Ok, it is not funny and yet I cannot
help laughing, the Nobel prize thing.
Started by Trump and his honest
family no doubt. I mean not only
to we have a con man and crook
in office, but also a singularly
stupid man. Inept, bumbling and
infantile. If the Nobel committee
is going to honor a crook, you would
think they would pick a really
smart one who was good at it. Isn't
excellence important anymore?
So you have the last possible person eligible or
deserving , agitated and abetted by
war hawks Bolton and Pompeo,
nominating himself for the peace
prize on non existent accomplishments.
Truly spectacular! It ranks up there with
the Pope giving that Boston bishop or
what ever he was, who paid off the victims
of sexual molestation for years and moved
the offending priests around like musical
chairs so they could continue molesting and then
the Pope installing this rat to a high position
at the Vatican after he was kicked out
of Boston. Lunacy abounds, thanks old
Pope for honoring those who have defiled
what Christianity is supposed to stand for.
Thanks GOP for supporting Trump who might even be considered the Anti Christ if he were bright, and I actually
believed that fairy tale. Oh and thanks Trump
for recent needless mass murders of Palestinians.
You think those people are hoping you win the
Peace prize ? And you think Kim does not
have his own eye on the peace prize as well?
Forgive me oh world for my sick, sick humor
you really do deserve that old peace prize.
2
Well, the North Koreans certainly have John Bolton pegged correctly.
Trump has consistently chosen inappropriate, poorly vetted and poorly qualified people for key positions in his cabinet. Bolton is just the latest, but everyone from Scott Pruitt to Sarah Sanders would make perfect examples.
This is what happens when you value loyalty over competence.
6
Who knew geopolitics could be so complicated. And you can't buy your way out of this one Donnie.
5
Surely, based on North Korea's past performances, no one ever thought this meeting would happen.
4
This is just desperation by Trump to keep his ugly mug on the news. I wonder just how much he paid Kim to say he wanted to call off the talks? If the news wants to talk about something why is there no interest in how Melania is doing...she did just have surgery after all.
1
Fritz Kreisler played a mean Stradivarius. Kim is better.
1
"the North’s sudden objection to joint military drills by the South and the United States"
North Korea has always strongly objected to the large scale joint military exercises (not simply "drills") conducted regularly on the Korean peninsula! How foolish for the US to think that conducting such exercises - right before the scheduled meeting between Trump and Kim - would not interfere with any negotiations.
Claiming that these "drills" are only of a "defensive nature" is ridiculous! - is there any real difference between defensive or offensive exercises? These exercises clearly should have been postponed, so the North Koreans would not have this excuse to throw a "monkey wrench" into the proposed upcoming peace process.
3
If and when you two actually meet, you tell him Kim. Bluster/bully boy Trump, and his new axe man Bolton are aching to start a war. Why? For the vain attempt to avoid impeachment, and/or imprisonment. The same kind of "shock and awe" war, that mired us in a needless, uber costly Irac war in both lives and trillions of dollars wasted.
2
Long before Melania Trump presented her plagiarized Be Best campaign to the US, many American grade schools put something called Conflict Resolution in place. Bolton and Trump, maybe along with Kushner and Pompeo should check the DC area grade schools to see if those programs are still available and if so enroll in one of them. They all need to forget the art of the bully taught at Trump U and learn something about diplomacy.
Trump might own the Big Stick part of diplomacy with all of his weapons, but he seems incapable of the Speak Softly part.
Kim Jung Un has been playing Trump from the start. Putin knows how to have the psychological advantage over Trump, so does Kim. Stroke his ego with visions of nobel peace prize and then pull the rug out. Trump can't let go of the vision and will cave into any demand to get that shiny object. He'll snort and cry like a baby until the authoritarian figure in charge gives him his prize, he'll do anything and give away the farm to get it.
2
Every country no matter how small has one good negotiator. And North Korea has its smart guy who knows how to play the game. North Korea has survived playing the game.
First, no country with a military asset like a nuclear bomb will give that away. That would diminish its military might to a purely defensive force as capable as the SWAT Teams in US cities.
Second, beyond getting rid of its current nukes North Korea will agree with non-proliferation, no new nukes and more with a guarantee that its sovereignty and a regime change not be threatened. In exchange, it would very much join the world in trade.
Just the opening up of North Korea to the world will be huge. Its people will bring about change when they have some flexibility. And with that will come the reduction of influence and dependency on China and more on South Korea and the rest of the world. Just this will be a great achievement for world peace. It will unshackle the people who are no better off than in the British Colonies.
1
Not surprising. And not unreasonable. Remember the fledging US colonies getting all bent out of shape when the superpowers were pushing them around? I'd push back if the US (Obama era) was bullying me too. Especially the incompetent Clownmerica at present.
I’ve been quite impressed with the dogged pursuit of a complete verification of NK’s nuclear capabilities and eventual collection and disposal of its arsenal. This shows how it’s doing things right. US has no reason to accept any less from NK. Allowing NK, ever irresponsible, hostile, liar of a ‘country’ to have its way is a recipe for a wrong type of peace.. Surrendering to Hitler could have brought an end to war in Europe. Surrendering to Imperial Japan would have brought an end to war in the Pacific. Would you have wanted that?
Trump deserves no criticism for this.
4
Nothing new. An old page of the so-called cold war, hot peace. Probably the first reaction to the withdrawal from the UN-sponsored Vienne Accords of July 14, 2015. The "historic accomplishment" isn't uneventful. Trump should have paid more attention to the domestic flaws of himself and his newly created swamp.
7
If Trump asks Obama nicely he might just let him see his Nobel Peace Prize. Its the closest Trump will ever get to one.
13
North Korea's repugnance of Bolton is well-founded. His remarks were tactless, and diplomatically just plain stupid.
11
Rats, the North Koreans listened to US news and heard John Bolton talk! Who knew they could understand english?
10
Donald Trump, self-proclaimed "master negotiator," has proven that he is lousy deal maker by talking too much and bragging about how successful he'll be with North Korea as compared to his predecessors.
The first rule of successful negotiations is to keep your mouth shut, something this president is incapable of.
18
No surprise here. When you put two bullies on the playground together a fight will ensue. So much for Trump's Nobel Prize!
6
Trump, dispite all of his blustering and self aggrandization, is terrible at this stuff. His personal factless belief systems, are putting the country at great risk. And I mean all of us, Trump supporters and non-supporters.
He is being played, pure and simple and his ego is so big he can't see it.
Trupm's actions are not draining the swamp, they are draining the country.
6
A sad day at the WH. Someone must have been leaking again - how else would those North Koreans know about John Bolton? But can we be sure this report isn't just Fake News?
4
Do they award the Nobel Peace Prize for ineptitude?
10
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner .....
Trump has about 12 hours to walk away and demonstrate he will not negotiate like Clnton, Bush nor Obama.
2
Umm...I think it was Kim that walked away.
2
For the North Koreans, it must be difficult to reconcile Trump's peaceful comments with his selection of Bolton as NSA, a hawk who has never seen a war he didn't like. Could put a crimp in the president's desire for a peace prize.
5
Funny how the Trumpians seems surprised when Kim plays the same level of Rope-A-Dope that The Donald, through out his career, has played against his opponents. Trump, even as President, often will one day make nice and begin making conciliatory sounding statements to the press about his adversaries, but if they haven't responded to Trumps flattery, he will the next day launch such a barrage of invective and threats against his victim that one would think the world is about to shatter underneath them, if little Donny immediately doesn't get his way.
But now Trump seems to have met his match in Kim in unpredictability- And like most bullies when bullied themselves by a bigger bully, doesn't seem to know how to respond (short of physically attacking them).
I'am however, for now, saving my pity for the South Koreans and the Japanese who find themselves in the middle of a spitting game which is being conducted by two of the worlds most unpredictable leaders ( both clearly handicapped with adolescent minds),whose respective countries are armed with nuclear weapons.
7
The Democrats are sabotaging the historic talks just to deny President Trump yet another victory! The Democrats are colluding with America’s enemies to encourage and help plan attacks on American interests and Americans themselves just to damage the hugely successful Trump administration! This is high treason!!
1
Bolton is a democrat?
4
I seriously hope this was meant sarcastically. Otherwise it must be a case of Hannity overdose.
2
Lol can you give us some facts and sources for your conclusions? I’ll wait.
3
This is what happens when you purge the State department of experts and let amateurs run foreign policy. I feel like I am watching a chess match between Kim a grand master and Trump who has not even bothered to learn the rules of the game.
5
Trump is doomed to relive the history he never learned, a pity.
7
Reciprocity is missing. What will we, the United States, agree to reduce our own massive arsenal of nuclear weapons? We just announced a project to upgrade that arsenal. What will nuclear armed Israel do also, inasmuch as it poses the similar threat to North Korean ally Iran?
3
Kim is right to point to Libya.It is different from Iran. Iran is about nukes and military action in the all around the mideast. In two wears the restrictions on nuclear advancement are reduced and in 2025 Iran can basically get on with its missile and nuke production. Trump wants a better deal and if europe and Iran want to put peace and economic freedom first, something will happen. But in Libya, there was no threat to us. Gaddafi wasn't even pointing a BB gun at us. The violent overthrow of Gaddafi and his government was a decision by Obama, and according to reports, pushed by Hillary for what purpose, who knows. It is a disaster, a breeding ground for radical jihadists and other terror groups. But NK is a country we are still at war with and we are asking for them to rid themselves of these nuclear weapons. Would a meeting that we hope will happen even be considered in the past. No, because we set all sorts of rules up defining North Korea's behavior before we would even send negotiators. Trump has said he will go himself and sit down with Kim to achieve peace with no nukes. It is to both sides advantage to achieve these goals. This opportunity will not come twice. So we will see but Trump should get credit for trying something no other president had the courage to do and as a result our leaders did nothing so that now we have nukes and missiles in the hands of a dangerous person. We can only hope for success in the meeting.
1
Very sad to think many are celebrating this. They would rather see Trump fail i.e. the U.S. then a positive outcome. Just think if all Conservative were rooting against Carter this way with Israel Egypt. Cost Saddat his life.
I wonder if Kim is worried that he may be seized if he goes to Singapore. He apparently does not trust Mr. Regime Change Bolton....would you? He wanted the meeting held in the DMZ. When he went on his recent China trip in a fortified and unmarked train, he indicated his insecurity. I thought it was weird that he agreed to go to Singapore. What about having the meeting by Facetime or other techno facility.
2
This amounts to two demagogues facing off and trying to save face. These military exercises are neither new nor surprising to Mr. Kim. Both he and Mr. Trump are known for making promises they walk away from. Having blustered on this issue, will Mr. Kim now back down and go back to planning his meeting with Trump? We'll see.
1
I don't know which is more absurd, the expectation that North Korea will calmly stand by and watch the joint U.S./South Korea exercises while preparing to negotiate away its nuclear program, or the expectation that the U.S. and South Korea will suddenly stand down because Kim has said he wants to meet with Donald Trump. I keep looking for an iota of logic in this whole thing, and all I find is wishful thinking and nonsensical expectations.
The only thing that is abundantly clear is that the World's Greatest Deal Maker has been out-dealt by a 34 year old lunatic who fancies himself a god. The Trump camp, led by the Deal Maker himself, couldn't even wait until the first meeting before they started the Nobel nominating process. Now, desperate for anything that resembles a win, Trump has negotiated himself into a corner. Kim, returning to predictable form, threatens to cancel the meeting and there goes the Deal Maker's Nobel prize....... unless.
Unless he agrees to what Kim wanted in the first place --- full retention of his nuclear program, a reduction or withdrawal of U.S.military from South Korea, normalization of relations including the lifting of economic sanctions.
So what's it going to be Mr. World's Greatest Deal Maker? A nuclear North Korea and a Noble Prize? Or back to where we were when this whole fiasco started?
2
For Kim, all of the posturing, the fake "diplomacy", the out-of-thin-air 180 degree about face, was never anything more than an elaborate PR gambit enacted for his sponsor, Chairman Xi. Kim can thrive under U.S. sanctions (which he actually needs to sustain his America-as-Boogeyman propaganda campaign with his own populace) but he can't survive without the support of China.
4
The North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un threatening to cancel his proposed meeting with President Donald Trump doesn't surprise anyone. He has done such things before. What is different this time is that if the cancelation takes place, the responsibility for it would rest squarely with the Trump camp.
The immediate cause for the threat is the resumed annual military exercise between the U.S. and South Korea. Will South Korea’s security be in imminent danger if the exercise is postpone at least until the proposed meeting is over? Didn’t the geniuses in the Trump camp have the commonsense to know that the exercise would send a message to the North that the U.S. is not being serious about the meeting.
Compounding the confusion comes the reckless remark by John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s new national security adviser. Was he voicing the administration’s position when he said on a talk show that, for the proposed meeting to materialize, the North should first dismantle its nuclear program as Libya did 15 years ago? North Korea was not aware of any such precondition. If Mr. Trump shares Mr. Kim’s “repugnance towards” Mr. Bolton for having set it, the least he can do is reprimand him, if not oust him from his administration. In the absence of that, the threat of cancelation of meeting coming from the Kim camp is understandable.
The very fact that it is the North Korean dictator, not the president of the United States, that is calling the shots here is a major victory for the dictator.
3
While discussions have been going on between South Korea - North Korea and the US, China has been watching the whole scenario. China, a communist country, has had a over five decades relationship with North Korea. It is totally unclear how China perceives the US attempts to have NK agree to give up their nuclear programs.
The NK leader has not only travelled to China to meet with that country's leadership recently, also continued with communications. We do not know what China is saying to NK. In the past, whether China was serious enough to see NK give up their nuclear activity objectives, is unclear. Or, was China using the NK nuclear capability as a buffer to their own benefit?
Is Russia providing any form of counsel to NK?
NK has seen the US recent decision to withdraw from the Iran deal, and what happened to Libya and their leader, Ghadaffi. NK has a lot to think about, and to know the US would expect NK to completely destroy and abandon their nuclear plants and programs. This could be the main reason if there is a change of hearts, on the part of NK, if they decide not to proceed with the June 12 summit.
Everyone is justifiably concerned about North Korea having nuclear weapons, because of their instability and unpredictability. However, the same concerns should be considered when dealing with the United States, while Donald Trump is president; he's a poor example of thoughtful leadership and stability, at best. This unstable bully should not be allowed to have his finger on the nuclear button, ever.
16
The new article published this morning (which doesn't allow comments) explains the situation more clearly:
- All along, Kim has said that NK would get rid of nuclear weapons if the US removed ALL military threats, including stopping the exercises with SK.
- Of course, the US won't do that (yet); and Kim knew that.
- Thus, all of his recent conciliatory gestures have merely been a ploy to make it look like NK has been making concessions. This puts pressure on the US and SK to come to the negotiating table at a disadvantage, i.e. now it's the US's and SK's turn to make concessions as the first step of the negotiations.
- If they're unwilling to do so, and if they're not willing to immediately cease all military presence, then Kim can simply cancel the talks and/or walk away from them, saying: "Look, we showed the world that we're willing to negotiate, and we made goodwill gestrures. It's their fault that the talks collapsed.
In other words, Kim totally punked Trump; and Trump, the self-proclaimed "great negotiator," fell for it.
11
Paul-A, before you gloat too much about your Punk punking the President, let's look at the scoreboard. Kim initiated the summit proposal. Then he agreed to suspend tests. Then he released three Americans hostages. Then he agreed to meet in Singapore on 6/12. You're claiming he did all this just to "punk" Trump. So, Kim winds up back at square one without the three hostages, he needlessly suspended testing and his nuclear test site is allegedly dysfunctional. Plus, "the World" says this is what we expected the NKers to do because you can't trust them and China is cringing because they don't want millions of NK refugees streaming across the border. Wow! You call that a good old fashion punkin' down?
1
This brings into perspective the preposterous nature of the nomination of Trump for the Nobel peace Prize. Just about what you would expect from a certain category of House Republicans who placed his name in nomination. Too bad there is no such thing as the Nobel Dunce Prize. These days, the competition for that prize would be remarkably brisk.
13
The fantasy of receiving a Noble Peace Prize vs. The jettisoning of the outspoken Bolton? Not even close. Narcissism will always prevail.
4
Let's see..
1. Trump announces plans to modernize and add to our already bloated nuclear stockpile.
2. Trump tears up a deal with Iran.
3. Trump begins military exercises in conjunction with South Korean forces.
4. John Bolton: ""I think the only diplomatic option left is to end the regime in North Korea by effectively having the South take it over." "It is perfectly legitimate for the United States to respond to the current ‘necessity’ posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons by striking first."
5. We destroyed Iraq because they agreed to de-nuclearization, after which the UN Monitoring Commission certified it was safe to destroy them.
What this meeting will accomplish is that both Trump and Kim will dominate the news for a while (their primary goal.) Kim would be truly crazy to make any deals with Trump, especially any deals that prevented NK from remaining a nuclear power. I'm sure he's seen the video of Saddam Hussein getting hung.
10
Let's see: 1. Obama announced the modernization of the US nuclear arsenal, much to the chagrin of the Left. 2. Obama continued the annual joint military training exercises with SK, as his predecessors had done for decades. 3. Iraq never agreed to de-nuclearize. In fact, Iraq denied that they had ANY Weapons of Mass Destruction. 4. an overwhelming majority of Americans supported the invasion of Iraq (check Hillary's vote). 5. If anybody hangs Kim, it will be the Chinese.
1
In reply to Mr. Edmund:
Your first two points are absolutely correct, the third is splitting hairs: Iraq agreed to end their nuclear research program, and abided by the agreement. We pretended otherwise and destroyed them. Your fourth point is wrong, unless you think Hillary represents the "overwhelming majority of Americans" (check the popular vote in 2016...oh...never mind) and the fifth is hard to be certain of, but the point is Kim gets hung if he gives up power, and making a deal with Trump is unlikely to work to his personal advantage. Trump only wins if Kim loses, and Trump won't play if he can't win. It's just another episode of reality TV for these guys. Neither of them know what they want, except for the publicity. For the record, I didn't agree with Hillary or Obama on the points you mention, but that doesn't mean I automatically think Trump has a better idea. The choice to hold the military exercises this time around was his, he tore up the Iran deal, he appointed Bolton, he chose to go along with Obama's foolish modernization plan, and I nevertheless wish him all the success in the world. Talking to Kim is a great idea. I just think we might be better off sending in Dennis Rodman.
Is there any questions that Bolton and the Neocons are now firmly in control? First they get Trump to tear up the Iran accord and now they provoke NK with joint air maneuvers off of Korean coast.
Back to George W's plan to defang the Axis of Evil.Making America Great Again is right out of the PNAC playbook.
3
Republicans slag Obama for saying he would meet with a leader like Kim. Praise Trump for the same thing. But Kim will have a far easier time playing Trump than Obama.
12
President Trump tears up an nuclear arms agreement with Iran that took years to negotiate, that is supported by all of America's allies (Israel excepted) and with which Iran by all accounts (including Mike Pompeo's and the IAEA) is complying. He does this on the eve of trying to convince North Korea to sign on to a nuclear arms deal. North Korea has second thoughts about wanting to negotiate with Trump. No one can feign surprise.
6
Trying to bully a dictatorship of a small country into ditching its nukes may become just the latest example of American failure. But failing--as we yank our way out of treaties (with the world on climate, with Iran on nukes), kill our own health care, leave our infrastructure to rot, and give a kick to a languishing Israeli-Palestinian peace process that has resulted in over 100 dead and countless maimings--"F" has become the new American "C." We have failed to protect ourselves and the rest of the world from Trump and his complicit Republicans. We created a country too big to fail--and then we did.
