Clearly, The Times needs to wait 24 hours before commenting on a Trumpian decision, since U-turns are always a risk.
Besides, we may be bombing some country we never heard about by then.
4
“ ‘We are trying to figure out what President Trump’s intention is and the exact meaning of it,’ a South Korean spokesman said.”
Good luck with that, since Trump has no idea what his intentions are or meaning is. Not just in this specific instance, but generally speaking. If they do figure that out, they should tell Trump so he will know, too.
1
For the progress to happen, everybody has to feel victorious.
Would Pyongyang accept to rid of their nuclear weapons for the permanent withdrawal of the US troops from the Korean peninsula and the immediate peace treaty with Washington D.C. after the verifiable removal of the nuclear weapons?
The nukes could be sent to China for safekeeping as the guarantee that the peace treaty would be signed and there is nothing to prevent the peaceful reunification of the North and South Korea.
1
I’m not sure how many hours of worry, anger, derision, distraction, etc. that I spared myself by ignoring this entire North Korea story since it’s inception, but it was time well spent, tending my garden and other life-enjoying things. When an act has no substance there is nothing to be found there.
3
President Trump is playing (and winning!) several simultaneous games of 3-D chess, Un is playing checkers, and the Democrats are frantically texting Mueller because they heard someone bought a Moscow Mule and a White Russian at the Trump Tower bar
2
"Mr. Trump made the right call when he abandoned Republican orthodoxy by pursuing diplomacy with North Korea and, in an impulsive stroke, agreeing to meet Mr. Kim on June 12 in Singapore."
The NY Times Editorial Board characterizes Trump's agreement to meet Kim as "the right call" because it has an informed opinion about the geopolitical background and has balanced the risks of diplomatic engagement versus non-engagement with North Korea.
But our president, as the NY Times points out in the same sentence, took an "impulsive" action. Impulsive is defined as "acting WITHOUT FORETHOUGHT." To wield any presidential power in such a manner is gross negligence, plain and simple. I do not care for Trump's agenda, but his impulsive use of extraordinary power (including his platform as president) is the single biggest danger to his presidency. Many would be happy to let him collapse under the gravity of his supermassive ego if not for the fact that the country and the world could easily get sucked into the black hole left behind.
Further, the impulsive use of power is necessarily "arbitrary" (meaning on a personal whim) and "capricious" (meaning temperamental and volatile). Yes, Trump has presidential power, but it is unconstitutional for him to use it impulsively. If he needs more information, there's an army of staffers for him to consult 24/7/365 if only he could be bothered. But no one should applaud this Russian Roulette-style administration.
1
Finally! A man in the White House who understands the Art of the Deal!
2
Dear Editorial Board, President Trump is doing so much better than the past regime that you should be thanking him and supporting him, rather than catering to the PC/Lib crowd.
2
Is this inept, reckless and blustering bully jocularity playing house in the White House as terrifying to anyone else but me? How long will we continue to accept as normal what is outrageously not? None of Trump's conduct, speech or thuggish view of the world is normal or OK in a U.S. President. It's dangerous and destructive and not a good New Normal, Am I crazy? Sorry, this guy is bad for us and the world, very bad. It's not complicated and I'm not crazy.
2
Overthrowing the government of Libya was one of Hillary Clinton’s proudest moments. “We came. We saw. He died.”
1
Any country divided through the middle is split due to the foreign meddling, influence and dictate.
Germany was divided too between two superpowers. The very moment one of them stopped meddling the Germans instantly reunited.
The Koreans are divided in the same fashion. What foreign country has the military troops along their internal demilitarized zone?
Have we ever wondered whether we are might be a part of the problem or that without our impact the local pendulum could move quickly back to the middle?
Shouldn’t we ask the South Koreans whether to stay or go?
Maybe our absence would cool down everybody’s tensions and emotions, thus making the Koreans less stressed and tensed, and speeding up the reunification...
1
Forgive me if I have inferred where you have not implied, but I sense a certain amount of glee in every Times Editorial Board reference to any failure by Mr. Trump, so much so that in this particular diatribe, I feel that they would have PREFERRED such the North Korean talks to fail than to ever have them successfully conducted by our current president. This may be a misperception by me (after all, I also thought that Mr. Obama had done nothing to deserve a Nobel Peace Prize almost immediately upon entering the White House). but it is indicative of much of the Misperception of the Press Epidemic now under way in Republican circles, and rather reminds me of the Times's apology to its readers for not fully understanding the American Electorate immediately after the November 8, 2016 election results. Apparently, you still don't understand them!
1
It’s going to be very difficult for President Trump to negotiate with North Korea. The Democrats and their media lapdogs are trying to sabotage the talks and are siding with the North against America, as they usually do. Fortunately President Trump is a brilliant man and up to the task of fighting foreign and domestic enemies
2
One can only lead by the personal example.
If we truly want the middle-eastern countries to finally recognize their historic failures, dogmas and distortions, we can accomplish this objective only by openly talking about our recent misconceptions, failures and bias.
Hopefully our confessions would encourage everybody in the Middle East to start focusing on their own mistake, hatred and animosity.
If we stopped fighting each other and used the energy to improve ourselves, the entire region would be dramatically and significantly improved.
There is no benefit from dong the tedious homework on the behalf of others. Everybody has to do it on their own.
Only then it’s is truly helpful…
Fix the Middle East and North Korea will change on their own in the meantime. They can work closely with their brothers from the South. There is no need for us to get involved at all…
Why do the NY Times editors - along with many other sources in the world of opinion and punditry - continue to adhere to any notion that Kim is likely to give up his nuclear capabilities under any circumstances at all? "Heavy is the head that wears the crown," and Kim must play to the home audience out of fear of being overthrown by his own people or the victim of a palace coup. Joining the nuclear club has to be near the zenith of anything Kim has achieved and N. Koreans have to be puffing their chests out as a result, particularly because Kim's propaganda machine likely has them believing that they're now the equal of the U.S.
As for Bolton, he doesn't need to be reined in. He needs to be kicked out. His is a voice of "fire and fury", and frighteningly, he likely means it.
1
Similarly to West and East Germany almost three decades ago, as soon as the meddling of the foreign powers stopped, the locals were able to quickly reunite their country and rediscover the common language and priorities…
Once the Korean people reunite do you truly believe they would ponder how to attack America, China or Russia?
"To his credit, Mr. Trump has accepted the urgency of solving the North Korean threat. His overall goal — depriving North Korea of its fissile material, nuclear weapons, missile and nuclear test facilities — is right..."
Where is the evidence for this? This is just wishful thinking and old-school editorial politesse. Do you mean there are members of the administration who believe this? Who are these people who are doing the actual work of running the country, please.
I believe that I might be better positioned to know how to fix the crisis on the Korean peninsula.
I reminds me exactly on the problems of my former country Bosnia and Herzegovina that waged the bloody conflict in the nineties similar to the Korean War from the fifties. Both states are similarly divided through the middle.
How to fix both of them?
The best way to normalize the relationship between the people that used to live together for centuries is to leave them alone.
It is exactly the opposing foreign influences and meddling that divided them and pushed against each other.
Cease the foreign interference and the people will slide back into their natural traditional coexistence.
The most important objective is not what to do next but to stop whatever you were doing over the last several decades…
Let's face it: We really do not want peace and this country has not worked for peace anywhere for a long time. Now I don't like the North Korean regime at all but in this case, like in Syria, we are the ones throwing in monkey wrenches; whether in the form of "exercises" or open attacks under any excuse.
Trump is just following the script given to him after he got to the White House.
Why we do not want peace to break out? Because there is too much money in perennial conflict. War r'us. Weapons are gold. If peace became rampant throughout the planet, our economy would go belly up and a lot of powerful folk would be poorer.
For America, it is guns before butter.
Eisenhower warned us about the Military industrial Complex. Well, this is it.
Guns, guns, guns. The bigger the better.
Those commemorative coins really will be collector's items now.
Trying to weave a thread of logic through Trump's pinball diplomatic efforts is a true mug's game. He is a loose cannon on a ship with only one cannon. Time to jettison.
Kim Jong Un is playing head games with Trump who is desperately looking for a deal or a war to deflect attention from the Mueller investigation. By the time Jong Un finishes, Trump will agree to allow North Korea to self-inspect its nuke program and build a wall along the DMZ and get South Korea to pay for it.
It's astounding that the NYT editorial board (and most commenters, it seems) have figured out the President's mode of operations...despite the fact that he wrote a book about it.
By keeping is adversary off balance, he is maintaining the advantage. Whether it be the good-cop/bad-cop routine with he and Bolton or the passive aggressive open letter, he's forcing North Korea to play defense and remain off-balance. To this point, they've released our hostages and taken a step toward inhibiting their nuclear testing...and we've given nothing.
When the time DOES come for a summit, North Korea will be way more likely to accept our terms...for fear of having the carpet yanked from under them again.
As for "consulting" South Korea...why would we do that? The more people that know about the plan, the more likely a leak. Also, we really don't owe them anything considering that we're pretty much the only think keeping the army to their North from marching over the 38th parallel.
You may not like Trump - even his supporters don't like many things about him - but you have to acknowledge that he's participated in many a negotiation and made his fair share of deals to his benefit.
You give Trump way too much credit. There's no plan. Just one impulsive tweet/act after another while stepping on an ally in the process.
2
Unfortunately, Obama created a climate of distrust when dealing with America. Obama reached deals with other nations that he refused to submit to the Senate for ratification as required by the Constitution. The signatories never knew if they’d had a treaty or not. Plus Obama betrayed Qaddafi and sat by while Libya became an ISIS base and while ISIS murder the ambassador. Obama proved himself an untrustworthy criminal when he used the IRS to attack his political opponents and used the FBI to spy on the Trump campaign. Kim sees Obama’s treachery and thinks all American presidents are untrustworthy swine. We can all agree Obama is, nutmeg not President Trump
As I explained in my Revolution of Reason, it will take desperate times for humans to finally take a look at their ridiculous belief systems; and, with the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea and Trump being advised by John Bolton, we are fast approaching desperate times. It has become imperative that we build the computer model of the human mind now to show us how we think and how we have subverted the human survival program with our beliefs and manufactured values - how we have tricked the mind about exactly what is supposed to survive. Even with the irrefutable proof to be provided by the computer model of the human mind, it will take time for us to quit our mischief; so it is imperative that this model be built now. The world literally depends upon it. See: RevolutionOfReason.com TheRogueRevolutionist.com
1
Enough photos of our President. We know how he looks and that he tries to look Presidential.
My guess, Mr. Bolton's Libya comment was a piece of politcal sabotage. Bolton is gaming Trump in order to advance his own extreme agenda.
As Lindsey Ford suggests in her essay this morning, Trump and his people see everything in binary terms. There is no such thing as compromise (since that equals "appeasement" and is a sign of "weakness"). With this approach, you can only tear things down (as in the Iran deal); you can't build anything or forge any real, substantive, constructive agreements. And so our relations with both allies and foes become a foolish collection of games of "chicken" with smatterings of bizarre "bromances" and excessive flattery of brutal leaders and regimes.
1
Dear American friends,
Most of you suffer from a fatal problem no matter of the party divide.
The toxic combination of American exceptionalism and the frontier mentality has been pushing America in to series of unwinnable overseas military escapades. When you're a hammer everything looks like a nail is an apt saying to describe successive American administrations.
Mike Pence and Bolton are but latest in the long series of Americans succeeding Joseph McCarthy, John Foster Dulles, Donald Rumsfeld. and the list can go on, all have strongly believed that the U.S. follows a path of history different from the laws or norms that govern other countries.
Better digest the bitter fact that no matter what, in the current circumstances there will always be a Bolton or Pence to throw a spanner in civilized peaceful approach to any issue.
Thank heavens for the presence of BRIC countries to countervail the American imperial ambitions..
4
"confused about Mr. Trump’s intentions"? Then just check your other editorial today: "GUIDE TO PRESIDENTIAL ETIQUETTE." The sooner we get rid of this man by all lawful means, the better--and a.s.a.p.!
2
Among the reasons Trump gets away with this insanity: the professional pooper-scoopers and rationalizers and alibi-writers on FOX and the rest of the rather massive right-wing media (you know, the guys who constantly moan about how picked on they are), ably supported by serried ranks of amateur pooper-scoopers and rationalizers and alibi-writers who are always posting comments moaning about how the Times won't post their comments.
I get why the FOX guys do it--they get paid--but the suckers appear to be working for love.
1
The US can defend SK just fine with tactictical nukes.
Use them. Get rid of the artillary. Make a special exception to UN resolutions. We're good at that.
This editorial failed to name an important player outside the litany of breathtaking stupidities committed by the Trump administration that could only result in rendering this meeting untenable almost from the start. That is, the mainstream media including the NYT. All went out of their way to stick the needle into Trump, writing that he was being played by N. Korea and China. Which he was to some degree, mainly because he hasn't a clue and is, at the end of the day, an easy target.
But when the fragile, massive, paranoid ego of this megalonarcissist (that is, Trump) is being challenged and insulted by "fake news" organizations, what does one expect? Exactly the knee jerk reaction and the immediate casting of blame on everybody but himself. Indeed, Trump is predictable.
Now we have N. Korea as the only mature, adult in the room. N. Korea. Who would have believed it could be so.
Mrs. Bolton and Pence might best serve America in a North Korean summer work camp.
And devin Nunes would be a fair co-worker.
1
You assume rationality on the part of this gang that can’t shoot straight.
The Editorial Board gives Trump way too much credit , or certainly more than his former Secy of State and NSA who called him a "moron" and "idiot" respectively.
Trump has no interest in denuclearization but only a PR boost. Do not be surprised if there is a secret meeting at some point in time, particularly after Mueller closes in. Nothing will come of the meeting except for the photos which Trump will use as the basis for his claim for "winning", progress , deal acumen and of course a Nobel. In the end Kim is the one who gets another lift of legitimacy on the regional and global stage while Japan and S Korea are further marginalized as allies.
The multinational press corps should be tracking Trump and Kim closely. Kim will not leave N Korea for any meeting after Bolton's Libya comment, and Trump always wanted to meet in the DMZ.
Finally did anyone else notice the the similarity in Trump's desperation to meet Kim seemed similar to his wanting to meet Putin over the years? Trump will seek validation wherever he can get it.
" If the Trump administration will now take the time to do the preparations needed" This optimistic statement must be a joke. Please tell us one policy or action- from health care to DACA to tax reform which has been given any thought to the consequences.
The Trump presidency lurches from one crisis to another because the cabinet are a group of rejects and has-beens with no depth of expertise. Their actions are based on the impulse of a deranged and disturbed president. Time to tell the truth instead of giving this administration a future chance to get this right.
How can the world, his hypocritical enablers and "the base" continue to take anything this man says seriously.
Just read this morning's editorial. This is a joke and we continue to take the punch lines in the gut and watch as Republican "leaders" sit silently by, while this clown of a president continues to pull their strings, making them believe if they criticize him, they will suffer disastrous political fates. What nonsense. Where is the outrage? This abysmal excuse for a human being needs a lesson in November and, if we don't deliver it, our democracy will be gone. This is serious stuff people. We don't need any more psychoanalysis of this bozo -- i can say that now right ---we need to be rid of him and his il, pronto!
Because Pres. Trump wanted to get another round of publicity, including in The New York Times, without any real work.
Considering that both Pence and Bolton are smarter than Trump, it's 70/30 for a shooting war.
It was difficult for nations to deal with Obama, he would make all kinds of deals that were clearly disadvantageous to the US but then refused to submit them to the Senate for ratification as required by the Constitution
1
The NYT and the US media in general keep forgetting the basics: the DPRK came to the negotiating table because of the UB Sanctions. The DPRK economy always has had one of the world's lowest GDP. Part of that was certainly do to pouring resources into a nuclear program while the people starved.
Now we can see that the nuclear program failed, and the country can't even get fossil fuel imported to run trucks.
The splash news is that the president's administration is divided, including the steely eyed Pence, really a country bumpkin. But so is the DPRK regime, still threatening nuclear war when they have no capacity (remember the WMD farce).
The real heroes in the story is the RoK government, so why are we hearing so little about them?
This was a balanced editorial without much fake reporting. Still, when American news papers say that both sides should make concessions to get the deal it will be difficult for America to get the right deal. Kim will ask for unrealistic demands to end his nuclear ambitions. The equating of Kim and Trump by NY Times will boost Kim's ego and he will start to think that he can stand tough and may refuse to budge. This kind of equating of America with bad dictators is not appropriate.
1
Trump fans seem to think Trump is following his gut instincts, and that he has great gut instincts to follow. As long as everything stays in the talk stage, one can neither prove nor disprove the success of the behavior (which cannot be titled a plan or method). As long as there’s no shooting war, they can blither all they like. There is no imminent need to do anything about NK - as long as there is no shooting war.
That the Editors of the Times would seriously suggest that Trump, Bolton et al. were actually capable of conducting themselves in a responsible manner is so incredibly delusional that the mind boggles. Why do the Editors continuously engage in a commentary that legitimizes this EGOMANIACAL BEAST?
This embarrassment of a president apparently thinks negotiating the nukes out of North Korea is the equivalent of working the Board of Adjustments for a height variance. What a clown. What a dangerous clown, surrounded by all the wrong people.
Trump with the Daisy: “He loves me; he loves me not; he loves me; he loves me not....
Rinse and Repeat.
Where is the guy with that hook, who can yank an amateur off the stage?
But the coin...
"... if it means that the Trump administration will now take the time to do the preparation needed to make such a high-stakes meeting successful."
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Isn't Pompeo supposed to be one of their best and brightest?
