Pennsylvania prognostication described failed Donald Trump's North Korea diplomacy

https://www.timesleader.com/opinion/letters/733635/your-view-time-for-trump-gop-to-really-put-america-first

Donald Trump met his evil alter ego by giving Kim Jung Un opportunities to set the agenda between the US and North Korea and by-passing South Korea, America's loyal Asian ally.

In fact, North Korea has given the Trump administration a "deadline"to drop economic sanctions "or else". 

A Times Leader letter published in February 2019, was an accurate prognosticator about the consequences of the failed Trump diplomacy with North Korea. 

Wall Street Journal headline: North Korea’s Kim Gives U.S. End-of-Year Deadline on Nuclear Talks  

SEOUL—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave the U.S. until the year’s end to break a deadlock in stalled nuclear talks, Pyongyang state media reported on Saturday, saying he remained open to a third summit with President Trump.

An opinion echo from the Times Leader newspaper, published in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania foresaw this failure of leadership.

Failed summit with North Korea pictured with the clearly exasperated Trumpzi appointee Secretary Mike Pompeo 

Gina Haspel, director of the CIA, and Dan Coats, director of National Intelligence, are Republicans appointed by President Donald Trump.

Yet, both disagree with Trump regarding North Korea, ISIS and Iran. Trump said that North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat, that we won the war against ISI and that the nuclear arms treaty with Iran wouldn’t stop them from making nuclear bombs.

At a recent Senate hearing, the two described how North Korea has not stopped making nuclear weapons, ISIS is still a threat and Iran is keeping his promise not to manufacture nuclear weapons.

So why is Donald Trump contradicting the informed opinions of two directors appointed by him? It’s simple. Trump is a self-promoter who wants to make himself look good, at the expense of Americans. You must realize that is his objective when you read his (evil) tweets. His tendency to distort facts and tell outright lies applies not only to foreign policy, but to the economy and our southern border.

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican, suggested replacing the term “wall” with “border security” and the Democrats and many other Republicans would agree with the president. It’s sad and unfortunate that Trump’s supporters and Rush Limbaugh aren’t willing to put America first, instead of acting like stubborn children who want their way.

Of course, Trump must take the lead and talk about “border security” instead of a wall, but his lack of ability to study facts and come up with the best solution is holding him back. I know he promised a wall, but he also promised Mexico would pay for it. 

Why 35 percent still support his dysfunctional administration is difficult to understand, but their support convinces Trump to continue Un-American policies and makes Republican congressman hesitate to challenge Trump. Therefore, it appears the best way to make American great again is by resigning.

Joe Czarnecki

Dallas Township, Pennsylvania

But KJU said he didn't do it? Lies, damned lies and Donald Trump

Donald Trump's strange attraction to tyrants - Kathleen Parker

Lies, damned lies and Donald Trump

This echo opinion by Kathleen Parker was published in The Herald-Dispatch, a newspaper published in Huntington, West Virginia.

WASHINGTON — If he were alive today, Mark Twain might say the following: "There's lies, damned lies — and Donald Trump." The president of the United States not only lies routinely, but he believes other people's lies without a modicum of skepticism.

This past week, the liar in question was North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (aka "KJU"), who claimed to have known nothing about what appears to have been the torture and, ultimately, murder of American college student Otto Warmbier. After holding a second nuclear summit for which he was grossly unprepared, this time in Vietnam, Trump said Kim "tells me that he didn't know about it and I will take him at his word." He added that Kim "felt badly about it. He felt very badly."

Right. Because Kim's empathy and compassion toward his starving countrymen and those he has had killed, allegedly including his half-brother, are legendary.

It is mind-numbing and breathtaking to hear such nonsense from a president, who, if normal, would vindicate the victim through punitive actions rather than side with a violent dictator in some weird, contrived, non-productive chit-chat about nuclear weapons. Warmbier's parents were appropriately outraged by the president's cavalier comments — especially since he had used the Warmbiers as props during his 2018 State of the Union address -and they issued a harsh rebuke.