3
You can't start a negotiation with hopelessly unrealistic and publicly lambasted "requirements" and expect the other side to be the least bit cooperative. All of this just once again underlines the sheer ignorance, inexperience and idiocy of those who think this is a way to make progress.
4
That's funny. Last week, the Trumpster was patting himself on the back and awarding himself the Nobel Peace Prize. Don't count your Korean chickens.
3
What is surprising is that a long-time goal of N.K. has been to meet with the U.S. directly. In other words, Kim needs this meeting much more than Trump does. As for Kim's fear of a U.S. led invasion, perhaps someone should explain to him that his miserably poor, dysfunctional country with twenty-five million poorly educated, underfed citizens has nothing any other country could possibly want. N.K is a blight on the planet. The only interest the U.S. has in it is to stop if from becoming a nuclear power.
By hyping the meeting Trump cornered himself and may give uout more than he would otherwise.
Amazing how some are faulting President Trump and the US for continuing with pre-planned military exercises. This whole North Korean stance at this time is an attempt to interfere with the US-South Korea relationship, and to gain higher status before the meeting, if it is to occur. Don't fall for it. Kim Jung Un is in deep trouble financially, and can't afford to keep going on with his nuclear program and living his high life of unbridled luxury without refreshing his coffers. He needs this meeting.
8
It appears that the joint U.S. and S. Korean operation
" Max Thunder " seemed inappropriate to Mr. Kim after his meetings and promises of recent weeks. Even the title of the joint operation has a threatening tone to it. Mr Kim came forward with conciliatory offers of ending his nuke program and got Max Thunder in return. The excuse that Max Thunder was " pre-planned " does not make it any less insulting to him. How would the U.S.
feel if N. Korea continued to test a nuke warhead as a run up to a meeting to end hostility ?
1
Although, I think our current POTUS is out of his league and quite frankly, an embarrassment, I have to agree with you.
1
Of course, its the US that has given Kim the chance to jeopardize the talks.
There's no excuse for holding so-called 'pre-planned exercises', which are in fact; practice bombing and invasion of N.Korea right on the border while N.and S.Korea are holding talks.
Imagine if another nation held practice bombings and military invasion exercises on the US border. Its nothing less than a direct threat in bad faith. Any nation would react the same way.
1
Who wrote this stupid article. North Korea's recent actions do not show that they are unpredictable but that they are completely predictable and are serious about wanting to find a lasting peace and are willing to give up nuclear weapons. But as they state they are not willing to do it unilaterally. They want to be ensured of their security and end any US provocations etc.
If Trump is serious he will either remove Bolton as NSA or remove him from this process and let the North Koreans know that his advice will no longer be heeded in regards to it.
What is there for the US to assess other than the above?
Rob Wheeler
Carlisle Peace College
Uniting for Peace initiative
UfPJ
"This here won't effect (sic) my Nobel? People are saying it's already at the ingraver (sic) So unfair!!!!"
3
In grave.
Only Donald Trump could make North Korea appear sympathetic.
6
And George Bush look smart.
1
Yet more proof that our Master Negotiator in Chief couldn't negotiate his way out of a wet paper bag.
5
I am still trying to understand why the US wanted to do war games at this time? What was the point? It's like the boy in the locker with the smallest "basketball" stuffing his pants with socks and walking through the gym during a game. Everyone knows there is a sock bulge. But, nobody really understands why there is a sock in the pants in the first place.
1
Round up the usual suspects.
(The crowd goes wild)
Nobel! Nobel! Nobel!...
If Michael Cohen received payments from ZTE to help negotiate Trump Tower Panmunjom, I'm going to gouge my eyes out.
3
Clearly Trump is provoking intentionally Palestinians and world community so there can never be peace (and Israelis fell for it) and now he is provoking north Korea with military exercises all designed to provoke and force North Koran president to postpone or cancel meeting. It wold be better for him not to negotiate with untrustworthy person such as trump who broke a word and written document by USA. You have to be nuts to trust this guy and USA with this administration of crooks.
1
Kim had one objective when he flirted with Trump: To seduce him via his unquenchable ego, then stand him up and make a fool of him. Putin ate his breakfast, the Saudi's ate his lunch, Kim and Xi are splitting his dinner. Trump is a half-wit, and he is dealing with very shrewd people who hold him, and consequently America, in complete contempt, as well they should.
2
Isn't something that the mad leaders of the world are helping define the atrocity exhibition in Washingron, D.C.? The hole is getting deeper, America. It might be time to do something, hey?
LOL! Who didn't see this coming? ... Trump, Bolton, Pompeo, Pence, etc.
2
Surprise, surprise!
3
Trump reneged on the Iran treaty. Kim isn’t a fool.
6
Mr. Kim is playing Mr. Trump ('Art of the Misdeal') like a yo-yo.
2
Hate to be repetitive but, better hold off on that Nobel prize!
2
Kim is playing Trump like a yo-yo.
Get him to agree to meet at a time and place by seeming to allow disarmament and then yank it back in.
Trump is a perfect yo-yo.
2
How utterly stupid for the US and South Korea to continue war games when supposedly goodwill is now the new approach to sorting out their differences with the North.
The article says this action on Kim's part "injected sudden tension and uncertainty." Actually, as a longtime observer, Kim's charm offensive was what caused tension. Would he maintain it long enough, probably two years, to get a strategic advantage from the USA, where politicians do not have any concept of the "long game," as journalists often describe Kim's strategy.
There was, at least to me, absolutely no uncertainty that ultimately, Kim would abandon diplomacy, aren't 70 years of the Kim family's foreign policy enough to show a pattern, even though from his country's perspective it would be the only way to gain anything of value? But people in the USA forget that Kim's interests and North Korea's interests are not the same thing, and it is a mistake to treat them as if they were.
2
This has “China” written all over it. They don’t want US forces having a footclaw af their border.
5
No surprise at all. Chump Trump took the bait with a burnout like Apollo 1 because of a minor gasket issue in his brain.
This is not real estate Mr Trump. You cannot bulldog your wishes upon other Nations.
10
one. So what. Kim is serious or not. Anyone who buys this Times coverage gossip is a fool.
Two. This is typical Timed dishonesty.
“And it served as a reminder that for all of Mr. Kim’s camera-ready smiles and diplomatic gestures of recent months, North Korea remains an opaque, unpredictable country.”
The COUNTRY of North Korea is not “an opaque, unpredictable country.”
Murderous dictator Kim is the grandson of a line of murderous dictators whose actions can be described by the servile as “opaque, unpredictable.”
For a good time google “rational” “nuclear” “North Korea” “Times” and “Kim” and read the contradictory gibberish on rational versus “unpredictable”.
Can always count on Choe for this type of transparent non sense.
1
Oh darn, there goes the Nobel Peace Prize -- what a surprise.
8
We're a banana republic with no bananas.
7
Pompeo forgot to bring a good translator — Tillerson fired them all.
5
Bullies never get along with other bullies.
9
The only reason Kim did anything different than the last 50 years of Kim family dictators (including murdering his own brother by rubbing a dab of chemical warfare material on his face) was after he had this "Come to Jesus" meeting with Chinese dictator for life Xi. Not a coincidence, I think.
1
So well played by Kim. Trump fell into his trap when he concocted the phony story of Mike Pompeo's first trip to North Korea in order to gain confirmation as Secretary of State. Kim agreed to go along with the charade, perhaps even helping the White House design the obviously photo shopped pictures (which suspiciously appeared days--not hours--after the trip was revealed) offered as proof of the secret meeting. Trump values anyone who will back up his lies, which is why he called Kim an "honorable man." Then Kim continued reeling in Trump by going so far as to invite Pompeo to visit NK in order to lay the groundwork for a summit in June. Kim must have laughed uproariously when he saw clips of Trump supporters chanting "Nobel prize, Nobel prize!"
Kim's aim all along has been to play for time and wait for the bellicose Trump to be either impeached or to resign. What better way to neutralize Trump and keep his tiny finger off the nuclear button than to allow him to be seen as the ultimate Man of Peace?
Now Kim threatens to scuttle the summit and surely threatens to reveal Trump's ruse about Pompeo's 1st trip, which would surely prompt calls for immediate impeachment. Kim has Trump by the short hairs, and we'll just have to wait and see what concessions he can extract from our bumbling commander-in-chief.
3
Golly. Does this mean little Donny won’t get his Nobel Peace Prize? I mean everyone was thinking he should; he said so.
4
So Iraq suffered a miserable fate and John Bolton is repugnant. I couldn't agree more.
2
Oh, dang! There goes doofus's Nobel Peace Prize. SAD!
Novel! Nobel! Nobel! Hahahaha!
4
And so it begins. What I can't understand though is why the United States seems more desperate than a backward, third-world tin pot dictatorship that knows it will be exterminated if it ever dared to fire its nuclear missiles.
3
And to think that Trump's supporters were urging that he receive the Nobel Prize for orchestrating peace with North Korea. If one looks at the history of relations with North Korea they would realize that the road is difficult. Also in the past North Korea has made agreements which were soon broken. Then there is the 3rd generation of Kim at the helm of that nation. He might be the most dangerous of his predecessors. Anyone who believes that peace is around the corner with this regime is very naïve.
3
Plan B ? Mr Stable Genius?
3
And in other news the sky is blue and water is wet.
5
Thanks to John Bolton, singled out by N. Korea in this statement, for being the grownup in the room. He has seen this movie before and has been warning Trump not to fall prey to the N. Korean antics. This temper tantrum by the N. Koreans against a disciplinarian authority should be treated as such: ignore, punish, and reward with good behavior. Carrot and stick. Continue tough sanctions while offering infrastructure development as a payoff with success.
2
Well, if China doesn't get to NK first with all of the carrots it could work.
See "NobelPrize.org" to make your nominations for next year.
Hilarious.
3
Can't disagree with the NK's opinion of John Bolton - I think there are many American's who have "feelings of repugnance towards him.” It's a mistake for Trump to let the guy who was a primary architect of the trillion dollar war that has created humanitarian suffering across Iraq and Syria and strengthened our enemy (?) in Iran. He never should have been given any position of power again in our government, yet there he was blathering on the news about making a deal comparable to Libya. It's clear that Kim is far more intelligent and strategic (along with President Xi), than the keystone cops running our foreign policy.
4
So surprised. Not.
3
What else is new? The “great negotiator” tRump has been fooled once again. No doubt our once-upon-a-time allies are applauding North Korea. Says a lot about world affairs and USA, they are abandoning us. Amazingly the only people he has ~ and continues to fool ~ are deplorable fools~ here, in the good ole USA. With a corrupt conflicted GOP who can’t even get an apology for John McCain, we have become what? A totalitarian banana republic...proof? Look at XTE. Look at reality. Look at everyday news, eyes wide open.
That’s what happens when ennui, apathy and numbness rule the day.
God help us.
3
Fat Kim is still playing games. Hope he doesn't play them too long! There are already rockets with his name on them waiting to be launched.
1
rump got played by Isreal, China, and North Korea. And managed to annoy the friends of the USA by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.
KJU is a certified bad guy, so is V.V.Putin and Chairman XI is no light weight in that department. Trump is a tissue paper tiger in comparison to these gentlemen.
Bottom line: expect more of the same incompetence from Trump. God's not helping Trump.
4
I wonder who's check bounced?
4
"North Korea remains an opaque, unpredictable country." Well what the heck are we these days?!?!? Who would be foolish enough to go into any agreement with this administration? Just ask all of our, what used to be, allies not to mention Iran.
2
Max Thunder. Wasn't he married to Stormy Daniels?
1
I think it's just a perfect moment to warn USA that you should put your filthy hands away Asian countries like PRC and ROC (Taiwan). American government never tries to maintain peace in this region. All you want to do is to take advantages of our weakness so that US could bring the impact of your hilarious DEMOCRACY and the chaos you wish to happen in Asia.
2
If I were North Korea I wouldn't give up my nukes either. We firebombed their entire country, they see with the Paris accord, Palestine, and Iran we are liars. Plus the only reason country A can tell country B we have something that you can't have is country A is a bully.
2
“We have our eyes wide open with respect to the fact that the North Koreans have not proved worthy of their promises, but we’re hopeful that this will be different.”
Eyes wide shut. The U.S. and North Korea are worthy rhetorical adversaries.
2
After Iran Kim would be foolish to negotiate with Trump/ Bolton. They could anytime claim he is hiding nukes and reimpose sanctions. Kim is smarter than this. Kim should negotiate with China instead...they could waive sanctions for sealing the border for example. Or allowing more private enterprise. Lots of bilateral interests...
3
Yet another Trump blow up out of proportion a deal between two men who cannot be trusted. I thought it a bit premature that Kim Jong-Un would give up the only leverage he has that gives him influence. Trump given the Nobel Peace Prize for what may I ask. I can see in the Middle East just how much of a peace maker he is. Mr. Trump, I've experienced presidential peace makers and your no peace maker. How about a prize for war making? Iran, Gaza and the N. Koreans will advocate for you to get the prize! Little hint, Mr. Trump -- read something. You know what reading is don't you Mr. Trump? You sound out words, put them together, go across a page and just learn!
2
No surprise here....
2
Kim Jong-un might have developed a sense of suspicion about the trustworthiness of the mercurial, impulsive and unpredictable American President known to unceremoniously dump his wives, his advisors and as well his friends. The recent Iran episode might have made him to walk he tightrope.
2
Kim Jong-Un has definitely heard the fool me once, fool me twice thing. We would be foolish to underestimate him.
3
What you thought were warming feelings. You've all gotta stop believing Trump.
2
Kim to Trump: "You're fired!"
3
Kim, I share your feelings of repugnance toward John Bolton.
4
Are Iran and North Korea friends?
Is China behind this?
Surely by now the USA should know not to trust North Korea and for that matter the South and China too.
1
Dr. Phil,would say “How’s that worikin’ for ya?”
How to turn the United States into a three ring circus: Elect Donald Trump.
Kim Jong-un leading Trump, Pompeo, and Bolton around on a leash. They should have known better.
Cannot wait til November. Blue Wave alright.
3
So now Trump learns how it feels to be jerked around by a nutty dictator who can't make up his mind about anything.
3
The differnce between Donald and Kim is: Together with his older brother Kim Jong-chul and younger sister Kim Yo-jong he studied at a public school in the Swiss capital of Bern.
He speaks english, german and french and then we have the Donald. Fred Trump had to pay a few millions to Whalton so that his little son gets at least a bachelor.
One Person is educated and then we have the Donald. Who will win this? Better sent M. Jordan cause Kim loves him.
kims early days: http://metro.co.uk/2017/09/04/teachers-give-rare-insight-into-what-kim-j...
2
I’ve been assuming that most of this would have been hashed out in some way during preliminary discussions by diplomatic personnel over time as opposed to national leaders agreeing to summits and negotiating deals via Twitter and press conferences.
4
We have two sociopaths trying to out-bluff each other.
We'll either have a war or maybe--just maybe--Kim will enjoy the limelight enough to cut a deal. As long as Trump does not have a hissy-fit on the toilet at 5am while tweeting.
What a way to run a planet (into the ground).
2
What sort of fool would trust a nation that just abrogated the same sort of treaty it wants you to sign?
A nation that now has a history of bailing from multiple agreements.
Watch crooked Hillary, the dems, MSM, and McCain be blamed.
Watch us be told that there never was a meeting planned.
6
Kim is as nutty as Trump, saying one thing one day, another thing the next. Trump is getting a dose of his own medicine.
Within a few hours, there will be an announcement that djt has decided not to have the summit. I think it's all the spin that gets his hair that way.
1
Better they walk away now than later.
1
Military game provocation. Beyond dim witted in timing.
1
So Nk is now dictating terms. Nice job Mr. President. Make China Great Again (MCGA)
1
Seems silly to practice invading your peace partner.
Yet, practice invasions are so much fun.
We can’t stop.
Yes!. So lets just have a great big beautiful DC military parade with tanks and stuff!
2
Parades are no fun. You don’t get to blow anything up.
Did the air drills caught the NK intelligence apparatus by surprise 24 hours ago? No way, Jose ! More likely, Kim already knew and wanted the summit anyway. The abrupt announcement indicates DPNKs internal dissension between the hawks and the doves. The hawks won, probably due to Trump's unilateral shredding of the Iran deal and to the Gaza protests.
1
So, Trumpkins, for now you've lost the "peace on the Korean Peninsula" braggadocio. Some dealer you brought us. Moves like Jerusalem earns scorn, mistrust, death, and no Nobel. Are we great yet?
6
I'd never have thought I'd agree with North Korea, but their assessment of John Bolton is spot on.
6
Surprise, surprise. Trump played like the fool he is.
What a joke- unfortunately, once again thanks to Trump, the US is the punch line.
5
After a year and a half, I have finally stopped watching the “news” on a daily basis. It’s been 3 weeks now.
It finally has paid off. I feel lighter, happier, more focused, strangely ignorant yet still just as informed as I was without being consumed by the “news”.
Just found out from this story that nothing will happen after all regarding the North Korean summit with Kim Jong Un and the self proclaimed sexual predator.
Just as I thought it never would come to pass....3 weeks ago.
4
Kim Jong-um wants Trump to dance a jig for him before he decides if North Korea will attend the Summit. Trump forgot that we are still at war in Korea and that US is the only foreign country with troops in Korea. Time to start packing as part of that jig Mr. President
1
Yup. I'm guessing the same people who didn't see this coming also thought Donald J Trump was a lovable TV character and honest businessmen. This is basically the kind of stuff that happened with the last bunch of "historical fabulous gimme a Nobel prize summits". Seriously would anyone at this point actually trust Trump and Bolton??? Especially after the Iran deal and our very public announcement to the world that America will no longer try to be an honest broker of peace between Israel and Palestine and will just let Israel decimate the Palestinians however they choose?
The North Koreans will never give up their nukes. I fear Donald J Trump will cut a "deal" that allows them to only say they will give up their nukes without any real proof just so Donny can APPEAR to have struck a good deal for a cheap "win".
The opening of the embassy in Jerusalem was only supposed to happen AFTER a peace deal was struck between Israel and Palestine. Trump skipped to the celebration without doing the peace deal part or any work. Israel just wants the nod from the idiot in the Whitehouse that's it's okay to exterminate the Palestinians like America treated it's native population. They just got the okay. I guess Israel's 1st anniversary celebration of the embassy next year will have more goose stepping.
6
Having read the NYT's report of the statement issued earlier today by the office of the First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for the DPNK (which is worth reading!), I believe a response by means of a statement from the office of the US Secretary of State, who is senior to the DPNK's bete noir of John Bolton, can now be a way to save Trump's excessively lauded bacon in this situation.
.
If it were truthfully to advise a reduction/curtailment in the current military drill with South Korea and also express sincere interest in learning more about the DPNK's vision for denuclearizing the Korean peninsular, I see no rational reason not to expect a response likely to reassure Pompeo that Kim remains interested in meeting Trump either on June 12 or soon thereafter.
1
When this meeting was announced I posted right here, on the NY Times, that Mr.Kim had won. Mr.Kim now has proven, he has won.
Kim just dashed the hopes, dreams and fantasies of Trump and his supporters of the Nobel Peace Prize. Kim needed only one win; with his citizenry. He did that by suckering the President of the United States of America to meet with him. He also won with China; a bonus, but not required. The NY Times, just as every other news outlet including Fox News were played just as badly as Trump himself.
So, please NY Times. Please Fox News. Please America. Quit being saps. Kim played Trump. Trump lost. America again lost. Kim won.
