Thursday, May 24, 2018

Trump's North Korea summit cancellation not just "the art of the deal"

So, Donald Trump has just unilaterally cancelled the summit meeting with Kim Jong-un of North Korea, which was scheduled for June 12. You know, the one that took years of careful diplomatic negotiations on the parts of many diplomats from several countries. And this just hours after North Korea upheld their end of the bargain by demolishing their nuclear test site as foreign journalists looked on.
Trump's justification is the "tremendous anger and open hostility" in the latest North Korean communiqué. What this actually amounts to is a response by a North Korean official to previous comments by US Vice President Mike Pence that North Korea "may end like Libya". So, who started this particular little spat? Who was it that decided to carry out military manoeuvres off the Korean coast a few weeks before a major peace negotiation? These people are like kids in a sandbox, and do not deserve to be let out into the grown-up world of international diplomacy.
And, of course, Trump just couldn't resist adding, "You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used." In other words, "Mine's bigger than yours! So there!"
If this is all part of Trump's plan to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize - and I can believe that might well be a large part of his motivation in this whole affair - then things are not going so well. If this is part of his concept of "the art of the deal", then I can see why so many of his businesses have failed, and why he is mired in so much litigation. But we are not playing with some little tin-pot companies here; the stakes are much higher, and failure is not an option. And he must know that, if he keeps changing his mind at the drop of a hat - and this has been one of the few constants throughout his tenure - no-one will ever trust him ever again, although that does not seem to be a major concern if his.
Mainly, this is just Trump being Trump, and I would say that America deserves everything it gets from him ... if it didn't happen have such potentially catastrophic ramifications for the rest of the world.

UPDATE
In fact, it seems that a group of Republican governors and representatives DID nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his "successful policy of security through strength", and his achievement in forcing North Korea to the bargaining table by effectively decimating their economy. I think they were serious, although it is hard to tell.
The Nobel Committee has responded by saying that, sorry, Trump did not win the Nobel Prize, but he did qualify for a participation trophy. I think this is serious too, although again it is hard to be sure.

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