"Secretary of State Mike Pompeo incorrectly referred to North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un as "Chairman Un" in brief comments to reporters this week in Hong Kong ahead of his meeting with the reclusive leader, according to a report in The New York Times.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, should be referred to as Chairman Kim, since that is his family name."
At least they now know where the naval fleet is and also how to pronounce the capital of North Korea. However on the commemorative coin Kim Jong Un is referred to as "Supreme Leader." I guess they confused Kim Jong Un and Diana Ross.
1
This ends now. Either Un meets with Trump or we Nuke him.
I think it is justified. End the regime. End the war. Unify the penninsla under a Western ideal.
Hey New York Times Editorial Board--
How long are you going to keep normalizing this incompetent, erratic, and dangerous behavior? Would you have tolerated this ignorance in Clinton, Bush, or Obama? Then why are you tolerating and excusing Trump? This was not a smart move. His diplomats are not going to spend time preparing for a possible second summit. Trump is not going to fire Bolton and muzzle Pence. And then your pie-in-the-sky conclusion that there is time to get diplomacy back on track. It's time all the members of your board got out of the building and onto the streets to talk to some Americans who have a lot more realistic grasp on Trump than you do. Please stop making excuses for someone for whom there is no excuse=Donald Trump.
1
Trump's team is the least diplomatic corp we have, as he named warmonger Bolton to counsel him. Attacking a nation, or a leader, while trying to obtain concessions, is stupid. Another question not been addressed is China, not invited to the glorified bilateral meeting (a fiasco now) to resolve a potential nuclear crisis, given China's power over North Korea. The current administration, a pluto-kleptocracy of misfits, is mortgaging U.S.' capital in credibility, and certainly bereft of moral standing if we judge Trump's daily (multi-daily?) nonsensical and hate-filled tweets...leading to our irrelevancy in world affairs. What is the value of the huge war depot available by pressing a button, when we are paupers in spirit, where justice and solidarity are mere afterthoughts? Perhaps the uncontrolled gun violence (our choice, mind you) is just a reflection of who we are, a violent society seeking scapegoats for our own insecurities and dissatisfaction in life.
To assume this summit has "fallen apart," is a trap that plays right into the hands of Drumpf and Putin. As much as we all hate the conspiracy-theory driven methods of right wing media outlets that have successfully undermined the Free Press and TRUTH/FACTS in general, here is a conspiracy that is not being talked about enough: It seems more than plausible that Putin forced Kim to come to the table in an attempt to glorify 45 and distract from the Russia investigation. Kim knows Putin could (and would, if provoked) have him assassinated in a New York minute. Why all of a sudden this drastic reversal from Kim and willingness to have his nuclear arsenal, which has been 60+ years and billions of dollars in the making, totally destroyed? To see WaPo and the NYTimes take the bait so quickly on declaring this Summit 'Dead on Arrival,' is extremely frustrating. The Summit with Kim will still happen, whether on June 12th or October 12th (more likely as it is much closer to Election Day) and Cadet Bone Spurs will emerge as the folkloric American hero the right wing has been trying to paint him as, whose "master negotiating skills" and "toughness," led to a monumental moment in world history. Please stop feeding into this simple ploy. It will come back to haunt us all.
1
I congratulate the NYTimes for writing an editorial not dripping with contempt for Trump. Yes, I know Trump picked a fight with the press and deserves no sympathy when the press fights back. But the NYTimes does have a useful role as an objective news source and excessive ragging on Trump may make it easier for people generally not in sympathy with the NYTimes editorials to write the NYTimes off as simply anti-Trump propaganda when in fact the NYTimes should be appreciated for the scope of its reporting and some considerable objectivity and respect for the truth in its reporting.
“If we are lucky, this is just a hiccup in negotiating a standoff that has defied resolution for nearly 70 years. There is still time to get diplomacy back on track.”
If we are lucky, maybe we’re all just hiccuping, but there’s a chance we’ll stop hiccuping, organize a “standoff,” and get this train back on the right track .... hmm ... that suggestion gives one pause.
George Orwell (“Politics and the English Language”) warns us that when a writer (or an editorial board) gets entangled in mixed metaphors, it means he or she or they aren’t thinking clearly.
So. Let’s be more blunt. Donald Trump is a crude, hot-headed bully. He can’t hold onto a thought for more than a few minutes, is incapable of viewing any situation from another person’s perspective, and is bored by detailed information about other countries. He recruited Rex Tillerson to gut the State Department, then signed on Bolton.
We can hiccup alongside the train tracks as long as we want, but this man, Donald Trump, will not find a way to negotiate with North Korea’s savvy dictator. He’s too stupid.
I’m guessing you kids have never been in a new car dealership. South Korea? What hurt their feelings?
President Trump has gotten us closer to an official end of the Korean War, closer to real dialogue with the North Korean regime, and closer to a direct meeting between the leaders of both countries than any president in seventy years. Heck if an accomplishment. It’s true he has not yet finished the job. But no one before him got close. Let’s cheer him on
Ah, the Libyan model
Great picture!
Trump's letter written with a literary prowess of a spoiled third grader does not shine any confidence in the outcome of this episode of White House reality show.
I guess all of Trump’s talk about a Nobel Peace Prize was a bit premature. Who would’ve thought?
1
I have an issue with this article, in that your blue pencil squad failed to insert semantically required quotes, such as:
..if it winds up meaning that the two hotheaded "leaders" sulk off and resume the schoolyard taunts..
In corralling his renegade advisors, does that include those from Fox "News"?
Bolton is a problem and Pence has no leadership qualities. They are detrimental to the "peace" process, and as long as they are on the stage with Trump, anything could happen. Trump could actually make some progress with the North Koreans, but his "carelessness" as the op-ed alludes to, is part of the problem, and his seat-of-the-pants way of doing things demonstrates his lack of a clearly thought-out strategy. His epic failures in real estate, and operating in a bubble most of his life once again reminds us that his inexperience is a true detriment rather than a plus, a quality that his base always touts and promotes as Trump's "genius."
Editorial Board
You are much too indulgent in your description of the Administrations efforts at 'diplomacy!'
In fact little diplomacy has been exhibited by the likes of Bolton and Pence.
Umiliviniq
Dear North Korea,
Our president's crazier than yours.
Signed,
The American People
If this is going to be anything other than a hiccup, Bolton needs to go.
Trump, I'm sure you are reading this. So here's my advice -- the only way you will get the peace prize is by firing Bolton. Everything went wrong when "The Libyan Model" was injected into the conversation.
It is noteworthy, while hardly surprising, that the Times has not a single word of obloquy for the totalitarian regime that precipitated this crisis and whose continued existence is an affront to international human rights and the civilized world.
It's alright to insult Vice President Pence, evidently, as no word of censure exists here, no defence of the country, in effect. Why should the U.S. talk to a renegade nation that speaks from both sides of its mouth?
North Korea is treated by the NYT as morally neutered, almost a passive party.
Pick up the phone to call South Korea for its opinion on cancellation? Why? South Korea didn't bring North Korea to the brink of the negotiating table, and didn't bring three American hostages home.
President Trump did that.
When will you say so in terms not tortuously qualified?
6
Um, actually, South Korea did. The meeting Trump lurched into...oh, never mind. Pointless to explain to somebody who thinks that blathering about abandoning South Korea and Japan (""build your own nukes, boys!") to the tender mercies of Xi and China is a Good Thing.
16
Given that Obama used the IRS to attack his opponents and used the FBI and CIA to spy on the Trump campaign, are you referring to Kim or Obama as the totalitarian regime?
2
Robert is correct. It was S. Korea who brought Kim to the table and Kim who took advantage of the Winter Olympics to get his athletes to walk and compete with their brethren from below the DMZ line. The article does give credit to Trump for getting the 3 Americans home. It does not talk about how previous presidents have brought home many more from other countries and I do not think it needed to. This is a short editorial and hence, it is not necessary to discuss what a totalitarian regime this is as that has been widely noted before in these pages.
As for your statement that " Why should the U.S. talk to a renegade nation that speaks from both sides of its mouth?", the answer is simple: they pose a threat to our allies and ourselves since they now appear to have a nuclear bomb. It's either talk or go to war which would be horrible.
5
We cannot start negotiating with the North Korean regime until we learn how to negotiate.
We cannot have the peace accord with Pyongyang until we recognize how we wrongly started the wars with Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya.
On the 9/11/2001 we were attacked by the terrorists of the Sunni Arab Wahabi background.
In retaliation we invaded a non-Arab country and three socialist ones, thus the nations not fitting at all the requirements needed to be treated as the enemies and as the source of the terrorism.
That’s why almost two decades of the wars and several trillions dollars wasted on the invasions failed to deliver any results.
Imagine if Winston Churchill declared the war on America in 1940 just because we were the Christians like Germany and Berlin had the diplomatic relations with Washington D.C and the embassy in our country.
By doing it London would not have damaged the Nazism and fascism at all but only the Great Britain.
That’s why the Nazism was destroyed in only 6 years and why we could not defeat the terrorism since 2001.
We have attacked the wrong countries and the wrong people.
We invaded a non-Arab country and the socialist regimes that were are natural allies in the struggle with the radical Wahhabism.
Just imagine if Franklin Roosevelt declared the war on the USSR in 1941 just for being a communist country.
Such a move would not have hurt the Nazism but only America…
8
This is a brilliant move by President Trump. He’s nobody’s fool! Obama would have bowed down and been fooled into total surrender to North Korea just let like hw was to Iran
1
I promise that you cannot describe even one provision of the Iran deal correctly, let alone one detail of how it got done.
No, Mr.Obama would have wisely consulted with his foreign policy advisors, he would have made the negotiation demands up-front instead of letting his administrative staff go off on tangents of their own, and he would not have used the occasion for petty politics of his own. Instead of brilliancy, Mr. Trump has only demonstrated his lack of knowledge about foreign policy matters, his inability to manage his own staff, and his refusal to collaborate with allies.
With Nuts like Bolton, who needs enemies!
2
Bolton is not a hawk; Bismarck was a hawk; Bolton is an idiot.
7
You are too kind.
2
Coming change in doctrine is unstoppable – even more than Trump may realize
Stark realization that nuclear warfare – in the broader sense – now asymmetric
With the proliferating paradigm of thousands of square miles being controlled by millions of people who are and act proudly stateless, lawless, or both – change is overdue
Europe watched Hitler arm in the 30’s, as Hitler watched Mussolini dry-run in Africa in the 20’s with – relatively speaking – spears and trebuchets
We watched a dry-run – on us – in the early 90’s
*ttps://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/28/nyregion/tapes-depict-proposal-to-thwart-bomb-used-in-trade-center-blast.html
Then they commandeered our planes – with only spears, not even trebuchets
Article elsewhere today - progressive naiveté to its Chamberlainian core
*ttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/24/opinion/north-korea-trump-military-strikes.html
Global stability comes from (balanced) international trade and national prosperity – neither of which come by popular vote or progressive wand-waving
Enough examples of folks who prosper with limited natural resources (e.g. Israel, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan,…) and folks with unlimited natural resources who don’t (e.g. Venezuela and any number of African countries) – votes have been counted
Russians and Chinese been on both sides of this history – and voted their current preference with their pocketbooks
Macron came in like a Chamberlain – may come out as a Churchill
War does that to people
1
As usual Trump was / is long on talk and hyperbole and very short on planning and doing his homework. On top of his own extremely limited capabilities he installed a terrible National Security Advisor, in John 'blow 'em up' Bolton. Only the most naive fool would believe going in that the North Korean's would completely surrender their nuclear security 'blanket'. Only a genuine moron would keep bringing up the 'Libyan plan', UNLESS their (Bolton and loose lips Pence) real goal is to scuttle the talks.
Let's see how well the 'stable genius' can control his cabal of crazies... and then get some capable experienced people on board to advise him. Of course even if that occurs it remains to be seen whether or not Trump can listen to such advisors. Then act on reasoned professional advice (as opposed following neoCON kooks like Bolton.
I just flashed on the closing scene in Stanley Kubrick's "Dr Strangelove" only instead of Slim Pickens straddling the A-Bomb as it descends... there's walrus mustachioed John 'never served' Bolton... aaaaaaaaeeeeeeeaaahhnhh, and bombs away.
Since Trump likes hats and commemorative medals and such, lets strike a 'Noble Booby Prize' for the gang who can't keep their lies straight while they attempt to distract the rest of US from their disastrous wrong doing.
Just sayin.
Is any of the press talking about the coup
at the white house? Look, first Bolton goes
on TV and talks up the Libya situation,
that did not work, then Pence goes
on TV and brings up the Libya model.
Now what do you think scares N. Korea
the most? I have heard they have watched
the tapes of Gaddafi being dragged through
the streets when he was brutally murdered
over and over. Bolton and Pence did this
on purpose to stop the meeting. They
want war and they undermined Trump.
Of course N. Korea is afraid if they do
make any agreement they will be screwed
over the same way Gaddafi was. So of course
North Korea is going to attack both
Pence and Bolton. They got the message
loud and clear. Does the rest of the government
see what has happened. Both Pence and Bolton
know that Trump is too stupid and cannot
understand the Libya model.
Who is going to tell Trump that Pence and Bolton
just undermined him? Not Sean Hannity, he is probably itching for war himself.
So much drama.
Like two mean girls in Jr. high...
"Uh uh! I broke up with you first!" "Nu uh Becky!" "You're a poopy head!" "No you are!"
Sadly the school bus is waiting for these two drama queens to climb aboard so we can all go on the field trip.
If it was only this petty, and nukes weren't involved. Sigh...
1
Great photo, by the NYT's Tom Brenner.
Too bad Emperor Trump is in it.
1
Donald
Offends,
Tragically,
All
Reasonable
Definitions
Our system is very broken when this criminal weasel grifter traitor parasite roach can hold our nation and the world hostage to his idiocy. Only "Nobel" Prize within grasp of his tiny, sweaty, disgusting hands is the Stupid Nobel Stupid Prize. Kim is no political genius but he's making chump and enablers look like the dumb trash they play on TV.
Wait for it. I’m sure this is Obama’s fault somehow. Lol.
1
Yeah. Fat chance.
Kills the Nobel Prize talk, anyway.
Does anyone know what President Obama won that Nobel Prize for?
Despite the fact that I despise Trump's character and tweeting, I did have hopes that he could finally put an end to hostilities in the Korean Peninsula, no matter how small they might've been. But alas, the hard-line morons like John Bolton and Mike Pence upended any of it. I don't live anywhere close to the White House, and I'm already sick of seeing Bolton and his stupid mustache.
Unfortunately for hawks like Bolton who are living their own fantasy world, other countries don't particularly like it when you tell them to their faces that you intend to screw them over after stripping them of their means of self-defense. Does he really think North Korea will buckle and meekly hand them over when the very basis of their Juche policy is self-defence and national sovereignty?! Oh wait, to him, they're not white Americans, just a bunch of "dumb Asians", so there's no need for him to actually research on who he's dealing with, right?
In a way, Bolton is a lot like Trump, which is probably why he got the post - he made bad policy decisions on North Korea in the past, and he's now back to double down on a bad call. God help us.
1
For a gun toting gun crazed party like the republicans, asking North Korea to give up their weapons first? Why? The hypocrisy is what the trump/fox regime holds sacred. The idea that all Americans need to be armed and dangerous in grocery stores, churches and schools. Then nobody gonna mess wit ya. But you should give all yours up then we can talk. Duh! Bolton and pence are the perfect negotiating team. As in team stupidity. Somebody should tattoo it on their foreheads. Keep your stupid mouths shut.
No one seriously believes that this President, and Vice President have any idea about diplomacy, other than for one, being top dog, and the other totally annihilating countries that have been on the track to be in the nuclear weapons club, Iran, and North Korea. Mike Pompano had the ability to negotiate, and that seemed to be a bridge too far for the other two at the top. It will be interesting to watch what he says, and doesn't say in the days to come. He will find out that he isn't dealing with a full deck, and that will make him look naïve and the fool. If he stays on the side of bluster, ignorance, and arrogance, along with the two at the top, and Bolton, and his hard liners, then it is doubtful, that any diplomacy, that is meaningful will be accomplished for the people who have suffered under the regime of three generations of the Kim Dynasty, in North Korea. After all, that is what should be the aim, helping the North Koreans, or is it just ego, arrogance, religious fanatics in America, and to hell with the people?
1
We could begin by ceasing our obsession with this overfed hummingbird on a diet of rich political suet, a so-called Leader half the Country voted for, and instead of grousing about his latest escapades, look askance at this Administration and unclear Policy of Governance.
Where Are We At? What is happening to plans to rebuild our Country? How safe are schools these days, and are students interested in learning history and geography in the times we live?
More than half the Country does not have time to worry about relations with North Korea, and Memorial Day celebrated, will be spent in hot dogs at the beach, while a few parades will take place for our Veterans. The President will look spiffy in his suit with golf balls in his brain, knowing that he will never be caught in a cooler, separating the whites from the blues.
Let us stop with the see-sawing and start moving forth, before Christmas is here in red, white and purple spiked punch. Lady Luck tends to be fickle at best, and relying on The Wheel of Fortune is dicey.
North Korea is not planning to plop a bomb on our heads, and with due respect, have this Administration ask the United Nations to step in to bridge the gap between Countries. A baby was born this May to our American-Korean Community, and it is our responsibility as a Democracy to offer the newborn a fair welcome.
All too simplistic for the Enlightened of our Country, who show a preference for endless debate and speculation from here to eternity.