Move on.
8
And any minute will come a tweet about Rocket Man. Sadly, Kim Jong-Un played our President like a violin. When will the adults show up at the masquerade ball?
5
It almost looks as if Kim Jong Un is mocking Trump using “mirroring,” a practice usually associated with middle schoolers: You scratch your head, your classmate copies it. You examine your pencil closely, and your classmate becomes fascinated by a pencil. In short, is Kim is playing at behaving Trump and thus mocking him?
3
The arrogance of the trump administration shines through yet again. The idea that they were "caught off guard" by the latest North Korean change of plans is ludacris. Were they actually believing that in a space of a month or two Kim Jong-Un would go from Rocket Man to The most Excellent?
4
Kim looks at Trump and sees all bark, no bite, and no pack because Trump has abandoned American's allies.
Kim is an Alpha dog.
Trump is a wannabe.
What's Trump going to do with Kim has him for lunch in the middle of the world stage?
Nothing and Kim knows it.
5
If Charles Schultz had drawn a cartoon about the summit meeting with North Koreas, he would have drawn Donald Trump as Charlie Brown and Kim Jong Un as Lucy with Charlie Brown running to kick the football and Lucy pulling the football away, hugging the football and smiling with bared teeth.
5
Yeah, North Korea is willing to give up its six clunker smoking missiles in exchange for America to give up it's 7,000 technological marvel missiles that can enter your bedroom at night and wait by your bedside until you wake to go off.
Yeah, that's going to happen.
2
That's the problem with expectations, this is a 1st meeting ever and everyone seems to think it was supposed to end with Kim Jong Un relinquishing his, pardon the expression, Trump card.
Too bad this isn't that simple, if it was, the NK Nuclear weapons program wouldn't have bedeviled 3 previous administrations. Trump deserves some credit, despite his critics sneers and jeers, for changing the dynamics that some feared could lead to imminent conflict and getting a productive dialogue going, but talk of Nobel peace prizes is premature and silly.
Incremental progress would be a win. The "Little Rocket Man" will want to keep his nuclear card for future discussions and concessions to keep him in power. Let the summit take place and let's see what, if anything, comes of it.
Does this guy with his indecisive crazy mentality remind you of anyone? Someone closer to home? I rest my case. P.S. Did anyone say, "Surprise?!"
2
Gee, maybe genuine international diplomacy -- not just two posers posing for the cameras -- requires a knowledgeable and robust State Department and legions of behind-the-scenes workers devoted to a real and tangible outcome with years of work under their belts.
Mr. Trump and his band of buffoons will continue to embarrass and humiliate the US as they discover that the time it takes to learn "You're Fired" for reality TV may not carry the day in sophisticate international diplomacy. Too bad they won't learn anything, being incapable of that process, and the rest of us will pay the price, in one form or the other.
The shame this administration is capable of generating knows no bounds, just like its stupidity.
7
What we know for sure is this:
At the end of the day, whatever the outcome of the meeting, if there ever is a meeting, we will still be left with two nut cakes, one here, one there, each of them in possession of nuclear weapons.
The solution?
Let's impeach Trump.
That at least gets rid of one of them.
3
This sounded fishy since the beginning. Kim gives up his nuclear weapons and gets what in return? Trump Tower in Pyongyang?
4
Does anybody think a man who murdered his brother in public, boasted about nuking Hawaii and LA is a future partner in a deal. The reporting on the summit with Mr. Kim,fails to understand that we are dealing with a psycopath.
1
Trump’s talk of a Nobel Peace Prize appears to be a bit premature.
2
As expected the North Korean "Generals" have begun to "flex their muscles"
This may well be an instance of Kim Jong-un "showing his true colors." Hard to argue with that. But, more to the point for the citizens of the US, has no one noticed that it is almost certainly Donald Trump doing his usual song and dance? He actually behaves in such a way that one of the columnists for the Times used the word "diplomacy," but then, well goodness everything is arranged, he is the hero of the year, and WHAM he mentions that his terms are such that old Kim looks like a right rotter. But POTUS tried, was diplomatic, arranged the meeting of several centuries. Just goes to show you can't trust those guys. Disgusting.
1
I fail to see why anyone would expect two insane megalomaniacs to work together to come up with something beneficial for anyone.
5
Kim Jong-Un is like a cat playing with a paralyzed mouse. The mouse, who can't feel his legs, thinks he's running, but he's just laying there getting pounced on repeatedly. That the administration was caught off guard is just another clue that they have no clue what they are doing.
3
Too bad Salvador Dali s dead. He would have undoubtedly painted something called "The Great Negociator"
1
Anyone with a few working neurons would have expected and planned for something like this to happen.
But the White House was taken by surprise........
2
#FakePresident is an AWESOME poker player. When he is dealt his hand, he immediately shows it to everyone and brags how great it is. This will frighten everyone into throwing down their cards and then hand him the pot.
4
Kim wiped his feet on Trump. Get used to it .
1
Mr. Trump; Watch, listen and learn what it's like to deal with a real adversary you can not bully around. He'll play you like the chump you are and leave you hanging out to dry.
4
Well North Korea has just handed trump his excuse for losing his chance for the Pease Prize ... Bolton.
Kim and Trump understand each other perfectly. Walking away from the Iran deal was, among other things, a public message from Trump to Kim that we can act just as aggressively and deceitfully as he can and that he, Kim, is now negotiating with realists. And isn't it interesting that Trump is helping his pal Xi, President of China, avoid the bankruptcy of ZTE in exchange for what? Perhaps more pressure from China on North Korea?
Kim's response was that he can be just as unpredictable as the Donald. This is all standard preliminaries before the big event.
17
He's helping China in return for the 1/2 Billion investment in an indonesian theme park Trump is invested in. It's always money. He does nothing without getting paid in spades.
@spencer-
I doubt that Kim understands Trump very much or cares to. As for his little Kabuki dance, his negotiating tactics are his father’s, and grandfather’s.
As for Trump, if countless people who have worked with him closely describe him as an “idiot”, and “moron”, like countless stopped clocks they’re right twice a day.
No, what it demonstrates is that Trump doesn't value diplomacy, particularly when it comes to nuclear arms agreements. Why should Kim Jong Un trust Trump to adhere to a non-nuclear agreement when he's just torn up an existing contract with Iran? If the U.S. can't be trusted to adhere to existing agreements, why should we be trusted to negotiate a new one?
1
Since Kim has known for sometime that the US and S. Korea would continue with their military exercises, maybe other factors are involved to explain this sudden snag, such as China. It may be that Kim is running ahead of himself as far as China is concerned, which has big stakes in any agreement. North Korea also serves as a buffer zone against US encroachment on China's border. But more importantly, an agreement between the US and North Korea can be an important bargaining chip in trade negotiations between the US and China. See Trump's sudden about face on saving China's ZTE company. More than Mr. Kim's feckless nature, which the media loves to play up, important interests are at stake on all sides in these negotiations.
Pyongyang is afraid that Washington could do the same with your country as he did Tehran, just that.
Sean! What do I do now!?
3
Leave it to Trump and his people to screw things up. He doesn't want peace. He wants chaos because that's all he's ever known.
4
Wow! I am massively unqualified in the fields of diplomacy and foreign policy but I still understand the basic dynamics of conflict and human interaction. Any fool ought to know that you don't claim a victory before it's achieved and you don't start crowing about how you got the upper hand before the negotiations have begun. A smart person would avoid attempts to humiliate North Korea by claiming they bowed to the pressure of the 'maximum pressure' strategy. Even it that is true, you don't need to say it. Let NK save face here if that is important to them. It doesn't really matter in the great scheme of things. And a person who is 'like really smart' would give the leaders of China and South Korea credit for the thaw in the relationships. Strategically it doesn't matter how we got to this point or who gets credit. History will sort that out. The critical thing is to get the deal done without the need to satisfy your own ego. Maybe the sanctions have crippled the North Koreans to the point where they felt they had to make some sort of concession. But stop rubbing salt in the wound, take advantage of the willingness to talk and leverage this opportunity to reduce or eliminate a significant threat to the planet. Basically, North Korea is just saying 'hey if you are going to humiliate us then we don't want to play nice with you'. So if there is any possibility that denuclearization could happen, just be the adult here and get it done.
4
@Lang-
Totalitarian regimes don’t think like ordinary people. They follow their own stars and function according to their own ideological imperatives, the overarching one survival of the ruling family and 1st-tier apparatchik cliques — the royal court, if you will. That entails secrecy, multiple levels of secrecy within the regime itself. That secrecy cloaks the reason for their behavior, making it incomprehensible to outsiders.
Their logic is not yours. Never presume to think that you understand what they think or why they behave as they do.
This Nobel thingy is going to be really humiliating for Trump. Now NRA would have to withdraw the nomination...
3
Parade of weaponry, charade of diplomacy.
4
Staging a joint exercise at this delicate time was a completely stupid, crass, and humiliating act. No wonder Mr Kim now doubts the viability of a summit. Added to this we have the mad moustache talking in terms of withdrawal of the Iran nuclear deal perhaps instigating regime change in Iran and Mr kim has every reason to be sceptical of the US's motives.
4
The Times treat Kim Jong-Un as if he were in an autocratic bubble and does not give its readers any opportunity to posit that the greater military of North Korea, with its own multi-generational empowered, just might pull the dictator's strings. It is what we don't know about North Korea that should concern us most. Trump's fried-chicken-on-the chessboard idiocy hardly bodes well in this much more serious world war game.
1
DPRK is Lucy with the football, and the U.S. is definitely Charlie Brown...
2
All it took was Kim Jong-Un to show Trump what a real deal-maker sounds like.
5
I didn't expect trouble this soon. China and Russia are calling the shots here. China giving the demagogue Trump a trade sop and Trump's spy in the WH Putin told Kim to play nice if he wants to continue aid so Putin can help his spy Trump in the midterms.
I figured Kim playing nice would last at least till after the midterms but like a psychotic child he threw a temper tantrum.
2
John Bolton is the reason this is all falling apart, his 'Libya Model" speech about how to handle North Korea has Kim worried, and if you remember what happened to Muammar Gaddafi , you'd be worried too.
3
Quite funny.Trump already thought his name was on the nobel prize.Not so easy.
2
First class hook and bait operation on Trump by NK now they'll throw him back in the water.
All Kim needed was China back on side, he has that now thanks to amateur hour in the White House.
Too many yes men and hawks in the house.
4
Kim Jong-un has Trump exactly where he wants him. This is not the “Trump" summit. Trump is blinded by ego and is too ignorant and ill advised to realize he is not up to this task.
1
Now why am I not surprised?
I guess the SCP proposes, and Kim disposes.
This is NK defeating itself over time as it always does. Chump should refuse to deal with this intransigence. North Korea’s behavior is beneath our consideration. You can bet Chump will try to make a win out of this intractable disaster and will get mighty burned.
Kim knows Trumps presidency is in dire straights and he will play him accordingly.
1
Gomer Pyle said it best. Surprise. Surprise.
2
Sooo, Trump has been really really busy! Just yesterday he put “Donald J. Trump” on the new US Jerusalem Embassy. Big Celebration! Ivanka wore a white swirly dress and Jared talked on TV while thousands of unimportant people from a place nearby were wounded and killed for being too near a border. Mom (yeah, even Donald had one) would be proud. "I can only report the information I've been given" as Sarah Saunders would say. Then he personally saved a whole bunch of Chinese jobs in exchange for lots of money for his new Trump/Indonesia Hotel. Trump has nominated another one of Mitch McConnell’s close relatives for a big govt. job…Hey it’s transactional. Besides blood is thicker than water. Its Infrastructure Week again yeaaa, the administration disbanded a federal advisory committee on climate change for some reason, and now this! Little Rocket Man is messing up Trump’s chance to get a Nobel Peace Prize just like Obama’s. But its only Wednesday and, as Trump always says "Who knows?" Good thing he is such a high energy genius.
5
Well, maybe there's still time to sort things out before the Nobel committee drafts a short-list for that peace prize.
You know, because things have been going so well otherwise...
4
Oops, good thing they haven't given Donny the Nobel Peace Price just yet. He may have to actually work for it.
Kim has consulted Xi more than once in advance of the summit.
They have evidently concluded that Trump is a chump and are giving him a masterclass on the art of the deal.
2
So, the US got snookered by North Korea. Again. And Trump has egg on his face, looking like the amateur he is. Is anyone surprised?
3
Let’s not count on that Nobel Prize quite yet. While Trump’s threats and cajoling may have begun to unlock some doors, he may have yet unleashed a Pandora’s Box of hurt on the world.
He envisions himself a lion tamer. Well, the lion now has your whip, your chair, and your pistol. Now what, big boy? Whatcha got now? Maybe, just maybe, Nada.
1
In Ayn Rand's, Atlas Shrugged, a character represents mindless rage and a need to show everyone who's boss without regard to reason or rational thought. Cuffy Meigs ends up blowing himself and many square miles to kingdom come because he is "the man impervious to thought." But he walks around in knee-high boots, with "an automatic pistol in one pocket and a rabbit's foot in the other."
Did Rand unwittingly know she was describing Donald Trump?
In just days, Trump has managed to blow up the Iran deal, rather than improve, TOTALLY alienate our long-time European allies, set off new massacres in Gaza, blow up the peace process with North Korea, and, yet again, insult the family and person of a dying or dead man who gave his life for his nation.
And this "Cuffy Meigs" thinks he's well on his way to a Nobel Peace Prize???? There hasn't been a more absurd contender for a Nobel Prize since Ralph Bellamy's uber-rich character in the 80's comedy, "Trading Places"!
Kim Jong Un may be a murderous thug himself, but clearly HE has studied Trump far more than Trump has studied him, and knew just how to play him. KJU has achieved his next goal--actually talking and meeting with Moon and the US SecState, and can back away NOW because he can claim Trump cannot be trusted--witness Iran.
Trump is forced Europe to up its military and to put its own national security ahead of its banks and at odds with that of the USA.
And it's ALL Trump's fault!
2
Who is going to look the fool if this Nobel Prize winning move blows up? Certainly not Kim Jong-un, who is universally viewed as a madman. Perhaps Kim Jong-un realizes he can inflict maximum harm on America by highlighting the failings of its President.
Trump has already done that
Icing on the cake
1
Trump and Kim, as alike as two peas in the same pod, in terms of bombast and negotiation tactics.
Just chaff thrown up to keep everyone guessing, and I've little doubt we will see additional bombast, and even a contrite statement from the Trump side as the summit approaches.
Think about it, in my opinion both sides have a set of mutually agreed prearranged wrenches to be thrown into the works, and then spread oil on the troubled waters, just to keep it interesting, save face, and then move on.
Examine closely these two unusual individuals, and remove the chaff from the equation; they both are focused on making history, not for the benefit of world peace, but for their own legacy, which will be forever a long remembered historic accomplishment.
I wait eagerly for June 12, maybe a bit later, but surely will occur, and before year end Iran and the United States will be directly engaged in talks to end their impasse and normalize relations.
11
I would not hold my breath
That gives agent orange too much credit
For thinking
8
Might we also note that USA showed true colors by not canceling the military exercises during a peace negotiation?
2
I’m just so shocked!!
Bwahaha. This exposes just how dangerous someone like “the donald” is in the White House. Great job, America.
1
Great stagecraft by Kim Jung un. Now that he has dialogue with China back in the barn, who needs trump or moon for that matter. Relief from Chinese sanctions was the important issue. Now, hopefully he can get technology imports from China also. Technology that has been stolen from developed western countries. Cannot let us off the hook, who decided it was a good time for war games? Probably Bolton who has to be trumps biggest cabinet loser. Everybody always kinda knew it the back of their minds that there never would be a non nuclear North Korea. Which is why it is so important to encourage countries not to build them in the first place. The us is better without a peace treaty. A peace treaty favors China and China foremost. Nobel prize for trump? Wha? And pigs have been seen flying over mar a lago!
1
It's perpetual agony to keep reminding yourself that millions of people still think Trump has something meaningful or valuable to offer the world. Even in this most basic attribute, dealmaking nous, he is a fraud. Trump is being played by a chubby 35-year-old dictator whose family's chief contribution to world history is famine. You'd be forgiven for thinking that'd be someone Trump could see himself in.
1
Kim wanted to make sure that he, not Trump, got the Nobel Peace prize.
Kim and trump are one of the same.
Kim Jong-Eun should understand his own logics. He drills, others drill.
Trump’s early morning tweet will be “Fake News” media. Pompeo’s back to back meetings with Kim show how eager Trump team is for a deal.
Trump railed about the evil dictator in North Korea as an existential threat during the campaign and months into his administration. Then, when it suited his ego, Kim became an honorable man with the best of intentions. Kim exploited Trump's ignorance and lack of diplomatic acumen to draw him into making bold predictions about his ability to negotiate the moon and the sky, then pulled the same move NK had been pulling for decades. Since nobody in the White House has any sense of history or knowledge of the region, they're caught flat footed when the ridiculous demands and posturing begin. Our president is too dim to realize he's been played for a fool because, well, he's a fool.
4
Background noise. Nothing will happen.
1
But they already printed the t-shirts !!
1
Let's hold Trump's Nobel Peace Prize, please. . .at least for a bit, but hopefully until the end of recorded history.
1
Trump and Kim, it's like the old Spy vs Spy comic in Mad Magazine.
1
'He said North Korea had “shed light on the quality of Bolton” in the past, “and we do not hide our feelings of repugnance towards him.”'
Join the club. And, no, it's not just his moustache.
3
Told ya...
Kim's word can't be depended upon anymore than Trump's.
Wow, what a shocker. I didn't see this one coming. Does this mean Trump's not getting his Nobel Peace Prize? Well at least he's done a good job calming down the situation in Israel.
2
The obvious risk in the tough guy approach is escalation. Trump warns of his "bigger button" and threatens "fire and fury". Exactly when would he resort to the button? Does that happen if North Korea doesn't agree to abandon nukes? Or does it happen if only they if continue to test nukes and missiles? Or does it happen only if they threaten to use them, or actually use them, against another country? Trump is out there on his own with his threats. If he wants to actually deliver on them, what backing does he have? Where does Congress stand? Where do the American people stand? Where do America's allies stand? Where does China stand? Trump does not have support for his approach from any of these players. All the players are standing by silently watching to see if it works. As soon it doesn't work, the fact Trump has no support and that his threats are empty will quickly become obvious. Kim knows this. This manoeuvre will expose Trump's weakness, it will shift the balance in any negotiations. Kim is smart, much smarter than Trump.
22
So Kim makes an overture during the Olympics. He goes to China to discuss this. He meets with his South Korean counterpart. He agrees to dismantle a nuclear site. He meets with Pompeo twice. He releases the 3 prisoners. Regardless of underlying motivations, from his point of view, he makes all these gestures and the guy on the other side just touts how HE is the one who is entitled to the Nobel Peace prize and then, for good measure, stages military exercises when he absolutely knew the other guy didn't want that. What would you do? The message being delivered is for North Korea to make all the concessions and for the US its business as usual. The only two ways this can be looked at is Kim is playing Trump like a fiddle or Kim is going above and beyond and getting egg in his face for his efforts. I get it history is not on Kim's side. The US planes and the military are there. Do you think Kim didn't know they were there? Waiting a few weeks for these exercises would have cost what exactly? If the talks had gone well, continue to hold off on them. If not, have the exercise. Now that option is off the table. Maybe what Kim should do is launch another missile. You know. A gesture of good will.
