The handshake (at about 13 minutes in the video above) between North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and U. S. President Donald Trump pretty much says it all. It is just a little too long to be comfortable; both parties are clearly vying for dominance. The symbolism of the event is important. The meeting itself didn’t accomplish a great deal other than that. It isn’t even the beginning of the process. That began some time ago with meetings, not nearly so highly publicized, between CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Kim Yong Chol, and, I presume, others.
The North Koreans mean something different by “denuclearization” than we do. For them it’s the U. S. vacating the Korean peninsula. For us it’s complete North Korean nuclear disarmament. What will come of this meeting? Who knows? It’s something.
At first, President Trump was going to start a nuclear war by calling Kim Jong-un names. Then, he was going to be ‘rolled-over’ by Kim Jong-un, and in any case, President Trump was going to legitimize him. Interestingly, we were informed that President Trump was a bully to the Europeans, but he was going to be a sap to the N Koreans.
(Honestly, can’t you Trump haters get your story straight? Also, Sen. McCain called him names, also, but somehow, he was acting as an elder statesman.)
For those of you wondering why Trump supporters will not believe you, it is because you are duplicitous, at best, and filthy liars, at worst. Nobody has time to track down every lie you all create.
Let us recap. N Korea released three hostages, rendered one (or more) testing sites unusable, got Kim Jong-un to agree to de-nuclearization, and got a peace process started. In return, President Trump gave up nothing but the lifting of sanctions when to-be-determined conditions were met, and in a gesture of goodwill announced he was suspending military exercises.
(Note: Building a new testing site or rebuilding the destroyed ones can be discovered through satellite images, and the suspension of military exercises is not part of any deal.)
Oh yeah, I guess now that Kim Jong-un has been legitimized N Korea will get a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and the G-7 will need to be expanded to include them. With their new super-legitimized status, they may need two seats.
All you Trump haters are pathetic, but I do have some pity for you. It must be devastating to learn that you are not only wrong but, also, on the wrong side of history.
That’s some good polemic Tasty.
This was about what I expected – neither the disaster Trump critics claimed, nor the great breakthrough Trump’s proponents predicted.
The fundamental strategic situation hasn’t changed. This summit may be the beginning of the beginning of something or it may be just another blip in the long-term hostile relationship between the DPRK and the US.
I wonder if TB even knows how much of that is wrong? Doubtful. Anyway, this was a good photo-op. NoKo has made deals before, and this isn’t even a deal yet. We should wait to see what happens.
Steve
@steve
I’m all ears.
Exactly. And yet the NYT and WaPo are full of columns and op-eds complaining. I wonder if they realize that they’re creating outrage fatigue.
“I wonder if they realize that they’re creating outrage fatigueâ€
No they don’t, and either do the usual pundits and naysayers.
What we had was a letter of intent. Some salient points; non-binding; enough intent for a real deal to be negotiated, or not. Trump got it to here. He should be applauded. His predecessors either fell short, or like Clinton, perpetrated a fraud. The hystericals are just that, hysterical.