#45 hasn't one clue how to handle sensitive nuclear treaty negotiations, nor will he ever have such a capacity. It's a total farce to even presume he and his mediocre cadre can handle such. Into the infernal bargain, you have total whack-job militarist Bolton advising #45 at every turn on this attempted rapport with NK. This does not bode well for any country involved here.
1
Dear His Excellency and Supreme Leader:
As someone who hopes to be the Supreme Leader of his country, I want you to know I am really, really, disappointed that I am going to have to break our date on the 12th. I was so looking forward to it.
I have to admire your strength and stamina. I've been told by everybody who knows me that I also have a lot of strength and stamina. Plus, I'm bigger than you, including my hands and everything else. I also have a lot more missiles than you do. We could've had a beautiful relationship, believe me.
But maybe we can get together at some future date. I hardly sleep so you can call me anytime. I wish to apologize for two of my people, Bolton and Pence. The Moustache (I never liked the Moustache) should NOT have mentioned Libya. I was hoping you being so isolated there in North or South Korea, I forget which - whatever - I figured you did not hear that sad story. But then my religious quack VP Pence had to bring repeat the Moustache's plan. By then, I imagine you already googled "Libya/Khaddafi" and it was too late.
Yes, Pence is a dummy. He should pray I don't fire him. Luckily no one except Rudy wants his job, otherwise, "You're Fired!".
So, in conclusion, once again, I want to personally say I'm sorry we can't meet to save the World. I would hate, God forbid, to have to unleash my nuclear arsenal at your country because of two idiots in my administration. Again, you've got my personal number. Anytime.
DD
Manhattan
2
Sorry, editors, this piece of your work serves approval of insanity in positions of power.
"Who knew it could be so complicated?" It seems Trump underestimates the complexity of everything from health care, to tariffs, to world peace, and overestimates his ability to solve these problems.
Stepping away wasn't necessarily a bad move, but Trump clearly overplayed his hand too early, making it the summit unlikely.
Once Pence, Bolton and Pompeo laid out the expectations for the summit it was clear no summit would happen. NK would never agree to give up everything beforehand.
Trump can only stand to win. Once he sees he can't win, he just won't play. Standard Trump MO.
1
Guy to girl: Can I call you about going on a date?
Girl to guy: I guess so.
Guy to friend: She so wants to go out with me.
Guy to girl: I'm calling about going on a date.
Girl to guy: I dunno. Maybe sometime but not now.
Guy to friend: I really don't want to go out with her. She is not pretty or nice.
Could we substitute Trump and Kim and the world for those dialogues?
2
The question is who is the making the deal, Donald Trump in the White House or John Bolton and Mike Pence on the Fox News Network?
Who killed the negotiations even before those started?
Who makes the crucial decisions, the president or his aids?
Who prevented the Commander-in-Chief from fulfilling his constitutional duties and striking the long overdue peace accord just because they wanted to look tough on the conservative news network?
Until the boss is done talking the aids should be quiet!
If there is no discipline within the unit, there will be no results or breakthrough progress either!
We’ll see, we’ll see...no matter what the issue this is the president’s standard answer which says nothing at all.
He cancelled the summit to try and save face. In an immediate response Kim replies he’s open to meeting. It’s a game of cat and mouse. Meanwhile the president has coins made touting the summit, and 18 politicians look pretty foolish nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. I’m sure a Nobel prize is high on this president’s wish list because President Obama has one.
In a letter released to the public backing out of the summit the president rattles his sabers. It’s a shame all those diplomats have left the state department because this president has no clue about diplomacy and could use some serious tutoring.
Meanwhile, what next, for this president to do to try and divert our attention from the Mueller investigation?
1
Here is a thought that would bolster Trump's fragile ego and perhaps make the world safer. Cut a deal with the Nobel Peace Prize committee promising one to Trump on the day after he leaves office if and only if he does not cause a war for America or the world.
1
Trust me, I learned this on my own skin. Luckily, I survived to tell you this story.
It is not the matter of the politicians in Washington D.C., the Republicans and the Democrats, the State Department or the presidents.
It is the matter of the national character and attitude.
Do we love and trust the people or not? The same principles solve the problems both internationally and domestically.
Love and trust.
We can perceive the North Koreans as the enemies or as the friends. Every next step will be based upon this first fundamental decision.
I came to America as a refugee from Bosnia and ex-Yugoslavia.
Those used to be the great places to live. Why? We loved our neighbors.
Why did Yugoslavia and Bosnia fall apart?
The people started hating each other for no reason. One morning they decided to blindly follow the wrong leaders and they pushed the citizens to hate each other more and more till the war finally broke out
Be very careful what your leaders are teaching you, love or hatred…
1
Yes Trump and Kim, a love that was probably never meant to be; you never call, you never write. Now Trump and Mueller: I still have the greatest hope there.
DJT Jr: "Art of the deal baby"
Really?
How about international diplomacy experience?
How about negotiated goals and agenda for a meeting?
The "best" in our Executive Branch have trouble setting up a meeting. And look what you already have away: international status to a medieval regime...And look what you lost...the confidence and trust of US allies...
2
"There is still time to get diplomacy back on track."
It's similar to the concept that having surgery is a good idea until you meet the surgeon with his coke bottle eye glasses, violently trembling hands, and dementia.
Frankly, I am happy that the negotiations with North Korea broke down. Kim Jong-un is what he is. As I see the situation, he wants three things: protect his position as dictator, prevent the U.S. from attacking his country, and get rid of sanctions that are decimating the North Korean economy. On the other hand, Donald Trump is also what he is. An impetuous, ill-informed schoolyard bully who has no idea how complex the North Korean situation is. His decisions seem to be based on how much popularity they will generate from his base of supporters here in this country. Donald Trump is the most dangerous person in the world today. We must do everything we can to keep from getting involved in a war, whether it is in the Far East or the Middle East. Trump's idea of negotiations is give him everything he wants or suffer the consequences. That won't work.
1
Bolton and some others--all of them too old to go fight, are just so enthusiastic about war--any war. Trump was on the right track to get these talks going but they scuttled it with their out of control mouths.
1
No question, first round to Kim.
It's been obvious from the start that Kim understood Trump was a dismal, uninformed, ignorant negotiator with equally incapable advisors and that he, Kim, could prevail in a deal with the west. He's guided by the very capable Chinese and together they will very soon make mincemeat of the US economy without using any nuclear weapons but by simply letting Trump self-destruct.
Kennedy was cited as once saying that 'the most dangerous man in the White House is the president who can think for himself.' Trump is by no means alone in his intense advisory crucible, and one could apply the Editors' admonition, especially in recent history, to Clinton, Bush (perhaps especially in 2000-2003, and in the last months of his term) and of course, to Obama who was utterly dependent on a West-Wing, donor and academic advisory network. The new SoS did meet with NK's head of state (such that it is) and that's a good beginning. He is the kind of (pathological) personality that needs to be kept off balance, and this is one way to do so. Cancelling on him was merely good strategy. Ultimately he will have to be removed. In that regard, the Trump administration is cleaning up a lot of prior US diplomatic incompetence.
Richard Luttgren: "After the first outreach, this is merely the first push-back. There will be others in this trading game conducted at the brink."
Human nature goes this way, he tried it didn't work, he tried again it didn't work, he tried once more, and it didn't work, he concluded there's no point in dealing with trump. trump will try again, and he'll get zilch. It's like the American banks, we loaned him money, we didn't get paid back, we loaned him money again and we didn't get paid back, we loaned him money once more and we still didn't get paid back. The American banks conclude there's no point in loaning to trump, and with this they never loan money to him again, resulting in his having to go to overseas banks and who knows who else.
2
"There is still time to get diplomacy back on track."
But how? With a half empty State Department, and a president who clearly confounds diplomacy and real estate/reality TV deals (and who wasn't even that good at business deals, to start with) ... ?
Diplomacy means using the art of translating one point of view in such a way that it becomes understandable for the other side, and vice versa.
It means first studying each side's main interests, as perceived by themselves, and then actively creating common ground. Once that common ground is installed, you can enter into the last stage: inventing a compromise solution on the main points of difference.
The very purpose of diplomacy is not only to avoid violence and casualties, but most of all to create a new situation, where both sides can thrive MORE than they did before the agreement was reached and implemented.
That is what the Iran nuclear agreement has achieved.
And it's clearly not what Trump knows anything about or has learned to appreciate, so how could someone like him obtain a nuclear deal with an even more volatile country such as North Korea ... ?
2
Its hard enough to make 'wing-it' diplomacy work, when its done by one man, the President. But when you have his hand-picked advisors swaggering and seeking their fame on TV by making blustering pronouncements that undermine the premise of the talks, its doomed to failure:
Bolton boasts that N.Korea will be treated exactly like Libya. Sara Sanders walks this back and says that Trump is not using a 'cookie-cutter' approach.
But not to be outdone, Pence on TV brags that unless N.Korea submits to all our conditions all at once, they will be treated like Libya, not an eventuality but 'a fact'.
Of course, Trump shifts the blame on N.Korea, but then that's his M.O. when things don't work.
4
I'm sure it generates great glee within the Trump haters that Trump cancelled One contributor said he was played. But if we go back to a Kennedy's statement, war-like behavior, “if allowed to grow unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately leads to war" we may find out who really got played. Kim's first blast of an atomic weapon was in 2006. Who was played during the intervening years. Trump wasn't president and no president during that time was willing to consider sitting down face to face with a NK leader as his nuclear arsenal grew. Instead they stood by and the danger grew. I suspect Kim was as surprised as anyone that Trump would accept. But he did. Kim made all sorts of promises at first but in the last few weeks, he seems to have backed off some of the important ones. On the other hand, he has blown up the testing facility and that is progress. Trump's letter holds out hope that a meeting can occur and today North Korea has said they want a meeting. Kim has a lot to gain by signing a peace treaty and getting rid of the nukes. Economic expansion, and removal of sanctions. On the other hand he also frees himself from total reliance on Russia and particularly China who hold him by the neck telling what to do and when to jump. They do that to further their own interes not North Korea's. So instead of Trump getting played, it is Kim and by his own hand. We can still hope.
TRUMP: “The Libyan model isn’t the model we have at all. In Libya we decimated that country.
There was no deal to keep Gaddafi .
That model would take place if we don’t make a deal [with Kim Jong Un].”
May 17, 2018: Trump’s press-statement at the White House. Trump threatening Kim with the Libyan model is a ridiculous attempt at “The Art of the Deal”.
1
once again, putting diplomatic activities requiring finesse, experience, and competency in the hands of howling, incompetent egotists is a sure recipe for disaster. Trump, Bolton and Pompao are a toxic combination akin t pouring sewage into our drinking water. Hurry Noveber 2018..
4
In order for the people to love and trust you, you must love and trust them first…
There is no better recipe for the successful negotiations.
The success is not result of the diplomacy and the negotiating skills but the personal attitude.
Love and trust are the matter of personal attitude and national character…
Here is a thought for an agreement: North Korea gets rid of nuclear weapons and all the infrastructure to make them and the United States removes all the nuclear weapons and military personnel from South Korea and Japan and stops military exercises too close to NK.
It should have been Foreign Relations 101 not to mention the 'Libya Model'
USA has no nuclear weapons in South Korea, and hasn't for a long time. It's a fact. A very important fact.
Thank you NYT for reaching out to Trump in an attempt to calm his raging narcissism. He is injured now and more dangerous than ever. Any effort we can make to avert war is worth the personal pain of massaging the ego of a maniac.
2
Your title should have read: Bolton sabotages Trump on N. Korea. Bolton wants war--exploding nukes. That was his objective in Iraq, Iran, and before them, Libya. Or you could have placed the responsibility squarely in Trump's little hands, where it belongs. He hired Bolton, he was Bolton's boss.
Your wishy-washy headlines lets Trump get away with a lot--keeping his standing with his base.
5
I agree with everything said in the article with one key exception-why?
Why on earth would North Korea give up its nuclear arsenal and risk being invaded and replacing its system of government. China doesn’t want democracy at its doorstep and Un isn’t looking for a fox hole to relocate to. Trump was played pure and simple.
4
A message to all South Koreans:
Please know you are not alone. We in America are also trying to figure out what President Trump's intentions are and the exact meaning of them. If it is any consolation, our bafflement isn't limited to the Korean Peninsula.
Sincerely,
America
6
Kim and China only need to “invest” a large sum of money in a Trump project. Trump will then do North Korea’s bidding; such as holding a summit.
How do we know this? As Kim undoubtedly knows, China “invested” $500 million in Trump’s Indonesian deal and in exchange the US immediately backed off sanctions on China’s telecom company.
This is how things work in the new American kleptocracy.
6
Why are we more fearful and less positive than the Chinese people? Why is Washington D.C. tenser than Beijing?
If the Chinese leaders are not concerned at all that the North Korea might attack them, why is the White House?
Just look at China and their neighbors – North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.
China has four neighbors with the nuclear missiles – Russia, North Korea, Pakistan and India.
China borders Afghanistan and Vietnam too...
Why China hasn’t been fighting against any of them?
Our government lacks the basic quality – the love for our neighbors. That is why it sees many of them as the enemies.
That’s why we have been waging the endless wars.
We need more love in our hearts. Such a quality would help us destroy even the endless bickering and polarization within our very borders...
1
Just when I thought to myself, being totally impartial, that it took a dictator to negotiate with a dictator and that the final result IN THIS ONE CASE might actually have resulted in an achievement attributed to to Orange Man and that not only could this not be denied but that would he might bring positive and lasting change to the entire world, ending the suffering of the Korean people. Effusive praise ebbed and flowed like so much Cold Duck at a Trump-supporter banquet. FOOLISH ME. Not only is it not going to happen at the moment but bellicose threats are appearing anew as though nothing positive had taken place these past weeks to ease tensions in the most dangerous corner of the planet. True to form dictators are, ultimately, cowards and in this case we can add that ONE OF THEM, our very own, is also of little mind. Nay, he's of the LITTLEST mind. Watching his "news conference" last night reminded me how dangerous having a egomaniac small-handed man the color of an Orange Julius leading a powerful country which we now see has empowered the Chief Executive with too much power is really doing to this country. Dangerous men of the most evil intentions with no compassion or sense of justice are making decisions that have world-wide consequences. The road to peace has been bombarded and I can't say why but I felt more anxiety yesterday watching him with Pence beside him than I have since his election. He's confident in his tyranny now. Woe to the rest of us.
3
Trump was serious only about the possibility of getting the Nobel Prize. He did no preparation and acted in his own, foolish way. The surprise to me is that the Times thinks that Bolton or Pence acted without consultation with Trump. Pence does not speak without carefully considering the Boss. "Denuke or die" was his on-screen ultimatum. It was all calculated. In the end, Trump was the high school senior who wanted to break the date before she did so he wouldn't look weak. Too late for that!
2
The end game to a Nobel Peace Prize medallion a Trump-Kim commerative coin? Two egg shell thin ego’s bloated beyond proportions unready to man girdle the denuclearization question.
Seriously, this has always been a Trump idea where the prize was to come before the labors.
The Trump diplomacy akin to Mr. Toad of Toad Hall racing a shiny new car in, The Wind in the Willows.
Every day when one opens the paper to read the news the first thing that hits one is the word 'Trump.' Day after day: Trump, Trump, Trump. The word is attached to anything and everything from a dinner at Mar-a- Lago, to raging millions chanting "Nobel, Nobel," to a tweet on this, a tweet on that, negotiations over the nuclear safety of the world --all seamlessly stretching on and on. But all this has now become subliminal. One finds the mind is numbed to any moral content attached to the word. The heart beats to Trump - Trump - Trump. And THAT is all that matters to him. Reading the briefing books, quietly methodical diplomacy, and well-planned skillful negotiations do not make for press headlines. Idiotic tweets do: Trump, Trump, Trump. Is the press complicit in his venality, graft, the abasement of the United States in the eyes of the world -- nay, in the insecurity of the world? Think about what is going on: Brand building, feeding the narcissistic beast who craves to be noticed and does everything to make sure he is in the headlines every day: summit on, summit off -- Trump,Trump, Trump. We are reeling, our heads are pounding with the daily thump, thump, thump of what we hear: the mind-numbing tweet-beat of Trump, Trump, Trump.
1
President Trump is living his ultimate dream: He's the most powerful man on the planet. His primal preoccupation and fascination with his current status is intoxicating and deluding him. So he thought that he could magically pull a few levers and watch his irresistible power force North Korea to abdicate it's long past history of defiance. Now, faced with the stark reality that these things require planning, negotiations and long term strategy, he wants to avoid embarrassment and will likely resume his name calling and manipulate the news to create distractions. How much time has he spent imagining his acceptance speech as the world watches him receive the Nobel Peace Prize? Oh well, there are other fantasys and incredible achievements to be had! Good for him that the short attention span of this untethered occupant of the White House won't allow him the uncomfortable practice of critical self-assessment - bad for the USA and the world that he lacks this essential moral quality.
37
Mr. Trump does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, but if these talks ever do materialize (and things have already somewhat turned around again just in the past 15 hours), he might very well deserve it then. Even with just this probably-temporary failure, he has already done more to merit such consideration than President Obama ever did, and he was awarded it almost as he walked in the White House door, before he could possibly have done anything to merit it - and then he did nothing. The Nobel people are the ones who gave their Literature Award to Bob Dylan, so anything is possible.
It was a smart move. I believe the president played this one exactly right, given the North Korean's failure to show up for a planning meeting.
His critics' critiques are all over the board. One week he's desperate for a meeting. The next, he's a coward for cancelling one. The one constant is their claim that the opposite of Trump's actions is the *real* action that should have been taken.
8
Yup, there sure are a lot of haters here. It's actually quite funny to watch and read. I agree Trump is handling NK correctly. Folks continuing with their hate-laden agenda will be brought down to earth with a thud- very soon!