1
The ball is now in the US court. The three geniuses ( Trump, Bolton, Pompeo) have to respond. My guess is the Trump will tell his new best friend, the " honorable" Kim Jung-un that all bets are off. So now the three geniuses have a confrontation, not only with N. Korea but Iran as well. Oh, BTW, TBP have given Israel a blank check to pursue whatever military options it wants in the ME. Yep, that's right, now the US has to defend Israel if events go south for them.
And of course war hawk Bolton wants to go to war with everyone. Funny thing is that when he had an opportunity to put his money where his mouth was about the Viet Nam War he said "“I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy,” Bolton wrote of his decision in the 25th reunion book. “I considered the war in Vietnam already lost."
7
Never trust a man with a bad mustache.
1
Amen.
It was completely assinine for the US and S Korea not to have postponed the planned joint military exercises. Showed completely bad faith which is not a way to carry out a negotiation.
2
It may be no coincidence that after Kim Jong-un made a sudden visit to Beijing, his skill in playing Trump's ego has improved considerably.
4
I suggest using USPS Express Mail , while there's still a Post Office under this giver away of public assets, to get his application in for that vaunted Nobel Peace Prize they were so cocksure he'd be receiving.
Don''t want to miss this opportunity!
1
From the story:
"In a statement Wednesday, Kim Kye-kwan, a vice foreign minister, rejected the administration’s demand that it quickly dismantle its nuclear program as Libya did 15 years ago, singling out John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s new national security adviser, for condemnation."
It was predicted when this little dance began that Bolton would do all he could to prevent any kind of agreement. If nothing else, he's predictable.
Kim Jong-un played Trump and he'll keep doing it. Trump made it obvious that any agreement with the US is worthless with Trump in the WH. Tore up Nafta, the Pacific Trade Agreement, and the Iran agreement and in the process back-stabbed and alienated our "allies" along the way -- so Kim got the message -- if the US can't play fair with our allies we are not going to deal faithfully with our perceived "enemies."
3
Given the incompetence, contradictory internal messaging and lack of unified action we’ve witnessed time and time again from the gang that can’t shoot straight (take your pick: trade policy and tariffs, sanctions, Syria, the Muslim Travel ban, DACA, gun policy) no one should be surprised that immediately following the “goodwill” release of the hostages, the U.S. didn’t cancel or postpone the military drills.
That such a pro-active, confidence-building, low-cost gesture apparently entered the mind of no one proves the unfitness of this President and his “well-oiled machine” to conduct foreign policy. And rather than a well-timed punt on the Iran agreement, they pick this exact time to walk away from it while continuing to unnessecarily demand unilateral North Korean disarmament.
There will, unfortunately, for the world, be no accord struck with North Korea, as long as foreign policy and the required subtlety and quiet negotiations necessary for one are trashed and replaced by Twittering Trump and his Jersey-Shore posse.
The Chinese backed the Iran nuclear deal. They may have given N Korea a hint that they will not pressure them as much now the US has shown bad faith on its obligations in another nuke deal.
1
I'm in no way defending Kim, but unlike our president, he's actually intelligent. He was watching when we toppled Saddam, he saw what happed to Gadaffi after he abandoned his nuclear program, and he knows the the next to worthless value of US credibility when last week we tore up our accord with Iran. His nuclear weapons are not his bargaining chip, they're his lifeline to staying in power. Besides, how could he realistically remain in control if the North and South really do make peace? China is probably also pulling some strings here, because the last thing that they want is a unified Korea with 40,000 US troops on their border. The "Greatest Dealmaker in History" is way out of his league, and has been getting played from the beginning.
4
Messers. Kim and Moon would better serve their respective countries by ignoring Trump. They can make a peace treaty without his bombast. It's pie in the sky to think that N. Korea would give up nukes. After all, N. Korea's development of nukes got it global attention, look what happened to Libya, and Trump has demonstrated that he cannot make, or keep, a deal.
Unless there is some global and multilateral nuke reduction deal inspired by a N. Korea offer to denuclearize, what's the point of any USA presence? Would the USA join in any such denuclearization agreement? China, the EU and S. Korea can develop their own economic incentives with N. Korea directly that can bring expectations of peace and trade development. After all, Trump has shown allies that it's easy to blow up mutually beneficial international trade, commerce and environmental protection agreements. Trump has squandered whatever standing we had as a global leader.
1
The About-Facer in Chief has been out-about-faced. If the stakes here weren't so incredibly serious, this would be funny.
Kim might have realized that international treaties mean nothing to the Trump administration. So why should he give up his nukes, when any benefits he has received in return can be revoked any time.
2
Kim will make enough outrageous demands compelling Donald Chump to discontinue talks, but the fact that Kim has controlled the narrative will elevate his status and demonstrate he stared down the United States. Did anyone ever really think Kim would surrender his nukes? It's a crazy idea to expect that in spite of what John Bolton, the dolt says.
China's new demands on trade, one of which involves the bail out of ZTE, and others that demand the sharing of technology, investment in infrastructure in the U.S. and other areas that undermine National Security is similar in nature to Kim's position. Trump will get nothing from all of his tough talk and will again look foolish which is consistent with the history of his presidency.
Trump supporters will applaud his dismal failure as a success, the talking heads at Faux News will scramble to spin the events and this will go on until the nation is impacted by the absent of coherent policy from the Oval Office. Trump's concern about job losses in China is not exactly consistent with his campaign promises to the country, much like Mexico paying for the wall and "fantastic" healthcare programs but his core will never waiver until they're all unemployed and without social security benefits. The complicit Republican congress will claim they don't agree with the president, but will then vote on anything he presents and continue to obstruct the Russia investigation. Make America Great Again. Good job Trumpsters.
1
In the words of Gomer Pyle, “surprise, surprise!”
1. North Korea has played this game before however past presidents were aware because they educated themselves concerning the machinations of N.K.’s leaders, past and present.
2. This is what happens when diplomats aren’t given time to negotiate an agreement with specific terms prior to scheduling a summit.
3. Lack of trust on N.K.’s part due to Trump not honoring the Iran agreement.
2
Looks like the "great negotiator" is continually being out maneuvered by a third world dictator. What a surprise. So now Trump's finding out that being President is harder than it looks and there's no black and white answers to complex problems. This attitude is what did in George W. and apparently his intelligence was heads above Trump's. Scary very scary.
I do not understand why we could not cease our "military drills" with South Korea for the time being. Kim has shown that he is willing to give, so should the US in a spirit of cooperation and peace.
This bluster and macho about "we will immediately demand all destruction of all your nuclear weapons" is grade school stuff.
Lets fine tune this thing and see if we can really accomplish something, for once!
1
"Mr. Kim said his country would never follow the path of Libya and Iraq, which he said met a “miserable fate” at the hands of “big powers.”
Both those countries are still in chaos. Iran, once contained by Saddam Hussein, has grown powerful and became a nuisance once Saddam has gone. Libya is now run by warlords. No one knows where Qadaffi's grave is located.
Kim Jong-un a.k.a. "Little Rocket Man" may look ridiculous with his North Korean designer haircut, potbelly, and Mao-style attire, but he is no fool. They do have TVs in the DPRK too; so he will have watched how Trump tore up the Iran nuclear deal, showing that a deal with the USA under Trump is not worth the paper it is written on.
Kim’s nukes are his insurance policy for survival. He’d be a fool to give them up. I know I wouldn’t were I to be he.
As smart as Trump thinks he is, I’d wager that Kim is smarter. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Kim has been playing Trump for a fool. This will probably end in Trump being humiliated on the world stage. A Nobel Peace Prize for Trump indeed!
The greatest dealmaker of all time is proving that he is nothing but a puff of wind. Geopolitics is not Trump’s thing. He would have been wise to stick to real estate. At least in that field, all he could do is make himself bankrupt again. In geopolitics, and on the world stage, a false move could lead to war. Having hawks as advisors will only make matters worse for Trump, and by extension for us all. The post-war international order, which guaranteed us peace, has been shattered. Trump will have to carry much of the blame.
7
Should I be surprised? No. The Crazy meets Crazy meeting may still happen.
You knew it couldn't be that easy, unless you're Trump. I've lived in China, SK or Japan for years. Tricks are ubiquitous in daily life. Ireland made peace with the Good Friday agreement. The Germanies reunited. China will always keep an enemy of US on its border. This allows China to put on a fake smile and maintain a pretense of friendliness with savages ('savage' ye3man2 used to be the Official word for white person in Chinese government documents, and while no longer the official word its use nevertheless continues as slang). As long the Korean war is ongoing, China can pretend to be the good guy with left hand while the right hand is working the puppet.
3
I think it is telling that the NK statement specifically calls out Bolton. I don't blame them for being suspicious of someone who wants to foist a Libya style deal on them. (Because that worked so perfectly - how arrogant and clueless is that?)
5
The trap is set, and not for the first time: Victor Cha's book on NK lists the long litany of "deals", always broken. "North Korea: The Impossible State." It was not hard to see this coming.
1
N Korea has done exactly the right thing.
Walking a path to failure in the upcoming Trump talks is useless. Trump continues to blow every deal that isn’t financed by and for Russians. His ONLY financial backers.
Oh! I forgot. China may be in on it as well.
3
The comments are ever so predictable. It was Trump's fault. I expect that Kim never really intended to meet with Trump. He was counting on just what the readers below have reacted with.
As for closing his test site; it is likely dangerously contaminated. Notice that he has NOT called off that propaganda op.
Are we suprised? Perhaps we could start a lottery and bet on the odds that these talks will ever happen. The proceeds could go to feed the people of North Korea. They deserve to live even while their fearless leader indulges in drama.
After all the treaties Trump has violated, why would anyone trust anything the U.S. promises. Indeed, the murder of Moammar Qadaffi after he surrendered his nuclear program is all the evidence Kim Jong Un needs. There is no way that Warpresident Bush would have invaded Iraq if he really thought Saddam had WMD. Iran had better build a nuclear weapon ASAP because Israel is about to deploy the United States military to topple their government. Something about "red lines," which makes any war crime justifiable.
4
North Korea has a reputation for pulling out of negotiations as a method for maneuvering for further concessions from its adversaries. The United States has a reputation as a military bully, putting military might ahead of more rational diplomatic methods of diffusing situations. Kim's goal, preserve his status quo and get rid of military threats against him. Trump's goal, a peace treaty as well as something positive in his otherwise very destructive tenure in the White House. Trump has signaled numerous times in other situations, as dealing with Israel, Syria, Putin or Saudi Arabia, his willingness to give away bargaining chips to ameliorate foes when they push back, then run to his base and relive his electoral victory with supporters who no more understand what's really happening than he does. A simplistic man wreathed in greed and hatred when a lot more is needed.
Donald Trump in charge of high stakes global diplomacy grows more ludicrous by the day. In the span of a week he's been outmaneuvered by North Korea and Israel on the international stage, while stupidly poking his fingers in the eyes of our European allies. To the diehard faithful of the nearly 63 million voters who gave Trump their popular vote and those in the handful of states who tipped the Electoral College vote to him: If you're determined to go down with the ship, think twice and don't take the rest of the country with you.
1
One wonders when--or IF--the current resident will realize he's being played.
We recall that Hillary, who knows how to conduct international diplomacy about as well as anyone, hasn't been impressed by his gleefully self-trumpeted "master stroke" in getting Kim to the table. It appears that attempting to negotiate with North Korea is reminiscent of Charlie Brown's trying to kick the football while Lucy pulls it away. Again, and yet again.
Of course, Narcissus could have listened to the Obama administration's wisdom before landing in a wealth of pickles, but why do that when his gut is infallible? LOL!
3
A little good news with Kim ratcheting up expectations. Trump virtually declares victory, condemns his predecessors’ attempts, and the Nobel Peace Prize is all but in-hand. Then North Korea does what it always does.
The Trump Administration has a bad habit of counting all its eggs and future eggs before they hatched or even laid (or checked to make sure they aren’t plaster imposters).
Nothing new here.
4
Kim will keep his nukes, China will drop its sanctions (Russia too) and SK will resume its open hand policy. Tired of all the winning yet?
1
Trump is so obsessed with getting the Nobel prize that he is over eager to get a Korean deal and that is giving both North Korea and China unique leverage which they are using to the full extent.
Of course his obsession with the Nobel prize does not have a lot to do with lasting peace in North Korea , it has a lot to do with his obsession with competing at every level with President Obama.
In any case Trump is demonstrating to the Nobel Committee he is not a true disciple of global peace and reducing the threat of nuclear war .
His withdrawal from the Iran agreement , his move of the USA embassy to Jerusalem arguably contributing to the deaths of 60 Gazans will count against him.
3
Of course Kim is backing off the deal now. He never intended to implement "unilateral nuclear disarmament" and Trump was the only person who really believed he would.
Too bad Trump won't get his big photo op making a "deal" with Kim. Oh well, on to the next hair brained scheme.
1
I would take the statement by Gwan at face value. The concern N. Korea is expressing has nothing to do with their perception of Trump himself or with the example set by his unilateral violation of the Iran deal. Nor even with the provocative “Max Thunder” military exercises last week which the US stupidly insisted upon even after the three prisoners were released.
They have no problem with Trump and no problem with Pompeo either. Their problem is John Bolton. Gwan’s statement repeatedly calls him out. So look at what Bolton has been saying during the past week.
Permanent, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization “is something that has to happen before the benefits start to flow,” Bolton said. N. Korea will see zero benefits until that point. If John Bolton gets his way, N. Korea will have to do something Kim will never agree to – do exactly what Libya did in 2003.
Clearly Kim has been hearing something different from Pompeo. One might ask, what is Trump himself thinking? But the question is meaningless. Being an empty vessel, Trump doesn’t really think.
The outcome will depend upon Bolton’s success in steering Trump, or put another way upon Pompeo’s willingness and ability to overcome Bolton and push for a real breakthrough which does not require Kim to become another Qadafi.
Look for Bolton to win and the talks to fail, which is Bolton’s preferred outcome. The war party will be happy.
May 16, 2018 07:36am EDT
2
By the way, thank you NY Times for publishing the N. Korean statement in full. It appears you are the only major media outlet to do so.
1
Trump and his staff should understand that Kim's flipflop behavior is a typical pattern of record of negotiations with North Korea, threatening the future of nuclearization process. Total disregard and indifference should be the response to the latest move. Unless China helps Kim with sanctions lifted, they will come back to the table.
Despotic Kim is a cruel guy, who poison-killed his half-brother and executed his uncle with a machine gun.
His olive branch has hidden thorns and we must heed to the risk of being fooled.
The 2nd major blunder by John Bolton.
The 1st was of course backing out of the Iran deal.
4
Kim Jong-Un shrewd clever stunt proving Trump's gullibility.
2
How about those Celtics won first 2 games against the Cavaliers? In other words what else is news here.
1
Exhibit A in Why It Was Foolish for Trump Supporters to Insist on Trump Being Given Credit for Something that Has Not Yet Happened.
Looks like the Donald has been had by the guy with the funny haircut.
North Korea canceling this summit will be a good thing for the U.S. Can you imagine a lazy, ignorant pillock like Trump negotiating nuclear proliferation issues with that country? The entire region would probably end up getting the green light to go atomic. Japan and South Korea with nuclear weapons in opposition to North Korea. What fun! No, let Trump stay home and have his ego stroked by ceremonies and military parades in this country. The world will be a lot better off.
2
The nobel peace prize awarded to Obama was clearly premature. The nobel peace prize nomination for Trump was clearly premature.
Nothing is final until it is final.
1
Two vainglorious, unpredictable, impulsive narcissists with nuclear weapons. What could possibly go wrong?
Kim Jong-un and I have one thing in common. I can't hide hide my feelings of repugnance towards Bolton, either.
1
First, no one ever awarded a Nobel Prize had personally, openly, and indecently lobbied for it. So let's just throw that silly idea of a Trump Nobel in the trash can where it belongs.
Secondly, only a naive person ever believed Kim would give up his nukes, after observing the fate of Libya, Iraq, and now Iran. Declaring victory before battle is another Trump naivete.
And thirdly, Kim has already achieved what it always sought - a recognition as a world player - playing chess with the US and gaining the upper hand.
3
I guess the Nobel Peace Prize is off the table too. That is what Trump really wants.
1
So, North Korea is threatening to cancel the June summit. And all those other administrations were such failures with North Korea not knowing how to deal with them, according to the one who knows how to deal.... Who knew!??
We knew all along this "summit" wouldn't happen.
The "Elect a clown, expect a circus" bumper sticker has never been more apt. The only thing left to do now is to pop up a bag of popcorn and enjoy the show.
3
Two spoiled petulant children playing at very serious adult games. What could possibly go wrong?
1
This is propaganda at it's best. Kim had no intention of ever meeting with Trump.
This is now a cockfight and Kim had no plans for disarmament. Trump and the United States has been played once again. How much more Donny?
I instantly gained more respect for North Korea when they used the word "dotard" to describe Trump. Not only was it surprisingly appropriate, it demonstrated a familiarity with English that few people in the White House have attained.
6
If I were the North Korean negotiators and after recent U.S. interventions in Libya, Iraq and the ridiculous punishment of Iran by this current admin., I would not trust any of Trump's negotiating tactics. Appointing John Bolton an archaic figure obsessed with regime change in "certain" countries is such a joke. No wonder Kim has been traveling to China in recent weeks, just to co-ordinate negotiating tactics with Pres. Xi. Trump could have acted and negotiated wisely with North Korea and chose instead to unilaterally first punish Iran. This just shows certain other regimes they cannot trust his actions.
Your reporters write "And it served as a reminder that for all of Mr. Kim’s camera-ready smiles and diplomatic gestures of recent months, North Korea remains an opaque, unpredictable country." Could they not have said the same for the current American president? Amateur hour at the White House indeed....
I remain optimistic about the negotiations, mainly because South Korea and North Korea are talking directly with each other. What I see happening now is normal diplomatic wrangling about which side will have a more dominant position.
Anyone remember how long the discussions went in deciding the shape of the table for negotiations between the US and North Vietnam? It seemed silly at the time, but there is importance in the symbolism of who sits where, and the North Vietnamese understood that.
And I would be very surprised if the North Koreans have not studied diplomatic history in the lead-up to the present negotiations. Korea has, after all, about 5,000 years of history, compared to our 250.
Surprise, surprise, surprise! Really?
Did the White House, or anybody else, really think Kim Jung-un was going to just give away the one thing that got the rest of the world, especially the US, to take him seriously? And, now that Trump has shown him what promises and agreements made by the US are worth, Mr. Kim will be much less inclined to sit down and talk seriously about anything, let alone unilateral disarmament by North Korea.
1
Not to guess about Iran's future moves post-US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, the North Korean rethink on the unconditional denuclearisation is certainly linked with Trump's unreliability of what he commits to in talks.
5
Does that also put trump's nomination for a Nobel Prize at risk, or are all his other accomplishments toward world peace and international harmony sufficient to justify the nomination?
2
I wonder if this has been planned for a while. Perhaps since the first "Rocket man" comment.
Some world leaders actually have plans. Conservative American exceptionalism says the US does not need any.
5
How can North Korea's behavior both fit a pattern and catch the administration off guard?
4
What now Donald? More tweets? Appears the Chess Game has begun. Right now, unfortunately, I’m betting on Kim. You’ve met you match when it comes to bullies. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for peace, but when you have someone like Bolton as one of head advisers, you’ve already lost! Add to that the fact that you’ve pulled out of TP trade agreement, Paris Accord, Iran deal plus numerous other good things that O’Bama did, no wonder the world looks at Trump the way they do. How will it end? Hopefully in 2020 is can survive until then.