The 21-year-old Warmbier had been touring North Korea when on Jan. 2, 2016, while going through airport security to leave the country, he was detained by North Korean authorities. He was accused of stealing a propaganda poster from the Pyongyang hotel where he was staying. No conclusive evidence was provided that he did so, but he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

After 17 months, Warmbier was sent home in a coma, having suffered severe brain damage from possible multiple beatings, and he died a few days later. His brutal death was surely no accident, as Cindy and Fred Warmbier asserted in their statement rebuking Trump, nor was it likely unknown to Kim, whose Supreme Leadership doesn't leave much wiggle room for independent action. No one familiar with North Korea believes that Kim wasn't well aware of his American captive. How could he not have been after a year-and-a-half of international news coverage and outreach from the U.S. State Department? Thus, make no mistake, Warmbier's death was as much an assault on America as it was on this young American son.

But Trump, who confessed to having a "warm relationship" with Kim, based presumably on whatever pheromones* passed between them, said he believed the man he previously called "little rocket man." This is because the president is (a) a useful idiot; (b) a malevolent force in the universe; (c) a small-pawed, big-dog fanboy; (d) a strategic genius.

I think most of us can eliminate option d.

Option c is probable, given Trump's strange attraction to tyrants, dictators, murderers and thieves. He has used similar terminology with other strongmen, with whom he has been equally credulous. Trump believed Russian President Vladimir Putin when he denied knowing about Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. And he believed Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman when he denied knowing anything about the torture, murder and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

At the same time Trump believed their lies, he disbelieved the conclusions of American intelligence agencies, which, in each case, pointed a finger at the top guys. How could it be otherwise?

Even if we pretend that Trump is a strategic genius who is flattering his foes by faking belief in their lies, one is left to wonder to what end? To win their approval? To soften them for the next round? To charm them into believing he's one of them, that they are essentially the same but for minor differences resolvable through the art of the deal?

If only he were trying to seize a widow's home to make space for a new limo parking lot at one of his casinos. Or negotiating a new Trump tower in Moscow. But the stakes are a little higher now. And Trump, in trying to be a tough guy, has created the opposite perception.

What every foreign ruler, dictator, president or potentate now knows is that every American tourist, journalist, college student or diplomat is fair game for capture, arrest, hostage-taking, torture or murder — all without consequence. All they have to do is lie to the president, a proven weakling, and the bad thing that happened will just go away.

The American people must not let him get away with it.

Kathleen Parker is a syndicated columnist.

* Thanks Ms. Parker learned another new word: Pheromones- a chemical substance produced and released into the environment by an animal, especially a mammal or an insect, affecting the behavior or physiology of others of its species. This is obviously Donald Trump's false belief about "how to influence others", misguided theory. He seems to rely on "pheromones".  In my opinion, pheromones, can also be nature's repellent. 

Collapse of Trump's hypnotized personality cult begins: Vietnam failed summit

An echo opinion published in The Mercury News, a San Jose, California newspaper; written by Trudy Rubin, who is a colmnist who writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

HANOI, Vietnam- Here is the most glaring takeaway from the collapse of the North Korea summit in Hanoi: You can’t negotiate with a wily dictator as if he were a real-estate mogul in New York.

Donald Trump has famously touted his personal relationships with autocrats as the prelude to great deals. “We fell in love,” he said of the half-dozen or so “beautiful letters” he received from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Clearly, love was insufficient.

The president and his team appeared blindsided by the gap between the U.S. and North Korean positions at his second summit with Kim. Trump stated at a news conference that Kim wanted all sanctions removed against his country in return for dismantling a key nuclear complex at Yongbyon. But that deal would have left North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, missiles, and other production facilities still standing.

Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un abruptly cut short their two-day summit in Vietnam as talks broke down and both leaders failed to reach an agreement. In my opinion, this failure of the Trump personality cult, being that Kim Jung Un was not impressed, is the first crack in the Trumpzi's hypnotic veneer. 

North Korea’s foreign minister later claimed that North Korea only sought partial sanctions relief, but the gap was still clearly unbridgeable. With all or most sanctions lifted, U.S. leverage to eliminate Pyongyang’s arsenal would have shrunk.

So, no matter how much Trump may have wanted to distract attention from the Michael Cohen hearings in Washington, he had no choice but “to walk” away from Kim’s offer. The gulf between him and the North Korean leader was wider than the 6,800 miles that separate Washington and Pyongyang.

How could Trump have gotten his expectations so wrong?

The answer clearly revolves around Trump’s deep belief that his personal relationships and “brilliance” are sufficient to outwit tough autocrats. The president was reportedly warned about Kim’s insistence on major sanctions relief, but believed he could persuade the dictator to shift positions.

