It obviously hasn't occurred to the author that North Korea has been playing just this type of game since the 80s.

North Korea has to come to the table with no preconditions and with the clear understanding that the goal of the US is to remove all nukes from the Korean peninsula.

Perhaps Trump should put nukes into South Korea again?

When you and your employer think alike? One of you is clearly redundant!

Donald likes to surround himself with yes men to reinforce his flawed view of reality? And highly flawed economic rationalism! When the most important voice and view in the room is the dissenting one! That then forces a review and examination plus a rationale that reinforces your view or enables you to abandon it as poorly thought through or unachievable!
When a fool surrounds himself with likeminded fools or loose cannons like Bolton?
Don't be too surprised if he comes out with egg all over his face and ruined outcomes? And a world where populists have condemned it to a new Great Depression? Is that what d Trump meant, when he said Make America Great again? With Great big unrepayable debt and a world teetering at the dawn of economic destruction?
Alan B.

So Trump is a Manhattan yokel, poorly educated about the outside world (wouldn't know Libya from his elbow). And he may be morally unfit to be President. Who cares.

But hey, he is a Billionaire who bought the Presidency, who also relied on Russian intelligence to beat Hillary.

He IS the President and rightly above the law.

So does it matter if Trump starts World War 3 or Wrestlemania http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMKFIHRpe7I&t=106s ?

Hi SM,

Perhaps your first sentence should read: "It obviously hasn't occurred to Trump and his myrmidons that North Korea (and China, and Japan) have been playing just this type of game since the 80s."

So in return for complete denuclearisation, as you demand, what will these bully-children offer Kim ? Is that likely to happen ? Really ? I think the North Koreans (and the Chinese) will run rings around Trump and Bolton and Pompeo, for months to come. They may even cut the Yanks out of the peace process altogether, and negotiate just with South Korea (with China and Japan on the side).

Nobel Peace Prize for Kim Jong-Un ? Stranger things have happened. But not as strange as Trump ever getting it.

Cheers,

Joe

Plantagenet, I presume you're trying to be droll, but you're a bit light on for facts. The "Arab Spring" was Obama's doing. He brought about the circumstances where a rampaging mob was able to drag Gaddafi into the street and kill him with a knife up the arse. One might argue that such a fate was deserved, but it had nothing whatsoever to do with President Trump. Nor did President Trump "buy the presidency", since the Republican campaign spent much, much less than did the crooked Democrats. Mind you, President Trump had a massive advantage - Hillary Clinton, a clapped out old slapper who still hasn't figured out why she lost. In a just universe, Clinto would by now have faced retribution for her actions re Benghazi, her breaches of security via her unsecured email accounts and the many other acts of arrogance and incompetence, treated kindly by her friends and enablers at the FBI and DoJ. You say he "relied on Russian intelligence to beat Hillary." And your evidence for that is? Nothing. Mueller doesn't have the evidence after shovelling crap for more than a year and you have a lot less than that. But stick with your vacuous opinions, they're good for a laugh. You're just part of the delusional Leftist pap that now plagues the planet.

Trump is the first president to try to do anything definite about North Korea and, along with everything else he has done, he will be successful.

Hi Ttbn,

Thanks for a good laugh :) We'll see, won't we ?

As for the Libyan Solution, Calwest, that knife up there arse bit might have focussed Kim's mind a bit: to give up everything, wait for a few years and THEN get a knife up your arse ? Yeah, that might work, thinks Trump. Moron. What is it about bullies ?

Joe

Need to remember that North and South Korea have both apparently long wanted a proper peace treaty to formally end the Korean War" However, the US has continually obstructed this to date. One important reason is it provides a pretext to keep a large military force close to China. Then is important to remember how the US caused massive destruction of infrastructure and killed millions of North Koreans during the Korean War for zero gain in territory. Since then, they have held regular military exercises with South Korea. Effectively rehearsing to invade the North and kill its leaders with the aim of installing a puppet government subservient to the US. Anyone who has watched US behaviour knows they cannot be trusted.

Seems to be the best solution is a formal treaty to end the Korean War and stopping military exercises hostile to the North. In return North Korea would stop nuclear testing. However, surrendering its capability to strike back with nuclear weapons would be suicide considering the long proven record of the US bullying countries without strong defences.

LM,

Everyone is perfectly aware of North Korea's modus operandi, and that they ran rings around Obama. However, the difference is that now Trump has his foot on Kim's throat. The sanctions that Trump has imposed on NK and on Chinese companies that break the sanctions is strangling NK's economy to the point where there is a real chance that Kim will be deposed and face a firing squad. What Trump has to offer for denuclearization is to lift the sanctions.

It also looks like NK is still keen for the meeting to go ahead and planning is still proceeding.

Hi SM,

Good one :) So if Kim completely denuclearises, he can maybe look forward to a firing squad ? Not a knife up his arse ? Or peace-loving Trump bombing the crap out of his country, targeting his palaces and government offices ? Yeah, that might work too.

And then Trump gets his Nobel Peace Prize ? Keep dreaming, SM :)

Cheers,

Joe

The article utterly misunderstands the dynamics in play here. There wasn't a single cause for cancellation of the talks but a multiple of issues such as NK dragging their feet on the pre-negotiation negotiations and Choe Son Hui's threats to scuttle the summit and return to nuclear confrontation. Unfortunately for the author, the race to blame Trump for everything by all those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome meant that their claims to special understanding went out the window when the talks resumed.

