Trump has put himself in this awkward position. All along he has insisted on total denuclearization in any deal with North Korea. Agreeing to any deal allowing Kim to keep his existing nukes with ICBM's that can reach the USA is a losing hand for Trump. It will appear that he was out negotiated by Kim and folded under the pressure of needing a deal by the 2020 elections. It will imply that the US has acquiesced to North Korea as a nuclear power and it will leave South Korea, Japan and the USA under the potential threat of North Korean nuclear attack. In the end after all his bluster and PR stunts it will appear that Trump achieved nothing.
3
Why would trump even want peace with North Korea other than to say he did something Obama and the Clintons could not. After all bringing another Asian country into the fold will only cost more Americans their manufacturing jobs. Just another place for Chinese firms to set up shop to get around tariffs. Seems sort of hypocritical.
It’s all about the money isn’t it? Pease with all nuclear powers is the way to go. We were doing very well economically in our relations with China.
Our economy collapsed because of the Wall Street bankers, Clinton listening their regulation, and above all Obama not prosecuting. Add to that the Bush tax cut and the multi trillion dollar failed regime change wars and you can see in glaring clarity that the enemy is us (US).
It's clear that John Bolton is now on the outs from this administration, after failing to drag the U.S. into some kind of tit for tat confrontation with Iran. Sending someone to Mongolia while the real action is happening elsewhere is almost the literal definition of getting them out of the way. It will be amusing to see which backwater issue he now gets assigned to before he makes an official exit.
1
Far out!!! Mongolia! How droll. I think (hopefully this is not offensive) that Trump outshines by a tiny bit Alec Baldwin as a comedian. And I think Mr. Baldwin is just so great.
In his career he has played scary, evil characters, nothing funny there. And then his career transforms. You get “Thirty Rock” and SNL.
I hear Bill Weld would like to debate Trump
but will Trump demurs he’ll hope to recruit Baldwin. There must be some role for Dana Carvey.
No one is threatened by a visit to Mongolia.
But what is the agenda?? Give up?
The answer:
Trump Tower.
A great tourist attraction.
You gotta love it. Kim read his book and played him like a cheap Chinese fiddle.
5
Sport to disagree. Sounded to me like a Stradivarius. Isaac Stern must be impressed as am I.
What matters is what Ivanka thinks, Pompeo and Bolton are just there to do the paperwork.
4
So Bolton is just figuring out he is just a part of the advertising campaign? A showpiece, nothing more. And he thought he was going to get his long sought after demonstration of American power and might. As Trump feels he should be a president for life with his heir apparent in his daughter (Sorry, Don Jr....you just aren't smart or pretty enough), this should come as no surprise. If I were Bolton, I'd be very careful if someone comes running up to me at the airport with a handkerchief in their hand. I just wonder if Trump asked Kim where he gets his jackets? The real deal sealer will be not when Kim offers his nukes....but when he asks Trump if he will teach him to play golf. That will get the remaining sanctions lifted like yesterday.
7
Trump is mocking America.
4
Glad he’s doing something useful. Looking forward to the show of military might. July 4th was Independence Day no it has become American Fascist Day.
1
There is no “Trump approach” to North Korea talks. It’s all a series of photo opps. North Korea isn’t giving it its nukes, and Trump doesn’t care one way or the other so long as he can pretend progress is occurring.
It’s all a con.
8
What happened to “fire and fury”? Let’s make a deal. Any old “deal” will do. Trump Tower DMZ — great views.
6
A trump tower in north Korea may just be Trump's real goal.
1
Another fine example of the current administration's foreign policymaking:
fire, aim, ready.
5
Trying to understand where this administration is headed is impossible. The "leader" has no coherent philosophy, is guided by no values, other than a need for self aggrandizement.
And so reporters are fed scraps of information mingles with lies and cray talk, and we the public attempt to find a narrative to connect it all.
T is what we have seen him to be over the last 2 years: impulsive, greedy for attention, power , and material goods; vindictive; without a scrap of loyalty, and IGNORANT.
Although he's a teetotaler, this is a bit like living with an alcoholic -- active or a "dry drunk " - - where the family becomes inured to frequent rages ; and illogical rants and unpredictable mood changes are normal. Unlike in previous administrations, there is no staff left who can "leak" anything of value.
5
The United States under the lying and unstable opposite of genius Trump is not what it used to be.
It lacks the moral leadership and trust it once had.
It is not the world's economic powerhouse anymore.
It is way too indebted, and mistakenly thinks Wall Street is the economy.
It has become feckless under President Trump.