Hate in the heart debilitates the mind- they can't see it coming
3
And why was it a smart move, more precisely ... ?
15
You praise him now that the meeting has been canceled. Just imagine the praise you would have heaped on him had it not been canceled.
Speaking of being "all over the board".
His cheerleaders who can see no error in his ways are that way, and have been that way since he conned his way into the political national spotlight.
Sucker born every minute.
15
This editorial is much, much, much too generous. Trump is a terrifying embarrassment.
Wish he were gone yesterday.
6
So much liberal hair on fire in the comments here...the summit was rightfully cancelled by the President as his Secretary of State was left sitting in Singapore for three days waiting for the NOKO delegation to arrive and work out summit details, they never showed up. The only ones to blame for the cancellation are the NOKOs.
2
"To his credit, Mr. Trump has accepted the urgency of solving the North Korean threat."
Is this what it has come to? A 71 year old president of the United States realizes that a nuclear armed erratic man-child is a threat to the region and to the United States, and that is seen as a reason for credit? Maybe he gets points for finishing his Cheerios at breakfast. Maybe he gets credit for not throwing a golf club in a water hazard after a bad shot (not his fault, of course).
I realize you get tired of criticizing all the time--but really--you look silly for grasping at silver lining straws with this president. He's an ignorant egomaniac and that's it. I wasn't convinced that Ronald Reagan was a rocket scientist, but at least he had better advisors. He wasn't exclusively advised by a bunch of testosterone-laden chicken hawks anxious to see war outside of a movie theater. Heck, we'd be better off now if Nancy's fortune-teller had an office in the West Wing.
3
As with everything this president does, he has no clue what he's doing and the dangerous international climate he's creating. His governmental relationships are as bad as his personal ones.
3
Trump—and everyone else—needs to give up on the pretense the US, let alone it’s naive, America-first President has anything to do with international matters. Play golf, tweet about the NFL, but let the world affairs go to more capable non-USA hands.
2
This is the greatest failure of American diplomacy since the Iran hostage crisis in the 1970s.
2
I think we can all agree with The Editorial Board until the point that they conceive all this as a real diplomatic negotiation. The President sees things right or wrong, black or white, in a binary way with no sense of vision. He didn't negotiate anything but used his consolidated carrot-and-stick approach, sure to win, careless of what diplomacy is. In the same way, for Mr Trump, you are either a winner or a loser. With North Korea, a mostly unprepared meeting, with no agreement of whatsoever result, as soon as Mr Trump had the idea not to bring home a victory, he cancelled the summit, blaming the other part, asserting that NK and the world have lost a great opportunity. Of course, not mentioning himself, because he, and his supporters, believe to have won over Kim Jong-un.
6
Thanks to NYTImes readers, who have done a serious edit on this godawful editorial.
I'll add only correction to what others have nicely taken care of.
The Times writes:
"To his credit, Mr. Trump has accepted the urgency of solving the North Korean threat."
This should be revised to read:
"Mr. Trump's fecklessness, braggadocio and longing for a Nobel Peace Prize led him to rush to solve the North Korean threat without using any of the usual means of measured diplomacy."
(Apologies to my fellow readers for ending up with more words; at least it's the truth.)
2
He's crashed through the guardrails again. He has done this repeatedly and most of us waiting for Congress to replace them with new ones that can't be "decimated" so easily the next time. They never do, so he driving through all of them, and he always ends up in a wreck, and amazingly walks away.
Given how these domestic checks and balances have failed us, other nations are trying to send the same message, "Look America, the world needs you to be stable so the rest of us can continue to function. If you keep going off the rails, then we can't trust you and all "deals" are off until you grow up."
I remain stunned that Republicans, those of the "love it or leave it" crowd, are willing to leave a carcass in their wake.
2
If it wasn't so potentially dangerous, you have to admit, the whole bunch of Trump, Kim, Bolton, Pence look and act as (you would expect) a cartoon full of over-illustrated characters with overblown personalities. Sort of Southpark with nukes.
1
It was never on. NK just playing the president.
4
"There is still time to get diplomacy back on track".
Trump probably has problems even being able to spell the word diplomacy, but most of all he doesn't know the meaning of it.
The Art-oh-the-Deal Apprentice President has been outplayed by "little Rocket Man".
Our own unstable and petty autocrat has an attention span like a nat, insisting on immediate satisfaction, while Kim Jong Un thinks and plans in years and decades.
3
seriously, no one should think Trump is lookin for anything other than a "win" which no one outside of his head can know what that means.
face facts he has no idea what the end goal is or how to get there.
perhaps if North Korea agrees to pay for the wall that will be the win Trump needs?!
Maybe, just maybe, the first order of business in very tense and uncertain negotiations is not to award yourself the Nobel Peace Prize before you have even shook hands with your opposite negotiator. Maybe Trump could have said :"If we strike a deal, Mr. Kim, Mr. Moon, and I should share the prize". But, oh no, the first order of business is me, me. me. Trump is the bull in a China shop. Break something in aisle 1, the shop owner and other customers say "STOP", but Trump just moves on to aisles 2 and 3 totally ignoring the damage left behind because someone else is required to clean up the mess. Seems like every problem he tries to address becomes more unstable, not less. And when it becomes more complicated than he anticipated, he leaves it and moves on to the next one. Just like a kid with a bunch of 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles he got for his birthday. "Oh, It will be easy to put these things together. I will be in the jigsaw puzzle maker's hall if fame". Then, after a few days, all you see all over his room are a bunch of started and abandoned puzzles that look nothing like the picture on the box cover. And his friends come over and say "Wow, man, you are amazing. You can do all those puzzles at the same time". But every time after that, the puzzles are exactly the same. Until his mother finally comes in and sweeps them up and throws them in the trash. And Trump's mother, the voters, will be doing the same thing with him.
1
What’s going on with Trump? TheraP explains:
Trump is a man driven by Megalomania on the one hand (think Nobel Prize) and an inability to channel anxiety - productively - on the other.
He’s backed himself into several corners. At once! All seem driven by his desire for Greatness. GREATNESS!!!
But the walls are closing in: Mueller’s probe; his ‘security blankets’ absence (think Hope etc.); events he cannot control; backfires due to his bullying. But especially the Mueller probe.
And Trump’s anxiety level has got to be through the roof. So where’s it going? Into frenetic activity! And (likely) temper tantrums. But especially impulsive, frenetic activity - bereft of any forplan, consultation (with advisors or allies).
He is a cardinal example of a bullying, irrational, anxiety-driven, megalomaniac who cannot restrain himself from doing something, ANYTHING, to rid himself of helplessness, worry, rage.
A Toddler - out of control - needs adults to step in and physically restrain him (or her) - while offering soothing words. Hold that kid tight! Or that kid will kick and scream and drive everybody nuts.
But who can/will step in to restrain Trump? ... ?????
Not the sycophants. Not the Cabinet. Not the supine GOP Congress.
We, the Public and the Press, speak out. Loudly. Firmly. That raises the ante for Trump. It increases his anxiety. He’s gonna keep acting out erratically - due to that anxiety.
He’s having a nuclear melt-down. While the world waits.
6
Ignorance reigned supreme yesterday! National Security Adviser John Bolton and Veep Mike Pence scotched the June summit Singapore meet with Kim Jong-un. North Korea neatly evaded the Trump spider-web when Kim and his advisers twigged that they were being railroaded onto the path of "Libya" and Qaddafi redux, by hawk Bolton and "dummy" Pence. Trump lost more face with his sweet "Dear Kim" letter, than did the DPRK's " Supreme Leader" whom Trump made fun of in his name-calling cybertaunts and silly threats of "raining fire and fury" on the northern half of the Korean peninsula. Trump and his diplomatic advisers are wearing lots of egg on their faces today.
2
Two children in a school yard trying to convince each other they know how the universe works. So sad!
The editors don't seem to realize that Trump is incapable of doing what is required to be president. He is an existential threat to the survival of this country.
3
We still don’t know how to negotiate.
In diplomacy there are three major categories – the friends, the enemies and the neutral countries.
After the 9/11/2001 our president George W. Bush issued the ultimatum to the rest of the world – you are either with us or against us, thus destroying the foundations of the successful diplomacy and effective negotiations.
Consequentially we invaded the countries that wanted to stay neutral during our conflict with the radical Sunni Arab Wahhabism. We attacked Afghanistan (a non- Arab country) and Iraq, Lybia and Syria (three only socialist countries in the region and the natural allies in the conflict with the religious fundamentalism).
Just imagine if Winston Churchill acted in the same way and issued the ultimatum to America in 1940 that we must be with them in the clash with the Nacism and the fascism.
Washington D.C. wasn’t ready to jump into the global conflict at that moment.
If the Great Britain attacked the USA in 1940 for us wanting to stay neutral, London would have lost the WWII…
It’s never too late to recognize the fundamental conceptual mistakes. LATE is much better than NEVER!
1
Reality bites, this is not apprentice show as trump thinks it is.
What a fool he is and now Kim- jong- un half of the age of trump is now playing him like a fiddle. The whole world is laughing at him and he does not know it.
Donald J. trump has very little self esteem about himself and he must always have the last word or else, as the fool he is.
2
The biggest problem with Trump is neither his advisors nor his inability to corral and/or listen to them... the biggest problem (huge) is his own utter incompetence on the world stage. He is not only totally unknowledgeable and inexperienced in world affairs (beyond negotiating casino deals with sleazy overseas "players"), but he is also petulant and self-absorbed; a bad combination of traits that precludes any true comprehension of diplomacy and militates against anything vaguely resembling success, or, as he would have it, "winning". Whatever that means.
What's a poor Trump to do? No Nobel Prize. Kim Jong-Un says he's tougher than Trump. Mueller won't say what he knows. "Lock her up" just doesn't have the same verve any more. Tick tock tick tock...
You're too kind and patient with President Trump. He had absolutely no good reason to cancel the summit. The hostile rhetoric emanated from his side in thinly-veiled demands by his spokesmen, John Bolton and Mike Pence, that a precondition for the summit was the complete dismantling of North Korea's nuclear program. That was, is , and always will be a non-starter. But, to cancel based on the type of language Mr. Trump feels free to use almost daily is clearly bogus, especially when the North had just made a first conciliatory step in dismantling their nuclear program by publicly destroying their test site. Mr. Trump will not get a Nobel Peace Prize, but does deserve the Booby Prize for making the world yet again a less safe place.
55
No good reason? Despite the North Koreans' failure to show up? With whom was he supposed to negotiate? Trump's critics are making less and less sense.
1
When the Vice President of the United States basically states that unless North Korea does everything we demand, their leader is going to end up assassinated like Gaddafi, you can't really blame North Korea for getting upset. It almost makes you wonder if the administration purposely did this to kibosh the summit.
That's my opinion too. I think Trump got cold feet, realizing - in a rare moment of lucidity - that there was no possibility of walking away from Singapore with a functional denuclearization agreement in his pocket. I won't go so far as to say that anyone who thinks Kim will give up his nukes is "delusional", but I will say that they seem to be ignoring the obvious.
We have to relearn how to think, analyze and negotiate. We have lost and/or discarded those basic skills.
Why?
We are the victims of own success. If you have the most powerful military in the world, the leaders get accustomed to just giving the orders and receiving the unconditional obedience, thus depriving self from the healthy feedback or frank conversations. Consequentially we are sinking deeper into more confrontations and bloody conflicts.
We are waging now more wars then ever in our history. We consider as our own backyard every remote corner of this planet.
We cannot have the national interests in the foreign countries. By very definition, those are their domestic issues and priorities.
The conflict between our perceived foreign national interests and their domestic rights puts us into the endless crisis mode.
To be more tolerant, constructive, and peaceful we must package the deals in order to achieve more just solutions.
Just imagine the way we would conduct the negotiations if we simultaneously looked for the denuclearization of both the Middle East and the Korean peninsula.
Suddenly the White House would realize that the other countries have the sovereign national rights they are not willing to give up...
The other countries are not a priory our enemies if they are not thinking like us.
They might be just different. There is no reason to fight them as long as they are not our enemies.
We have to relearn hot to think, analyze and negotiate. We have lost and/or discarded those basic skills.
Why?
We are the victims of own success. If you have the most powerful military in the world, the leaders get accustomed to just giving the orders and receiving the unconditional obedience, thus depriving self from the healthy feedback or frank conversations. Consequentially we are sinking deeper into more confrontations and bloody conflicts.
We are waging now more wars then ever in our history. We consider as our own backyard every remote corner of this planet.
We cannot have the national interests in the foreign countries. By very definition, those are their domestic issues and priorities.
The conflict between our perceived foreign national interests and their domestic rights puts us into the endless crisis mode.
To be more tolerant, constructive, and peaceful we must package the deals in order to achieve more just solutions.
Just imagine the way we would conduct the negotiations if we simultaneously looked for the denuclearization of both the Middle East and the Korean peninsula.
Suddenly the White House would realize that the other countries have the sovereign national rights they are not willing to give up...
The other countries are not a priory our enemies if they are not thinking like us.
They might be just different. There is no reason to fight them as long as they are not our enemies.
Months ago the Times had a perceptive and credible article on North Korea's strategy since the end of the Korean War. Towards the end of the piece a North Korean high level official was quoted as saying that the North Korean government wanted a nuclear free Korean Peninsula. Our current leadership has an opportunity to be an important player in stabilizing the Korean Peninsula with patient negotiations preceded by allowing the South Korean government to work with its northern counterparts to produce a peace treaty that all parties can sign. This should followed by a negotiations over North Korea's nuclear capacity and the US's ongoing nuclear and conventional threat to the North. South Korea and Japan, the nations most threatened both by the North and any potential military action the United States might take can work with our negotiators. This is not dreaming or fantasy any more than the Nixon/Kissinger success in opening the door to the People's Republic of China was. Unfortunately, this administration is populated by a personalities lacking in wisdom, knowledge and diplomacy for whom ideology and military force are a substitute for thought. If Donald Trump is going to get his first enduring achievement that will survive him and be an historical milestone then he must seek out counsel who can help guide him to the potential success that stands right in front of him.
Trump will not have a deal with North Korea. He got out of the Iran deal, it being the worst deal in history, because Iran could start up the program after ten years. Let's get real, what country that has nuclear weapons has ever given them up. None. North Korea will Never give then up. So, that being the case the stand off continues.
1
What Trump needs to decide beforehand is the role the US plays for decades to come in the Far East. Does he accept a diminished US role for a rising China there? After all a few previous presidents did not have guts to accept the evolving reality and preferred to stick to the status quo. I think he just realized it.
Whether under the Chinese instigation or on his own the kind of proactive diplomacy Kim Jong-un has played to hoodwink Trump could only be countered by a well thought out and nuanced diplomatic response which is a far cry for the fickle minded impulse driven US President Trump and his John Bolton like hard-line advisors, who wanted to force North Korea to follow their dictates. This blow-hot-blow-cold approach adopted by Trump was bound to result into on-now-off-again US-North Korea dialogue, providing China a chance to leverage its North Korea card to extract its share of bargain in its trade war with the US, and even play some role in the US-North Korea talks whenever these are held.
"President Trump needs to corral his renegade advisers." Ain't gonna happen. Look at the turnover of advisors at the White House. In the area of foreign policy, those who were not ideologues, were higher educated and/or experienced and dared to speak truth to power are gone. Pompeo and Bolton are just the kind of "advisors" this President wants. Like Fox News, like others with a certin bunker mentality, they and their staffs tell him what he wants to hear.
2
The cancellation of the talk is not the fault of Trump.
NoKo is still trying to keep the nuclear bombs, by telling lies.
The president of Soko, Moon, looks like Tessio of Godfather.
1
I wonder if Pence and Bolton were instructed to insert the "Libya model" into the discussions as a poison pill to sabotage the NK/US talks, as I am quite convinced that Trump does not possess the right stuff to negotiate his way out of a paper bag and suspect that Trump's handlers have concluded similarly.
6
This NYT editorial puts the summit cancellation in a more favorable light than deserved. The most likely reason for the cancellation is the fear of losing face. Unfortunately, the only tangible outcome is that North Korea is being perceived as the reasonable party and, worse still, many would find it understandable if it resumed or even accelerated its nuclear weaponisation program.
Some weeks ago, I said in a comment that the meeting would occur, but not necessarily on June 12th.
I still believe the meeting will occur, and see this latest development as nothing more than pre-arranged jousting between the parties, specifically to focus attention on a contrived danger, only to give North Korea the opportunity to appear to be reasonable and pragmatic.
Trump and Kim are canny in a slick and cunning way, and both will go into the meeting, respected reluctantly by a desperately hopeful world.
It may still occur on June 12, so don't presume this charade is a Trump misstep.
Kim is desperate for a first in 70 year return to an end to useless confrontation, all of which gained North Korea nothing, unless one wishes to suggest that the attainment of nuclear capabilities was a plus, which given the worldwide condemnation only guarantees continued crippling economic sanctions.
Pompeo with his bombastic set of conditions for Iran, is actually the bigger concern of this administration, and frankly I see, as I stated some time ago, that by years end, Iran will be champing at the bit, to appease the United States and become one with the community of nations, never again having to watch sanctions destroy their nation.
I see what many blindly enraged liberals do not want to believe, which is that this normal Trumpian style of operations, is actually going to work, not endearing him by any means, but who can argue that if the end we want develops, the means were ok.
2
It's amazing that they still don't understand him. Have to believe it's willful ignorance. Easier and more emotionally gratifying to just to dump on his every move.
