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Trump Meets Kim
President Donald Trump has met Kim Jong-Un in Singapore. Share your thoughts about this historic meeting in the comments below.
Published in General
We would be correct to distrust anything that Obama did because there is little evidence he meant us well, or, alternatively that he understood nothing about the world or about power.
What this means we’ll have to wait and see. It’s an opening and that is good because we are blind and need some eyes and shoes on the ground there. That’s where one always must begin, that is, once we have NK attention. Unlike Obama, President Trump is surrounded by adults and he seems to understand power. Understanding actually matters and to have understanding one must believe there is something other than partisan posturing to understand.
It was nice to see that tweet. If this isn’t an “All Americans” moment, then we just don’t have them anymore. I woke up this morning to a text from someone who’s so unpolitical I doubt she can name the president asking “what’s going on?”
You have more confidence in Trump and his team than I do. I fervently hope this works out, but that Trump could be played, even willingly, seems well within the bounds of the possible here. This will really only lead to a permanent peace if Kim, who is young and about whom, let’s face it, we know little, genuinely wants a different future for his country. I too pray he does.
Come on people. Let’s be positive for at least 24 hours.
I am totally positive about this and the entire approach Trump has taken not only with North Korea, but also the G-7 and the entire trade issue. You have to use both a stick followed by carrot approach. And Trump gets it. The limited three parts of the arsenal of the US approach since the end of the Cold War have been bomb the hell out of them as we did with everywhere in the Middle East and it has gotten us nothing other than misery. The second approach is to apply sanctions and that hasn’t worked out well. And the third approach is to roll over for allies and allow ourselves to be used as a carpet. And that hasn’t gotten us anywhere.
Friction and disagreements can be used to further the interests of both parties – and that is Trump’s approach unlike the Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations.
Since Kim is a liar, I dont think a 10,000 foot mission statement is that big of a deal. What about this meeting did not exist before this meeting, other than the photo-op? We sent the president out to do the job of the assistant under secretary of assisting.
All of this remains rather dubious to me.
That’s the kind of thinking that leads to disappointment.
There was an awful lot of build up for a “meh” moment Zafar. Sometimes these first steps turn out to be important “get to know you” and “build trust” exercises and I hope that happens here. But for the moment, all we got out of it appears to be a photo op and some flowery words.
I’m not so much critical of the approach as the build up. Expectations were set too high.
This sounds like one of those “shoot someone on 5th avenue” and “12 dimensional chess” comments. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Well that was underwhelming.
What does a god-king care for his country? The fact that this all basically depends upon the love of the Korean people that Kim Jong Un has is what leaves me skeptical of the whole thing. If Kim really wanted to improve life for North Koreans he doesn’t actually need to meet with Trump or anyone really. He could begin making internal reforms now to give his people more freedom and prosperity. But he doesn’t. Much like the Castro regime.
Okay, but of course the new building been in been in the works since 2009, so there’s also a lucky construction delay to account for.
I think he is far enough away from Song, that he sees the world differently than his grandfather or even father.
So in the light of morning it appears that the NorKs achieved a significant propaganda victory in exchange for reaffirming preexisting pledges.
We cancelled a significant military operation with South Korea. We put Un on parity with POTUS on the world stage. POTUS spoke better of Un than he does of longstanding allies. And we received what that was new?
I am hoping for the best, but here are my main misgivings about all of this:
People keep pointing out that the purpose of the nukes is to secure the regime. If they can secure it by being traded away then they have done their job, and in a way far more cheaply than maintaining an operational arsenal. I think if we start seeing sanctions relief as well as increased aid to North Korea as rewards for the current “good behavior” we will know Trump has been played. No such relief should come without meaningful concessions from them such as independent inspectors of their nuclear sites. We certainly should not agree to removing US troops from the DMZ unless North Korea also demilitarizes their side too.
Frankly I’m troubled by Trumps fawning praise of Kim. I don’t expect Trump to call him an animal (and if MS13 can be called that Kim certainly deserves the term too) given that you have to negotiate with the man, but nor should you spread DPRK propaganda about how much the North Koreans love and respect him either.
I am similarly not surprised that Trump praised a man who inherited his wealth and power from his father as “talented” but I’m a little disappointed.
Who built you up?
No-Bell, No-Bell, No-Bell… who could it have been?
You might be right, but I just think there’s so much we don’t know. He’s not in fact a god, whatever the official state religion says, and there are unavoidably internal factions under him and pressures in various directions. I just don’t think we can put a devil face on him and say we’re done – we know all we need to know. I’m not naive, and I know NoKo’s history of deception. And god knows I’m aware how evil the regime is. But history has left his country behind as a (*&^%hole, to use the president’s term, and he knows that. He was educated in Switzerland and he’s traveled some. He can’t possibly not be aware of how far behind they are. He’s sitting on the border of the other half of the nation and the differences between the two couldn’t be more stark.
And he’s young. He may fear that even if he can hang on for now, he can’t hang on forever without making some changes. He may also be right. So I want to be hopeful, even if skeptical. “Trust, but verify” as RR said.
I’m not sure, but I think that’s possible. I certainly hope so.
The president.
I’m curious about this also; safe to assume those praising events before they took place are not people who would normally have much influence on you?
This kind of thinking has kept America back since FDR times. I reference him because of, you know, Stalin (?)
Take a look at any ally we’ve ever had and the so called war crimes we have participated in from every single war. Others can be worse than we are/were, but we hold no special moral high ground to lecture others. Besides, it’s completely ineffective. Shaming and condemning Kim might make you feel superior and righteous, but will result in nothing more than the perpetuation of the evil conditions.
Our Presidents are not elected to be moral scolds, going around advocating for “character counts” platitudes. The world is a very dangerous place full of reprehensible leaders, including our own.
We are blessed with a system whereby our leaders are forced ( mostly) to be accountable and arrive at their places with the assent of the people, and therefore don’t have to rule by terror and oppression. I guarantee you that if Trump or Clinton or Obama had inherited the Nork Throne, they would have acted similarly to Kim Jong Un. When faced with death, people are not going to act like altar boys.
Are you drawing a moral equivalence between the United States/it’s allies and a modern day slave state where the government operates gulags?
And Bashar Al Assad was an optometrist in England if I recall, look at the butchery he he has done. No, I see no sympathy in the man or his situation. I do agree the regime itself now creates its own logic, and with in that warped reality maybe it is hard for anyone to think clearly and decently. But I think that gives all the more reason to be skeptical of the whole thing.
Frankly, I never understood the need to rush this meeting, and my own suspicion is that the North Koreans are possibly trading us something that they don’t have anymore. That their nuclear research facility collapsed and now their are selling us a lemon (as it were). In which case all we have to do is just hold off, and see what happens. No need to antagonize them but no need to throw them a rope either. We keep the sanctions up, and force the status quo to deal with them. We have more time than they do. All they can ultimately give us is what we already have purchased for ourselves by military vigilance.
There was a lot of Nobel talk flying around, and much of it from the White House.
I think this understates the value of what happened. It my well turn out that Kim is playing a game where he tries to extract as much as he can before pulling the football away. It’s also possible that Kim has grown up around enough western influence that he wants the same sorts of things western countries have, and is willing to make changes to get them.
I thought FDR’s dealings with Stalin were maybe the quintessential example of the dangers of dealing with mad men. Giving Stalin Eastern Europe was not exactly America’s noblest moment nor the moment of our greatest diplomatic acumen.
Moderator Note:
Not helpful and rudeYou can’t be this ignorant.