It doesn't have the strength or authority to be making the demands it once could when its allies and most of the world supported its vision. America has a blind leader.
It is making the wrong friends and is creating too many enemies under Trump and its skeleton crew of a State Department.
America has more problems now than it did in 2016, while ignoring the real problems and dangers of the 21st Century.
Nukes are a danger only because Trump is holding the football.
I cannot see anyone looking to the United States for leadership.
It has become a bad joke under President Trump.
The man is unfit, doesn't read and can barely write. Think about it, he tweeted about the Prince of Whales???
5
If memory serves me correct, the last negotiators that North Korea sent to the bargaining table met an ignominious end. At least one was executed for being appearing too friendly/conciliatory towards their American counterparts. And Trump/Fox News cult thinks that their will be progress at further talks? This was just a photo-op at the DMZ to show their respective followers that they appear to have their adversary by the “short hairs”. Watch Trump do another el foldo and then claim victory.
4
Absolutely wonderful news that Mr Trump might be getting glimmerings of understanding about how this 'diplomacy' thing can get done.
Patience, sticks, carrots and compromise - the latter being a process where to get what you really want, you agree to give up some other stuff that you don't want so much.
Bluster, rudeness, threats and contempt don't cut it so well. I'm thinking Iran, China, Venezuela and NK. Things with the EU aren't shaping up too well, either.
Trump has now met someone better at making empty promises than he is - Kim Jong Un. To freeze nuclear assets is one thing, but that seems not to be part of the "deal': "during a speech at Stanford University, Mr. Biegun signaled that American negotiators might be willing to push off the demand for an inventory of nuclear assets and engage in a more gradual process. " So we will not even know what nuclear armaments North Korea has, apparently giving North Korea the ability to continue to not only keep its nuclear arsenal, but also to keep building it. As part of this "deal," we will apparently relax "some" sanctions and probably withdraw our troops from South Korea. Good work Trump, a great photo op, at the cost of all of our credibility and a large chunk of the world's safety. Iran will certainly learn the value of a nuclear arsenal and the failure of any attempts to limit building that arsenal, and will proceed accordingly.
3
In order to burnish his self constructed image of a deal maker the ball game Trump is playing with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, to get him on road to denuclearisation he has already lost, thanks to solid Sino-Russia support in the back. Not only that flaunting his nuclear game winning trophy what more Kim was badly looking for was an end to the international isolation for his hermit nation, and a modicum of legitimacy for himself that he was bestowed with by the the diplomacy disabled and a novice player Trump who, against the history and advice has gone the extra mile to set foot on the North Korean territory through the NMZ minefield just to catch camera attention and shake hands with Kim once derided and threatened by him with a rain of fire and fury. As such the split and confusion in the Trump administration is bound to occur that has left the kawkish National security adviser, John R. Bolton high and dry with furious outbursts.
1
An incremental deal may be better than continuing the dangerous status quo, but query why that logic did not apply to the Incremental deal with Iran.
6
There isn’t any deep level of discussion over Kim & Iran. They are absent of any diplomatic skills. Pompeo & Bolton want to strike against Iran. They have no clue the complexity of an Iran war or the chaos if Iran falls. They can’t become democracy.
Donald doesn’t trust any one except his inept Ivanka.
6
If he doesn’t even have a clue what Western democratization is, should he even be at the negotiating table? Scary!
3
One of these days, someone, or some group, within one or more regimes, will allow their brinkmanship to become deadly irreversible action, and when that cat pops out of the bag we will all find ourselves in deep trouble.
Several times since the nuclear age began there have been instances when errors were made, or diplomacy almost didn't work, bringing us to the unthinkable position of considering using atomic weapons, in some instances with a cavilair attitude.
We Americans used atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and we were said to be reasonable people; consider a regime, or a group, within a newly empowered regime presuming that American accomodation is weakness, an irresistible opportunity to bring a long believed enemy to its knees ..., at that juncture it may be too late.
The only viable solution to ending the likelihood of catastrophic nuclear conflict, is verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons from the arsenals of every nation.
Otherwise sooner or later some arrogant fool will think he can open Pandoras box, and control what escapes.
Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the Japanese remember.
5
Get us a good DEAL. Just keep on winning! Rex Tillerson comes to mind.
Mr. Bolton thinks the North Koreans do not know what happened to Libya when that dictator gave up nuclear ambitions? Iran sees that American agreements are not worth Mr. Trump's toilet paper, with Trump dishonoring all accomplishments, large or small, and lies to America but, if he can tell the difference between a lie and the truth, might be a truth-teller to fellow dictators wo don't need to be abetted by an elected Senate. Mr. Bolton wants only war, and Trump wants only accolades for himself. Surely, somewhere between these distant poles there must be an America and another president in the waiting room of history.