8
"[Kim] said North Korea had 'shed light on the quality of Bolton' in the past, 'and we do not hide our feelings of repugnance towards him.'"
What a riot. Most Americans feel the same way! Never thought I would agree with something that guy had to say.
6
People need to stop paying so much attention to the DJT show. None of this is of any real consequence. If there is peace in Korea it will only be by the removal of the U.S. from the Korean Peninsula. Somehow I doubt that will happen. I would like to hear more from the Korean experts on this. I'm sure they see it much differently than the average American.
2
Why is anyone surprised?
Could this have happened because President Trump has gutted the upper levels of the State Department, and the Central Intelligence Agency, of both seasoned diplomatic and intelligence personnel? As a result, he is not not likely to get any good, solid advice from senior, capable, career professionals regarding N. Korea's past, present or likely future actions.
Three old sayings, which have been bantered about those circles come to mind. They are:
1.We've been holding back the S. Koreans, as well our our own diplomatic corps, military and intelligence assets from any tangible action for decades, some day we are going to pay the price of that course of action.
2. With respect to ALL of the United States politically elected leadership since President Eisenhower. "It's not that they don't know anything about the situation, it's that the don't even understand that they don't know anything."
3. The deployment of nuclear weapons on mobile transporter, erector and launch (TEL) technology was never addressed, since the days of the old USSR, except by treaty.
An announcement by the N. Koreans that they will destroy their nuclear weapons development facility is utterly meaningless. They now have sufficient fissile material to make thirty or so operational warheads. They have developed multiple missile designs that can be mated with missiles for short, intermediate and long range operations. They don't need a development program any more.
Game over.
5
Well, it seems that "the honeymoon is over" as Kim Jong-un, after a second visit to China, seems to have returned to form. Of course, this may just part of a typical tough North Korean negotiating strategy to control the agenda and simultaneously test Donald Trump and his new hard-line team of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo. Now we'll see how Mr. Trump responds to the demands and how skillful, or just plain eager, he is to claim his Nobel Peace Prize by making concessions in order to get a "deal."
1
Not surprising in view of the recent bellicose statements made by Mr Bolton and others regarding North Korea....as well as the incredibly myopic action vis-a-vis the Iran deal....and of course, the North Koreans are masters at the "bait and switch" negotiations...and recognize the amateurish administration for what it is: all hat and no cattle....
A prediction: this administration will cave in...it has already reduced the number of our nuclear planes participating in the military exercises with South Korea, and the word "denuclearization" is getting "redefined" by its mouthpieces.
Sad.
3
So Bolton trumpets the right wing goals, and North Korea hears him. Doesn't this suggest that Bolton's true agenda was to kill any thaw with North Korea (the right needs both North Korea and Iran as enemies).
So, once again, a Trump appointee is bent on failing, not winning in the government agencies they were tasked to lead.
5
Well, did anybody really think this was going to be easy? Perhaps Trump did, given that he probably has paid little to no attention to North Korea prior to becoming president. After all there was 0% of his company making money there. Given his aversion to reading anything, we can also be certain that he has not read the long history of attempted negotiations, failed overtures and brinksmanship played by the North Koreans over the last decades. Yes, who would have thunk it would have been so easy? Just trump and his blind followers.
3
You have to agree the North has a point about Bolton. He is a regime change guy and Trump's preferred advisor. This is the North telling us that disarmament is a red line for them. That comes through loud and clear and it's omission frm the article is hard to follow. I hope this is not the N.Y. Times of the Iraq war.
3
This is from the transcript of North Korea's remarks:
"We shed light on the quality of Bolton already in the past, and we do not hide our feelings of repugnance towards him."
Made my day!
3
There seems to be a connection to China getting a reprieve for ZTE and NK pulling back on the charm offensive. Are they negotiating and end to the armistice or are they part of the trade war between China and NK?
Grandparents of a certain age might say, Mr. Trump's getting a taste of his own medicine. The problem is, it might prove a bitter pill for the rest of us. Informed, forthright, skilled negotiators are needed here; let's hope that there are a few left in our emaciated Department of State.
2
I'd be more disappointed if talks between South Korea (ROK) and North Korea (PDRK) don't take place because they have things they can negotiate other than nukes and conventional weapons. These have a better chance of bearing fruit in the short run. I don't see much chance of a nuclear arms agreement in short order because developing a means to monitor the weapons is very complicated.
I also have serious doubts Trump and staff have the abililty to negotiate competently with PDRK. The administration lacks expertise on North Korea and how to negotiate nuclear arms deal. Worse, Trump doesn't care he doesn't know what he needs to know. Ample proof of that with his ending the agreement with Iran.
It may be best to put negotiations aside until a more competent president and staff occupies the White House.
“The warnings caught Trump administration officials off guard and set off an internal debate over whether Mr. Kim was merely posturing in advance of the meeting in Singapore next month or was erecting a serious new hurdle.”
———
In the piece following this one, North Korea’s unpredictability is shown to be predictable. Yet another thing that everyone else knew and Trump and his band of know-nothings didn’t. Now we just wait for the tweets this morning, full of bombast and name calling. So predictable.
1
It would be in China's interest to see South Korean and U.S. military air, naval and ground drills slowly phased out. China most assuredly had a hand in this development.
Those who understand geopolitics are not surprised nor dismayed. This is a leader whose family has held a tight grip on North Korea for almost half a century. Political novice man child Donald J. Trump does not and never will. The positive outcome has been that three American captives were released despite Trump. We can thank the Chinese leader for that since China has a vested interest with Trump's company in several projects in Asia.
The idea that North Korea will abandon its nuclear capacity and delivery systems is absurd. Just as our fear of the weaponry is overblown.
North Korea is a third world dictatorship - a fascist nation that chose militarization rather than industrialization and commerce decades ago. Their people pay a horrendous price. But their leadership lives comfortably enough.
The nuclear capacity guarantees that their comfort won't be ended by war - the "fire and fury" Trump threatened only months ago. The threat was always hollow. Just as it was always a bit more than foolish to believe North Korea would declaw.
As the Trump sycophants call for him to get the Nobel Peace prize, he is being played by North Korea, increasing tensions and bloodshed in Palestine, giving Iran reason to become a nuclear state and potentially give us war there, pushing us toward trade wars, ignoring threats from China, playing the pawn to Putin, and letting other problems around the globe fester as he walks away from our allies and defense of freedom and democracy.
Nobel Peace Prize? Sixteen months of Trump. The downward spiral gains speed. We should count ourselves lucky if the world survives this grifter President.
2
This is probably Kim's way of telling Donald not to start to build his cabinet that will hold the Nobel Peace Prize. I believe Kim thought he, himself, would be the recipient. After all, I am not sure, but I don't think the spirit of the award should go to a man whose contribution to date towards peace on the Korean peninsula has been to try and force the other side to the table by threatening them with "fire and fury the likes of which the world has never known". And if you are willing to give up so much towards peace and you consider that your prize for that effort won't be the Nobel, it will be a John Bolton bobble head, I can appreciate why you might not like that. I do think though it should be prepared for WWIII not because of failed negotiations here or because of conditions in the middle east. That war will be launched if Kim wins the Nobel and Donald does not.
The US needs to cease and desist with its "military exercises." The Korean War ended decades ago.
According to The CIA year book, North Korea ranks at 214 in the list of countries by GDP per capita, below Haiti, below Guinea Bissau and yet, it is playing Trump (and the rest of the world) like a puppet on a string. It provokes and people respond, but its provocations are small and calculated. The primary purpose of this regime is its self preservation. It must know for certain that if it carries out its threats, it will be destroyed and that is not its game plan.
Its economy is bust, its test site has collapsed, it does not have enough fuel for its army to attack South Korea.
The talks were to be held in Singapore because that is the furthest its presidential plane can fly.
Let Trump look like the fool he is he wishes to fly around the world, he is after all the great negotiator.
My own thoughts would be to ignore them and continue the sanctions.
With Bolton guiding Trump North Korea will have to surrender its nuclear weapons before an overwhelming shock and awe invasion by US forces. They don't like this deal. Perhaps there is another way.
“The Secretariat building in New York has 38 stories,” Bolton said. “If it lost ten stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.” Meanwhile, 59 former diplomats have written an open letter criticizing his nomination.
North Korea is NOT ALONE in its revulsion and mistrust of Bolton.
North Korea singled out John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s new national security adviser, saying in a statement, “We do not hide our feelings of repugnance towards him.”
1
If someone in the US adimistration ( Bolton or anyone else) did refer to Libya, while engaging new drills as usual on the border just after destroying the Iranian deal on nukes...it comes as no surprise NK may turn somewhat reluctant.
To add to my earlier comments, a cancellation of the June 12 meeting would be disastrous for Trump. It was the only thing keeping Mueller's bloodhounds from his door. There would be no reason for them to let up or lay off.
Did you mean attack poodles?
Way the successive American administration treats the Korean crisis make us believe there is astounding selective amnesia of the history of the conflict.
Nearly seven decades back US-led attack on Korea led to mass destruction and the death of nearly 30 percent of the North Korean population. Technically that war has not yet ended.
Only way forward to resolve the crisis as expressed by Ron Paul : Pull all US troops out of the K.orean peninsula; end all military exercises on the North Korean border; encourage direct talks between the North and South and offer to host or observe them with an international delegation including the Russians and Chinese, which are after all Korea’s neighbors.
A perfect non zero solution where everyone is a winner except possibly industrial military complex . an "institutionalized collusion among private defense industry, the military services, and the United States government (DOD). Such collusion includes the awarding of no-bid contracts to campaign supporters and the earmarking of disproportionate spending to the military This alliance is driven by a quest for profits rather than a pursuit of the public good."
All of the smiles and happy talk may have diverted everyone's attention away from the facts that North Korea remains one of the world's most brutal totalitarian states, and is an incredibly difficult regime to negotiate with. Hopefully the Trump administration hadn't forgotten about this, but now it and the American public have been properly reminded.
Pompeo said, "We have our eyes wide open with respect to the fact that the North Koreans have not proved worthy of their promises" with a straight face?
The stable genius appears to have counted his Nobel long before it could hatch. Didn't any of his equally genius advisers tell him that Kim Jong Eun is more erratic than even he is, and that North Korea has no reason to give up its nuclear capability without major concessions in return? None of Trump's foreign policy cronies recall North Korean negotiating nonsense from the past? Which ever side wants an agreement less is always in the position of control, and it is obviously North Korea that is going to call the shots here if only to take a few kicks to Trump's ego. Yeah, the art of the deal . . . .
Five will get you ten that President Trump, “Mr. Art of the Deal”’ will negotiate a one-sided, give-away deal that is detrimental to the US and its allies. And, in a few years, when the awfulness of the deal is truly recognized, Citizen Trump will blame the administration that entered into it.
And ten will get you twenty that right now, behind the scenes, Trump is pushing for a cancellation of the military exercises, thereby immediately showing the North Koreans a weak US hand.
it's becoming clearer that China (and Putin) is skillfully using North Korea as a pawn to reduce US influence in the region. They are catering to Trump's need for attention and desperate need to save face and credibility; dangling the carrot of peace agreements with the ability to pull them away when American policy or actions don't align with their national/regional interests.
Successful multi-generational dictatorships become that way and stay that way for a reason.
Trump's tweeting and will it/won't it happen summit aren't going to result in Kim Jong-un releasing power he doesn't feel he can't get back quickly if he feels threatened.
This is when the art of the deal scammer Trump should stand up and deal us a perfect deal for Kim to give up all his nukes, open up all his military facilities for US impromptu inspection. Since Kim is such an "honorable man," it should be easy to win. No? Mr. President.
How can this be? President Trump said that
Kim was an honorable man.
Easy fix (as always): The multilateral scrapping of ALL nuclear weapons in the world makes "the art of the deal." Have some guts United States and be the first to renounce all nuclear weapons. As repeatedly asked: Why would any country relinquish its nuclear stockpiles when other countries have them? There's the 'elephant in the room.' C'mon, tear-up the Iran deal (instead of amending it, i.e. Tom Friedman's suggestions) and glorify the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem while thousands of Palestinians are killed, maimed, and denied a homeland?? And then you want Kim, Jung-Un to unilaterally relinquish his nuclear weapons (especially with other examples like Iraq and Libya being forced to capitulate in the past)??? You've got to be kidding; where's the logic? In order to gain a more objective, I'd be happy if Donald Trump and half his cabinet were required to live in another country for three to five years just to "see" how this insanity is playing-out abroad. If anyone is to get the Nobel Peace Prize, it's Kim, Jae-in of South Korea, not Trump. Who do think is running 'this show'? That's right: Xi Jinping of China. Asia can no longer be manipulated by a nation-child 'too free without responsibility' to believe it controls the rest of the world, for the world (and Asia) no longer can be controlled by the "might makes right" doctrine that has killed, displaced, and upset so many lives and peoples over the past seventy years. Time to mature and join the rest of humanity; disarm.
1
Hawkish: advocating an aggressive or warlike policy, especially in foreign affairs. "the administration's hawkish stance".
"Bolton, known for his sharply hawkish views, has said that North Korea must commit to a disarmament similar to “Libya 2004.” He was undersecretary of state for arms control in 2004, when Libyan leader Gaddafi agreed to give up its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief." WP
History continues to record the outcome of immoral hawkish political decisions - hundreds of thousands of innocents dead, social & economic destruction designed to collapse all levels of Libyan society.
Why would North Korea sit down with those who want to kill him?
The US has been a manipulative and untrustworthy partner for decades, traits only magnified by the current Administration. Others, including Kim himself, have remarked on the fates of many countries that deal with America. I’ll just say this: the US demanding that N Korea give up its nuclear weapons while moving to stock up on its own is devoid of all credibility. The media & gov’t paint Kim as a loose cannon, but maneuvering to avoid a bad deal makes sense to me - and it would to the Dealmaker in Chief too, if he had any actual business sense.
The Nobel Peace should not neccassily be awarded annually, only when it has been truely earned, on the basis of results not pie in the sky wishful thinking. Talk is cheap, and boastful rhetoric often falls way short of eventual outcomes.
Here is a short list of those whom should give theirs back: Henry Kissinger,Barack Obama, Al Gore, Shimon Peres, Yasser Arafat, Aung SAN Suu Kyi,, Meachem Begin.
The only person concerned with Middle East peace whom deserves to keep theirs is Yitzhak Rabin, and he paid for it with his life.
Donald Trump ending the Korean War? Sounds like really bad counterfactual fiction. Donald Trump and John Bolton are the least likely people to sign a diplomatic accord with North Korea or just about any other country. Remember, Trump is the passionate Mexico will pay for our wall presidential candidate. He then became the passionate Mexico will pay for our wall president. How delusional was that?
Then we have John Bolton famous for building a fraudulent case for the Iraq War now famous for advocating war and regime change against both Iran and North Korea. This is a man who would never under any circumstances receive U.S. Senate confirmation for a cabinet position. No one is on Bolton's right. He moved one step in that direction who would fall off the earth.
That's not good, but if they aren't willing to do complete, verifiable nuclear disarmament then there really isn't much to talk about.
"... for all of Mr. Kim’s camera-ready smiles and diplomatic gestures of recent months, North Korea remains an opaque, unpredictable country."
As opposed to the US under its current president?
1
The U.S. war machine needs war, but a fourth war in the Middle East has no justification, so they need the threat of war to remain. Trump wants re-election, but Bolton and the like couldn't care less - peace is their enemy. Even if North Korea makes 90% of the concessions they want, they'll break the deal and pull out over whatever North Korea denies them, and then it's back to the good old days of Kim barking at Trump barking at Kim with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, L-3, General Electric, Halliburton and the remaining plethora of defense contractors happily making trillions in sales as the Korean peninsula and east Asia returns to what will this time be a permanent ceasefire. And all the while the Americans keep shooting each other and each others' children.
1
My biggest question about the "summitt" is who plays Kim on SNL. The World holds it's breath while two petulant children posture, threaten and cat call each other.
This is what passes for diplomacy in the age of ignorance, aka Trump World.
A postponed meeting with the North Koreans is going to be the least of the world's worries. They already have nuclear weapons. Trump has just dared Iran to manufacture its own.
1
"The State Department spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said...'They are exercises that are legal. They’re planned well, well in advance.'" Yes, but maybe a little adjustment would have been in order, given the unique circumstances, i.e. with an unprecedented top-level meeting being planned?
On the other hand, it might be in our best interest for the meeting plans to fall apart. Kim previously called Trump a “dotard” and now declares his “repugnance” at Bolton. So clearly he’s perceptive and, it follows, probably more cunning than crazy. That’s why it’s likely that, far from the “breakthrough” that Trump has blustered nonsensically about, he will leave that meeting sans wristwatch, shirt and all. (He’ll still bluster, of course, because whitewash is his MO.)
Finally, and sadly, I think a fair response to Pompeo’s statement that “[w]e have our eyes wide open with respect to the fact that the North Koreans have not proved worthy of their promises” would be “pot, meet kettle.” The current president is building a portfolio of U.S. welshes in the international arena and he continues to add to his long list of lies to the people of this country. With him we are automatically hobbled from the get-go in any negotiation.
1
unfortunately, this situation requieres something called diplomacy. this is not a word known by your admin. additionally Mr. Bolton is convinced that NC has to surrender unconditionally, which of course helps further infinetly to come to a mutual agreement.
This happens when this President refuses to read, study and above all, do his homework before taking the finals.
This is no game of chess. it is more like Russian roulette and in the end there are no winners.
1
North Korea not so sure anymore about the actual intentions of the US defenders of their realm. This break in the clouds will soon disappear because the US simply amusing themselves; no peace treaty possible. US gamekeeper John Bolton drives a hard bargain knowing the US will never cede control over their Korean military province. North Korea has seen the future and does not trust the US after Iran and Libya. US policy in Asia simply to keep China in check. Taiwan Korea Japan links designed by the US for that key purpose. Nobody expected anything with Trump as the performing illusionist surrounded by his Cold War companions.
"North Korea remains an opaque, unpredictable country." Sounds just like the Trump Administration.
Was there anyone in the whole wide world who didn't understand that Kim understood the lessons of Libya and Iraq, or that his negotiating style is that of a spoiled brat?
Trump would be ebullient to let North Korea keep its nukes and probably make more, probably by the simple expedients of no inspections and no reviewing past paperwork, as long as he could crow that he had won a victory. Kim wants more: removal of the US defensive military alliance with South Korea.
2
"the summit meeting might be canceled to protest a joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea that began this week." That is false. It is so obvious: Kim met with Xi last week, and now the peace talks are in jeopardy.
China wants (as always) the United States to waste blood and treasure, and a nuclear North Korea does that efficiently. China and Xi are duplicitous: they say precisely the opposite of what they truly want.
Kim is Xi's lapdog. He does as Xi commands.
The United States, South Korea and our allies should hope that the latest pronouncement from the North Koreans about cancelling the summit is just a publicity stunt – just as the recent release of three prisoners to Mike Pompeo was merely for the media.
Singling out John Bolton for North Korean criticism was an interesting touch. Whether that lowers or raises Bolton’s clout in the White House depends solely upon what Donald Trump hears on Fox & Friends.
Simple. There's no reason for trust.
He saw Trump pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement without good reason.
Then he was responsible for over 60 Palestinian deaths for moving the embassy to Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, U.S. and South Korea continue military drills.
He never had any intention of meeting with us, this is a game he is playing.
war with NK is inevitable that's why we need to train for it.....
Seems all the right wing media’s celebration of this historic event might just be the equivalent of Dubya speaking before a “Mission Accomplished” banner.