Poor Sad Mel. Trump can negotiate anything. Had more bankruptcies that Carter has pills. He a loser and Iran, NK and China knows he can be played for his Ego. America needs sane people in charge, not the baby Trump turnip!
Shows the folly of decision making by your gut. And of ever thinking trump can pull off anything constructive.
Trump cancelled a once-in-a-generation summit meeting with North Korea due to their "hostile language" in calling his vice president a "political dummy."
A quick scroll through Trump's Twitter feed would show that he routinely uses far more offensive and bombastic language to attack virtually anyone - journalists, political opponents, public figures, law enforcement agents, war veterans, you name it. He does so with numbing regularity, and - thanks to Congressional and Cabinet spinelessness - impunity. Frankly, Trump calling someone a "dummy" would be just about the most PG-rated insult he's hurled since his campaign for the White House began.
But "dummy" shuts down an ultra-important nuclear summit, with the stability of the Korean Peninsula, and the world, at stake.
You cannot make this up.
2
"You cannot make this up"
Who, except for a hard and heartless bunch of Trumpists, would have believed that what we have governing our nation today, was remotely possible.
While it all has the air of an incredibly successful reality TV show, its wildly inappropriate format, is the reason for its success.
I'm not suggesting this is how we should be, going forward, nor am I suggesting that this corporate owned government cares one whit about the effects of its avaricious policies on the poor and the middle-class, yet here we are with a government we never dreamed possible, and it is our own fault, entirely.
We had an historic opportunity in Bernie Sanders, who proposed the kind of inclusiveness that would have been a template for all nations, the kind of community involvement that would have ended inequality, and put humanity on track to helping instead of hindering each other, environmentally as well.
But neither party was having any of it, so here we are, impotent as never before, with no discernible way home.
1
Bolton and Pence were not rogue actors. The Whitehouse staff knew how ill prepared Trump was to enter into any face to facenegotiations with Kim. Trump refused to listen to the most basic explanations of the steps needed to build a functioning nuclear bomb. He refuses to listen to, for he will not or cannot read the intelligence briefings.
There was a well orchestrated plan for people in the administration to make statements designed to anger Kim. He finally responded and then Trump was advised to forgo his Nobel Peace Prize fantasies and cancel the meeting before Kim did.
1
If this was a "well orchestrated plan" that would surprise many of us as there has been little evidence this is an organization that could piece together a haphazard plan.
No, it was nothing more than to insure Trump is under the spotlight, is portrayed as a grand and gallant leader.
I believe you are overly optimistic.
First of all. What diplomacy? This is a president who knows nothing of diplomacy, much less the 'art of making a deal'.
And while a fair amount of blame for the breakdown of this Summit can be put on John Bolton, his choice of National Security Adviser, the fact remains that Donald Trump listens to no one besdides himself.
So the buck starts and stops there.
4
Like most TV, the Trump Show has a team of writers who script almost every utterance. Only on TV are there so many in-person meetings that make for riveting drama. In real life, today's business meetings don't involve actual physical get-togethers.
They take place in the virtual world, letting the pace and progress of negotiations proceed in an orderly way that gives every side the opportunity to make its points and work out resolutions (or not) after each session. No need to spend hours on planes and in hotels, suffering jet lag and missing crucial golf outings. It doesn't make for great TV, but it works. But the Trump Show, like much of political theatre, is all about TV and tweets.
1
A few weeks back our cocksure president thought he had a summit meeting in the bag. He was able to do what no other president could do in setting up such a meeting. Bottom line, Trump got played by Kim. I wonder seriously who is the sharper guy when it comes to deal making? Best we can hope for is that Trump learns from this rebuke and takes a much more deliberate approach in international relations. He needs to involve his foreign policy experts and go about his policy decisions in a thoughtful manner. Seat of the pants rhetoric might provide an emotional boost, but doesn't get the job done in situations of this nature.
1
Just like his cocksure critics said he was going straight to war with North Korea. Are we back to that criticism yet?
This is the problem in blending bold moves with public diplomacy. The performance can be successful only through expert choreography, hard training, and a team using the same playbook. None of these were in place in the American side.
2
"There is still time to get diplomacy back on track."
What diplomacy? From the get go, the only thing going on here was Trump fantasizing about winning the Nobel peace prize. That qualifies as an exercise in delusion, not diplomacy.
3
The only renegade adviser Trump needs to corral to have any chance of negotiating with NK is the one he puts all of his faith in---the bully with bad orange hair in the White House. Having too much confidence and too much faith in yourself can be a bad thing too. And not knowing when to keep your mouth shut is not a good thing either.
3
This is actually a very good day for the United States and the civilized world. There’s no telling what kind of “deal” Trump would negotiate. He would have been played by Kim and bound us to a deal that Trump wouldn’t understand, even though he’d claim that it was a masterstroke worthy of a Nobel. Trump is worthy of nothing, other than scorn and perhaps, pity. He will go into the dustbin of history as the clueless despot that he is.
No sympathy for the voters who were played by Trump. If you fell for his act, what does that say about you?
4
Trump's team has looked like amateurs by pontificating about next steps with North Korea with microphones in front of their faces. This is not how diplomacy that is this sensitive and important should be done. This happened in the last administration as well. Trump needs to pull his team into a room and tell them to shut up or get shut out.
I do understand the difficulties that the NY Times Board has when the president should be praised for doing the right thing. North Korea is not a regular partner to negotiate with and Mr. Kim Jong-un, like his father and grand father before him, is not a leader to be regarded in a way other leaders should, not even Saddam Hussein or the Iranian leaders. President Trump is facing a calculated mad leader who really believes he is God and treated as such in his country. Kim Jong-un, like his predecessors and like the Iranians, believes that the free world leaders are fools. But finally he faces one leader of the free world, President Trump, who is not a fool, who understands people like him, who demands assurances and does not accepts insults and knows where the real power is. Unlike the Editorial Board Kim Jong-un understands Trump and so do the Iranians who are watching. If Trump persists they will come to the table
2
Mr. Fix It became Mr. Nix It, and surely now more of us see that he has no clothes.
6
What matters here is who wins the next election.
The way your party and its actors behave, I'm on the other side.
Trump will win the next election. You won't be privy to how it happens. You're out of the loop.
2
Much as I want a return to a better America, an America involved wholeheartedly in sharing the wealth produced by the masses, instead of it being grabbed by the few, an empathetic partner in a deeply troubled and divided world, a leader in environmental recovery and protection, I too see lackluster results for the lost in the wilderness of their own minds, Democrats, in the approaching midterms, and it is this wholesale failure of the Democrats to propose a new New Deal, a revival led by a true American like Franklin D. Roosevelt, which will guarantee a Trump second term.
There are none so "willfully" blind as those who will not see.
1
Yes, it's fascinating how insistent they are about being wrong. Doubling down.
"And, oh, we forgot to mention that the North Koreans didn't show up at an agreed-to planning session in Singapore last week, and refused to meet a commitment they had made to allow international inspectors to visit nuclear sites." This is to be totally ignored? Bolton seems to be a true throwback to someone like MacArthur, who wanted to invade China, but it takes two to tango and not abiding by earlier agreements is not a good way to start a conversation.
3
So let me get this straight. John Bolton and Mike Pence allude to the Libya model as a means to convince him to surrender his nuclear arms.
And that’s supposed to convince Kim, who murders his opponents with anti-aircraft rounds, to surrender his nuclear arsenal and play nice with the United States.
This is diplomacy? In what universe? If I needed open heart surgery would I hire a bunch of eighth graders to do it, hoping they’d get it right? Especially if they said the last person they operated on died on the OR table?
Trump’s breakup letter to Kim would be laughable if there wasn’t so much at stake.
8
The Republican Party is allowing immature, inept, irresponsible Donald Trump play a very dangerous game with America.
Kim Jong-un and the rest of the world are laughing and scoffing at the United States.
Trump is so childish he never can figure out when to just stop - whether it’s speaking, behaving poorly, acting, schmoozing, or whatever he is attempting at the time. When you’re a phony, it’s just impossible to lead responsibly, and that’s what we’re stuck with.
9
That letter... I tried to read it without hearing Trump's voice, but I couldn't. I hope his style will go out of fashion as soon as he is history.
2
Calm down, people. What you see happening is negotiation. Drama, quick decisions, arguments, blustering, and insults help, not hurt. Strong leaders understand that. Weak leaders don't.
I remember when I represented a client in some important negotiations for a business deal. The other side was a huge company, top dog in their field. Their negotiator suggested that we have three parallel teams doing the negotiation -- business, technical and legal. He said that they had just done that with one of our competitors, and the process was very effective.
I told him I was surprised to hear that, since I did not know they had a deal with our competitor. "Oh, we don't," he replied. "We negotiated for four years, and then mutually decided that a deal no longer made sense given changes in the market."
"Oh," I said. "We move faster than that. If we don't have a deal in four weeks, we'll move on." And we did, after a lot of drama and turmoil, reach a deal,
For me, lesson learned. And Donald Trump has learned a lot more lessons than I have. In fact, Donald Trump is the most experienced negotiator we have ever had as a president. Probably several times the experience of all members of the Editorial Board taken together.
3
Yeah, sure. But his “deals” seem to lead to convenient bankruptcy for him and other folks involved pay the price. In this case those other folks are the American people. Don’t conflate Don the Con’s immoral business practice with good diplomacy. With him it’s all about his ego and getting the adulation of his base by whatever means necessary. These priorities lead him to behave impulsively. Ignorance and impulsivity are not a good combination when trying to conduct negotiations on the world stage.
This is NOT negotiation!
It’s insanity! It’s a megalomaniac with an inability to cope with the anxiety of being totally over his head! Just like a toddler with a tantrum.
In the absence of adults taking control.
1
Progressives have become out of touch when it comes to interpreting tough negotiations. They've not seen anything like this in so long. A good speech was all they demanded and received from Obama, whose alternative to Trump's style was doing nothing.
1
North Korea has been making goodwill gestures. How about some of the same from the Trump administration?
Also, call off the dogs already. Pence and Bolton need to be told to keep quiet and let the president and Pompeo be the lead voices concerning the North Korean negotiations.
1
It is possible some good will come out of this but Trump diplomacy is like experiencing a broken clock. You know it’s right twice a day but you don’t know when. So what good is it?
2
This is not only an administration full of incompetent people who cannot give a coherent message. Trump's underlings do not follow his lead saying what they wish because in their hearts, they do not respect this President who, of course, does not deserve this high office. That is toxic and tragic.
2
Kim wins. Trump has egg on his face. Kim, and others we could name, can now argue that North Korea has done enough for Security Council sanctions to be relaxed.
2
'time to get diplomacy back on track's- that's a very gracious comment and supposes that the Trump administration was actively engaged in it. Truth is, they were not.
The heavy lifting and backroom discussions were initiated by S. Korea. True it could be interpreted as appeasement but all conciliatory achievements took place months ago between the North and South. Trump was just the sideshow intent to bag all credit.
Now that we are back to a Trump safe in his Twitter comfort zone, a forensic critique of his failures; inflated expectations, poor team management and ever movable goal posts should not be lost in his next flurry of idiotic tweets and grandstanding asides.
Trump's tardy incompetence is crystal clear. The job of the Fourth Estate is to shine a light into the chaos and keep it there. Giving Trump credit for his ineptitude and letting him off the hook is not the order of the day.
3
"Mr. Trump made the right call ... in an impulsive stroke, agreeing to meet Mr. Kim on June 12 in Singapore." No, it was not the right call. That would have been to appoint a real ambassador to South Korea and to pursue diplomacy at its most sophisticated in that region and across Europe. But Donald Trump told us he knows more about ISIS than the generals, and that he is the best deal-maker in the world. A man for whom insults and personal abuse are negotiating tools is more of a fool than a leader. A man whose persona was created on TV is an empty suit, but unfortunately in this case, one with the nuclear codes.
6
Aside from the embarrassing situation with the two leaders and their chest-thumping lack of diplomacy and intelligence, the letter that Trump published cancelling this meeting is just more solid evidence of his inability to stay out of his own way. To first tweet that the meeting was not going to happen, then to write a letter which was such a transparent attempt to play his "business acumen" game is a further insult to N. Korea, S. Korea, the world, and the Americans who recognize that he is not capable of representing us. Wonder which country he will pick next to try to show his self-admiring superiority to.
1
I'm not sure what Trump could have done. In the last few weeks, Kim has implied some of what he said was no longer valid. He objected to the joint exercises with South Korea and indicated the meeting might not happen. Then he sounded like he was fudging on denuclearization. Trump let that pass and indicated a flexibility on how quickly getting rid of the nukes might happen. would take place. I have no idea why Pence said what he did. But Kim"s statements were inflammatory, "A political dummy" "Ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice-president." Of course Kim is someone who kills people around him so he may not understand how his attack on Pence would even matter to a president. Trump indicated there is too much anger on Kim's part now. He has not shut off the possibility of a meeting.
Today North Korea say they still are willing to Meet.meet.Trump is right. Even without a war North Korea has huge economic problems with poverty and starvation as well as having their only pal China, who can tighten the noose on Kim anytime they want. By finding peace and an end in the war, his economic problems improve. Getting rid of the nukes gets sanctions removed and he is not completely reliant on China. There is plenty of time to recover. Of course Dennis Rodman may have had it right all along. Kim is a madman
the most disturbing thing in all this is the abandonment of the one commitment that gave this veteran some hope (though not enough for a vote) for trump's "dealing" in the wider world: the promise to stop the talk, the giveaways of intention, the indulgence of self congratulation, and so on.
trump himself has done far too much of it, and so have his closest advisors, pence's implied threat in citing the "libya model" at such a critical time in the progress of negotiation with north korea was past comprehension, dumber than dirt, if you will.
the same for the remarks of the newly revived john bolton, a curiosity on tv cable sofas and round tables, a danger in any area where diplomacy has to be more subtle than the point of a gun.
they're old enough to remember the posters, if not the actual days of "loose lips sink ships," but not smart enough to resist the lure of self-aggrandizement...leadership like this does not inspire, if we had this lot for ww2 we'd likely be a state in the world order of an "uber reich."
1
I am persuaded that this editorial attempt to treat Trump and his advisors like mature adults is a futile gesture. If the United States of America is going to have any hope of a respectable future, Trump and his posse of sycophants must be isolated, neutralized, and removed from power. Trump might now be president, but he will always be a disgrace.
3
The Trump Administration brand of hardliners will not succeed with reaching any agreements with The North Koreans.
The likes of John Bolton will set us on a path to start a war. His bellicosity and ignorance have no place in world affairs.
This Opinion piece is unrealistic to believe that there are chances for Trump to further engage Kim Jung Un. Sorry to say; his real estate cut throat tactics cannot be
used to negotiate nuclear deals.
3
Trump's erratic and unpredictable behaviour is putting the planet on edge. I am worried about the USA invading Iran and North Korea. Obviously the latter would rapidly involve China. As everyone knows, the reason China has at least minimally supported the North is they did not want the US staring them in the face and they did not want to be responsible for millions of starving North Koreans.
Everyday trump comes out with something new and offensive...both at home to your country people...for example, cut backs to your social programmes, defunding Planned Parenthood, etc...and internationally...25% tariff on autos being only the latest. I bet very few readers know that a trade pact on automobiles with Canada goes back to 1965, Auto pact. It was then followed by a bilateral agreement and then NAFTA which personally I did not support.
I realize there is no easy solution. If he cancels NAFTA he will just make trouble with something else. It is one thing after another. One wishes his unhealthy life style would "catch up" with him.
4
I should add except for the fact that he is seemingly not as erratic as trump I do not know if pence is any better. From this most recent crisis he appears just as belligerant as the worst of that bunch. His speechifying seems to have set Kim off. He lurks in photos behind trump looking oh so creepy....reminiscent of The Ghost of Christmas Future....dragging the chains of evangelicism.
1
Trump is being played for a fool by N. Korea and he knew it. That is why he pulled out.
It is ridiculous that Trump et al think that N. Korea will give up their nuclear arsenal, especially given that Trump reneged on the Iran treaty, and that Trump has spoken about increasing the US arsenal.
The US and the Soviets created a nuclear monster and no one will give theirs up until the US and the Soviets get back to their own negotiations on eliminating nuclear weapons
I'm not sure what Trump could have done. In the last few weeks, Kim has implied some of what he said was no longer valid. He objected to the joint exercises with South Korea and indicated the meeting might not happen. Then he sounded like he was fudging on denuclearization. Trum let that pass and indicated a flexibility on how quickly that would take place. I have no idea why Pence said what he did. But Kim"s statements were harsh, " Ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice-president." Trump has indicated there is too much anger on Kim's part now. He has not shut off the possibility of a meeting. Trump is right. Even without a war North Korea has huge economic problems with poverty and starvation as well as having their only pal China, who can tighten the noose on Kim anytime they want. By finding peace and an end in the war, his economic problems improve. Getting rid of the nuke gets sanctions removed and he is not completely reliant on China. There is plenty of time to recover. Of course Dennis Rodman may have had it right all along. Kim is a madman
The U.S. would have been better off had Trump hired Dennis Rodman as his adviser on the North Korean issue. "Dennis the Menace" has demonstrated superior diplomatic skills to those of Trump, Pence, Pompeo and Bolton. And Rdoman was also a great offensive rebounder, a vital asset as the U.S. tries to rebound from yet another brick by Trump's scattershot team.