But in the end, Trump's cancellation of the talks was part of the talks. Trump needs to make sure that the NK understands that he is prepared to walk away. In the past the NK has been able to sucker US leaders into becoming so concerned to get a deal that they end up settling for a lesser deal. Trump was showing that wasn't going to happen this time.

Two nations have, in the recent past, given up their nukes - Libya and Ukraine. Both were screwed over by those unutterable fools who ran US policy between 2008 and 2016. So, as with most things, the first thing Trump must do is fix the problems caused by his predecessor. This means convincing the NK that they can give up their nukes and remain safe.

The US has to insist on the Libyan solution while convincing Kim that he won't suffer Qaddafi's fate. In the Libyan deal, it gave up all its weapons and nuke programmes before it got any concessions. Clearly the NK would prefer a different approach ie give up a little, get a little, give up a bit more, get a bit more. That way they can keep some of their weapons and get rid of the most burdensome sanctions.

But Trump recognises this is a bad deal, and has shown he's prepared to walk away from such a deal.

/cont

/cont

The deal the US will aim for will be a complete denuclearisation of NK, fully verified and verifiable followed by a lifting of sanctions. The added carrot is the prospect of massive US investment in NK. What hasn't been much mentioned to date is the prospect of removing most or all US troops from SK. Such a move would fit Trump's policy of America First but might be the clincher to get Kim to accept that he won't suffer Qaddafi's fate.

Kim's problem is two fold. He knows that a shooting war with the US is a sure path to the after-life. But he also knows that, as the sanctions bite harder, there must be a point where his people will say enough is enough and he suffers Causescu's fate. Die like Qaddafi, die like Ceausescu or perhaps find a way to become the saviour of his nation. There's quite a lot Trump can dangle before Kim.

The anti-Trump bridage will never accept that the US has gotten this close to ending a 70yr old war solely due to the policies of the president, and are terrified that he might succeed.

The odds are still against a successful resolution only due to the failures of previous presidents and particularly Obama. My guess is that these talks will break-down due the difficulty Kim will have in giving up all he's gained by duping Clinton Bush and Obama. But that failure will result in increased sanctions and more economic pain which will only encourage Kim to come back for a second crack at it.

But the real point is that Trump has to convince NK that the deal he's offering is the best they'll get and making a show of walking away was the best way of showing that.

So here we have Gary, too dumb to see Trumps strategy, & how well it is working, even as it unfolds before his very eyes.

What the hell is it about academia, that it attracts & then absorbs all the dumbest people on earth. Well the dumbest after the most dumb have become politicians.

LM,

I see that you are struggling to grasp the concepts, but Mhaze has.

Kim has just spent a huge fortune developing nukes and rockets, and with the sanctions, the NK economy has been shredded which is affecting not only the general population but the elite and the military as well.

The once vaunted military is running out of weapons and its planes tanks and artillery were obsolete decades ago and its soldiers are poorly armed, trained and are starving. the current estimate is that South Korea alone could completely defeat NK in a few weeks.

KJU may well face a firing squad if he gives up the nukes, but is also likely to if he doesn't.

Hi SM,

So the US and North Korea are the only players ? China, South Korea, Japan and Russia don't actually exist, or if somehow they do, they don't matter ?

Is the US directly as in the area as they are ? No. Would it be possible for a comprehensive military, political and economic agreement to be made - primarily between North and South Korea - backed by China, Japan and Russia, which - oops - forgets about the Yanks ? Perhaps, after the event, asking them politely to piss off and take the bulk of their troops with them ?

Long way to go yet, SM.

Joe

LM,

You are dreaming, primarily because:

1 There is a security council resolution enforcing the sanctions agreed to by China and Russia which would require approval by the US to remove.

2 Japan and South Korea are both boosting their militaries and missile shields to counter the NK threat, and are firmly behind the new sanctions.

3 China and Russia are both well within the range of NK nukes and are not happy with NK.

These negotiations have been described as 4D chess with so much being done in subtle ways to get to the final goal. Not just by Trump but by Kim and Xi and SK and even Japan.

So all the talk about who has the biggest red button was just parties feeling each other out. The NK going slow on pre-meeting negotiations was about seeing how desperate Trump was for a deal. Trump's answer was the claytons cancellation.

The players have to manage other's expectations. But they also have to manage the expectations of their own peoples. We see Trump continually suggesting that a deal may not happen so as to manage the hopes of his followers.

For Kim, the issue is even more profound. His people have been propagandised for three generations to believe that they live in a paradise and that the US is the devil incarnate, that their nukes are the nations greatest achievement and its main guarantor of safety. So his problem is to start to acclimatise his people to a potential deal where the nukes are gone and the US is no longer the great Satan. Perhaps that process has begun....

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201805300034.html

MHaze,

Why should he ?

SM,

A bit non sequitur :)

Joe

"Why should he ? "

I mentioned several people. Which 'he' do you refer to? And what is it that you're unsure that he should do?

When people find things to be difficult to explain and moving in ways that they don't understand and which don't fit their world-view, they often resort to vague and nonsensical claims and assertions in order to remain, in their mind, relevant.

Joe,

Why would you post non-sequiturs?

I see that NK has come crawling back to the table. It looks like Trump outmanoeuvred Kim.