
Can the US and North Korea agree on a definition of “denuclearization?”
-
Is the US willing to lift sanctions?
-
Can the US accept North Korea being essentially a member of the nuclear club?
-
Not a snowball’s chance in hell.
-
Depends on who Chump talked to last.
-
There doesn’t seem to be much choice there, unless Nikki Haley can manage to pull a Colin Powell on the world.
Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize, says South Korea’s Moon
“President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace,” Moon told a meeting of senior secretaries, according to a presidential Blue House official who briefed media.
Hillary would have taken us to war. Think about that.
Wow, snappy point there. Maybe the most insightful critique of Clinton’s foreign policy views since, “No, YOU’RE the puppet!”
Personally, I think Dennis Rodman deserves a NPP. Dennis is smarter, a better dresser and he probably gets more ass.
Hillary wouldn’t have done anything at all. No wall, no mass exodus from Washington, no peeing scandals, no porn stars, no screwing playboy models, no Putin’s Princess, no refunding money to investors she defrauded. She would have been boring.