In a flurry of Tweets on Friday, President Trump has announced that he has told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel next week’s trip to North Korea, which he announced just yesterday. Trump cited a lack of progress on denuclearization as his reasoning.
This is an unusual position to take, as the administration had long insisted there was no rush on denuclearization. A sudden desire to speed things up would also seemingly be a reason to send US officials, including new special envoy Stephen Biegun, for whom this was to be his first visit.
This also comes just days after North Korean state media issued a statement accusing some foes of President Trump of trying to slow progress, and urging Trump to make “bold” moves to advance the cause of peace.
Further complicating matters, President Trump accused China of refusing to help with denuclearization because of an ongoing trade dispute with the US. He suggested no visits to North Korea should be made until the trade situation with China is resolved.
That’s a tall order as well, because the ongoing trade disputes with China are very deep, and Trump seems to be squaring up for a long-term trade war with them, not something that’s liable to be resolved in the near term.
Yaaay! Peace President! (sticks fingers in ears) LA-DEE-DA-DEE-DA-DEE-DA!
That was my Justin Raimondo impression. Do you like it?
Seconded. Those of us who were mystified by Justin’s strangely intense and persistent confidence in President Trip-Over-My-Own-Shoelaces await Justin’s analysis now that the widely predicted inevitable outcome has occurred.
I think it would be fair for him to say that he hoped for the best. But his (and Greenwald, and others’) attacks on those who also hoped for the best but saw damn little chance of it happening, also deserves comment.
Just because Trump’s an idiot doesn’t mean trying something new with NK is a bad idea. But when trying something new involved pretending that North Korea is a nice place, and that a little respect would cause them to give up their nuclear weapons- thinking that was even slightly possible was the predictable problem.
I honestly think North Korea is giving this a go. It’s Trump and Co. who seem hellbent on sabotaging it.
Kim actually demands a lifting of certain sanctions that are starving his country and a written declaration of peace before dismantling his deterrent! What a madman! Ask everything. Give nothing in return.
That is the Art of the Deal.
I hope you are being ironic. Is the US offering to remove their troops, or to dismantle any of it’s nukes? If not, exactly where do you locate “peace” in their offer? Disarmament of any sort cannot be a prerequisite to peace, because only an idiot trusts an enemy when they tell you to drop your weapon.
Actually, I don’t think NK is giving it (denuclearization) much of a go, and why should they? Sure, they stopped testing, but so what? They already tested them, successfully! More tests are simply d*ck-waving, much like joint US-SK military exercises, which Trump suspended. Why would NK be stupid enough to denuclearize, while the US is still technically at war with them? Why would a man who is aiming a shotgun at the leg of the man who is aiming a cannon at his torso drop the shotgun? The sabotage in question was the whole “denuclearization” demand in the first place. South Korea has breeder reactors. They could produce their own nuke inside of 72 hours if they chose to. They would be better off doing that than relying on US “security” guarantees, even while pursuing détente with NK.
Fair point.
Uhh… The idea is to visit N Korea to advance the process. That IS the progress. No talkie no progress.
Fking idiots.
Don’t you see? This is Trump’s first step towards attacking North Korea. The noose is tightening around Trump. Cohen’s flipped, Weisselberg flipped, Pecker’s flipped and who knows who else. Manafort is guilty, Omarosa is taking stabs at him, even Sessions is talking back to him, the fun doesn’t end. So Trump feels cornered. He IS the RAT! Now he’s going to distract from all that by starting a War that may turn nuclear and even if it doesn’t will be a total disaster by any measure. Are you listening Raimondo? Are you still on the “Peace Train”?
There is no peace train. Just a war juggernaut.
This reflects Trump’s weakness in Washington. Pompeo would have nothing to offer the NKoreans in return for the progress they’ve made and further progress they will make because Trump is besieged in Washington. He’s pressed by Dems, Mueller and the Deep State. Trump has nothing to negotiate because he has nothing to give NKorea. Stalling is his only option until he gains traction in Washington.
There exists no good excuse for bad diplomacy. There will always be someone else to blame but as long as you’re the one in the Oval Office you’re at the very least complicit in that administration’s criminal behavior. That’s Nuremberg territory.
the north and the south want Peace. it’s the no-brainers and the Neo-cons in the US are all for war 24/7…..
maybe Trump expected something to happen quickly; in any case one step back doesn’t ruin all the chances for improvement. and after all Trump likes to play hardball and act bellicose and then comes around. Hopefully in this case
The US is trying to rush things. Remember Rudyard Kipling: “A Fool lies here who tried to hustle the East.”
from the Singapore joint statement:
from the Panmunjom Declaration:
This is what happens when you half-ass it in a scripted photo-op that gained nothing tangible but concessions for NK. Risible and predictable from it’s miserable, misguided inception.
I see the Raimondo haters have shown up on this article too. Pathetic Pentagon Patter. Disregard it.
The enemy of my enemy is not my friend, and may not even be my ally. Only idiots think in pure binaries. I can hate the Pentagon, Hillary, and Trump without the slightest fear of inconsistency. They’re all different factions of the War Party, even if they often hate each other.
When the slate we vote from is stacked by the corporate duopoly all you have to choose from are war party candidates.
People need to quit listening to political stump speeches and start engaging in civil disobedience.
We will NOT vote our way out of this mess !!!
Ah, here we are again Dave. There have certainly been instances where civil disobedience have altered government power. The Iranian revolt against the Shah is an excellent example. Consider the US tho, if one could rally enough people to make a government step down, it would be easier, and more efficient, to simply rally them to vote them out. Without all the government violence which would surely result from mass demonstrations. Problem is, the majority of voters don’t vote, and many that do are brainwashed militants. The failure of US militancy is quite evident, the powers that be realize the antiwar movement is not dead, but, wound up like a taut spring.
Except that voting them out doesn’t seem to change their policy. The state needs to be forced to understand WHY the government was voted out, and that is where civil disobedience and demonstrations come in. Voting would be more efficient than civil disobedience and demonstrations, but only if it actually worked to force policy changes. Voting by itself does little.
You would be wrong about that. Not Raimondo haters, rather Trump critics. BTW: Trump FULLY supports the “Pentagon”.
Trump supporters sure like to toss around the word “haters” a lot. Projection I guess.
I have some news for the prez, the Art of the Deal won’t work here. The South Koreans wish to end the conflict once and for all with the north and they’ll move with or without Uncle Sham.
Let’s hope so. President Moon has made reconciliation with the north his life’s work and there is now an agreed plan to do so (Panmunjon Declaration). Unfortunately, though, the US has a history of overthrowing governments and killing their leaders when they defy Washington.
All this is further proof that Americans and the American government in Washington cannot ever, ever, ever be trusted.
I hope other governments of the world will see this, however belatedly. Take note Russia, China, N Korea, Turkey, Iran, Germany.
Correct, and they must know it by now but the problem is that the US controls world banking via the dollar which permits sanctioning. The pending US goal of completely shutting off Iran’s petroleum exports will be telling in this regard, in Europe and especially in Asia (China, India, Korea). There is also the concurrent enmity caused by tariffs, especially with China.
Which is why the German Foreign Minister is pushing this:
http://www.atimes.com/article/germany-calls-for-end-to-us-hegemony-in-global-payments-system/