“This entire diplomatic process is distinctive because of President Trump and North Korea’s decision-making at the top level,” says Scott Snyder, the Council on Foreign Relations expert on North Korea. “The North Koreans (hoped) to go to the top and get what they want from Trump.”

As the Hanoi debacle displayed with such drama, personal diplomacy couldn’t budge the North Korean. 

Less clear is whether Trump grasps the need to revamp his negotiating approach.

That approach had already proved lacking at Trump’s first summit with Kim, in Singapore in June 2018. Despite the hoopla, that summit failed to produce any concrete results on or road map toward denuclearization. The two sides have not even agreed yet on the meaning of that term, or whether it requires the elimination of all of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons.

As recently as the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, Vice President Mike Pence claimed that Kim had committed to complete denuclearization of North Korea. That statement was false.

Yet, even with lowered expectations for the Hanoi summit, the White House assumed some kind of deal would be reached. The U.S. side had already scheduled a goodbye lunch and signing ceremony. (Both were canceled.) U.S. officials had leaked reports to the media that Pyongyang would pledge to close the Yongbyon complex in return for a modest relaxation of some economic sanctions — and the signing of a peace declaration between the U.S. and North Korea.

Even that deal would have involved large concessions to Kim, since a peace declaration would have relaxed pressure on Pyongyang to make further moves toward denuclearization.

However, in Hanoi, Kim’s demand for lifting of all or most sanctions in return for inadequate concessions revealed that the two sides were operating in totally different worlds.

Under any previous presidency, a U.S. negotiating team would at least have worked out a basic framework before a president traveled all the way to Asia. But Trump devalues experts and detailed preparation. As he’s said, “I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.”

The limits to that approach became painfully clear in Hanoi.

Perhaps the North Korean leader thought Trump’s yen for a deal would impel him to accept a wildly insufficient offer. Kim made clear he preferred dealing with Trump than meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Moreover, Trump’s chief North Korea negotiator, Stephen Biegun, is a businessman who had no prior experience with complex North Korea dealings. The North Koreans, on the other hand, have been running rings around U.S. leaders for years.

The question now is whether Trump will revise his approach, broaden his team, and recognize the difference between geopolitical deals and real-estate manipulations. The president’s effusive praise of Kim has already lowered global pressure on Pyongyang for nuclear concessions.

Having expended enormous political capital on two summits, the president now faces a long slog of U.S.-North Korea talks that may never lead to full denuclearization of that country. His personal relationship with Kim may help keep those talks alive. But unless he realizes the limits of personal diplomacy, he will continue to get played.

Selected headlines described a failed Donald Trump deal in Hanoi

Donald Trump and Kim Jung Un abruptly cut short summit after failing to reach nuclear deal- by Philip Rucker Simon Denyer and David Nakamura

HANOI- Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un abruptly cut short their two-day summit Thursday after they were unable to reach an agreement to dismantle Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons.

Talks collapsed unexpectedly amid a disagreement about economic sanctions, with the two leaders and their delegations departing their meeting site in Vietnam’s capital without sitting for a planned lunch or participating in a scheduled signing ceremony.

Kim said he was prepared in principle to denuclearize, and Trump said an agreement was “ready to sign.” But Trump said the main impediment to a deal was Kim’s requirement that the United States lift all economic sanctions on North Korea in exchange for the closure of only one nuclear facility, which still would have left Pyongyang with a large arsenal of missiles and warheads.

No deal in Hanoi - Trump left empty handed in a mission doomed for lack of advance preparation.

Trump leaves summit empty-handed at tough point in presidency- by Josh Dawsey and Philip Rucker

HANOI — President Trump flew for 20 hours to this bustling Vietnamese capital determined to earn a place in history as the American statesman whose personal charm overcame decades of intransigence and erased the North Korean nuclear threat.

But the self-proclaimed master dealmaker left Hanoi on Thursday empty-handed and humbled by his inability to coax an erratic and reclusive dictator into giving up his arsenal.

Trump was so certain that he could broker an accord with Kim Jong Un, even if an incremental one, that the White House announced that it had scheduled a joint signing ceremony at which the two leaders would triumphantly conclude their two-day summit.

But that event, along with a working luncheon, was abruptly canceled amid a standoff over Kim’s demand that the United States remove all economic sanctions against North Korea without Pyongyang completely ending its nuclear program.

