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I'll have to agree with this, even if the State department was fully manned with North Korean experts, Trump as demonstrated time and time again that he ignores their advise. Talks in the works with North Korea for over a year? Hardly, you don't continually insult someone your trying to get to the negotiating table. Here's what happened, the North Korea delegations told Trump that no sitting president has ever met with a North Korean leader, but he has the chance to make history! They appealed to his ego, pure and simple, he is after all a simpleton. North Korea will just make a pitch to inflate Trumps ego and he will agree with almost anything, jsut hope any deal he makes has to be ratified by congress, at least they are not complete morons.
Trump is walking into a trap, too stupid to realize it, and is way out of his element. This isn't a business deal, this could literally dictate the death or survival of US hegemony for the next century. US voters made their bed, now they have to live with the consequences of electing the most incompetent president in history and watch their children grow up in a world where they'll be taking orders from China.
Drat.
I've spent the last 15 months learning to speak Russian and now you tell me we'll be taking orders from China, not Russia
I was a bit surprised that NPR aired an interview with Vietnam's leader praising Trump and criticizing Obama as a talker that was too weak to do actions, which allowed for China and North Korea to run amok.
I thought this was understood, that NK has agreed to no new tests while meeting with Trump. Shrug. I think this may be a restatement of the agreement, but with Trump trying to look tough for his base.
Honestly, I don't care. I can't imagine North Korea making a deal that is workable. We HAD a deal before-they violated it. They've repeatedly demonstrated we cannot trust their word.
Trump is wasting his time. Not because Trump can't make a deal, but because the group on the other side of the deal cannot be trusted to keep their agreement. And I can't see any agreement that would work without that trust.
They did agree to no new tests, they also agreed to not object to the April US/South Korea Military exercises -- which N. Korea ALWAYS seriously objects to. This is actually to strongest indication they are more serious about "talks". My understanding is that the starvation issue is becoming critical and the months of April/May are always the worse. These latest sanctions are really hurting them.
The most unusual part of these possible talks is cutting out the Middle (no power) cadre of Diplomats and "experts" ...... that would be the same cadre of Diplomats and "experts" that have repeatedly failed in the past.
I would remind everybody that "Trump's base" doesn't live in either Hawaii OR Washington D.C. -- those are the 2 Targets that Fat Boy threatens the most with his rhetoric.
For those who are actually interested in what is going on (as opposed to just Trump Bashing) - I would refer you to the US State Department Press Briefings and to those who do serious reporting on Foreign Policy. Always best to check the history and then the beginning of Breaking News before the Media Pundits start opinionizing everything.
1). Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee met with South Korean President Moon for 1 hour ...... later that evening the North/South Korean Summit in Pyeongchang was announced along with the message that N. Korea would be interested in talks with the USA Kim Yong Choi was the highest ranking member from N. Korea at the Olympics, even though it was Fat Boy's sister that got all the press.
2). US Envoy to N. Korea - suddenly tendered his Resignation, citing "personal reasons".
Kim Yong Choi is the #2 guy in North Korea, he was due to have a meeting with #2 Guy (VP Mike Pence) during the Olympics - Kim Yong Choi canceled the meeting and the US imposed another VERY tough round of sanctions 2 days later.
This news comes courtesy of Kim Yong Chol — North Korea’s top representative to the closing ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea — and two days after the US imposed its harshest ever sanctions on North Korea, designed in part to compel the regime to sit down at the bargaining table. North Korea condemned those sanctions in a Sunday statement.
The announcement also comes two weeks after North Korea pulled out of a planned February 10 discussion between Vice President Mike Pence and top Pyongyang officials — including North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong.
I highlight these dates because the announcements made on March 8 were no surprise to the US State Department (that announced on March 6 that the South Korean delegation was arriving immediately after their talks with the North Koreans to brief the USA. They were no surprise to the White House, the US Defense Department or the National Security Advisor McMasters. The normal protocols, according to the State Department are that visitors typically want to visit with their counterparts.
National Security Advisor McMasters briefed by the National Security Minister from South Korea.
Alison Hooker, who helps President Donald Trump’s North Korea policy on the National Security Councisel, joined the US delegation to the Olympics. She and Kim — who stands accused of orchestrating a 2010 attack on a South Korean ship that killed around 50 sailors — actually met before when Hooker tried to secure the release of American hostages in 2014.
What’s more, North Korea also sent Choe Kang Il, who heads US affairs in North Korea’s foreign ministry, as part of Pyongyang’s delegation. There’s really no other reason for Choe to join North Korea’s group unless there was some possibility of a US-North Korea meeting.
Alison Hooker, who helps President Donald Trump’s North Korea policy on the National Security Councisel, joined the US delegation to the Olympics. She and Kim — who stands accused of orchestrating a 2010 attack on a South Korean ship that killed around 50 sailors — actually met before when Hooker tried to secure the release of American hostages in 2014.
