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