Mississippi opinion about Donald Trump - echo about failed leadership

Even Mississippians are voicing anti Trump opinions, like this letter published in the Sun Herald by Bill Crawford*.  Although the original opinion was published one year ago, in retrospect, the message seems as though it was prophetic. I read it and now am blogging it, one year later.

Neo Nazi swatsika burning in Georgia from the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Trump the strongman sets dangerous example

Dictators rule. In the U.S., presidents are supposed to govern. The differences between ruling and governing are stark, e.g., Russia's Vladimir Putin rules, Germany's Angela Merkel governs.

Unlike Ronald Reagan, our current president just doesn't get it. President Donald Trump tends to praise the Putins and disdain the Merkels.

Donald Trump's affinity for authoritarian leaders across the globe has been one of the few constants during his chaotic time in office," CNN reported. "From Russian President Vladimir Putin to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Trump has gone out of his way to lavish praise on some of the world's most notorious strongmen."

In 2016 ,Trump told NBC news regarding Putin, "He is really very much of a leader. I mean, you can say, 'Oh, isn't that a terrible thing' — the man has very strong control over a country."

In November 2017 he boasted of having "great relationships" with Philippine despot Rodrigo Duterte and China strongman Xi Jinping. He also touted his “great friendship” with Turkey dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

(MaineWriter- Recently Trump said that he is in love with Kim Jung Un of North Korea!)

Meanwhile, Trump has literally given Merkel the cold shoulder, even refusing to shake her hand at a White House meeting last year.

In February, Trump allegedly lost his temper in a call with Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto that resulted in a canceled state visit to the White House. Trump cut short a phone call with Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. (reports indicated serious divisions remain.)
Dictators set policy. Leaders who govern have to work with other factions and often must seek a compromise to establish policy.

It's evident that Trump admires dictators' power and resents having to work with others to get his way?

When China's Xi got himself anointed president for life, Trump commented, "He was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday.”

It's no secret that Trump was dissatisfied with (now former) Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He regularly slamed him on Twitter. Trump complained how he couldn't get his appointees at the Department of Justice "to do my bidding." He even told a NY Times reporter, "I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department."

Moreover, Trump sheds leaders in his administration who don’t do his bidding. He abruptly fired National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Gary Cohn quit as director of the National Economic Council and top White House Economic Advisor. (United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley has resigned.)

Then, there were his controversial firings of FBI Director James Comey, who wouldn’t drop his Russia investigation, and Acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she refused to defend Trump's original immigrant travel ban.

The U.S. presidency was designed to be held by a leader who governs, not a dictator who rules!

How far Congress and the American people will let Trump go before reining in his strongman tendencies, is one question.
A more important one may be, will Trump's strongman example become the norm for future U.S. leaders.

(MaineWriter- very scary. Trumpzi's have substituted wearing white shrouded hoods and swastika's with red hats.)

*Bill Crawford is a columnist from Meridian Mississippi

Trump "in love" - a Delaware echo opinion

A dangerous affair- Trump in love

As long as Trumpzi supporters blindly obey the dog whistles sent out by the cult leader, the truth about the outrageous and unbelievable statements made by Donald Trump continue to be protected by his hypnotized followers. Now, Donald Trump says he is "in love" with Kim Jung Un.

An echo opinion published in the Delaware County (Pennsylania) Daily Times newspaper.

A Delaware opinion writer has something to say about Donald Trump's recent acknowledgement regarding the evil Kim Jung Un.

Trump recently tweeted the following startling revelation, that he and North Korea dictator Kim Jong-un are “in love’” Yes, in love! Kim, Trump said, had written him beautiful letters. Not sure if Trump was referring to the calligraphic penmanship or the sentiment expressed, but, the result is a “bromance” that has now evolved into a manly love.

A love between a ruthless dictator and a man who covets and admires the power he wields. It seems clear that Kim is playing his patsy like a fiddle. By appealing to Trump’s megalomaniacal narcissism, Kim is able to defang Trump while he secures valuable time to further North Korea’s nuclear program and delay any meaningful progress toward denuclearization. While Trump continues to openly admire strongmen around the world like Kim, Philippine’s Duterte, Turkey’s Erdogan and Russia’s Putin he is openly dismissive of our longtime Western allies.