1
"President Trump’s abrupt decision to cancel the planned summit meeting with Kim Jong-un is not surprising". True, but not because of "... the decades of volatile relations between the United States and North Korea." It is because he never intended to meet with Kim Jong-Un, at least not for negotiations, in the first place. It was all a tease, and virtually all of the media fell for it. If Trump met with Kim at all it would be for show, a commemorative coin, a flashy military display (not merely a parade), and to hype the preposterous notion of receiving a Nobel Prize. He teases when he professes a desire to be interviewed by Robert Mueller. Tease, tease, tease. Promise them everything and give them nothing. It's sad that the media, including the NYT, can't bring themselves to report only on those things that Trump has actually done and ignore what he says he will do. You know...real news.
3
Top-to-bottom these people, republicans, conservatives, whatever you want to call them, are incapable of governing at ANY level.
Whether it's bankrupting Louisiana or threatening to destroy the planet, your can always count on incompetence and trouble.
Always.
2
It would not have taken a foreign policy expert to figure out that Trump's expectations were unrealistic. Nor would it have taken an expert foreign policy advisor or vice president with any sense of above board negotiations to realize any reference to the Libyan Solution by name would tend to blow things up. The North Koreans know about it well enough. Perhaps that was what they wanted.
I doubt that Henry VIII when seeking to marry Wife VI reminded her of the fates of Wives I to V, especially II and V (beheaded)!
1
No matter what the reason, the cancellation sounds petulant and amateurish and accomplishes nothing. I suppose we should be grateful that the letter has no misspellings.
More fake news. The North Koreans failed to show up for a meeting to finalize logistics for the meeting. As far as I'm concerned they effectively cancelled the meeting.
As for President Trump's, he's handling a situation that his incompetent predecessors dumped on him and could have been handled more easily years ago. Instead we got that fool Albright dancing and drinking with the North Koreans over an agreement that was doomed to fail.
The man is clueless. Put in power by oligarchs and oil/coal interests. How can we possibly expect NK diplomacy to get back on track as long as he’s in office? If we’re lucky, we won’t all be annihilated as Trump struggles to save himself from Mueller. For him, our destruction is better than his.
Kim is a bully and a liar, but it takes one to know one. Trump called his bluff when Kim made an angry speech about giving up nukes.
In classic game theory, there are cooperators, grudgers, and cheaters. When cooperators deal with cheaters, they lose. Obama, and previous presidents, took Kim at his word, playing the role of cooperators to his cheater. Nothing worked.
When cheaters work together, they can get things done. Trump and Kim are of the same ilk, but Trump understands Kim and knows that offering only cooperation will get him nowhere. It takes one to know one. This might actually work.
1
I wholeheartedly agree with the majority of prior commenters, especially Henry Hurt of Houston, that NYT must stop trying to pretend that this dangerous administration, and certainly Trump, is remotely normal. There is but one reason Trump focuses on North Korea, and with his customary and exceedingly dangerous zero-sum approach - it is an opportunity to hog the global stage while playing the schoolyard bully. Just read the wording of his letter to Kim as evidence.
I will be blunt - the US will lead the planet to nuclear annihilation unless this disgraceful, supine congress acts to leash the lunatics that currently occupy the executive branch. This absolutely must stop, here and now.
7
There's more to this game than two "hotheaded leaders." NK is supported by China and Russia, countries with their own reasons for making the US squirm; the US is supported by SK and Japan, countries with much less global clout. The present version of the Great Game is being played out against a backdrop of mushroom clouds that threatens to envelope the whole world, as we continue to speculate about the psychodynamics of two troublesome personalities.
3
Bolton is currently a bright star in the Administration, so there's no question that he was expressing Administration policy, even if Trump seemed to wave him off a bit. Pence was presumably briefed before appearing on Fox, and presumably had a script--or am I expecting too much?
The failure to notify other governments before announcing the cancellation of the meeting is amazingly dumb, but perhaps to be expected with a greatly diminish State Department and, apparently, mass dismissals from Bolton's staff.
The situation reminds me of an entirely different one. President Nixon decided to remove the "temporary" Navy Buildings from the Mall, which had been built during World War I. The project apparently required his attention at least once a week for months, if not a year or more. But it got done.
3
Bolton won. This is exactly what he wanted. We know that because he said so, and because he did the same thing before under Dubya.
Bolton is a consummate political insider, who specializes in knife-in-the-back moves.
Trump is in danger from Bolton, because Trump is not an insider in DC, and Trump's back is a huge inviting target in DC. Bolton would as soon knife Trump as look at him.
While Bolton was not a never-Trumper like most of his cohort of neocons, that is likely because he is never openly anything except a hawk. He just raised money, for himself mostly, his own PAC.
Trump ran as anti-war. Now he selected Bolton, who has started wars by choice every change he got, and a lot of them. Bolton is also a "loser" in that we lost every one of those wars. It should be no surprise that Bolton's first act was to knife Trump's one peace-like policy choice, talking to an enemy.
This cancellation is Bolton, all Bolton. The meeting can't happen now, no matter what is said by Trump or China or Kim or South Korea, unless Bolton is dealt with first.
27
Imagine, a real chance for peace on the Korean Peninsula for the first in 70 years and a neocon working to insure that it is stillborn. Disgusting.
1
Mr. Kim already is a winner as he was to meet with Donald Trump one on one. Is it not an achievement in itself that we accorded him that opportunity of a meeting? Kim a week ago had warned of cancelling the June 12th meeting if we did not reduce the footprint of our forces in the joint exercises in the Korean Peninsula. I guess we have been had for a ride and forced us to cancel this meeting. Other reasons could be our lack of Korean expertise in the State Department as we fired and terminated many hundreds of career diplomatic corps staff.
Diplomacy is not just being a dealer, Diplomacy is hard slog, and it is not just going in a meeting for a photo-op or minting commemorative coins. This delay may provide us and this administration time to reflect and possibly try to prepare the way for both parties to negotiate this messy issue. We know that DPRK is not going to give us their nukes and missiles. They do understand that they still need to make sure that tomorrow if Trump feels differently he may decide to renegotiate the deal. It happens in real estate business all the time and mortgages are routinely renegotiated, but national security is paramount and DPRK will retain its prowess to hit US just in case we change our mind.
If we are serious about making a deal with DPRK we may have to get rid of Bolton and his cabal. We may have to muzzle people like Pence also.
I hope we are able to salvage this opportunity as these do not come very frequently.
14
What's going to attract more eyes today, Trump's Investigate-Gate or North Korea bluster? Since the gang of eight met with the DOJ today, and since there is virtually nothing nefarious about the FBI informant investigating Russian connections in the Trump campaign, tough-guy Trump falls back on illogical foreign relations.
Tomorrow the Trump tweets will return to the fake news trashing the Mueller investigation.
18
Sorry, but what we have is the flowering of the deplorables. Those oafs at his rallies are setting the tone for our country. The GOP is responsible for this. It may have caused the end of the great experiment. We have rich deplorables running the country with a poor excuse for humanity in the White House. How can it get better? Tragic.
47
Trump achieved the GOP nomination and the presidency IN SPITE OF, not because of the GOP Establishment which opposed him at every turn. In the end, the GOP Establishment had to either get on board the Trump freight train or be left at the station. Other than its own incompetence and intellectual vacuousness, the GOP is NOT responsible for Trump or Trumpism.
Trump won because he spoke to the long neglected interests of your (and HRC's) "deplorables." Those "oafs" are real people whose wages and living standards have declined under the watch of BOTH parties. If you keep treating them as "oafs" and "deplorables" you will guarantee many more years of Trumpism.
"Political embarrassment"?
Trump can't "embarrass" himself any further, can he?
17
Yes, he can.
Why Trump should consult with Moon of S. Korea, when his is just a puppet for Kim Jungun no matter what Kim would intend to do.
It is extremely difficult to reason with any leader of N. Korea which is firmly founded on rather irrational, complete autocratic Juche ideology where the supreme chairman, Kim, is almost apotheocized and is running N. Korea pursuant to his parocial interests. N. Korea is a theocracy where the supreme chairman is the embodiment of godly qualities and clarivoyant superhuman heroism. No point in resorting to diplomacy. Bullying and miligary strongarming like preventive military strike and threat will be the only effective weapons the U.S. can use not only now but also in near future until the collapse of N. Korea.
In the meantime, you do not have to talk with Moon. President of S. Korea, his ideas and politics are just identical to what Kim tries to represent and act. Moon is an accessory to Kim's romanticized political maneuverings and brinkmanship tactics.
2
Unfortunately, through Trump’s ignorance of foreign affairs and bravado, the United States has removed itself from both the Iran and the North Korean negotiations. China and the EU will fill the vacuum and U.S sanctions will be viewed as being both self serving and a hinderace to obtaining peaceful settlements. In the end Trump may get his wish - “America First”. The price will be America Alone.
22
From what I understand, John Bolton also scuttled a potential agreement between the U.S. and North Korea in 2002. I can't be as optimistic as the board that this is a good opportunity to re-calibrate. How can any agreement be calibrated, in the first place, if the man with the child-President's ear is a raving hawk? (And wasn't he involved with Cambridge Analytica, for example?) How can anything be resolved in a White House composed of anti-social criminals, some of whom are probably psychotic?
If you analyze the unhinged behavior of the Administration over the past few weeks, it's very obviously more wild and reckless than ever. It's impossible that any rational development can come out of this mad tea party atmosphere, that there will be benefits for anyone other than China who is currently playing the Trump people like a fiddle. We shouldn't forget that Bolton probably wants things to get violent, and that Trump will give the go ahead when his family starts getting indicted.
18
North and South Korea should decide their own future and remove US barrier standing blocking any hope of negotiations to allow a peace treaty; long denied. John Bolton and VP Pence by making raucous statements knew how to bring Trump back into line. North Korea shocked by comparison with LIBYA. No country will take Trump seriously because we can see he plays countries like obstacle course. He lacks any vision; he makes everyone very nervous like South Korea threatening war. For him the world a glorified casino relying on luck; numbers game to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and Israel his best friend? Europe fears the worst.
9
This failure was a complete set-up. Trump realized an agreement was NOT gonna happen in one meeting and NK was making him look bad by delaying so Trump initiated his exit plan so he could 'look' tough an in control. It was all about the optics....nothing else.
16
Didn’t think it could get any worse.
5
Trump would rather release some anger than save the world.
Matter of priorities.
That's why there is so little hope.
12
As my sainted mother once said to me when I was a little kids:
“I don’t know which is worse: the fact that you stepped into it in the first place or the face that you dragged it around the entire house before eventually, inevitably walking out the door.”
12
"If we are lucky, this is just a hiccup in negotiating a standoff that has defied resolution for nearly 70 years."
A hiccup in the process? Indeed. However, hiccups can be a sign of kidney failure, pneumonia, lung tumors, digestion problems and heart attack. Hiccups can indicate a serious problem, and a prolonged, uncontrollable bout may lead to debilitating consequences like fatigue, weight loss, depression, problems with heart rhythm, esophageal reflux and possibly exhaustion and death in a weakened patient.
So maybe a "hiccup in the process" is not so lucky after all. Maybe it is a harbinger of other things in the process?
14
Trump needs to realize that sensitive negotiation--as required by diplomacy, not real estate deals--should be done by diplomats at a conference table, not by a grandstanding braggart in front of a bank of TV cameras.
Art of the Deal? I think not.
29
You are correct he is a grandstanding braggart, who got outplayed by North Korea. Nobel gone in a pouf.
Of course it's better for everyone if a summit takes place.
But what is the exact purpose of the meeting and what should the expectations be?
Is it meant to be the establishment of a better relationship and the beginning of talks, or does the admin have the unrealistic expectation of NK agreeing to denuclearize within the next two weeks?
While I give Trump credit for progress I'm not sure there is a clear-cut mission strategy.
8
The exact purpose should be to promote peace. And encourage NK to finally join the family of nations. Isolating its people is the greatest injustice.
3
Trump is the embarrassment - so him concerened about being embarrassed is moot.
15
From the editorial:
"To his credit,...."
Stop it right there, New York Times. Just stop it.
Those three words strung together should never, ever be associated with this stunningly inept and dangerous fool.
Just say it: Donald Trump is not only the worst president in U.S. history, he is one of its worst human beings.
243
James Buchanan and George W. Bush caused far more damage and were far worse presidents than Mr. Trump has been thus far.
Agreed. One of the worst things going on now in the media is the normalization of Trump’s disgraceful, unpatriotic behavior.
9
Minnesota, you are so right! It's like giving the proverbial million monkeys at typewriters credit for reproducing a Shakespeare sonnet. What's so frustrating about this presidency is not the man himself - an evil person in my opinion, but all his enablers, including at times, the New York Times. When will we hear, "Ah, another lucky fluke on president's part."
2
What a relief.....Trump is psychologically and mentally unfit
to negotiate any foreign relation measures with any nation.
The sooner he is out of office....the better....
If the GOP in Congress had any sense they would remove
Trump from office using Amendment 25: Section 4...since
Trump is so obviously suffering from severe narcissism
according to Lance M. Dodes M.D. who is Harvard University
Professor of Psychiatry sic. Letter to the Editors of the NYTimes dated February 13, 2017....Please re print this
Letter Editors....and save or country from more unnecessary
havoc created by this madman..!!!
15
BOLTON is the huffing puffing wolf of long ago tales.
He is a fool...no wonder Toxic Trump picked him. Nobody left.
33
I'll make this very simple : HE is stupid, and lazy. In equal measures.
69
Phyllis, your posting is beautifully succinct.
12
Mr. Trump may be an obnoxious blackguard, but he is definitely not stupid or lazy.
A year and a half ago, with the demise of the U.S.S.R. far in the rear view mirror, the United States stood alone in assuming the worldwide role of trying to lead our 200 or so countries to a more peaceful and better place. We didn’t always ace this test (e.g., Iraq), and it was unfair how we often had to do this largely on our own. But even so, this was where we had arrived in history. And, that we had taken on this role and did as good a job as we did was one of the things that made us a great country.
Then we elected a president who vowed to “make us great again.” I thought we were already great, but OK. Except in this short period we have been reduced to a point where as of today when compared to North Korea the more diplomatic of these two countries is…North Korea! North Korea is working more diplomatically to take the world into a peaceful direction than we are!
It would be great if Trump, Bolton, Pence, and the rest of his criminally incompetent gang could be driven out as quickly as possible. But unless Director Mueller comes up with something really unexpected we’ll have to survive this mess until January of 2021—and “survive” is beginning to take on new connotations.
25
In theory, diplomacy with North Korea is the right "call", as opposed to Republican orthodoxy on this issue. But Trump hardly made the right call when he impulsively agreed to a meeting. No sensible leader makes that kind of a decision; any meeting like that requires a long period of delicate preparation, because the stakes are so high.
He also ought to show more discipline both in his own public statements and in those of his staff, such as hothead Bolton. If a deal is framed as capitulation by the North Koreans, they are not going to sign on. But how else would Bolton frame it in an interview with Fox? These guys need to learn to shut up.
Just setting out the critique in this way has an air of unreality, as does your editorial. Discipline isn't his thing. Trump isn't making good or bad "calls"; he is just acting capriciously, as usual. Your interest in giving him "credit", while laudably tactful in some ways, misses the mark. The chances of these guys coming up with a real diplomatic solution are so vanishingly small, and the corresponding risks of dangerous escalation are so great, that we would all be better off if they did just dropped the subject.
Trump has proved once again that he is an erratic, unreliable leader. That does enormous damage to our interests all over the world, not just in Asia. The more he attempts some kind of big "win", the worse it is going to be for everyone concerned.
We should encourage him to take longer vacations and play more golf.
31
Expecting North Korea to give up everything for nothing and a mere promise that life would be good for them if they did so (as it was for Gaddafi) was a recipe for disaster.
Rather than whine in his letter, Trump should try offering something "so big" to North Korea that it has no option but to come to the table. The North Koreans have already offered their "big" deal, i.e. denuclearization (with a very vague definition as to what it means). It's time for Trump to also follow suit.
10
I interpret this development very differently than the editors do.
As a general matter, President Trump would be a fool not to listen to his advisors and I don’t believe that he’s any kind of fool. However, how he interprets what he hears and how what he hears influences his actions are other matters entirely.
The editors appear to regard this development with North Korea as some massive bump in the road that requires re-thinking and perhaps retrenching. Undoubtedly, that’s what HRC would have thought, as well. Yet I’d be flabbergasted if it’s what Trump believes.
This was always going to be a brinkman’s operation, requiring not so much statesmen but traders. I see this development as one gambit in a continuum that is predictable; and this hardly will be the last.
Kim Jong-un faces an adversary seeking to de-fang him of serious threats to his neighbors and even to us, and to pay for that with as little as can be managed – or perhaps some think that we have an obligation to save North Korea from itself? I certainly don’t believe we do, and I’d be astonished if Trump did. He will seek his moments to be obstreperous, in order to argue for the price for de-fanging to be as high as he can manage. After the first outreach, this is merely the first push-back. There will be others in this trading game conducted at the brink.
12
But I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have doing our trading for us than Donald Trump. He did the right thing by calling off the summit, meeting Kim’s gambit with an unwillingness to accept it. Now, we return to the base realities, in which Trump doesn’t need to cave and Kim does – because what Kim needs out of a deal is existential, while for Trump it is not. Kim will find some face-saving means of backing down, Trump will magnanimously accept it and the game will proceed to its next evolutions. I don’t expect this to be resolved in a month. But I expect that Trump will win for America and our allies.
Just as with Iran.
I find the notion of editors seeking to instruct a trader on how to trade to be … counterintuitive.
5
Nearly every diplomatic specialist and strategist noted that his and his advisers' approach to this process failed to account for North Korea's negotiating history, the structure of the talks, and the dangers of acceding to Kim's invitation with no strategy for doing so. Most who have observed previous US-NK interaction, and have studied North Korea with any depth, warned that this administration was setting itself up for failure; the only accomplishment was elevating NK to legitimacy and seeking unrealistic expectations.