3
Talk is cheap. War is expensive.
In this one instance, Trump is doing the right thing on North Korea. Keep talking. As long as both sides are speaking to one another there is much less danger of war or an accidental escalation that could turn into something far worse.
To be sure, it is doubtful that Trump has any long-term strategic plan for NK, and Kim Jong-un will never cease to be a cunning and ruthless tyrant, but at least peace prevails. If Mr. Trump can--blindly, perhaps accidentally, and incrementally--run out the clock on his presidency with the North Koreans used to official dialogue with the US, a more competent successor to Mr. Trump may be able to turn this "talk first" diplomacy into something more substantial. Peace on the Korean peninsula.
Mr. Trump, keep talking.
2
Yeah, too bad he didn’t try talking with Iran!
3
It would be good if the North and South could sign a peace treaty and end to Korean War which has ceased re bullets and bombs called an Armistice.
Wouldn’t it be so so ironic if Trump’s bungling antics led to such a treaty?
Go figure...
Bolton keeps announcing long lists of what others must do and calling them to "negotiate," meaning capitulate. My-way-or-the-highway only works for Red states in the US, or the US Red Senate, where no recognition of other opinions need be made.
3
As far as I can observe there is no real plan for dealing with North Korea from this administration. Bolton is clearly a war monger, there are some more moderate people below him but none of them really matter. What the US will do is solely dependent upon the actions of an impulsive child with no real idea of what he is doing and a budding romance with a brutal dictator.
Does anyone else fail to see why the US is no longer respected as an agent of anything good in the world today?
5
North Korea is not going to give up its nuclear weapons. This ‘goal’ of the West to denuclearize North Korea is a classic case of ‘pie in the sky diplomacy.’ It isn’t going to happen at least until North Korea has a strong free market economy. So let’s forget the unattainable and work with the attainable. If North Korea agrees to freeze its nuclear program then we agree to drop the economic sanctions against it. Once North Korea begins to feel the positive effects of no sanctions then they will clearly see the road to peace. It is only after they have gained our trust can we then ask them to denuclearize their military.
1
Despite the positive reactions from most of the press, I am disturbed by Trump's personal, friendly approach to the leader of North Korea. They look like a couple having a long distance love affair. This personal approach does have some merits. For now conflict has been put on hold. The lovers are flush with excitement on their honeymoon, wrapped in the throes of infatuation. But, as with a highly emotional romantic relationship, when it breaks down, things can get very ugly. I can see that happening here. This Trump/Kim love in will not last because there are irreconcilable differences with no face saving agreement possible. NK will never give up it's nukes. And why on earth would they? Who would ever do that with the world the way it is? So the great 'love affair' is doomed and both participants strike me as volatile and vengeful types. Steely diplomatic efforts would be much more sensible than the love island reality show Trump produces. Just wait til the ratings drop and they need a dramatic twist. Just wait for the lover spurned.
10
I have been watching a german show call Dark. It is the equivalent of Stranger Things but darker and in german. It is confusing, requires a family tree like One Hundred Years of Solitude and good glasses to read the subtitles but it is basically a show in which people disappear from one town and appear in a different time dimension in the same town and at the end is all interconnected and profoundly complicated. The current president, his administration and supporters live in a multidimensional reality in which there is the one character that travels from one dimension to the other ones to mislead everyone else on the path so these people live in eternal chaos. It sure sounds scifi but the bottom line, our current president has no interest what so ever to unify anyone, including his own party and if they defect, they are sent to no man’s land.
(Btw...it is a good show...better than this one...)
2
By the time our historic dealmaker-in-chief is done, the US will have agreed to denuclearize in exchange for an NK promise to buy an unspecified amount of soybeans at some unspecified future date.
9
The larger question is actually our approach to nuclear proliferation. It has failed miserably in regions where there is deep antagonism and insecurities. It seems more a cudgel than a step toward peace. We currently coexist with Russia, India, Israel, China, France. England, and Pakistan who have disregarded our attempts to enforce this policy. We used the fiction of proliferation to invade Iraq. The only sanction regimes we have imposed has been on Iraq and North Korea, states we regard as antagonist and whose regimes We would like to change. We need to find a better way. The first step maybe to recognise our use of nuclear power to enforce denuclearization and the extension of our nuclear umbrella to states who are regional rivals of others is at the heart of the problem. There has to be a less self serving way.