Donald Trump is upending the geopolitical alliances America has carefully crafted since the end of World War II. The same alliances that have kept Europe war-free for almost the past 75 years and if you look at the long-term trend lines, brought us an era of great economic growth and prosperity. The consequences of this erratic behavior on our long-term security is unknown. But, Trump still has two long years in office; so,buckle-up, the ride will get very bumpy. From Ken Derow, Swarthmore Pennsylvania

Lesley Stahl Went Straight to the Truth- Donald Trump was more orange than usual

Lesley Stahl went after the truth. Indeed, she should be the person designated to conduct the Trump-Mueller interviews about the Russia investigation! Throughout the interview, Donald Trump turned more "orange" as his make-up failed him.  It appeared like, as the more Stahl held him accountable, his face became like a strange working litmus paper, turning more orange with each truth she poured into his feeble brain.

In an interview which aired Sunday (October 14, 2018) on 60-Minutes, the untanned soles of Donald Trump’s crusty pale feet were finally held to the flames. In what can arguably be called the realest interview since the president took office, Trump sat down with Lesley Stahl of CBS’s 60 Minutes to discuss everything from his love affair with Russian mob boss Vladimir Putin, to his love affair with North Korean hitman Kim Jong Un, to the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi to climate change.

MaineWriter- With each truth Lesley Stahl poured into his feeble brain, Donald Trump turned orange like he was being tested with strange litmus paper.

Stephen A. Crockett Jr., writes about five takeaways from a bizarre interview with Donald Trump in The Root.


Lesley Stahl Goes Straight to the Truth

It’s one thing to talk about all the things you’d do if the president was in front of you and another to actually do them. Every journalist swears that they would hold his ass accountable, yet, every time Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Devil’s mouthpiece (also known as Big Suckabee) holds a press conference, many journalists get straight up punked into asking timid questions as if this is a real administration and not a sham government.

So it was not only impressive but refreshing to see Stahl not only hold Trump accountable for the mess he’s created but not allow his ass to double-talk and dance around questions without getting to some semblance of the truth.

This is also the reason that Trump doesn’t sit with the mainstream media— he cannot handle being questioned about his decisions in office. Stahl knew that she was going to have to hold it down for the people who the president refuses to talk to. 

And Lesley Stahl did just that.

Trump Is Still Cheating on America with Russia

We know that Trump cheats. He’s cheated on Melania with a porn actress (still no definitive proof that Stormy Daniels is a porn “star” but I’m still researching) and Playboy models, but the most intimate relationship that Trump seems to be involved in since taking office is the one he has with Mother Russia.

Trump not only continues to go to great lengths to defend Russia, but he will also concede only enough to appear that they aren’t still dating when they totally are. For the lowbrow crowd (and this absolutely includes me), the Love and Hip Hop equivalency is that Trump is Teairra Mari and Russia is Akbar.

Here’s the exact moment when I realized that Trump was never going to leave Vladimir, even after he allegedly leaked the sex tapes.

• Donald Trump: I think I’m very tough with him personally. I had a meeting with him. The two of us. It was a very tough meeting and it was a very good meeting.

• Lesley Stahl: Do you agree that Vladimir Putin is involved in assassinations? In poisonings?
• Donald Trump: Probably he is, yeah. Probably. I mean, I don’t—
• Lesley Stahl: Probably?
• Donald Trump: But I rely on them, it’s not in our country.
• Lesley Stahl: Why not—they shouldn’t do it. This is a terrible thing.
• Donald Trump: Of course they shouldn’t do it—
• Lesley Stahl: Instead do you believe — do you believe that the Russians interfered in the 2016 campaign election? Our election-
• Donald Trump: They — they meddled. But I think China meddled too.
• Lesley Stahl: But why do you—
• Donald Trump: And I think other countries—
• Lesley Stahl: —say China meddled too?
• Donald Trump: And you wanna know something?
• Lesley Stahl: Why do you say Chi— why don’t you just say—
• Donald Trump: Well, let me ask you—
• Lesley Stahl: —the Russians meddled?
• Donald Trump: Because I think China meddled also. And I think, frankly, China—
• Lesley Stahl: This is amazing.
• Donald Trump: —is a bigger problem.
• Lesley Stahl: You are diverting the whole Russia thing.
• Donald Trump: I’m not doing anything.
• Lesley Stahl: You are, you are
• Donald Trump: I’m saying Russia, but I’m also saying China.

