NBC: Trump's summit military concession to Kim surprises everyone
North Korea has previously called the joint drills a "grave provocation" that could escalate the region "to the brink of nuclear war."
When President Donald Trump agreed to pause military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea on Tuesday, he gave Kim Jong Un a concession on an issue that has angered North Korea like few others.
Pyongyang has long said it views such joint drills as preparation for an invasion.
The president's revelation that he planned to put the "war games" on hold was part of the agreement with Kim to work "toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
"Under the circumstances that we're negotiating a very comprehensive complete deal, I think it's inappropriate to be having war games," Trump told reporters.
He also described the exercises as "very provocative" and said the move would "save us a tremendous amount of money."
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Update: Trump surprises with pledge to end military exercises in South Korea (Reuters)
WNU Editor: In my opinion the answer is no. These war games can restart at a dime, and as US Secretary of Defense Mattis put it bluntly yesterday .... SECDEF Mattis: U.S. Military Not Leaving South Korea Anytime Soon (USNI News).
4 comments:
Mattis is not the boss. Trump is, and if Trump issues the order, Mattis will say "yes, sir" or resign. It seems to me that his inclination is to say "yes, sir" and do it.
It's a throw away substantive demonstration of our commitment to this process. And it saves money.
Let it be. We've trained enough anyway.
comments here seem not aware that this training is not a one time thing but a yearly or bi yearly exercise and it is usually considered smart to inform your ally about a change prior to telling their enemy.
Suspension of war games during this time hardly seems like a "concession" of any type much less a "huge" one. In fact, the suspension of this during this time is experential common sense and is the bare minimum that would be expected. It would be expected so much the NK leadership would not have even felt a need to request it. In fact, to have the drills right now would be extraordinary bad faith. In other words, were this not so serious to suggest this is somehow a concession would be laughable.
In even suggesting sych a thing this media pundit reveals what an idiot he is!! "To stupid to know they are stupid" seems an apt description of this pundit.
Was South Korea not informed? I'm extremely skeptical of such a report. America has been South Korea's b!tch boy for decades. We are expected to believe America's leaders suddenly reversed course? I'd say ordinarily such a notion would be patently ridiculous but with DJT and his team it is plausible.
During the campaign candidate Trump correctly called out SK as a user and abuser of American resources, 33% of SK military officers view America as the main enemy, and SK leadership mislead team Trump regarding the concessions NK was/is willing to make. They've essentially demonstrated themselves to not to be entirely trustworthy. As such, they've largely been shut out of the current summit format.
To inform an ally or not is going to be a judgement call. We obviously were not given full disclosure of the communications between SK and NK. Furthermore a suspension of military drills during this time would have been such a no brainer there shouldn't have been any need to inform. As to the need to inform NK and China, two basic reasons seem obvious. 1.) We would want to ensure no accidental misunderstandings with NK or China. As to our SK ally, it should have been/should be so obvious there'd have been no reason to discuss it. 2.) The US has been SK's b!tch boy for decades. NK and Chinese leaders are no doubt aware of this. In order for this to work we need to negotiate with them. If they think we can't or won't make a decision apart from South Korea, they won't negotiate with us. There is a need to establish we can act independently from South Korea. As such, the judgement not to inform SK could be justified.
With much upside potential to not informing SK along with no real benefit to doing so it doesn't seem hard to understand why SK may not have been informed. Furthermore it should have been obvious that the drills would have been suspended. As such, there'd be no reason for SK to be offended unless they are petty and stupid.
What seems to be missing from most analysis is after being in perpetual war for a kong time America MUST have peace. I'm sure DJT understands this. There's little time for petty or stupid.
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