Monday, March 12, 2018

Can A Dictator And A Dealmaker Come To Terms On Nuclear Weapons?



WNU Editor: The above analysis by Dr. Youngshik Daniel Bong (a professor at Seoul’s Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies) is spot on.
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its all about North Korea here, Trump will be replaced and Kim will carry on ruling for many years to come. If i was Trump i would put forth to North Korea a friendship inwhich could see the two great armies of Korea challenge the growing threat of China.

March 12, 2018 at 4:12 PM
Anonymous said...

It all depends on why Kim wants to deal. If it was because sanctions are curtailing the funds to his family and his supporters, then his fear is a ventilated brain some day. If it is because he wants to humiliate Trump and use the same tactics he used on Bill Clinton then I doubt the meeting even takes place.

As for Trump is he going the extra mile to show the South Koreans he tried everything to settle the DPRK problem but he doesn't believe in Kim's readiness for peace?

I don't have a clue what's going on here, but it is an interesting twist to a 68 year long tragedy.

March 12, 2018 at 4:33 PM
Anonymous said...

Who's who?

March 12, 2018 at 4:45 PM
B.Poster said...

Anonymous # 2,

"I don't have a clue what is going on here." Bingo!! Unless we are in the inner workings of the North Korean, South Korean, Chinese, and Russian governments none of us really "know." Those who "know" aren't talking and this is wise. The American government and the American news media especially have a number of unscrupulous elements in them who cannot be trusted. Furthermore with POTUS reviled by many of these unscrupulous elements this provides extra incentive for those in the "know" to keep silent as some of them would undermine any agreement to get back at a POTUS they don't like. They've already done this with regards to Russia.

With that said we can make inferences. 1.)When DJT was campaigning he correctly called out South Korea by name as not contributing enough for the services that America. Essentially he made it loud and clear that the US would not continue to serve as South Korea's b!tch boy nor could the South Koreans expect the US to allow our armed forces to be used as an arm of their policy forever. I'm pretty sure this provided strong incentive for the South Koreans to take negotiations more seriously and provided strong incentive for them to get moving in that direction. 2.)China and Russia have agreed to economic sanctions on North Korea. While the sanctions may have not been as tough as we might like, if you lost 25% of your business with no prospect of re obtaining and faced only the prospect of losing still more of your business unless you changed your behavior, you would have strong incentive for a change in course. The same likely applies to the South Koreans. 3.)Unlike in the past, the United States has a highly skilled negotiator who, as a person with a business background, understands cost/benefit analysis. This enables him to focus on what works, quickly disregard that which does not, and minimizes the risk of being trapped by ideology. 4.)Both Russia and China likely had a large role in getting us to where we are today. Recently Vladimir Putin gave a speech whereby he heavily criticized the US government but was relatively supportive of Trump. He realizes that compared to much of the of the rest of the US government, DJT is relatively sane and is someone he can work with to solve problems and to lessen tensions. This likely helped to get Russia on board with this.

Again, we cannot "know" what is really going on. If this actually works out, there is still much that can go wrong, we probably won't "know" exactly what went down and exactly how it went down on a blow by blow basis for at least 100 years. In the immediate term, everyone will clamor for "credit." Once memoirs are released much later and the emotions of the era are eliminated, we may be able to actually "know."

If peace is achieved or at least tensions greatly reduced, I don't really care who takes or gets credit. Those actually there will know the truth and that'll be good enough. If it works out, I suspect there will be nobel peace prizes for Xi, Kim, and Moon. As for Trump and Putin, they probably should bet them too but irrational anti-Trump hysteria will probably prevent that as will even more irrational hatred of Putin prevent him from getting the proper recognition he likely should. As stated though, the results are what will count. I don't really care who gets credit!!

March 12, 2018 at 5:52 PM
fazman said...

http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/09/trump-is-the-peacemaker-korea-has-always-needed/

March 12, 2018 at 6:50 PM
Crusader said...

I've always thought that all Kim is doing is trying to negotiate the best exit package for himself, his family and his cronies.
This package would include a sizeable plot of land, a delightful mansion near the coast, no prosecution for crimes and a large wad of cash.

March 12, 2018 at 7:43 PM

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