What do you expect? It's a country run by an unstable egomaniac at odds with all norms of international diplomacy. Their guy's the same too...
These negotiations were never going to be easy. Trump was the only one who seemed to think they would be. With all his patting himself on the back over the return of the three hostages, Trump raised the stakes and gave Kim leverage. Now Kim is testing. Trump should keep his mouth shut and let his diplomats and South Korea do the talking to their North Korean counterparts.
In a complicated situation there are too many players that will put their 'legacy/reputation/ego' ahead of the interests of their countries citizens. Trump/Bolton/Kim and their minions are not best suited to this task. How sad for all of the people in North and South Korea and for the rest of us that these 'world leaders' are simply world class fake macho men. The winner here to the cost of the rest of the world will be China.
Not at all unexpected and I would have been surprised if it had not happened. NK is posturing to test our response. They offer to deconstruct their nuclear test facility while admitting international observers to “verify”. What do we do as a gesture of our administration’s sincerity?
We can expect more of this before Singapore, if that actually takes place. NK plays hardball and we should never forget that.
The North Korean statement singles out Mr. Bolton and the notion that North Korea might be made to immediately give up its nuclear arms, with payoff to be negotiated later. The statement also mentions Libya, whose leader is of course dead.
Did anyone expect anything different? The message was unusually plain-spoken, but maybe that was necessary.
2
NK never intended to give up their nukes. They said so pretty explicitly, so I'm confused why anyone thought otherwise. The meeting with the US was to establish themselves as a recognized nuclear power. It's laughable if it weren't so sad that this administration thought for one second, NK would denuclearize.
3
What a surprise. Does anyone in his right mind think NK is actually going to give up nuclear weapons? They have just been provided with an example of what US commitment to a treaty is worth.
8
This was predictable. Kim knows this is all theatre that could play to the benefit of Trump in time for the mid term elections and later the 2020 re election campaign. Trump needs a big win like this and Kim is providing a theatrical production of success for Trump, but there is a price to pay and this latest move is just a message to say, don't forget who's in charge here. You give me an end to sanctions and I'll give you the appearance of a peace victory and perhaps 4 more years.
2
More theater with the curtain call still weeks away. NK has too much at stake to walk away from this opportunity. They could easily obtain the economic opportunities they have eagerly sought and lessen the world's view of their aggressive nature.
Their “aggressive nature?” Who have they attacked in the last 67 years?
The North and South appear ready to make peace, but the U.S. steps in to conduct military exercises and messes everything up. Trump crows about how we are modernizing our nuclear arsenal, then tears up a deal we made with Iran. All our friends have given up on us as reliable partners. Why on earth would Kim want to talk to Donald Trump? As far as uniting the North and South goes, Trump's involvement appears to work counter to everyone's best interests.
15
Nothing occurring between the US and North Korea is inconsistent with an ongoing US plan to initiate military force.
Pyongyang may not be entirely incorrect when it asserts that current US-South Korea Air Force exercises are a provocation.
Trump’s seemingly impulsive agreement to negotiate may simply have been a cynical cover for the force that he already intends to use. By jumping at the chance to meet, Trump may have wished to create support for a claim that he “did all he could” to avoid war, when war has been his plan all along. North Korea’s reluctance now to meet may simply indicate a reluctance to fall into such a rhetorical trap.
Diplomacy requires trust, and not even Trump’s wives trust him.
It would be a grave mistake to believe that life or property is safe with John Bolton as National Security Advisor. So far he is 0-for-1 when it comes to wars, after fervidly urging the invasion of Iraq. It looks like we are now willing to let him go 0-for-2 or 0-for-3 with wars against Korea and Iran.
4
Serious negotiations between two untrustworthy heads of state? Really?
I understand HOPE. I'm a former Peace Corps volunteer who had the privilege of serving the good people of South Korea for two years over 40 years ago. People from the older generation stopped me continually to thank me for US help during the Korean War. They talked of family still in the North. South Korea has changed dramatically in 40 years, becoming a world economic force. That's due to the remarkable focus and work ethic in the South. That's HOPE and action working with HOPE.
What we have going on now is exchange of empty empty words by two governments (NK and US) from whom I would not buy a used car. Much less trust the future of my family to.
NK Kim has already gained the upper hand by playing the US. He's now a recognized figure on the world stage worthy of being invited by any government into the community of world nations. He did this by becoming a nuclear power. Any chance of him giving that up? Any chance the current US leadership understands that? Any chance the US is willing to give up its position of power on the Korean peninsula?
Serious negotiations between two untrustworthy heads of state? Really?
8
It remains to be seen whether the June 12 meeting will take place. Kim Jong-un knows that Trump is desperate for writing history. Although he also benefits from the international spotlight this meeting generates, he wants to send a signal to the US not to cross the red line – pushing for a quick and total denuclearisation. The North wants the world to know that it is coming to the negotiating table from a position of strength, and they feel that they are dancing to Trump’s tune.
There are signs that the Administration has irritated Pyongyang in recent weeks. Singapore is definitely not Kim’s preferred choice of venue. It was Trump who tweeted about summit venue on May 11. Then Trump’s boasting and claiming credit for a possible deal that the North may not like has been a step too far.
It doesn’t hurt that John Bolton has been publicly criticised for his insensitive comparison of the North with Libya or Iraq, his hawkish views and outrageous remarks about regime change in North Korea and Iran. Trump needs to know that he is not the only one who can “walk out” if he doesn’t get what he wants. In fact this has been Pyongyang’s playbook in the past.
16
It is well known that the murder of Gaddafi in a US led campaign made a deep impression on Kim and has been an important reason for him to continue with his nuclear program. So when Bolton raised Libya as a model he might as well have said that he was planning to betray Kim just as the US previously had betrayed Gaddafi.
The influence of the US has always been based to a large extent on trust by other countries that it would do the right thing. That trust had already been considerably been eroded before Trump came to power and he has only made things worse. Now we see the results.
23
I believe it was part of the plans. Bolton, the exercises, etc not withstanding.
Sadly, this needs more than the US has to offer in terms of diplomacy.
For one thing, this kind of behaviour is a classic North Korea negotiation standard, agree on lose terms for a meeting and then get more from it by threatening to derail the meeting and the process.
That is fairly normal and is only part of the game.
Every first year student of diplomacy can handle that, which is why Trump and his cronies will not be able to handle it.
The other thing can be summed up by paraphrasing Shakespeare's monologue of Marcus Antonius at the grave of Julius Caesar, another item that Trump and his cronies have never heard of:
" ... but Bolton is an honourable man ..."
22
Saddam Hussein signed a disarmament deal with the U.S. and look what happened. Iran signed a deal, and look what happened. Is Kim Jong-un backing out because we reneged our deal with Iran, or is it because of the U.S. military exercises that just had to happen this week? We can't blame Jong-un for holding on to the only thing prevent an American invasion. The United States has been at almost constant war since World War II, but never against a country that can defend itself.
29
Granted that Kim is playing games with the U.S., Bolton is helping by wanting a Libya model. See what has happened to Libya and now Iran, who'd want to give up anything? Especially when the dictator has only one trump card?
18
With their objection to Bolton the North Koreans are suggesting that they should have veto power over Trump's cabinet appointments. Previously this privilege was given only to the Russians.
48
"Mr. Kim said his country would never follow the path of Libya and Iraq, which he said met a “miserable fate” at the hands of “big powers.”
Our legacy of "regime change" comes back to bite us. Who would have thunk it?
Who should have thunk it? Everyone.
The chickenhawks have never met an unfriendly regime that they didn't want to overthrow.
42
You think there'd be a bit of diplomacy and tact once things looked like heading towards a historical moment of peace but Trump would rather pat himself on the back and boast - he's no diplomat and has no tact.
31
Maybe, I saw this in a slightly different way.....
I saw Kim Jong-un making a concession, publicly, and seeing no similar concession being made by South Korea and the United States, just the continuation of business as usual.
There is the Art of War, and then, there is the Art of Diplomacy.
To have held off on the War Games, until after the summit meeting, would have been an appropriate response to the situation.
Maybe, Donald Trump and his advisors need to read something like Machiavelli's ' The Prince ', and find out what diplomacy is really all about.
All of this needs players who know what they are doing - sadly missing, in this case, as far as the US is concerned
57
Do honestly think Trump or his advisors read anything? Seriously, I don't know if you noticed but Sean Hannity and Fox and Friends are Trump's advisors. We are talking about a man who hired Rudy as legal counsel.
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. - Sun Tzu
63
“If the United States is trying to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment, we will no longer be interested in such dialogue and cannot but reconsider our proceeding to the North Korea-U.S. summit.”
It makes a great deal of difference to a sovereign nation to decide to disarm, negotiate terms of disarmament and go through a respectful diplomatic process, rather than be forced to decide on a "take it or leave it", "my way or the highway" deal from another nation which has not been a friend.
That they've singled out John Bolton with particular disdain, and thought Libya and Iraq were treated terribly, shows that North Korea is quite aware of world affairs, and that John Bolton has an international reputation as a fringe element, far right wing hawk.
Bolton and Trump have unreasonable biases. They prefer to dictate rather than negotiate. They do not believe that trust can be built with perceived enemies through diplomacy.
Or perhaps they are simply impatient to get on with their own agenda, striking at countries or peoples they disdain, like Iran, Palestine or Mexico.
The Bolton/Trump combo, unfortunately, leaves the U.S. without even-keeled, reasonable negotiators in North Korea. They renege on international accords
While Kim and Trump may be doing some provocative posturing before the June meeting, it remains that the U.S. must find a qualified, fair, patient and wise negotiator by June. Impatient hotheads need not apply.
46
There is much to criticise in Europe but also for the USA much to learn.
During WWII, German cities have been bombed by the USA and UK in a manner that many in Germany still today consider a crime against humanity. One of these cities was Dresden. Following German unification after the end of the cold war, the old city center of Dresden has been rebuilt with support of the UK city of Coventry that during WWII had been bombed by the German V1 rockets. Dresden and Coventry are partner cities and citizens of each city regularly visit the other.
If the USA seriously strive for peace with North Korea, they must acknowledged their inhuman bombing of North Korea.
What Germany and Europe have learned and taught the world is that peace is not possible without all parties involved acknowledging one's own questionable doings - regardless whether these doings were inevitable or not.
26
Coventry was not bombed by V1 bombers, it was flattened by the Luftwaffe in a single night, similar to Dresden, although tat Dresden they used incendiary bombs, which created fire storms. Both cities were to be destroyed.
Kim Jung-un certainly knows how to play our president. He lets DJT brag about all he has done to bring peace to the Korean peninsula and think about a nobel peace prize.
Trump's ego is very invested in this summit and Kim knows the opportunities that presents
51
It is so obvious that North Korea knows that the more they pander to the presidents ego , the more foolish our leader is. He is the consummate egotist and now the world can see how hopeless our agenda for peace is.
Our leaders want to test our weapons with the lives of our military.
After seeing how easy it is fir us to negate a treaty, why would any country want to accept our word.
It's sad that the world .... and this country ... and the its media ... seems to equate everything Trump does (or says) as "United States policy." It's not. It's just one deranged man's folly. Lord knows what I will read in the NYTimes tomorrow morning.... The world apparently revolves around whatever a demented man tweets in the early hours of the morning.
This is why I subscribe to the print edition of the NYTimes. By the time whatever Trump has decreed, the dust has settled, the truth has been filtered out, and the print article reflects that.
But God forbid a country (and media) that depends upon, and believes, every tweet that Twit tweets.
41
normal people still use tweets?
But you're reading this, and contributing to it. I'm the same, I get the print version and try to read it first and blot out the "instant news" thing. But, apparently as you do, I'm drawn inexorably to reading these comments while I have my coffee and blood pressure medicine. I'm scared. Wasn't it djt who said "If you've got nuclear weapons, why not use them?" ??
History will tell us as always.
When you threaten nuclear war on a country (N.K) how can you possibly be considered for a noble peace prize?
When you incite violence in the Mid-East, how do you suppose that is worthy of any peace prizes?
When you pull out of an Iran nuclear agreement that all of our allies in Europe are going ahead with out the U.S, these countries don't need us.
War President coming to us soon
33
Note the time. At approximately 11:42 PM ET on Tuesday May 15, 2018, the tail officially began wagging the dog.
12
I am shocked, shocked by this news. Who knew that Kim is a strange guy who might pull out from discussions and agreements at any time??
At least I know that we won, its just the start of all the winning, so no problem, everyone should sleep well at night.
15
Actually Kim appears to be much more reasonable than Bolton who insists on being tone deaf and thinks he (and the US) knows what's best for everyone. Notwithstanding Libya, Iraq and other meddlesome US "solutions" to world problems.
The nation really needs to get serious and stop entertaining intellectual curiosity items about this trump guy and move concertedly to holding him to account for doing everything from obstructing investigations to enriching himself by refusing to divest interests. His henchmen keep trying to normalize the abnormality of his behavior. Nothing about his time in office has been normal and nothing about him has changed. He is grossly incompetent and proves it daily. He is using the office to enrich himself and his spawn, and proves it daily.
49
Trump's power is now he's the engineer of the gravy train, and so many want to get on board while the gravy is flowing. As soon as they see that the train is about to run off the tracks, they'll be off at the first station.
How are the Golden Bull's supporters going to blame President Obama for this development?
32
Be assured they will find a way.
I’m not sure that it’s North Korea that is the “opaque, unpredictable country” here. Donald Trump’s theory of great man deal making hardly leads to predictable and well thought out diplomatic positions by the U.S. and the North Koreans are pretty accurate when they cite what has happened to Libya and Iraq when they succumbed to the control of the U.S.A. And they are right to see the appointment of John Bolton as a threat to them. Maybe they simply read the NYT yesterday and can see photos of Palestinians dying next to the glossy photos of the Kushners declaring Jerusalem the capital. Seems to me they are being sensible and cautious while Trump basically wants a Nobel Peace Prize any way he can get it (he probably thinks there’s a trophy that comes with it).
22
After Iran, Iraq and Libya why would any country sign a Denuke pact with the US?. Any new administration can just throw out previously signed commitments it doesn't like. And how can the US decide by itself to promise security for North Korea if it Denukes?. If there was a military coup against North Korea the US would interfere and fight against the coup? no way rocket man.
17
The great negotiator,played by Putin,played by little rocket man and bought for $500,000,000 by China(now he's worried about Chinese jobs).And after giving away our land and our air to ExxonMobil,we get to pay 25 percent more for a gallon of gas.
32
Well, MAGA. So, there.
Predictable.
DPRK charm diplomacy smiles turn into barbed accusations overnight; its called honey-trap diplomacy. They have a history of it.
On the US side, all it had to do was delay the military exercises; instead, it fell right into the predictable trap. The North Korean regime is not only paranoid, it is cunning. Tactics based on provocation one day, smiles the next.
The DPRK has one goal in mind: drop the UN sanctions: its economy is starving and it can't support a nuclear weapons program that by all measures has failed to date.
5
In all things, common sense should dictate all actions! Its unwise of South Korea and the US to not expect an objection from the North for a military drill of this magnitude at this time. While Kim is young, he's not a kid at this game, despite his apparent behavior. Plus, he has history on his side. No one has struck a deal with the US and/or its allies and live to reap the rewards. In essence, Kim is expecting a cut throat and is playing his cards in a manner for anyone with common sense to ID the hypocrisy that exist between those with power and those without.
11
Can't the two of them just find their own sandbox to play in and let the adults run the world?
13
Trump gets a taste of his own medicine. Everybody can choose to be unpredictable. It’s not a strategy that gets two parties moving towards the same direction.
22
Never take light of the old adage of counting chickens before the eggs are hatched. Seems like it's gonna be Donald "Nobel Fizzled out" Trump.
6
We are sorry Trump will not get a good night's sleep tonight. It seems the real estate deal-maker grossly misjudged the deal-breaking abilities of 'Rocket Man.'
John Bolton will also need a sedative for having brought up Gadafi's betrayal, in the wake of ripping up the Iran Deal.
So much for Trump's Nobel Peace Prize, unless the "base" comes up with a fake Nobel.
AG
Calgary, Canada
22
Hallejuia! Trump has met his match in Kim Jong Un. Like Trump, Kim does 180 degree about faces without batting an eyelash. I hope Trump is enjoying being played the way he plays people.
16
President wants the Nobel. Kim wants easing of sanctions on NK, improved relations with China, a step toward normalization of relations with South Korea under a Kim dynasty and protection from Japan and the rest of Asia. China wants a bigger buffer on the Korean Peninsula, reduction of the US threat, access to intellectual property in S. Korea and can offer S. Korea access to their markets overland through the North. President wants the Nobel.
7
We have got to be willing to walk the walk if we are going to talk the talk. WE here in the USA (as well as ALL nuclear nations) should abandon our nuclear weapons/ We have so many powerful bombs anyway, just not as apocalyptic as the nuclear bomb. We should be shamed of ourselves for owning these killers to begin with.
8
US and South Korea should not conduct such a large scale joint Air Force drill just before the summit meeting because Kim is worrying that it is an exercise to shot down his plane on way to Singapore. Don’t be surprised that North Korea demands the meeting shift to Beijing.
3
The conman has been conned.
On an international level.
So much winning, folks! So much winning!
20
Who knew this job would be so hard? - Answer: everyone except DJT.
My cat could have predicted this.
23
My cat DID predict it!
16
Small dog keeps big dog at bay...size does not matter when it comes to territorial protection.
4
To be quite frank, in order for these two leaders to speak honestly about peace between their two countries, a change in leadership would seem to be the first order of business.
9
@Berkeleyalive -
Oh, didn’t you hear. Kim Jong-il is a president-for-life, like his father and grandfather before him.
Trump wants to be president-for-life too.
It's impossible to really know what's happening here. It's been a game of cat and mouse since the beginning. Did Kim really believe Trump would accept the offer to meet at the beginning or was that a trial balloon that went in an unexpected direction? Caught off guard by Trump's quick affirmative response, Kim just played along. Better to call things off now, before it becomes clear to the world that Trump is being played. Admonished by the Chinese leadership that he could be playing with fire, any pretext to stop the talks from happening had to be used for that purpose. We all knew Kim would never give up his nukes. Trump may have been the only person to think otherwise.
10
The Great Deal Maker fails to close yet another deal. So far his greatest talent has been pulling out of treaties and being outsmarted by third world despots.
19
I will be surprised if the scheduled talks take place. It has been reported previously that the N. Koreans actually lack reliable aircraft to fly their delegation to a place like Singapore. Kim has traveled to other international destinations by train.
I think this talk of a summit is mostly optics, both for the N. Koreans and for the Trump regime. Both regimes need distractions and the appearance of international legitimacy.
4
Ooooohhh incoming tantrum!
President Trump might not get his Nobel peace prize anymore.
SAD
13
"Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has met Mr. Kim twice, said, “We have our eyes wide open with respect to the fact that the North Koreans have not proved worthy of their promises, but we’re hopeful that this will be different.”
It is Mr. Kim who has his eyes wide open. He has seen President Trump and National Security Advisor Bolton abandon our commitment to the multilateral nuclear agreement with a compliant Iran and the ratcheting up of sanctions. We can't force the N. Koreans to be worthy of their promises, but we should try to be worthy of ours.
25
Amateur Trump has squandered his leverage by appearing giddily enthusiastic about the proposed summit meeting and elevating the character of the North Korean despot to that of an "honorable" man. Trump boasted that everybody thought he deserved the Nobel peace prize. All of this didn't go unnoticed by the much more experienced Kim Jong-un, who apparently has concluded that Trump is a chump who can be played. It's obvious that Trump is more interested in the personal glory that would come with an agreement rather than the security of the United States.