3
Trump badly needs a deal, one that will be pushed as a great step forward, something no other leader has been able to do. Kim is looking at a possible Trump defeat in 2020 to someone not such an easy mark. He wants going-out-of business prices. He's apparently getting them.
24
@Potter.... and as usual Bolton is more than tolerated because he plays the bad cop in this theater.. delivers the threat, while allowing Trump to look like the peacemaker dealmaker.
3
This article makes it seem like there’s some measured debate inside the administration about how to handle NK. The reality is that Trump fires off impulsive tweets, cozies up to mass-murdering autocrats like KJU, hires warmongers like Bolton because they sound tough, sends Bolton literally to Mongolia while he lets his daughter, an unelected handbag designer, take over diplomacy.
If there were truly any intelligent debate somewhere deep within this administration (which I doubt!), its irrelevant, because it’s drowned out by whatever impulsive thought fleets through Trump’s ego.
54
Negotiations always start better when there are mutual small concessions at the outset. It demonstrates goodwill on the part of both parties, and provides hope of what is yet to come.
Spitting in the other party's tea as you sit down to talk seldom moves the ball toward the goal.
4
I don't disagree. But what is a 'small' step?
Neither side is sincere. They are both playing to their base. And speaking of playing, Kim is playing us like a fiddle.
3
@Dan
Dropping one of the many sanctions that is non critical.
The watered-down, pre-election deal to leave North Korea's existing arsenal in place - without a list of locations to monitor new production - will be as bruising a deal as Stephanie Grisham got her first week on the job fighting for press access at the DMZ, but without the successful end result.
6
I believe Bolton calls the list of locations a target list.
3
Does, the new “incremental” approach to North Korea, including an exchange of humanitarian aid to North Korea, seem similar to the approach taken in the Iran treaty that Trump blew up?
It also seems a bit odd to keep sanctions in place but then give financial aid to NK. Trump balked at the idea of giving Iran back their own assets that had been frozen for years, seeming to suggest the worst part of the Iran treaty was a one sided financial transaction. ( Winning to Trump always breaks down along financial gains or loses.) The Korea deal will be similar to the Iran deal with one exception, Trumps will be “fantastic” historic, the greatest...
11
Bolton, Trump and those among them are simply couch potato warriors. It’s easy to be tough behind someone else’s bravery and sacrifice. They try and take credit for things they have not shaped, or toiled over. It’s obvious to all and bravo to the French for posting the video showing the awkwardly amateurish and laughable exchange between world leaders and Ivanka, which sums it up perfectly. Outside their very small Trump circle they are viewed with contempt. Hope history documents this period well so its never repeated.
26
Trump's 20 step foray into North Korea is being portrayed as something heroic. Roughly 1.3 million people visit the DMZ every year. (I've made the trip, and I also stepped across the line.)
Nonetheless, Trump did do something genuinely unprecedented (or 'unpresidented'): he expressed a willingness to allow North Korea to keep its nuclear stockpile. No other President has been willing to tolerate a nuclear armed North Korea, and for good reason.
26
"Mr. Trump did not publicly mention full denuclearization during his hour at the border between the two Koreas on Sunday or after talks with South Korean leaders."
But Kim did and you need to report that.
5
Bolton's way won't work, it's a dead end - max pressure only reinforces a harder line in Pyongyang and will always be undermined to some degree by China and Russia. In return for a freeze and some inspection system, modest relaxation can also serve US interests in gradually changing the dynamic. The natural tendency for the NK elite will be to want more opening, to be given only for more concessions, not necessarily only in the nuclear area. The Kim regime may not want to make these, but they become harder and harder to resist, especially if there can be more North-South contact. We need a sophisticated approach the recognizes and exploits forces of change within the North itself while avoiding fatuous notions of Chinese style reforms.
5
It does not matter how many nukes NK possesses as it only takes one to keep the rest of the world at bay while the murderous regime stays in power.
While I highly doubt Trump will get them to zero, I am certain he will declare a great victory with NK as the election nears.
15
“I had no desire to die in a southeast Asian rice paddy”
That’s how Bolton described his reason for avoiding service in Vietnam Nam while enthusiastically supporting the war.
He is remarkably consistent about his love of war. Over the years even Republicans recoiled from his extremism, but then he found Trump, who will fall for anyone who praises him effusively enough.
Now he is in a position to sacrifice other Americans’ sons and daughters in pursuit of his bloodthirsty vision. Our only hope is that Trump tires of his house pets quickly, and seems to be moving on.
36
Working incrementally plays into what North Korea wants. Instead, the US should keep up maximum pressure, while offering concessions to China on trade — if they help move North Korea toward denuclearization.
6
They’ll keep their nukes. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.
1