What’s more, North Korea also sent Choe Kang Il, who heads US affairs in North Korea’s foreign ministry, as part of Pyongyang’s delegation. There’s really no other reason for Choe to join North Korea’s group unless there was some possibility of a US-North Korea meeting.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal in August of 2017 and has said similar things in many interviews .......
“The US is willing to negotiate with Pyongyang. But given the long record of North Korea’s dishonesty in negotiations and repeated violations of international agreements, it is incumbent upon the regime to signal its desire to negotiate in good faith.”
Last December, Tillerson took attempts at dialogue a step further during a speech at the Atlantic Council think tank about the Trump administration’s first year in office. “We’ve said from the diplomatic side we’re ready to talk any time North Korea would like to talk, and we’re ready to have the first meeting without precondition,” he said. “Can we at least sit down and see each other face to face?”
It's no secret that what we have done for 30 years in terms of North Korea has not worked. It's also clear that President Trump and his Team are not going to attempt the same Failed Policy that clearly has not worked. I suspect this may have something to do with the sudden resignation of the ineffective Envoy to N. Korea. There is ONLY one person in North Korea that makes decisions - Fat Boy.
What have months/years of 6 Party Talks (that the Envoy was in charge of), layers of bureaucrats and paying ransom money for promises of more talks ever achieved???
They have achieved increasing Nuclear Tests and increasing Missile Tests. This is why TrumpTeam is coordinating a menu of Increasingly Tougher Sanctions, Tough Talk, Pressure on Korea's neighbors (China, Japan, S. Korea, Russia) and a willingness to give up the "preconditions" that would NEVER be met to just sit and talk.
The 2 US "preconditions" that North Korea HAS met are:
1). Willingness to talk about giving up Nuclear weapons
2). Agreement to US/South Korea planned Military exercises in April.
The bizarre part about all of this is all the US Media talks about "Trump will Fail", "Trump knows nothing", "Trump is not prepared and can't get prepared" ...... they are obviously hoping for Failure before anything even happens because it suits THEIR Political Agenda for Elections.
They did agree to no new tests, they also agreed to not object to the April US/South Korea Military exercises -- which N. Korea ALWAYS seriously objects to. This is actually to strongest indication they are more serious about "talks". My understanding is that the starvation issue is becoming critical and the months of April/May are always the worse. These latest sanctions are really hurting them.
The most unusual part of these possible talks is cutting out the Middle (no power) cadre of Diplomats and "experts" ...... that would be the same cadre of Diplomats and "experts" that have repeatedly failed in the past.
I would remind everybody that "Trump's base" doesn't live in either Hawaii OR Washington D.C. -- those are the 2 Targets that Fat Boy threatens the most with his rhetoric.
I just caught a clip of John Bolton on Fox. His take was that the talks will fail for there is no way that Kim will agree to denuclearize and that drawing them out with stages and subsequent negotiations only gives the Koreans more time to perfect the missile-delivery. For (and he did not say this, but I assume it's the bottom line) ... we want a failure as an excuse to finally go in and blast NK. The "we" does not include Trump (I assume), nor State who has been promoting engagement, nor certainly the S. Koreans.
Before posting this ... I googled for a minute or two ... to find that Bolton's outright calling for a preemptive strike although in the article I saw he didn't explain HOW that strike would be accomplished (nuclear or not). Bolton was also opposed to the sanctions, calling THEM useless with a failed track record.
Then just happened across the rumor that Bolton could replace McMasters as National Security Advisor. Great, although his Tuesday afternoon meeting with Trump was *before* the Koreans came with their news on Thursday.
Quote:
This rumor has been circulating in earnest since at least last week, when NBC reported that current National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, whom Trump has never particularly liked, was looking for a way out of the White House. But speculation really escalated on Tuesday afternoon, when Bolton came to the White House and met with the president in the Oval Office. It seemed less like a normal meeting and more like a “job interview,” as Mieke Eoyang, the vice president for foreign policy at the center-left think tank Third Way, put it in a phone call.
I just caught a clip of John Bolton on Fox. His take was that the talks will fail for there is no way that Kim will agree to denuclearize and that drawing them out with stages and subsequent negotiations only gives the Koreans more time to perfect the missile-delivery. For (and he did not say this, but I assume it's the bottom line) ... we want a failure as an excuse to finally go in and blast NK. The "we" does not include Trump (I assume), nor State who has been promoting engagement, nor certainly the S. Koreans.
Before posting this ... I googled for a minute or two ... to find that Bolton's outright calling for a preemptive strike although in the article I saw he didn't explain HOW that strike would be accomplished (nuclear or not). Bolton was also opposed to the sanctions, calling THEM useless with a failed track record.
Then just happened across the rumor that Bolton could replace McMasters as National Security Advisor. Great, although his Tuesday afternoon meeting with Trump was *before* the Koreans came with their news on Thursday.
God help su all if Bolton has any role, he's a detriment to the entire world.
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