Yet it’s the investigation of Russia’s intervention in the 2016 election that hangs over Trump’s presidency and which caused a rift with his Attorney General because Jeff Sessions recused himself from the inquiry around it.

Trump Is Cheating on Russia With North Korea

I don’t want to suggest that the president of people who wear shorts in the snow is aligned with a group of dictators, but he totally likes the way dictators do shit. 

In fact, Donald Trump gets dreamy-eyed whenever anyone mentions him and Putin in the same breath, and he’s starting to get this way when it comes to Kim Jong Un.

During a rally, Trump “joked” that after his meeting with Jong Un, the two fell in love.

“And then we fell in love, okay,” he said, totally not joking. “No really. He wrote me beautiful letters. And they’re great letters. We fell in love.”

Stahl then proceeded to call Trump out on his love affair.

• Lesley Stahl: I wanna read you his resume, okay? He presides over a cruel kingdom of repression, gulags, starvation— reports that he had his half-brother assassinated, slave labor, public executions. This is a guy you love?
• Donald Trump: Sure. I know all these things. I mean— I’m not a baby. I know these things.
• Lesley Stahl: I know, but why do you love that guy?
• Donald Trump: Look, look. I— I— I like— I get along with him, okay?
• Lesley Stahl: But you love him.
• Donald Trump: Okay. That’s just a figure of speech.
• Lesley Stahl: No, it’s like an embrace.
• Donald Trump: It well, let it be an embrace. Let it be whatever it is to get the job done.
• Lesley Stahl: He’s a bad guy.
• Donald Trump: Look. Let it be whatever it is. I get along with him really well. I have a good energy with him. I have a good chemistry with him. Look at the horrible threats that were made. No more threats. No more threats.

Trump’s Still a Petty Bitch

Trump not only refused to answer whether or not he would resume the “zero tolerance” immigration policy that led to the separation of families at the border (many of whom have still not be reunited), but when pressed on the subject, Trump replied:

“Lesley, it’s OK. In the meantime, I’m President, and you’re not.”

What a petty bitch.

Trump Believes That He’s on a Team

For some reason, Trump has not only created imaginary enemies but believes that he’s on a team and that his objective is to make sure his team wins at all cost.

And his mocking of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual assault accuser Christine Blasey Ford during his Mississippi rally....:

From CNN:

“I will tell you this. The way now Justice (Brett) Kavanaugh was treated has become a big factor in the midterms. Have you seen what’s gone on with the polls?” Trump said.

Asked if he believes he treated Ford with respect, the President said, “I think so, yeah. I did.”

“You know what?” Trump added when told it appeared he had accused Ford of lying in a speech. “I’m not going to get into it, because we won. It doesn’t matter. We won.”

MaineWriter- Childish behavior!
https://www.theroot.com/5-takeaways-from-trumps-bizarre-60-minutes-interview-1829754539

Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
Senior Editor @ The Root, boxes outside my weight class.

North Korea meeting with Donald Trump is an evident failure

"Daily Beast" ~Watchdog: North Korea kept upgrading nuclear reactor since Trump-Kim Jong Un  Summit ~ report by Spencer Ackerman

Non-verbals ~ Experts noted that Trump (inappropriately) touched Kim on numerous occasions, while Kim was much more restrained. Obviously, the photo op meeting between Kim Jung Un and Donald Trump held in Singapore was clearly a failed effort to stop the North Korean nuclear armament.

North Korean leader Kim Jung Un is already ignoring the agreement he is said to have signed in Singapore

North Korea continued to upgrade its only known nuclear reactor, satellite imagery has shown, calling into question the value of the summit agreement between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. 

In fact, the infrastructure improvements at the Yongbyon nuclear plant, which is used to fuel the country’s weapons program, are “continuing at a rapid pace,” according to analysis by monitoring group 38 North. Moreover, the upgrades include the modification of a cooling system for the plutonium production reactor, at least two new non-industrial buildings, and a new engineering office building. Kim Jong Un committed to “complete denuclearization” in a meeting with Trump in Singapore this month, but the details of how and when that will happen were not explicitly set out. “Infrastructure improvements continue at Yongbyon,” Jenny Town, managing editor of 38 North, wrote on Twitter. “Underscores reason why an actual deal is necessary, not just a statement of lofty goals.”

Missouri echo ~ definition of "honorable"

Letter to the editor published in the Southeaster Missourian newspaper. An "echo" blog.