18
The people of the Far East should unify and take care of themselves without the interferennce of any other so called world powers
They are dynamic productive people who share an often disparate history but through reason can overcome the past and mold their cultures into a powerful unity at all cultural levels.
There is an antipathy in the West which is clearly not worth fighting. Cooperation among themselves would provide a market sufficient to sustain and support all of their cultures. Copying western values of capitalism is a thankless task which demands failure of many in order that a few prosper in excess.
This thought could also be applied to the people of continental Africa and South America
There is no advantage to be gained in seeking any alliance with cultures which only accept exploitation as their modus operandi. Western philosophy worships exploitation and has only helped a small percentage of the rulers and wealthy families in those areas while doing little to enrich the majority of people who live in these continents.
We have a truly abysmal record of caring for our own people and yet we are dictating to the rest of the world how to live. There is no reason why any people anywhere should consider for a moment that we as a people are on the right track. We are rotting from the top on down and anyone with eyes connected to functioning minds can see and understand it.
We are falling fast and our kids will be the ones to feel it.
6
This is Kim’s first move after 45 pulled out of the Iran deal.
With John Bolton as national security adviser, negotiations have become more complicated.
It appears that the Trump administration is preparing to attack Iran some time this year. Don’t expect Korea to give up its nukes.
10
After Trump's withdrawal from the Iran Agreement, no sane head of state would make another important agreement with the US while Trumps sits in the White House, especially not one with existential consequences.
11
Kim seems to be playing and winning the Donald Trump game- talk big, produce large expectations, throw around some smoke and mirrors, smile, bring out the pretty relatives, and then deliver nothing...
13
This is just about China playing the US through its proxy aka N. Korea. It cannot do the same directly due to the need to keep a balance in international relations.
NK is an impoverished country and its nuclear program can only be sustained through Chinese largesse (with some help from Iran?). Every single move is directed from Beijing.
China is playing 3D chess with the Trump who is simply clueless.
4
Then it seems China is winning - DJT saved CHINESE JOBS and NK took notice.
Nobody knew diplomacy was so complicated.
17
Unpredictable? Hardly. If only the media wasn't too busy buying into the propaganda narrative from the white house and their media outlets. Kim has nuclear weapons and the upper hand. All he needed to do was play nice until Trump predictably ripped up the Iran deal and accept the meeting so he could start playing hardball.
6
And what “media” would that be?...the FOX audience awarded DJT the No-Bel, while reputable media outlets took a wait ‘n see approach.
This will boil down to what I.F. Stone called "talks on whether to talk." There's nothing new in the prevarication coming from both sides in this debacle.
In the meantime, keep an eye on soybean futures.
3
"The North Korean statements injected sudden tension and uncertainty"--hold it right there. Are we not talking about Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un? How could monkey wrenches, posturing, treachery, and lies possibly be surprising? Have no idea how this will play out next month or next decade, but "sudden tension"? Please.
19
It's laughable that anyone other than the most diehard Trump sycophants think that this erratic and incurious blowhard deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for stumbling into a possible agreement with Kim. One could argue that Trump's schoolyard bully approach to international relations accelerated North Korea's nuclear weapons program and now Kim is just playing his adversary. Trump's like a drunk who gets an "attaboy" for lurching around in the dark and finally finding the light switch.
22
Whoever came up with the idea of a Nobel for Trump is a master psychologist. So much of Trump’s focus has been on reversing Obama’s achievements. Trump has now taken it to another level: If Obama can get a Nobel before doing anything to deserve it, why can’t I, Trump, get one too, even if I visit fire and fury on NK?
5
Kim's overture to Trump was all along an elaborate ploy to detach South Korea from its US alliance by holding out the enticement of reconciliation between the two Koreas and then thrusting the US into the role of spoiler.
10
N Korea is not an independent player in this negotiation. What really matters is the stances taken by Russia and China. If there is a divergence in their stances, it helps negotiations to move forward. China is likely to respond like a cornered cat. Provoking China beyond a point is risky.
Better to let the talks fail, rework the relationship with allies. If there is divergence between Russia and China, focus on weaning Russia away from China. This failure, if it helps place relationship within NATO partners on more even keel, could lead to Iran renegotiation. Improvement on Iran flank has far greater impact on global economy than the Korean resolution.
If Russia and China exhibit strong convergence, it shall come at a dear cost to Russia, for India most likely shall move firmly into quad comprising Japan, Australia. This also stabilizes free world for the long haul.
2
Does "last missile launched in November and final insults launched in January really already count as "months of warming relations?"
9
"North Korea remains an opaque, unpredictable country."
Ha - they have "opaque and unpredictable" leadership, and we have transparent and unpredictable leadership.
Sounds like the two were made for each other.
10
No serious diplomacy involving delicate negotiations are ever conducted by tweet and press release - let along among the principals. Trump hasn't a clue.
17
Kim’s perspective: Trump, by abandoning the Iran deal, showed that he didn’t honor America’s commitment to its sworn ALLIES!
So why, then…should ANYONE believe that Trump would honor a commitment made to North Korea…a sworn ENEMY?!
21
Yep, after Iran turned over its mildly enriched uranium to Russia, no less. "Gotcha!"
4
And, with his Twitter addiction, who knows what else shall fall.
5
It’s almost as if the White House didn’t think North Korea would notice the President’s little spectacle last week when he not only publicly announced that the US was going to violate the JCPOA with Iran, but also reimpose full sanctions because Iran had the nerve to stick to the agreement.
How sweet...
26
Two egomaniacs putting on a show to bolster their images.
Trump doesn't care about diplomacy - he only cares about how this affects him. As long as Kim strokes trump's fragile ego and gives him a 'win', trump will make concessions.
5
It's likely that Kim's administration is as fractured as Trump's.
We are all very familiar with Mr. Trump's habit of blurting out some new policy without any forethought or consultation among advisors. This may be the first time we've had a peek behind the curtain within Kim's coterie but this development is otherwise a well-worn bit of theatre regularly played out right here at home.
Mr. Trump will soon be stomping his tiny feet at having been played so thoroughly at his own game.
5
Another perspective is to see it from the eyes of North Korea. They've stopped nuclear testing, and televised the dismantling of two nuclear sites. Then they freed three hostages. All that give has resulted in zero gain. This new relationship with the south and the US doesn't seem very fruitful, does it?
Many westerners who have spent time in Asia have seen this play out on smaller terms, having been given a free drink or a bite to eat. Something is expected in exchange.
Hopefully some influential (person) with some cultural understanding can make the east-west connection the world is looking for.
6
While I do not condone violence, I wonder if Kim worries that bad things are going to happen at the meeting. Didn't President Trump say he could shoot people on American streets without losing votes? Yes, Kim is right to worry. Americans care less about a deranged dictator's conference room than any American street, and Kim knows it.
2
Trump couldn't hit the side of a barn with a gun if his life depended on it, let alone take out a dictator. He can't even fire people himself but depends on others to lower the boom.
The fruits of the Iran deal wrecking by local wrecking ball tRump.
Why would NK trust any US promise at all? Trump just handed them the perfect excuse.
The soap opera performed by courtesy of the reckless Republican Congress. Vote.Them.Out.
7
The truth is, after North and South Korea presidents met and planned peace treaty, US start to have military exercise with South Korea right now. So Kim wants to delay the meeting. It is same as usual, every time the Korea island have sign to go to peace, US will have some movement to influence it otherwise US Army will lose the reason to exist in South. Go for it South Korea if you really wanna peace!
5
Kim is playing this like the master deal maker that Trump is not. He’s insisting that Trump makes the first concession namely stop the exercises. And secondly don’t expect North Korea to be in another Libya or Ukraine by denuclearizing unilaterally and without enforceable concessions from the other side. Those are the conditions to start the talks which Trump has broadcast as being his entree to the Nobel prize. By announcing how important this deal is to himself Trump has weakened Americas position vis-à-vis North Korea.
7
up to their old tricks. The same old play book. It's like the flower that squirts water. The west falls for it every time.
4
While negotiations are not over, the question remains what will Trump surrender to claim victory? Remember he nixed the Iran deal because he claimed John Kerry gave up the store. Guess what, Kim Jong-Un was listening and realized that Trump needs a deal more than him. Even more problematic, John Bolton's bombastic rhetoric and demands tha Kim Jong-Un surrender his nuclear arsenal will not happen if the Trump model is premised upon Libya. Nothing will become of this meeting despite the the efforts of Moon and Trump, since they wanted a deal more than the Kim himself. Seoul and Washington showed their cards too soon in the came. Now we face a nuclear threat in Asia and a potential nuclear threat from Iran. This demonstrates that the Trump team is totally incompetent in protecting our country from our enemies both foreign and domestic.
8
After watching yesterday's slaughter in Gaza, Mr. Kim probably realized that North Korea without nuclear weapons would be treated like Palestine on the Pacific by the Trump administration.
14
After Kim and his closest advisors watched (on TV) the murderous nightmare debacle and forever ruined peace plans of Palestine as a direct result of the ignorant and untrustworthy Donald Trump's total capitulation to the demands and desires of Bibi Netanyahu how could he ever trust Donald J Trump? How could anyone trust Trump? Of course Kim had to cancel the talks...why bother?
19
Kim won’t put up with Trump upgrading our nuclear cache while the NoK’s surrender theirs. Imagine that.
16
Well, Kim played Trump for batna, it seems his preferred patron upped their offer. The problem using Trump and humaliating him, humilate the US not just Trump
1
This is North Korea's pattern of negotiating throughout the last 60 years -- they make promises of concessions, demonstrate good faith through small token agreements, and then unexpectedly walk away from the table because of disagreement with the seating chart or the time of day for meetings to begin.
We show them ours, and we think they are showing us theirs, and then we realize that we've been deceived from the beginning. To North Korea negotiating is a highly complex strategy of gamemanship that the U.S. has not mastered and has no patience for.
9
Trump never puts his cards on the table. He promises everything to everyone, but caves in to people stronger than him, like Xi and Putin. Kim may be next.
How 'bout those tax returns?
6
You mean our current potus has no patience for. Our professional diplomats know the game but potus thinks he's smarter than them. He's not.
5
None of our presidents since the cease fire or armistice was signed in 1953 has been able to finally resolve the Korean conflict. It serves North Korea's ruling family to keep the conflict alive. Neither this bumbling attempt by Trump nor polished US strategies of the past have been a match for North Korea's manipulation of the rest of the world great diplomats, and that includes the Chinese and Russians. The Kim family keeps every other government dancing like puppets because they don't want the matter to be settled.
Ha! They already have the Great Negotiator dancing. What a laugh.
11
We all saw this coming. Kim is playing Trump like a violin.
12
I think that Trump should have called OFF the joint military exercises! Bad move!
1
Unfortunately a megalomaniac now has his hands on nuclear weapons and due to his unstable nature risks the peace of the entire world. Also that N. Korea leader is kind of scary.
24
This won’t affect the Indonesian deal with China, I hope. MAGAing is hard work.
6
What a corrupt deal! At least Marco Rubio is showing some spine and speaking out against it. How low we have sunk as a nation when Trump is giving China favors in exchange for personal enrichment.
I think Kim is playing trumps game better than trump does. This could get dangerous though. trump could start to act like an angry, caged animal. Not a pretty sight. trump is desperate for something big that forces the world to acknowledges that he is really a legitimate president. The world is going to get tired of playing his game and stop pretending to care about what he thinks or does. He has pretty much insulted everyone but Putin. And Saudi Arabia, of course.
8
This is where Lucy pulls the ball away.
15
Ha! The already have the Great Negotiator dancing. What a laugh.
1
This appears to be just another negotiating tactic by Kim.
Who's playing chess now?
1
Trump’s been trumped by Kim.
2
Trump won’t even be able to make a deal to keep himself out of jail, or worse.
But the chaos he’ll create trying will put us in moral danger.
Media, congress, society, culture, where are you when we need you? Pull the plug.. please!
7
This is the predicted downside of an ignorant Comander-in-Chief who has no interest in being educated upon the responsibilities of the office. I really wonder if he had read the Constitution of the United States and understood those profound obligations before he swore the oath.
5
The word is “snookered”. I hope I am wrong, but I think not
4
Now you see it - now you don't. Rocket man makes his move. Your turn Mr. Dealmaker.
5
They were never willing to go full de-nuke short term.
We should have agreed in principle to drop sanctions upon a ceasing of all testing and weapons development.
Common sense being an endangered specie could lead to the 6th great extinction.
4
Virtually every Asian expert in this country warned for months that we shouldn't place too much trust in the North Korean Kim family. But, no, our own Dear Leader was not to be swayed by such talk, going so far as to openly muse about winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Well, it is time for the master deal maker to demonstrate his self-proclaimed deal-making skills. We can't have a peace without a deal. We can't have a deal without a meeting.
I believe it is your move, Mr. President. And, by the way, the whole world is watching.
13
Trump is a real estate broker. He should have seen this coming. This is the list the buyer gives you after the inspection and just before they scuttle the deal. Oops! Deal's changing - just found out the front steps are made of play-doh and old newspapers. Sorry, spouse can't work with these ceilings. We're gonna have to call it off... He should have seen it coming and better have a bloody large counter / bargaining chip. We'll see.
7
The South Koreans have been talking non-stop to the North over the last few months. They should have had a better read on this and maybe lightened up on the joint exercises until their future was decided at the Trump - Jong-un summit.
1
I believe you can see China meddling all over this.
5
Trump, and thus our country, is being 'played' by a poor Asian country, just as we were played by Vietnam.
5
We will talk with you as long as you unconditionally give up your nuclear deterrent while we conduct another massive military exercise demonstrating how we will invade you once that deterrent is gone.
32
So, first he caves to the Chinese as soon as his sanctions against them start to bite. For his encore he'll be played by a two-bit dictator.
Time for another trip to West Virginia for a rally with the Coal Miner's his intellectual peers.
23
An undeserved insult to coal miners.
10
"This U.S.-North Korean agreement will help to achieve a long-standing and vital American objective: an end to the threat of nuclear proliferation on the Korean peninsula." -President Bill Clinton
1
Round One to North Korea. The description of the Trump White House currently scrambling after being taken by total surprise hardly inspires confidence.
20
Something very expected, actually. Trump is being played by NK leader. He has no intention to part with his hard earned nuclear potential and does not care for people of his country to get financial easing.
If I would be in his place I would remember Libya, Iraq, Ukraine and now Iran and I would not get into conversation.
He just plays for time I guess. Or perhaps temporary give aways. I am sure Trump will have nothing but humiliation out of there. Well earned however, after what he did with Iran.
13
What impresses me most about the extreme hatred for Donald Trump seen here in these comments is the basic relative logic being demonstrated. Whereas now as it suits them, the once petulant young despot from N Korea is now seen in their eyes as a seasoned geopolitical global mastermind so long as it embarrasses Trump to their smug satisfaction and regardless it goes against their own country’s interests. Patriotism has never been more alive and well in America.
2
@John Doe
As alive and well as it was shown to be in Senator Mitch McConnell's sentiment to make President Obama a one term president and the following eight years of Republican obstructionism. That was an act of 'patriotism' and supporting our country's interest that is hard to beat.
3
Kim only looks competent relative to Trump. Bear in mind that no matter what meeting of world leaders Trump might attend, he has less experience in government, foreign policy, intelligence, defense, economics (not private entrepreneurship for his own profit, mind you, I mean crafting comprehensive economic policy), etc. Remember how conservatives used to sneer that Obama was a mere “community organizer” and hadn’t been in government long enough to be taken seriously? Well, Trump was elevated with no experience at all simply on his “businessman” mythos and tough talk.
Sure he TALKS like a fighter, but I have yet to see him actually win a political battle against his peers (i.e., the leader of another nation). He’s good at pulling out of deals and such, but that’s just stepping out of the ring and pouting. We’re still waiting for him to match wits with other leaders and truly “renegotiate” something. He always goes in with bravado and threats, but to loosely quote Mike Tyson, “everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” I want to see an instance of Trump managing to negotiate with someone his own size. I know he can berate his staff and throw lightening bolts at his critics from on high. But can he actually fight I his own weight class? So far the answer to that question has been no and I don’t think North Korea is going to be the exception.
2
John Doe, I believe patriots love their country enough to want it represented as honorable, steadfast, fair, and law abiding. That has always been my perception. What is not patriotic is pettiness, personal attacks, waffling, pathological lying, reneging on agreements, and selling favors to the highest bidder. To impugn the patriotism of an American for simply holding a leader to a high standard is, in a word, Trumpian.
They are so far apart that the whole “preparation for negotiations” is simply a charade.
To me it has been a game of who first cancels the meeting. Kim figured that it would be humiliating for him if Trump did it first.
5
Negotiations 101: Don't become emotionally over-invested in the deal. The more your emotions (read: tRump's ego) are bound up in closing the deal, the more likely you are to provide concessions simply to achieve your objective.
Someone's been had.
6
Doesn't sound nuts to me. Sounds pretty reasonable.
Ultimately, it seems to me, NK just doesn't want to be invaded or blown to smithereens, or subverted, of have the CIA lurking around every corner, or to have Kim assassinated, etc, etc. Maybe that's simplistic but maybe its not. Yeah, maybe there's a glimmer of desire for world domination in Kim's eyes too, but just a glimmer. Are we incapable of leaving other nations alone who don't want to follow our path? Beyond DT, or any given president, we do live in a pretty insecure country if we always gotta meddle with everybody.
9
I wonder what the Xi, NK discussions have entailed. I can easily imagine Xi asking KJY to compromise trump. China then returns as NK’s guarantor never having actually left the position. Then, trump is so far over his skis that he now needs this deal. The Nobel is at risk. I think he will throw our long standing friends and allies Japan and S Korea under the bus to get something that not the USA can laud, bu don can.
1
And so Trump's self-awarded Nobel goes the way of his self -made Time Magazine cover.
13
All theater. On both sides.
8
Welcome to the reality of diplomacy and all its intricacies, Donald.
9
I will be very surprised if the Kim-Trump meeting becomes a reality. Neither of these two individuals can be trusted. Years of deception are now etched in each's DNA. Kim will never relinquish his aspirations for nuclear supremacy, and Trump will never back away from his own unique recipe for international relationships which replaces diplomacy with bullish and impulsive behavior married to deliberate ignorance of the world order. There is not one winner in this dubious scenario.
7
Consider the North Korean perspective: Kim Jong-un formally ends the Korean War, and he is willing to meet with Trump in Sri Lanka to discuss disarmament. A joint military exercise between the U.S. and South Korea does not send the right message to the DPRK. All of the United States' actions have ramifications and send messages. This military exercise does not look peaceful to North Korea. Trump and Kim Jong-un actions have gone opposition directions, and we are the ones rising tension...
4
Well, there will always be another Nobel opportunity. They pass one out almost every year, you know.
Perhaps DJT can resolve the Left Twix/Right Twix impasse. Or the longstanding Tastes Great/Less Filling argument. It would be a shame to waste such a talent.
13
As much as Trump would like to make the world believe that the North Koreans have come to the negotiating table because of sanctions, no one really understands N. Korea's end game. After all, the regime is more concerned about sustaining Kim Jong Un's reign than in the welfare of its citizens.
Kim Jong Un has proven to be an adroit player and knows 'shock and awe' diplomacy. Remember all the moves played in this chess game are of Kim's - the other payers have only been dancing to Kim's tunes.
1
Again... the United States should install its nuclear weapons in Poland, Ukraine and Taiwan.