A true "trader" doesn't mint coins before there is anything to actually commemorate. A true "trader" makes certain that statements made by his advisers or his Vice President don't inflame tensions. A true "trader" has a full diplomatic staff in place to prepare. A true "trader" doesn't withdraw from an agreement without a plan---or at least a strategy--- in place to direct future actions. A true "trader" doesn't undercut needed allies. A true "trader" is respected, both for being truthful, but also for being intelligent, open, creative, disciplined.
Trump is not a "trader." He simply breaks everything he touches and attempts to blame others for his own failures.
2
@Richard Luettgen - this wouldn't be a mess, a psychodrama and immediate failure if Bill Richardson, who's previously negotiated with the Kims and understands them, was the negotiator. Trump doesn't know anything about this and isn't willing to learn and Bolton just proved he only knew how to blow it up.
24
I am a Korean-American professor in Seoul. Most people here seem confounded by President Trump’s actions. Trump is the rare American President that makes the North Korean leader seem stable and mature in comparison. This month, he has alienated both his European and Asian allies--alliances that took decades to develop.
For sake of global peace/prosperity, I sincerely hope that our President can learn from this debacle and exercise more strategic thinking and deliberation.
In the meantime, I encourage the elected leaders of South Korea and Japan to meet and negotiate a mutually beneficial peace with the North Korean government. It is time for Asian democracies to step up and lead when the USA is no longer able/willing to do so. (Shedding dependency on the USA may be a silver lining of the Trump Presidency.)
279
Good advice. I too hope that South Korea and Japan will negotiate a peaceful resolution with North Korea; sidelining the US if need be. Please ask your hosts to forgive us; sane America is on their side.
42
I appreciate your advice, Joseph. But this president (I use the term loosely as it really doesn't define him) is unlikely to learn as he doesn't read and only accepts info that feeds into his ego or wallet. As to strategic thinking and deliberation, both are beyond the pale...and unfortunately, he has gutted our State Department and replaced advisors who will echo his juvenile actions in the "Bully in the Playground" game. However, I do hold out some hope that we may oust him and regain some saner power in our government through the upcoming elections this year and in 2020.
21
Absolutely. A peaceful modus vivendi based on mutual respect has to be worked on and achieved between the two Koreas, China and Japan.
The US -especially with its current inept administration- should end its involvement, and concentrate on its own domestic shortcomings.
14
This is what happens when The Disruptor hires disruptors. It's usually called chaos, but Trump says it's strategy.
23
The US government must hire solely the individuals smart enough not to be an obvious national security threat.
The overwhelming majority of the damages and harm in this world is self-inflicted.
All the devastation suffered by the German and Japanese people during the WWII was inflicted upon them by their own governments.
The longest war in the US history was launched wrongly by Washington D.C.
After being attacked on the 9/11 by the a few dozen terrorists of Sunni Arab origin, our government invaded Afghanistan, a non-Arab country, and Iraq, a secular socialist regime without any connection to the radical Wahhabism. No wonder that almost two decades later and several trillion dollars wasted we have failed to defeat the terrorism.
Even the rise od the ISIS was our catastrophic failure. After destabilizing Libya and Syria, the only two socialist countries in the region and decapitating the ruling regimes, the terrorists used the lawless regions to spread and grow.
There is a danger of history repeating itself.
Our top governmental officials are acting incredibly stupid.
No smart diplomat would use the case of Libya if they wanted to have the successful negotiations.
Tripoli did rid of its nuclear program but afterwards he West bombed the Gadhafi forces into annihilation.
If we wanted to incite any dictator to cooperate, our diplomats should never use Lybia as an template.
21
The reality is that there is nobody in the Trump Administration who can fight their way out of a paper bag. Who, pray tell, is capable of the research and preparation necessary for a summit. Following the Trump model, all his minions are capable of is shooting their mouths off in public. Everybody needs to accept this group for the complete disaster they are.
42
This is on Bolton and not so smart Pence and then trump’s ego needs to be fed every minute by the minute.
Now Kim John un is playing trump like a fiddle.
32
Trump should invite the North Korean foreign minister for talks in Washington to plan an on-again meeting with North Korea. Alternatively Pompeo could make his third trip to North Korea to bring clarity to what each party expect to happen. Trump could get rid of that smart Alec John Bolton and put the summit on track again and Pence should withdraw his threat to make Libya out of North Korea if Kim decides to keep his nuclear capable rockets..
7
Bolton and Pence should be keelhauled for their part in destroying something that South Korea, North Korea had put considerable effort into and also showed flexibility and the attitude to make efforts to progress a better outcome for the peninsular and two nations.
They must have known that their comments would not help in the slightest and hinder any progress.
How dare they.
25
This is classic behavior for a narcissist. They always ruin holidays and birthdays and yes, even high level international meetings. It's what they do.
But let's be real; there was no way this summit was ever going to happen. It was a fantasy from the start and there is no way to pivot or recalculate now. Kim and his ilk will return to business as usual, no matter how many veiled threats the team of Trump, Bolton and Pompeo hurl at him.
They, like Pence, aren't the brightest bulbs and they've all been bested by a sad little man in North Korea. This, it seems, is the state of our State Department in 2018.
76
Trump likes to be adored. He likes to have his picture taken. He likes seeing himself on TV or on the cover of a magazine. What he doesn't like is to think or do hard work that requires thinking. Trump backed out of the talks because he can't speak rationally. He wanted his photo taken with Kim, he dreamed of getting the Nobel Peace Prize, but the effort was too hard for him.
72
Negotiations are tricky things, but Donald Trump is a master at them. North Korea will do what it wants to do, surely. The trick is to try to find a trade -- you get what you want and they get what they want.
How do you know what they want? Ah, there is the rub. They won't tell you. At least not directly. There will be a lot of posturing, and a lot of positioning. And then in the end, if you stick with it, there will probably be a deal.
Donald Trump failed in getting Kim Jong Un to a summit willing to deal. That's fine. Out of failure, if you are smart, comes success. Donald Trump has always played a long game. That's needed here.
People have a history of underestimating Donald Trump. I can remember people laughing -- literally laughing -- when he announced that he was running for president.
They are not laughing now.
2
You are trying to rationalize and make some sense of the chaos in this white house. Playing the long game - that is exactly what he didn’t do here. And btw - “they” are actually laughing right now.
9
When has Trump played a long game? He is all about instant self-gratification. He does not have the intellect for planning a long chess game; it's doubtful he can think ahead enough to play checkers. Thinking people didn't underestimate Trump, they underestimated the intelligence of the white middle American voter. You are correct in that they are not laughing; they are crying as our democracy crumbles. Let's hope Emoluments Man doesn't provoke Rocket man into crumbling our world as well. Trump long game - biggest joke all week.
12
The second biggest joke of the week is Mr. Smithson's statement that Trump is a master negotiator. Seriously? Question: Has Trump successfully negotiated even one deal since becoming president? Answer: No. As for Trump playing the long game, please. The man can't think past the end of his tiny tweet fingers.
Apparently the North Koreans didn't receive the memo stipulating that harsh, inflammatory and personally insulting language may be used only by the Americans. I wonder how the president would have responded if Kim had said that he preferred Americans select a new president using the Lincoln method....
So much for the "art" of the deal.
26
Interesting, if true, that Trump ". . . was increasingly concerned that the meeting could turn into a political embarrassment", given that he has heretofore shown no semblance of an awareness of what is embarrassing. I doubt, though, that he is suddenly becoming a contemplative statesman and that things will get better than they have been.
11
Trump impulsively agreed to meet with Kim, without really giving it much thought. Now he just as impulsively pulls back, and cancels the meeting...without giving much thought to what could be gained by going ahead with his prior agreement to engage.
Is there no place in his life for informed, careful and considered decision-making?...Seems a bad way to run a country.
18
I suppose that we should applaud the constructive tone of this editorial. Still, when I got to the phrase suggesting that the situation will imorove "if ... the Trump administration will now take the time to do the preparation needed to make such a high-stakes meeting successful," I had to swallow my cud.
The world has known President Trump for decades and his presidency for sixteen months of endless chaos. The Times' editorial board knows full well that Trump doing "the preparation needed" will never happen any more than that the garden skunk will turn polka-dotted.
In the Oval Office we have a figure who bends to the loudest and most recently heard voices. Within presidential earshot those voices are heard. They are neither wise, informed, honest nor generous. They reinforce the President's worst but dominant instincts.
Nobody, most particularly in this case our close allies, can rely on this president's word or commitment. Ever.
120
Kim Jong-un got what he wanted: good publicity. Trump was flattered and then flattened. Bolton played his part and can now be fired. Wash, rinse, and repeat with every other diplomatic, trade, or other problem Trump has to deal with.
114
At least one good development recently. Trump appointed Admiral Harry Harris, the head of the US military's Pacific Command, to the post of ambassador to South Korea.
6
Finally got around to it, did he? Good. Now, just a few hundred other posts to fill.
Unbelievable, now that the threat of a diplomatic solution has been at least temporarily averted, the Times editors, who had voiced such condescension and pessimism regarding the diplomatic efforts, now are expressing hope that diplomacy will continue.
To make sense out of what happened, look to foreign and independent news sources - the US media simply acts as a megaphone for Washington's power brokers, who were clearly distressed at the possible outbreak of peace on the Korean Peninsula.
But Bolton and Pence have their fingers on the pulse of the military industrial complex players, and they did their best to thwart Trump's naive efforts.
18
The United States policy makers and U.S. media don't seem to understand the extent to which we have become tangential to events in east Asia, and the extent to which South Korea is determined to make their own foreign policy, independent of the U.S.
North Korea is has not been convinced to give up nuclear weapons due to pressure or threats from the United States; rather, they are trying to satisfy the demands by China, South Korea and Russia that they give up nuclear weapons in exchange for becoming partners in China's extensive infrastructure and economic development program. Today, Kim Jong-un reiterated that he was still willing to meet with the U.S. This statement was aimed at appearing cooperative to China, not to the U.S.
I talked to a youngish Korean professional when I visited Korea. This highly educated and successful Korean felt that Korea was being held back by its relationship to the U.S. He told me that Korea was being forced to buy overpriced and inferior weapons from the United States, and that Korea was fully capable of producing better weapons at much lower cost, and was fully capable of defending themselves.
The election of President Moon and his consistently high approval ratings indicate that the attitude I encountered a few years ago was in fact the prevailing view in Korea.
Unless we want to become totally and permanently irrelevant in Asia, we should cooperate with the South Korean peace initiative.
22
On the contrary, the United States has become more powerful in Asia than it ever was under Barack Obama or George W. Bush. Moon Jae-in seems a smart, effective leader of his country, but South Korea is a small country with little power on the world stage.
Certainly South Korea can, and should, make its own way in the world. But we would be foolish not to look after our own interests as well. North Korea has threatened us with a nuclear attack, and we should not take that lightly.
7
Being an immigrant from Asia, I think the so called policy experts in Washington don’t understand the psyche and the priorities of the Asian people. America has very low credibility and is indeed perceived by many including the Europeans (where I have lived also) as nothing more than a bully. One can’t trust us. Iranians found that out as did the Pakistanis. Bolton just vocalized the reasons why Kim mustn’t trust us.
20
You make an assertion about the the US being more powerful in Asia without a single supporting fact or piece of evidence. This is so typical of the trumpist way of (not) thinking and communicating. Facts...don't need them. Evidence? What's that? Just a bald assertion. Frequently a ridiculous lie, or horrible hyperbole. Then repeat ad nauseum.
What’s to become of all those commemorative coins His Majesty Trump had minted?
14
Popular as anything! The place to purchase them Website has been down for over 12 hours due to huge volumes of people trying to order them.
The site has crashed continuously all day/night.
1
They're like the upside-down airplane stamps. They never should have been made and now they're bigger collector's items than they ever would have been commemorating a real event rather than another Trump fairy tale.
4
I hear the slot machines in Trump casinos take them. No jackpots, though, because they are and always were worthless.
1
See: etching,The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters ( El sueño de la razón produce monstruos), Francisco Goya, 1799: a man in a waking nightmare triggered by life in a corrupt society is bedeviled by bats symbolizing ignorance.
7
TRUMP: “The Libyan model isn’t the model we have at all. In Libya we decimated that country.
There was no deal to keep Gadhafi .
That model would take place if we don’t make a deal [with Kim Jong Un].”
May 17, 2018: Trump’s press-statement at the White House. Trump threatening Kim with the Libyan model is a ridiculous attempt at “The Art of the Deal”.
11
Maybe Trump should stick to playing tough with the NFL, dreamers, NATO, poor people, the media and innocent American high school students trying to avoid being killed in school. He certainly does not have what it takes to run America's foreign policy.
166
The Editorial Board writes, "Even as Mr. Trump was musing publicly about deserving the Nobel Peace Prize, he failed to make sure that his top advisers were articulating a consistent message that would keep his diplomacy on track."
Are you kidding me? There is no diplomacy here, and there never will be under a Trump administration. We have an ignorant, unhinged, mentally unfit man in the White House who is incapable of effecting even the most feeble efforts at diplomacy. We've already seen that he ignores his "advisors". He is profoundly -- and proudly -- ignorant about international relations. His "diplomacy" consists of nothing but a series of unhinged tweets using language reminiscent of twelve year old boys.
This publication needs to stop normalizing this presidency. There is nothing normal about Trump's reign. He has trashed our international standing in one short year, and his actions have made all Americans far less safe. He will use nuclear weapons and invite a war upon this nation such as we have never seen, if he believes his "feelings" have been hurt. The fact that a publication such as the New York Times continues to treat Trump as if he were an intelligent, able, decent man is evidence that we've become numb to the fact that we have a deranged dictator leading our nation, and whose actions have threatened world peace more than any time since World War II.
These editorials need to stop. The normalizing needs to stop. And we need to get rid of this tyrant.
424
Could not agree more.
68
And the dereliction of duty and complicit GOP congressional members who allow the ongoing deconstruction of what's left of our democracy while turning it over to their corporate owners who really are the people driving our legislative agenda (or obstruct it, hence the GOPs inability to govern and 9 years of gridlock).
41
You perfectly articulated my thoughts. Thank you.
37
Traump distracted everyone with this never-gonna-happen summit hooplah.
Rosenstein and Wray were commanded to share classified info about the Mueller investigation with Republicans in Congress -- This is the real story and Trump again played you for chumps.
Trump is undermining the rules of law with his tinkering at the DOJ. Keep your eye on the ball please.
53
the worst editorial ever! trump backed out because he is a failure for profit. there was nothing for him in the meeting. so no meeting. put trumps name on something big, a building our a golf course, pay him royalties, and he will give you anything that is not his.
105
I agree. I was left deflated after reading this editorial. I can't believe it took a whole "editorial board" to write this. Talk of sitting on the fence ...
17
Perhaps avoiding Fox and Friends might be more expedient.
4
Will Cohen be sending Kim a Check for $130,000. ??? Asking for a friend.
40
Cohen will certainly try to payoff Kim to buy his silence, IF Trump ever got to 'touch' Kim, all alone, and show him his extra-large 'nuclear button'!
But that hasn't happened yet and will probably never happen.
1
Bolton and Pence: 1
Rest of Us: 0
10
We are going to have a meeting between you and you and me. I am going to take all of the credit for the results of this meeting beforehand and am declaring what the results of this meeting are to be.
One of you, I am not going to acknowledge in arranging this meeting and the other, I am going to threaten destruction if they do not go along with what I want them to give/do in this meeting.
It does not matter that now one of you may not be going to this meeting and the other has no communication with me as what to do now because the meeting might not happen.
Do I have the outline correct ?
17
Thank you for concluding with belief in diplomacy. You might have noted that Kim Jong Un has been practicing a very sharp form of diplomacy, which has yielded him the advantage despite the failure of a summit.
From the North Korean point of view, Trump's USA was brushed back, while Kim has distinctly thawed relations with China and South Korea.
It doesn't help the USA that Trump blindsided South Korean negotiators by abruptly cancelling--they found out in a Trump tweet and are furious.
Could we agree that Trump's chaos leaves the US looking weaker, and perhaps being weaker?
We can hope that Kim will continue his diplomatic initiatives and that Trump will learn the value of briefing books.
The audacity of hope....
60
Trump doesn't care about South Korea or the Korean Peninsula. But then, Trump doesn't care about the United States either - he spent much of the week trying to destroy the rule of law in the U.S.
13
At the moment, Trump's strategy is working well -- for the Russians and for himself and his war-mongering friends.
12
Trump, basically a coward despite all his bluster, chickened out when he finally realized that he was totally unprepared to negotiate with Kim, knew nothing about North Korea's nuclear program, had not read any position papers by Korea experts, was winging it on what the United States was prepared to offer in exchange for "denuclearization" by Pyongyang, and would have been greatly embarrassed when his ignorance and lack of preparation became apparent to the rest of the world. It's not certain if he asked Pence and Bolton to start citing Libya as an example of what he wanted from North Korea, or if those two dimmest of bulbs in his administration did so on their own, but that put the kibosh on the summit as everyone with half a brain knew it would.
63
It is always interesting after a fumble in a big game to hear how all the armchair quarterbacks knew exactly what would happen.
1
When someone has a history of constantly fumbling, then yes I would predict a fumble.
3
Trump never intended to attend a summit. We are incapable of realizing that nothing Trump says is to be believed. Yet the media is addicted. Sad for us.