(It's been painfully obvious that Donald Trump does not read. Because, if he did read,he'd understand the real definition of the word "honorable" and it certainly would not be attributed to North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un.)

Korea and nukes  Published May 3,2018

By Jack Dragoni

On April 24, Donald Trump said North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un "has really been very open and I think very honorable based on what we are seeing." Perhaps I have not understood the definition of honorable as stated on vocabulary.com: "The word honorable has to do with people and actions that are honest, fair, and worthy of respect. An honorable person is someone who believes in truth and doing the right thing." Or the definition in the Merriam Webster Dictionary: "Deserving of respect or high regard."

The questions I have include: 

• Is it honorable to kill your half-brother, who is moving through an airport, with a nerve agent? 
• Is it honorable to repeatedly sign arms control treaties and then ignore them? 
• Is it honorable to repeatedly threaten other nations with nuclear tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles? 
• Is it honorable to deny your populace basic human rights?

Nevertheless, it is good that communication is opening between North Korea and the rest of the world. 

Hopefully, with time, the communication will lead to better relations with this dishonorable regime and better treatment for its people. Until then, we should not trust North Korea to honor agreements they have made. We have already been given instructions on how to deal with North Korea. President Ronald Reagan gave those instructions when he quoted the old Russian proverb "Trust, but verify" regarding nuclear negotiating.

I admit I am a cynic, but I would be very happy to see negotiations succeed and to see nuclear weapons removed from Korea. The first issue is to come to an agreement as to what denuclearization means to all nations involved in talks. Without that agreement we cannot have a common goal. 

Still, we can hope and understand this could be a long process.

Author of this letter is Jack Dragoni; he attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.

Donald Trump is unqualified to lead the free world

As Donald Trump becomes increasingly embroiled in growing controversies, he is also becoming less qualified to lead the free world.  It's mentally and physically impossible for Donald Trump to continue to maintain competence while he is facing so many personal failures. He's morally corrupt, lacks patriotism and he harbors a chaotic management style.

Moreover, Donald Trump used unsupportable bravado when he grandstanded an announcement about meeting with America's enemy Kim Jong Un, the tyrant North Korean leader.

This re-blog was published in "Elephants in the Room", by Michael Singh

ELEPHANTS IN THE ROOM

3 Steps Trump Should Take Before Meeting Kim Jong Un

Failure to prepare properly would carry significant risks.
Donald Trump’s unexpected decision to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has elicited sharply divided responses. 

White House has presented the proposed summit as a diplomatic coup. Others have described it as naive at best, given Kim’s atrocious record of abuses, and a disgrace at worst. 

Yet history will judge the meeting by a simpler metric — whether it succeeds. (MaineWriter ~ it will fail, especially because John Bolton is incapable of advising Donald Trump about what he needs to know, in advance of such a poorly planned diplomatic strategy.)

If the meeting between the two mercurial leaders is to be successful, Trump must be willing to delay it or even to forgo it altogether if circumstances warrant. 

Any summit between heads of state requires intensive preparation, this one more than perhaps any other.

That preparation should take three forms.

First, lower-level U.S. officials should meet with their North Korean counterparts to gauge Pyongyang’s intentions. 

South Korean officials have asserted that Kim is prepared to sacrifice a nuclear weapons program, four decades in the making, that is widely regarded as vital to the security of the Kim regime and to its fantasies of conquering South Korea. Such a shift would be stark, and U.S. officials should treat Seoul’s representations with skepticism until more evidence emerges.

Second, the United States will need to consult extensively with its Asian partners in advance of any summit. The outcome of U.S.-North Korea talks will impact the security of not only U.S. allies such as Japan but also rivals such as China and Russia. It is important that the United States maintain a united front with the former to ensure that diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula does not further fragment the U.S. alliance system in Asia and consult with the latter to ensure that it is prepared to play a constructive role in any diplomatic process.

Thirdly, the United States needs to engage in internal deliberations to determine precisely what it is seeking to accomplish in a Trump-Kim summit and more broadly what the country is prepared to concede in exchange for what it demands of Pyongyang.

To this end, Washington should hold fast to a goal of North Korea’s complete denuclearization. In the Iran nuclear negotiations, the United States incrementally downgraded its ambitions as the talks proceeded. The reason given was that the original aims were simply not achievable, however desirable.

