The long-anticipated meeting between President Trump and Chairman Kim occurred yesterday in Singapore.\u00a0 The most important impact of this meeting was a commitment to diplomacy and away from war.\u00a0 The risk of war is lower than it has been for quite some time.\u00a0 Although the importance of this cannot be overstated, the fact is there was no agreement, no substance, and no resolution. \u00a0President Trump fled to Singapore from his incredible failure at the G-7 in Quebec, desperate for a deal.\u00a0 Any deal.\u00a0 Trump and Kim did sign a piece of paper.\u00a0 Let the shouts of \u201cNobel\u201d from his sycophants begin.<\/p>\n
Trump, the self-described master deal-maker, left with nothing tangible for the U.S. while giving Kim a victory.\u00a0 However, Trump got what was most important to him personally \u2013 a televised handshake and signature.\u00a0 In part, this was not his fault.\u00a0 Traditionally and procedurally, such a meeting and ceremony would have followed extensive negotiations by teams of skilled diplomats, often spanning years, that lead to an actual agreement worthy of the pomp and circumstance. \u00a0President Trump lacked the patience, interest, and ability to do this correctly, even with its incredible importance. \u00a0Instead, what was more important for the administration was a perceived victory, any victory, to use in the upcoming midterm elections, to shore support from their base, and to deflect attention from his failed trade policies and other failures.<\/p>\n
The \u201cagreement\u201d signed was a simple, benign, short statement containing a mere four aspirational principles wherein the two countries basically agree to work towards peace.\u00a0 It was vague, lacking any substance or specifics.\u00a0 There was no timeframe for any anticipated action by either side.\u00a0 There was no verification mechanism, especially concerning North Korea\u2019s nuclear weapons program.\u00a0 This framework was remarkably similar to previous so-called agreements North Korea signed with representatives from the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations.\u00a0 Those documents contained more specific obligations, but the North Koreans reneged on each.\u00a0 There is nothing in this document or meeting that suggests Kim will seriously dismantle his nuclear weapons program.\u00a0 That will require significant additional and sensitive diplomatic efforts.<\/p>\n
Although the paper lacked any real substance, Kim did receive tangible benefits that were important to him.\u00a0 This isolated brutal dictator was now featured on the world stage with multiple embraces with a U.S. President, his flag prominently displayed on equal footing with the U.S. flag.\u00a0 Kim, like his predecessors, long yearned for such respect and recognition and this may have been the most important thing for him in the entire process. \u00a0Kim has long objected to U.S.\/South Korea military exercises and believes the U.S. should remove all troops from the peninsula.\u00a0 Trump announced the immediate cessation of all exercises with South Korea (much to the surprise of our ally South Korea) and his intention to remove U.S. military personnel from the peninsula.\u00a0 This is a second huge victory for Kim.\u00a0 Kim achieved two major objectives while avoiding any identifiable commitments or obligations on the part of his own country.\u00a0 Who was the better negotiator?\u00a0 Based on appearances, President Trump blinked, and Kim ate Trump\u2019s lunch.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has been committed to Korean security for almost 70 years going back to the Korean War.\u00a0 Thousands of Americans have given their lives and our country has spent billions in defense of our ally South Korea.\u00a0 Consequently, South Korea was able to develop a stable democracy and strong economy, on the verge of becoming one of the top ten wealthiest nations.\u00a0 Japan, Australia, and others have been key regional allies while the geopolitical threat of China grows.\u00a0 Yet the President largely ignored our allies in this process.\u00a0 His announced decisions on U.S. forces, specifically the exercises, was made unilaterally and caught our allies by surprise.\u00a0 Including South Korea!<\/p>\n
Having participated in the Korean military exercises multiple times, I can affirmatively state three things.\u00a0 First, they are the product of months of meticulous planning and preparation.\u00a0 That work is now wasted.\u00a0 Second, the exercises are entirely defensive in nature.\u00a0 They are not provocative to North Korea, who is informed in advance to avoid any misunderstanding or accident.\u00a0 Three, they are not the problem\u2026\u00a0 Ironically, it is North Korea that acts provocatively by its continued missile tests, threats of nuclear strike, and occasional hostile activity along the border.<\/p>\n
Diplomacy over war is a great thing.\u00a0 Ultimately resolving the Korean War and denuclearization is a critical step towards world and regional stability.\u00a0 While I support the emphasis on diplomacy, President Trump\u2019s personal praise for Kim was atrocious and inflammatory.\u00a0 Kim leads a regime that has committed crimes against humanity for decades.\u00a0 They have over 120,000 political prisoners suffering in gulags, and that is just today\u2019s number.\u00a0 The Kims have starved, tortured, and murdered their own people.\u00a0 The regime has kidnapped citizens of other countries, including Americans, and sent them to labor camps after sham trials.\u00a0 The lucky ones get sent home after being used as political pawns.\u00a0 Others die a painful, prolonged death.\u00a0 Trump even had the nerve to suggest the recent murder of Otto Warmbier by the regime was somehow an impetus for this meeting as a sign they recognized the wrongfulness of their ways.\u00a0 REALLY?!\u00a0 The regime never cared for Warmbier or others, never apologized, and never took responsibility.\u00a0 The President\u2019s statement was shameful.<\/p>\n
For diplomacy to work, we certainly must deal with Kim and the North Korean leadership despite their disgusting brutality and criminality.\u00a0 However, under no circumstances, should President Trump have heaped such extensive praise for Kim.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this fits his misplaced and inappropriate pattern of loving dictators and scorning the leaders of our fellow democracies.\u00a0 It was an affront to the Korean families in who lost innocent relatives to this brutal regime as well as international families who also tragically lost loved ones in unthinkable manners.\u00a0 Yet Trump slobbers and kisses Kim while singing his praises in a grotesque chorus.<\/p>\n
This was nothing other than electoral politics when it should have been a thoughtful, deliberate, comprehensive process.\u00a0 The administration rushed to failure to have something before November.\u00a0 It was about a desperate, flawed leader who focuses more on scorecards than the interests of the nation. \u00a0The big winner at this moment may be China.\u00a0 Although China did not have an official representative at the meeting, their influence was clearly felt.\u00a0 The signed document along with President Trump\u2019s pronounced plans closely mirrors a Chinese proposal several months prior.\u00a0 The Chinese win because the U.S. actions relative to this agreement tend to weaken our regional presence and alliance.\u00a0 China may finally get resolution of their own \u201cNorth Korean problem.\u201d \u00a0China will likely recognize a stronger geopolitical position and regional influence while U.S. involvement continues to decline. \u00a0A gift from Donald Trump, but not for the American people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The long-anticipated meeting between President Trump and Chairman Kim occurred yesterday in Singapore.\u00a0 The most important impact of this meeting was a commitment to diplomacy and away from war.\u00a0 The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,53,167,225,268,280],"class_list":["post-286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-chairman-kim-jong-un","tag-china","tag-korea","tag-president-trump","tag-singapore","tag-summit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}