10
"There is still time to get diplomacy back on track." This is the last sentence in the Times editorial. You have got to be joking! With the hard-nosed Bolton and Pompeo, and the scheming Pence in the front line, there is no hope. Add to that Nikki Haley and we have a quartet of warmongers. Trump has left South Korea's president, Moon, wallowing in quicksand, and US allies are slowly learning that they only will have egg on their faces if they continue to trust this administration.
127
Well, the punch line is the last sentence in a joke...
5
It is regrettable and laughable to see NY times changing its tone after President Trump canceled the summit between NK and USA. Yesterday, NY times wrote an article that was highly critical of Trump's potential concession(?) over denuclearization of NK. As NY Times and other so-called liberals wanted until yesterday, Trump has decided to show ZERO CONCESSION to NK while NK was releasing three US citizens and destroying its only nuclear test site.
It is truly upsetting to see so-called liberals and peace-lovers scared of the possibility of Trump's winning of Nobel Peace Prize.
I do not like Donald Trump, but I hope he will be successful in ending the Korea War and settling peace in the Korean Peninsula.
I do not like Richard Nixon, but I appreciate his diplomatic success in opening China.
I do not like Ronald Reagan, but I should give him some credit in ending the Cold War.
World peace should be placed beyond any partisan agenda. No doubt, ending wars and settling peace are much more important than bashing Trump.
8
They gave up nothing of value. Three ordinary people who are not citizens of their country and a nuclear test site that is no longer needed.
I share your priorities in regards to world peace but hold little faith in Trump's capabilities.
2
Russia ran out of money while Reagan sat in the Oval Office. Big deal.
The president can thank his vice president for his failure to meet with North Korea. Such incendiary comments have no place in international diplomacy and maybe now the president knows bluster and ill-timed comments are not a recipe for world peace. Also, John Bolton's attitude towards North Korea was a deterrent to a successful summit. The president learned again that a peace summit, like winning, is never easy.
40
What's the use of having career politicians around a naive president when those people are arsonists? Echoes of W with Cheney and Rumsfeld!
If Trump wanted more potential for success with peace, the recipe would be what President Obama did - don't pick needless fights, keep a low profile hammering out an agreement, and then stick to it. But Trump would just as soon kill us all than look up to his predecessor.
17
Good comment, apart from asserting that Trump "learned" anything. He hasn't "learned" anything since he discovered decades ago that lying, cheating, and manipulating can be profitable.
13
"Maybe now"? "Learned again"? Trump's personality and (presumed) thought processes are cast in limestone and will never change. He's demonstrated repeatedly that any action or inaction can be characterized as a "win", and that's all he wants.
Trump's summit cancellation letter - waxing flowery about "wonderful dialogue" and "beautiful gestures", while issuing threats about the massive and powerful nuclear weapons at his disposal - was reckless and covfefe-level illiterate. Certainly no skilled diplomat helped draft it.
There's no way to get this on track with Trump and counsel like Blowhard Bolton and his fanboy Pence anywhere near the discussions. Diplomacy this complex requires knowledge, negotiating skills, and a steady hand - all of which are absent from these unfortunate trio of musketeers.
78
Trump jinxed the possibility of a meeting when he hired the war monger Bolton. What did he expect? Then he let his VP Pence broadcast the idea of a Libya deal. Trump probably does not know or remember the consequences of the US led attack on Libya. But the North Koreans remember.
17
THIS is the risk of " electing " an unqualified, incompetent, dilettante BULLY as our Leader. HE has no clue in how to proceed, in nearly any situation. His entire Business " success " is based upon scamming, lawsuits and Carnival Barking. Shame on his Collaborators, they will be severely scorned in our History. I'm already there.
150
@Phyliss Dalmation, Wichita, Kansas: I ask, Lady of the Plains, who is going to write "our History" when it's far more likely that Trump will have blown up the planet? The Republican-clad Congress won't do a thing about him; as Exhibit A, please see: Nunes, Devin. And the Supreme Court, the silent sentinels of our laws? Don't make me laugh. The five rightists on the Court (thanks W. for John Roberts and Samuel Alito) want what Trump and his "base" want: a primitive tribe culture. A compliant media waved them through the turnstile in 2016 because executives like Les Moonves of CBS crowed "it's damned good for CBS." To understand Trump follow the money. It's why we are where we are. Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan were steppingstones in the stream from Barack Obama to Donald Trump. "Our History?" Please!
20
Red Sox fan, you are always spot on, and a day without your comments is our loss, but please refrain from calling tribes primitive. We know what you mean, but all societies are complex and have been throughout history.
@Birdygirl, CA: Point taken, fair one.
Consider me lessoned.
I'm impressed by the literary ambitions of your news department where in David Sanger's new analysis, "Trump’s Big Gamble Hits a Reality Check," the meaning of "revolutionary approach" is deftly expanded to become an euphemism for "lazy, uninformed and incompetent."
70
I fail to understand why this comes as a surprise to many people. As this article points out, this is what North Korea has done for decades..its push/pull deceitful "diplomacy" which after all attempts has stayed rooted in its same ideology. Will a tete-a-tete ever occur between Trump and Kim? That is a question which may have one answer only if these two individuals can not change their ego-feeding, impulsive, and unstable behaviors, and that is a resounding "no." North Korea will not denuclearize, at least under its present dictatorship. And it is beholden to China. If Kim is a "good boy" in Xi's eyes, he will receive concessions in one form or another to help his economy, and China is in no way presently going to let the US have the upper-hand...to whit, trade. Then there is the trigger-happy Bolton, most likely the most dangerous of all advisors that Trump can listen to, and listen he will.
7
I feel the conversation between Trump and Kim Jung-un is one I've heard many times before as a public school librarian in a middle school. They get upset about some real or imagined slight and break up Their friends take sides. Rumors fly. The truth is distorted. Then somehow it all gets sorted out. And before you know it everybody is on to the next big thing.
Alas this situation, although powered by adults---smacks of adolescent, capricious behavior. They have brought us into their 'break up." Sadly Trump didn't spend the time to really understand his counterpart in this summit and all the moving parts of this relationship before saying yes to meeting with the Koreans.
And we are the lucky recepients of being on the sidelines watching it unfold (or not).
8
" ... if it means that the Trump administration will now take the time to do the preparation needed ..." That would be a first. Trump's biggest goal was that Nobel Peace Prize. Obama got one so why shouldn't he? So he was cheated. He set a goal of undoing as much as he could of everything Obama did. He can't take away Obama's Peace Prize, but he may not get one himself.
As discussed, the cancellation of the agreed upon talks is an unforced error resulting from Pence and Bolton openly mentioning the "Libya model". Qaddafi is dead and Libya is in chaos. What a couple of ignorant loudmouths.
Trump's response? an angry response and a return to discussions of fire, fury, immolation and the little rocket man. Preparation and do his homework? Nah, Trump doesn't do that, and he has gotten rid of the people who can.
13
I disagree with the Editorial Board's conclusion that negotiations between the United States and North Korea may, one day, resume.
This is finished, primarily because of the unpreparedness of the Trump administration and the untrustworthiness of Kim Jong-un's government. I also don't think it was wise for Donald Trump to jump joyfully into an agreement whereby he would sit at a conference table with the unpredictable dictator without any preparation.
He seemed much too eager to find some way to "make a deal." Coming to a far-reaching agreement on nuclear warheads is something else entirely different from selling land, a something that I firmly believe is beyond the American president's ability to either understand or implement.
I have doubted, from the first, Mr. Trump's sincerity in wanting a peaceful resolution to both the Korean Peninsula's six-decades long simmering feud and to finding peace and accord between nations possessing nuclear capabilities. For one thing, he threw away the Iran agreement of 2015 simply because he couldn't be bored with the details; another reason was that he wished to rub President Obama's nose in his rejection of it.
But he paid a great price did Mr. Trump. He surrounded himself with two men with extremely hawkish views--John Bolton and Michael Pompeo. Added on to this was the vice-president's "insulting remarks" about "making North Korea like Libya."
The North Koreans aren't stupid; Trump always thinks he's the smartest guy in the room.
141
You called it earlier this week when you predicted there would be no summit.
Trump wants the glory, but not the heavy lifting that could bring success. You know, reading, listening, getting yourself and your representatives on the same page, not sending out inflammatory tweets, not making fun of your first Secretary of State - burdens Trump will never carry.
And now, future prospects for peace have become even more elusive.
But no worries for Trump. He'll find a way to wash his hands of failure with North Korea when he hosts his next rally. Priorities!
35
@Sox -- another reason the president took Kim's bait for a summit was because he saw an opportunity to upstage his predecessor and to show that he could do what previous administrations couldn't accomplish on the Korean peninsula, thereby cementing his greatness. This ill-fated summit was all about ego, not diplomacy. It was another example, not of "America First" but "ME First".
86
Even when Trump is the ONLY guy in the room, he's still NOT the smartest guy in the room.
Please, someone - help.
4
We can't know if North Korea had been acting in good faith.
But we do know that Trump and his team acted so clumsily that they will be remembered for the breakdown of talks.
The administration failed to carry a consistent (and non-inflammatory) message when Bolton and Pence unthinkably pointed to Libya as a model for North Korea, while Trump assured Kim Jong Un of survival and popularity. That hardly builds confidence. North Koreans aren't suicidal.
Then there was Trump's brashness. He boasted that he had succeeded where his predecessors had failed, and soaked up talk of a Nobel. Predictably, Trump never asked himself why peace with North Korea had yet to be achieved.
Finally, there was a record of animus from the White House. Pence snubbed the North Korean delegation at the Olympics, and Trump spent months issuing threatening and taunting remarks to North Korea. That poor form makes it harder to find trust when it is needed.
We won't know what might have been, but we know that the juveniles in the White House secured failure.
18
@NM -- perhaps the biggest story of the Winter Olympics was the icy chill between the North Korean delegation and the vice presidential party. The two parties were in earshot of each other, yet the frost was so obvious one could feel the chill halfway around the world. It was the Cold War revisited. Given the undisguised hostilities between the US and North Korea, the cancellation comes as no surprise.
9
Psychologists have long stated that the human personality is largely set by age six As Trump approaches his 72nd birthday the whole planet already knows exactly who he is and it ain’t pretty. He’s incapable of fooling any world leader at this juncture that he has any shred of trustworthiness.
12
Why did Trump cancel? Because he was afraid of a political disaster He was afraid that the few rational Republicans left would see that he has no conception of foreign policy All the bluster in the world didn't scare Kim! Bolton and Pence 's stupid statements about the Libyan model were for Fox. The great dealmaker struck out without even swinging!!
9
Trump really blew it this time. Time 4 change.
8
The situation will be molten
With battle urgings of John Bolton
Five deferment Don,
Had the battle all won,
All that he touches isn't golden.
16
I wish this editorial offered a more substantive explanation of why it was "the right call" to agree for a summit with the North Korean dictator in the first place. It's more or less a consensus among everyone who knows anything about North Korea, that Kim Jong Un would never voluntarily give up his nukes. It was clear all along that when North Korea was saying they were willing to "talk about denuclearization" what they really meant was KJU was eager to sit down and talk "nuclear disarmament" with the president of the US - similarly to nuclear disarmament talks between Carter and Brezhnev; or Reagan and Gorbachev. In other words - he was perfectly willing to be recognized as the leader of a nuclear superpower capable of talking to the US as an equal. If nothing else, we now have a sense that when Trump was agreeing to the meeting he appeared to be genuinely under the impression that Kim Jong Un had in fact agreed to "denuclearize" and was coming to the summit to essentially surrender (!)... In other words, Trump was being fooled, played like a drum, etc. etc. Knowing that, how can you possibly say that it was the "right call"?
(Also, it was widely reported after their last nuclear test that the site was damaged to the point where it would not be able to survive another detonation; they had to close it anyway - so I question anyone's willingness to give NK credit for "blowing it up" now)
7
The editorial article refers to the two as "hotheaded leaders'. I believe them to be imbalanced. And the cancellation of the meeting is symptomatic of what happens, when two such types imagine that they can sit down and talk like rational humans.
1
Why would Mr. Kim be eager for the "summit" when he has China as an ally? It's the same with Assad and Russia. Both countries have a permanent veto member of the UN Security Council to protect them, as does Israel. Thus sanctions can only go so far and Iraq proved the complications of military intervention. It seems like the best options are the status quo or possibly concessions by China to allow for a Myanmar like transition in North Korea (same goes for Syria) but I don't hold my breath for either. 16 months into Trump's presidency and all we have is a corporate welfare policy and dismantling of Obama's legacy. One can see why his approval ratings are over 80% amongst Republicans but what has he done to expand his base of support and to make the world a safer place?
6
South Korea got the ball rolling and Trump killed the meeting without even telling them first. The US, of course, created the situation with their first adventure in Southeast Asia. South Korea didn't have much input to the result of that either; it was decided pretty much between the US and China.
Everyone else should now ignore the US and back South Korea in attempting to finally end the Korean War with a peace treaty with North Korea. It may not work out and there are all sorts of issues to be resolved but any direct involvement by the US or China is unlikely to help.
2
The article states, "There is still time to get diplomacy back on track." The question is when was the diplomacy or anything else this Administration does been on track?
92
Long Wait is likely to be paid rich dividends.The abrupt cancellation of the planned US--North Korea summit on 12 June by Trump has exerted utmost pressure on Kim to issue a conciliatory statement expressing willingness to meet at any time.
The nuclear arsenal threat by Kim did not work to withdraw from the summit.The US decision to use massive weapons to disfigure Pyongyang and eliminate Kim forced him attend . Kim lost his position of strength for proposed retaliatory measures.
In theory all countries are equal but in practice not due to complex factors.
3
"There is still time to get diplomacy back on track."
It may be so, but unfortunately Pence, Pompeo, and Bolton are the ones in charge of diplomacy and that remains a barrier to future negotiations.
Someone else will need to enter the picture if further face to face meetings are to take place. Someone level headed who knows Kim, like Bill Richardson.
32
Admiral Harry Harris the head of the US military's Pacific Command, has been appointed to the post of ambassador to South Korea; hopefully he'll be the level-headed adult so needed to represent the U.S.
1
And now we know the rest of the story:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/world/asia/trumps-gamble-hits-reality...
Diplomacy is not a real estate transaction. The man of the so called "Art of the Deal", just figured out that diplomacy is difficult to understand.
The old adage "you get more files with honey, than you do with vinegar"; certainly applies here. Certainly, Trump failed on this point. As he done on pretty much everything else he has attempted in foreign policy, trade negotiations and treaties. But, with his meeting cancellation today, he has made the world a much more dangerous place
Let's home President Moon can negotiate peace on his own. He, right now, is the only hope, to prevent a Trump created situation, from getting much worse.
21
yes, it may be excessive to expect everything at one time. Trump's desire to be Captain America found unsucessful. fortunately, North Korea responded with more calmly and softer way right after Trump called off the meeting, not a bad sign that a negotiation will resume later. (North Korea's attitude looks a bit similar to that of Iran's, which wasn't harsh resistance to Trump's decision, and then made Trump isolated in the international politics)
I believe Mr. Kim Jong-un is not that unpredictable character, as depicted by so many new media over the world (in fact, he seems to have very high-esteem, far higher than Trump), and South Korea should go forward to end the Korean war regardless of US president's personality. peace doesn't and MUST NOT depend on one impulsive and erratic businessman.
42
To anyone who upvoted this comment, ask yourself if you would send one of your children to the "high-esteem" Mr Kim's country for a visit. Truly surreal.
1
I agree, Donald Trump is not to be trusted in any way, the American press continues to suggest that Lucy from the Peanuts comics will someday let Charlie Brown kick that football when they write editorials like this one. We captured citizens are sick to death of the insanity emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania and know that as bad as it is on a daily basis, we only know a fraction of what is going on.
6
David Vawter-Good job at completely missing the point.
At some point, South Korea, along with the rest of the world, has got to let go of the notion that there is any rational thought coming out of the White House. There is not.
The "Summit" with North Korea was just a PR grabber for Trump that grew out of his bluster exchange with Kim (see rocket-man/ dotard exchanges). This was Trump reality TV. The Summit was a natural next "episode" as is the cancellation. None of this is rational foreign policy in any normal sense.
South Korea needs to understand this, as does the rest of the world. The world's nations need to let go of the US of the past, and move on with handling the world's affairs with out the US's president or regime.
Hopefully, we'll be back some day, maybe 2020, but these days, it's hard to know what the voters will do.
221
Yes, and with seasoned, nuanced statesmen like Pastor Pence and Blow-it-Up Bolton doing their utmost to charm and reassure an edgy outlier regime, this result is exactly what I expected all along.
Maybe north and south can finally make real progress if we just butt out and leave them one on one.
29
Absolutely right, this is the Trump The Apprentice President Reality Show. The basic premise of all reality shows is to hype normal actions and reactions so viewers will tune in next week. Be outrageous, the more the better, to keep the Brand in the news and making money. It's all flim-flammery and, ironically, total unreality, but viewers will suspend their disbelief in the name of entertainment. Are we not entertained?
28
I'm afraid the US of the past is dead and soon to be buried. All we lack is a eulogy.
16
The best next move is for South and North Korea to formally end hostilities by working out a peace treaty. No guarantees that all the issues would be addressed or fixed, but it would be a positive step.
76
Unfortunately, the peace treaty cannot happen without USA. The temporary(?) ceasefire of the Korean War was signed by USA, NK, and China in 1953; South Korea is not an official or legal party of any treaties over the Korean War.
6
If there is an agreement between North and South Korea, does it really matter if the US doesn't sign on? I suspect that, as with so many other things diplomatic of late, it wouldn't matter at all to the rest of the world. Trump's "America First" is very quickly becoming "America Alone".