This likely had little to do with the joint exercises. Since the meeting in April between the two Korean leaders, Mr. Trump has pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. North Korea has little reason to trust the US to keep their promises since Mr. Trump has demonstrated that our commitment to treaties changes depending on which political party controls the executive branch.
3
Of course this "threat" to cancel is posturing, but what is interesting is how well the regime plays the posturing game. The Trump White House could not have imagined a better adversary to posture with. Rocket Man is a news magnet. Only six months to congressional elections. Stay tuned.
7
“The warnings caught Trump administration officials off guard and set off an internal debate over whether Mr. Kim was merely posturing in advance of the meeting in Singapore next month or was erecting a serious new hurdle.”
Gee, if only we had a deep bench of experienced diplomats in the State Department to whom the president* could turn to for advice.
33
Even if there was a “deep bench” of skilled diplomats, Trump would be the last guy to engage them for advice.
7
Sounds like he’s running the same playbook he has been using for decades and only Trump doesn’t know it.
13
It was a lose-lose situation. Hold the drill as usual and you give Kim a pretext to back out. Cancel the drill and you make future drills hostage to his whims when all he has given up so far is a photo-op.
The response to Kim's invitation in the first place should have been, not yes, not no, but OK, let's have our diplomats talk and we can see later if a summit meeting will make sense.
19
Nonsense. If you really want to promote peace in the region you make a 'good-will' gesture to 'postpone' the drill 'for now.' That what a Nobel Peace Prize winner would have done.
If the reporting is accurate that this took them off guard, then they did not even consider it. How stupid is that?
We could reschedule the drill at any time if we needed to based on further developments.
Almost hilarious. Almost
15
Once again "the heat negotiator" has been played. Trump is simply not up to the job.
17
Trump acted out and showed the world, once again, how his vanity and pathological need for adulation left him weak.
1. N. Korea took advantage of it - it's just now being reported that NK is saying there will never be a US/NK summit if de-nuclearization is what the US demands; and
2. China's trade negotiators have just arrived in Washington to start talks tomorrow....they've brought their list of "demands". Trump's already caved to China for a $500 million personal loan, what will he give away to try and get his coveted Nobel Prize back on track.
23
Apparently Kim Jong-un found out he wasn't on the list to get the Nobel Peace Prize. Now he's really angry.
14
Kim won't pass up a chance to be photographed with the president of the United States but that's as far as it goes. North Korea will give up it's nuclear weapons when Trump goes a whole day without lying.
35
24 hours without lying, no way.
7
He might prefer to humiliate Trump on the world stage by cancelling the summit.
Can you have negotiations if both parties have bad faith?
18
Can this administration do ANYTHING right?
18
Nothing good can come from these two chest thumpers.
We shouldn't expect this summit to ever happen anyway, nor would it be a good idea for Trump to go. Would you ever send him as your representative for your family or business to negotiate a delicate situation with such life-threatening consequences?
Still, strange that Kim will complain about military exercises being threatening when he is testing nuclear weapons powerful enough to cause earthquakes that can be felt in China.
Both our countries are ruled by narcissists who think that the rules should only apply to everyone else but them.
I vote for sending them both to a summit on Mars. If Mueller can't save us, maybe Musk can.
22
It isn't strange that Kim would oppose any military exercises by the South - it's entirely in keeping with his past behavior. Illogical, sure, but, really, it's what's to be expected.
2
No wall will be built on the Mexican border. Obamacare will not be abolished. No lawsuit will be levied against the women who accused Trump of harassment. The price of pharmaceutical drugs will not go down.
And there will be no meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un.
22
You forgot no new Iran deal.
But I know it's a lot to remember.
Surely the NK deal will be similar to the Iran deal struck by Kerry for the Obama administration just like Obamacare was similar to Heritage Foundation's Romney care.
As soon as the conservative healthcare idea was enacted by Democrats, the Republicans hated it, and now that Trump has a nuclear deal of his own to strike, he'll like it not matter the details because it's his not Obama's.
5
Oh well, so much for the anticipated Nobel Prize! Sad.
13
It is funny to read all of the comments that “blame” Trump for still holding military exercises. Kim was always planning to do something like this. Trump is so emotionally vulnerable and easy to manipulate.
9
The "negotiator" will now find a way to postpone the military exercises and declare it a win. Just like working to make sure the Chinese company that lent him 1/2 a billion will now be considered for favors to keep it afloat. These are "deals" but not ones benefiting America and only DJT and family.
12
I am still quite suspicious of anything proposed by North Korea. A person like Kim does not change his stripes overnight. He is up to something and I cannot help but believe Trump is in on the scheme. Let’s pull back the curtain. What was promised? What is the real North Korean motive? Who else is involved? China? Russia? Iran? We need answers.
2
The word of trump and the United States has no value. How is this behavior from NK any different. Trump and the US is getting a taste of its own medicine: an autocrat who one cannot trust a single word uttered and who impulsively swings wildly from one decision or statement to an opposite one in the blink of an eye and cannot help lying ever time he opens his pie hole
who would have thought?
After our CIC chooses to disregard previous agreements (Paris accord, Iran ) and Kim is going to trust ANY agreement we sign?
Why should he?
It's obvious to the world and most americans - you do not, ever, take DJT's word at face value (he lies constantly).
2
Hmmmm....time to dust off that musty old book, “The Art of the Deal”, located deep in a box in my attic, to see what the next move will be by DJT. Good thing we have a long list of his accomplishments to look for guidance and comfort in his negotiation skills:
1. TPP. Nothing.
2. NAFTA. Nothing.
3. DACA. Nothing.
4. Affordable health care for the masses. Nothing.
5. Paris Climate Accord. Nothing.
6. Iran Nuclear deal. Nothing.
7. Mid East peace settlement. Nothing.
8. Infrastructure. Nothing.
9. Wage growth. Nothing.
10. Substantive trade reform. Nothing.
But at least we have corporate tax reform. Aside from the initial wave of news of companies planning on investing in small bonuses and limited reinvestments, it seems that “good news” about the tax cuts are ancient history. Most CEOs will simply reward shareholders. A flash in the pan that will come back to bite us when the economy slows.
I for one am not sleeping any better at night knowing we have a capable leader at the helm to reach an agreement with North Korea.
What gives me some small measure of hope is both sides need a victory to claim some small measure of legitimacy.
Let’s hope that happens.
16
Tax reform, you mean the 'stocks buy back' act?
That's how it ended.
3
The GOP and Trump supporters believe that knowledge and political experience are liabilities in the office of the President of the United States. Jared is sent to negotiate peace in the middle east. The first Secretary of State dismantles the department. The head of the EPA doesn't believe in protecting the environment. The Secretary of Education isn't a real supporter of public schools. The man in charge of all of this is a habitual if not pathological liar. Trump cut taxes and has the ability to pump up a crowd of blue collar workers in under developed states. What else matters? Maybe the NK negotiations can be saved. I expect that more than a handful of GOP reps will claim Trump deserves the Nobel prize regardless. The rest of the world is a serious place. I wonder if the U.S. still is?
11
And this caught the Trump administration by surprise? Anyone who has ever tried to deal with North Korea could see that this play was a likelihood from miles away. Only an administration run by a narcissist and one that also refuses to listen to any experts or contrary views could be surprised by this move by North Korea. Total amateur hour once again.
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I guess talk of a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump was a bit premature. All kidding aside, no one should really be surprised by this move. Kim Jong-un will never give up the weapons that keep him and his heirs in power. The best we can hope for is a ratcheting down of the insults from both sides and thereby reducing the tension in the region.
3
Trump already ceded when he said yes to a meeting too eagerly.
Trump failed at casinos, and Kim jong un built a nuclear threat.
If you had to bet on terms , who would you bet on?
No matter, Trump will declare a win regardless, it's what he does.
6
Who is taking bets on this? Someone must be. What are the current odds?
3
According to AP, the meeting is off unless the US is willing to accept the fact that North Korea is categorically stating they will never de-nuclearize their arsenal.
Whatever the motive, it sure looks like the DRNK went along to see how far the US would go, grovel, whatever in their total excitement about having a summit with Kim Jong un.
So, I guess we'll have a tweet pretty soon, telling us how he's reacting to this off again, on again meeting Kim Jong un is dangling.
In any event, it's bound to enrage him as he was counting on all the publicity to win the midterms--just imagine, he was already planning to campaign on this.
Hold on for dear life.
15
Let's not neglect the possibility that these two egomaniacs could work together. As long as Trump's poll numbers go up and Kim's position and wealth are secure, they might play games that look like reality show cliffhangers.
I don't trust either man. They only want to look good, neither really wants to do good.
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Trump played by Rocketman. What an embarrassment.
22
Can’t wait to read the Tweet that Trump fires off while wandering the White House in his robe and slippers
22
Dear Kim,
You’re really Pressing my buttons man.
1
Do you hear that? It's the sound of a US President being played like a Violin. The great deal maker, lol.
31
Donald : President Obama would have foreseen THIS. You've been conned. How does THAT feel ????? SAD.
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Didn't Hillary Clinton said Trump is easy to bate?
36
Kim is smart, why would he ever believe anything our dear leader Trump has to say. I think this meeting will never take place, Kim just wants to see Trump praise him and dance.
16
I have a suspicion Kim has been playing Trump like a violin this whole time and Trump is too dumb to realize it.
34
I think they have, like all politicians, played each other. The end result is what matters. The bluster on how we get there, is just showmanship.
1
Kim Jung Un is a man who doesn't hesitate to assassinate potential political opponents, even his own family.
Donald Trump is a wealthy-born child who pays a second-rate lawyer to pay off a porn star for silence on a third-rate affair. Did he really imagine that he could play hardball with Kim?
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In the cruel dictator's dynasty, the peoples are ruled with the fear of war.
If true peace and happiness could arrive at NoKo, the dictator would be necessarily killed by the peoples.
The more danger in the peninsula, the more safe the dictator is.
Why do you believe he wishes peace?
3
Why should we not give him the chance? The end result helps millions of people. I would like to give it a shot,
1
Ya don't have to be a Rhodes scholar to see the game:
1. Dangle carrot, inflate target's ego and vanity, watch target overcommit to his market.
2. Pull carrot back, watch target squirm at threat of failure, diminution of ego and sense of glory. Suggest which concessions target might make to restore sense of glory.
3. Replace carrot partially, extract important concession from target.
4. Repeat cycle as often as necessary to achieve strategic goals while giving up nothing of importance.
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I really in clueless on what the real deal is with NK but if we are really talking to them than there should have been some communication about these exercises and an understanding arrived at.
Maybe the boy king is just posturing for "his" people. Kim has a lot to gain from giving up the nukes ..... we will see.
3
"Kim has a lot to gain from giving up the nukes." Really? Like everything Iran gained? The world knows America's word cannot be trusted. Maybe when we kick out the "boy king" gesticulating like a inflatable noodle at a used car dealership to "his" base we can sit at the adult table of world affairs again.
As soon as Trump was elected, Kim greatly accelerated his nuclear program to use as a bargaining chip. As a result, North Korea is now in a much better bargaining position than it had ever been before.
Kim also took two American prisoners to use for the same reason.
Then he appealed to Trump's narcissism by letting him imagine that he could possibly repair his image as an incompetent buffoon and possibly even win a Nobel peace prize.
By threatening to take that away, Kim is now even in a stronger negotiating position.
Trump has been completely outmaneuvered at every single step.
42
Mr. Kim's rationale was made public by his captive news agency. Will Mr. Trump have the discipline to keep his fingers off his Twitter keys and respond via normal diplomatic / press channels? I doubt it. He can only make things worse.
Come to think of it, he also has a captive news agency: Fox News. Or, is it the other way around?
5
North Korea is playing the exact same game that Trump does regularly. Shock announcements, seemingly out of nowhere that have impact far beyond the immediate manufactured crisis of the day.
3
And all for the worse.
I cannot make sense of the sudden change in relations between North Korea and the United States. I understand that North Korea's advancements in nuclear weapon technology have given them more leverage to negotiate or simply be recognized. But, how did we go from calling each other names one week to suddenly almost becoming friends and North Korea considering giving up their nuclear weapons. What is pushing North Korea to change their attitude? I don't buy that Trump's maximum pressure approach brought this on. Such an approach might gradually produce some sort of result, but a literal overnight change in relations just doesn't make sense. Like so many other things with the Trump presidency, I suspect below the surface there are interests and powers at play that are not in our nation's best interests.
6
The world is built on shenanigans, it's the results I am interested in. I think we need to give this meeting a chance. For whatever reason it was made so, is irrelevant. Especially, if the results are what everyone wants.
That being said... I too, am skeptical. However, I do want to see this meeting happen. I think it's a great step forward for all nuclear capable nations.
man, an edit function sure would be nice :P
We need this meeting to happen. For the sanity and betterment of many. I hope this is all "pre-game". I genuinely feel this meeting needs to happen, good or bad. I think people meeting face to face is needed to get truly get a deal done.
Kim, Xi, and Putin want Trump in the White House and his republican colleagues in the congress. It is too early to simply 'roll over' and have Trump appear to win. There will be back and forth, with a clear but indecisive victory for Trump by the end of the summer.
1
All those non stop tweets by trump and spreading rumors to be future recipient to become a Nobel Laureate is causing all these havocs.
Trump lives in fools paradise and Pence is right behind the curtain to replace fool.
17
Tic-Tac-Toe
If two players know what they're doing - no mistakes - the worst case for either of them is a draw. However, the first player (seems to be Kim this time) can always win if he starts starts with a corner and the second player fails to grab the center square.
In the real world where the stakes are very high, a stalemate may be the best case even if it's boring and it doesn't get you the gold medal.
Putin and others play chess.
6
"North Korea Threatens to Call Off Summit Meeting With Trump"
Trump and "Young-un" sittin' in a tree,
Lyin' to each other, you and me.
11
Well it looks like Yasser Arafat has more nobel peace prizes than our geopolitical stable genius in the white house.
16
If you were holding your breath until this "deal" fell into the toilet, feel free to take a deep one. Time for a temper Trumptrum too. It would be funny if it was funny.
16
This appears to be just another move in a protracted game of chess. It's not over until check mate.
65
Have you seen any evidence that our participant approaches anything at all anything as if it were a game of chess?
40
The Trump is playing hop scotch, while is playing chess.
14
Unfortunately, neither the Korean dictator nor the American President are chess players. Your point remains salient, the leaders meetings may not be dead but more than likely on life support.
10
Surprise, surprise surprise....!
The only REAL surprise is why ANYONE in the world would take seriously the prospect of dealing with -- or making a deal with -- Trump! After he ripped up the Iran deal, and many many other instances of bad faith.
Of course Bolton and the brass-hats are glad! THEY don't have to fight and die of course!
And they apparently didn't watch the PBS American Experience about the military fiasco at the 1950 Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. And have never hear of the near-nuclear fiasco caused by the Able Archer US-Led maneuvers in 1983 in Europe!
Of course history, facts, and reality are alien to zealots, war-mongers, and the "military-industrial complex" that Eisenhower warned about!
17
So they couldn’t postpone their war games for the promise of peace? How arrogant, rigid, and inconsiderate.
17
Chinese were never going to let a country on their border be a friend of any democracy or Western country. NK was created by World War 2 and will not change status until World War 3. NK’s hostility to the West is what allows Chinese to put on a fake smile and pretend to want peace with other countries.
3
Maybe Kim got sick of Trump telling the world that he did pretty much "everything" in creating this summit.
19
Let's see the art of the deal in real life.
17
We already have, they’re called Bankruptcy.
13
The famous Chinese general and strategist Sun-Tzu would understand dictator Kim Jong-un's strategy vis-a-vis South Korea, and us, quite well, although he died 2,500 years ago.
Sun-Tzu said:
"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when attacking, we must seem unable. While moving our forces we must seem inactive. When we are near we must make the enemy think we are far away. When far away, we must make him think we are near.
If your enemy is secure at all points be prepared for his advance. If he is superior, evade him. If he is temperamental, irritate him. Pretend to be weak so he may grow arrogant and miscalculate. If he is quiet, harass him, give him no peace. If his forces are united, separate them.
Attack when and where he is unprepared. Appear where you are unexpected.
Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, then crush him.
Kim's strategic goal is to unify the Korean Peninsula under his banner, expel the hated Americans and neutralize Japan; even if it takes his family dynasty a thousand years.
32
It's a pity that Sun-Tzu is no longer available for a position in Trump's cabinet.
2
trump never hires anyone with intelligence or the ability to strategize...Sun-Tzu would never be caught in the presence of someone like trump.
@JerryV I like your comment.
I have studied Sun-Tzu. It might amuse you to know that, legend has it, when Sun-Tzu was first put in charge of the Imperial Army, he was having trouble with attitude, seriousness, and discipline. So the first thing Sun-Tzu did was round up all the Emperor’s concubines and march them around the field in military formation. To get their attention, Sun-Tzu executed the Emperor’s favorite concubine. That got everyone’s buy-in.
So, in the 21st century, would that be Stormy or someone else in particular?
As badly as Kim would like a sit-down with a sitting American president -- even a pretend president who was elected by mistake -- he holds the high cards here. He knows Trump has hot-aired his deal-making skills vis-a-vis NK and will jump through hoops to make it happen.
On the other hand, has Kim paid attention to how skilled Trump is at blaming the other guy for whatever goes wrong, declaring victory and taking his marbles home?
This is some pretty entertaining stuff. At the end of the day I think Kim is going to make a deal to get his economy going, which is good news for the benighted North Korean people. (Trump/Pompeo talk about the importance of denuclearizing North Korea; they never talk about helping the people of North Korea join the 21st century.)
5
Kim could care less about meeting with this fool Trump - Trump has already given him all he wants. For the first time in US history, Trump has handed this dictator international status.
Given the spectacles in Jerusalem, etc., who can blame Mr. Kim for stepping back? In a way, I think he came to his senses.
14
Nah. Kim has been playing trump all along. He's actually playing trumps game better than trump does.
8
Are you serious? What makes you think he is making the decisions. Think China.
Kim Jong-un was clearly paying attention when DJT shredded the nuclear accord with Iran, proving beyond a doubt that no agreement entered into with Trumpamerica is worth the paper it's written on.
727
Actually, it's worse than that. The world now knows for a fact that any treaty with the US has a life expectancy of 8 years max. Unless of course the treaty or policy is one-sided, like the Monroe Doctrine.
37
Ach, you are aware that Obama forgot to have the Senate ratify the Iran/Obama agreement as required by the Constitution and the US requires all treaties be ratified?
Is a deal with North Korea any more valuable? How well does North Korea honor it's promises? In this very case it is North Korea that is causing the drama. I agree that Trump isn’t the greatest president, and is probably dangerous to some extent, but he wasn’t the one who Killed his brother, his uncle, and then tested some nukes and missiles. I actually live on the peninsula and a strong interest in maintaining the peace here. If anything, the strong stance on Iran will bolster the argument that America won’t accept an incomplete deal. According to a column by David Leonhardt last week, Iran had more freedom to develop nuclear capabilities than South Korea does. This is probably just all posturing by the North to try to get better results. Kim Jeong U.N. is playing good cop to the KNCAs bad cop.
1
Kim Jong-un, after Jerusalem change, likely realizes Trump is not an honest person & is untrustworthy. So sad.
13
So Kim is acting like himself again? No one should be surprised. Kim, like trump, only cares about his ego.
9
Get ready for more "fun and games" leading up to this "Summit." Little Kim will play this for all he can get and in the end stick with his nukes and get some money and concessions from South Korea. There could be 3 more of these feints before anything happens. And Donnie thinks he is such a great "deal maker."
18