Such thinking, however, neglects the fact that U.S. actions away from the negotiating table, whether in the form of sanctions or military posture, can shape the calculations of counterparts. 

To broaden the range of possible diplomatic outcomes, the United States must take steps to worsen the other side’s alternatives to a deal, even if it means suspending negotiations for a time. If instead the United States accepts a partial solution — a freeze of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs or their partial dismantlement — negotiators would risk simply delaying a crisis while sacrificing U.S. leverage in the process.

In considering what the United States is prepared to offer in exchange for North Korea’s denuclearization, it is vital that the Trump administration stays focused on the big picture in Asia. 

As troublesome as the North Korea challenge has been, it is not America’s greatest strategic threat in the region. That honor belongs to an increasingly powerful and ambitious China, and perhaps secondarily to Russia, which has demonstrated a desire to challenge the United States across multiple theaters.

The United States would be cutting off its nose to spite its face if, to secure an agreement with Pyongyang, the White House agreed to significant reductions in U.S. military posture in Asia. The biggest beneficiary of such a step would be Beijing, and the biggest loser would be the alliance system that the United States must cultivate in Asia to counter Chinese ambitions.

Unless and until the United States is able to adequately prepare for a Trump-Kim summit, it should hold off on finalizing a date. Failure to prepare would carry significant risks. The summit could turn into nothing more than a public relations coup for Kim, who would crow about securing a meeting that was denied to his father and grandfather. Even worse, a failed summit might leave no clear next diplomatic step and ultimately hasten rather than defuse conflict.

North Korean Insanity

North Korea is in chaos. It doesn't take a political scientist with a doctorate degree to figure out how Kim Jong Un is unstable, to say the least. He murdered his uncle on apparently trumped up charges of treason, in a public display of unbridled power grabbing.

Obviously, anyone who tries to solve the chaotic behavior of Kim Jong Un will be murdered, just like the uncle.

CNN's Peter Shadbolt says, depending on how you read the signs, the execution of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's uncle and formerly trusted regent, Jang Song Thaek, either shows a young leader further cementing his control, or the first death throes of a regime teetering on collapse.

In the absence of any independently verifiable information, and in a regime where paranoid rhetoric is the normal register of almost all diplomatic language, any conjecture is likely to be as accurate as it is to be wide of the mark.

Nevertheless, far from asserting Kim's leadership, recent events suggest that his position has been seriously eroded by the execution of his uncle.

Obviously, nobody knows what's going on in North Korea, but what the world sees, coming through on the tightly controlled national media (KCNA), is very concerning.

Moreover, the recent release of the prisoner (Merrill Newman) and his uncle's execution couldn't be more at odds; this indicates a chaotic situation. It points to regime change, not a question of "if" but "when".....and "who"? Will the next leader be even more heinous?

When an unstable paranoid person feels legitimately threatened, there's virtually no way of stopping their ambitious terrorist instincts.  

Our world must pay attention to what's going on in North Korea. We know Kim Jung Un is capable of doing virtually anything including launching a random deadly military attack, or worse.

Millions of North Koreans have no recourse but to fall into lock step with Kim Jung Un. But, he's only one man holding millions of people hostage to his extraordinary tyranny.  

I've always been mystified about dictators who lead by imposing horror and fear on all who threaten their powers. These evil people engage in fanciful thinking, engaging in delusional beliefs about their unmitigated authority. In other words, they believe they're invincible. Tragically, before every single evil motivated dictator finally learns about their own mortality, they've already imposed unspeakable horror on everyone who exists within their scope of power. But, these demonic people are just one person. Those people who suffer under these despots are numbered in the millions, maybe close to a billion! Yet, the overwhelming majority are incapable of rising up against one evil despot. 

Case example, Pol Pot of Cambodia. He died in a hospital in 1998, after causing the massacre of untold thousands of his nation's people, for no particular reason. No one has yet been held accountable for the "Killing Fields" of Cambodia. But, Pol Pot was just one man. He was never prevented from continuing this terror on his own people. Pol Pot was just one mortal man.

Another example, of course, is Germany's Adolf Hitler. He died of an apparent self inflicted bullet wound on April 30, 1945; by then, he was responsible for the preventable deaths of millions of innocent Jewish people, civilians and military people who were immersed in World War II.  Just one man, who led millions of people to early and preventable deaths. Even an assassination attempt didn't deter Hitler, on July 20, 1944. Sadly, no one came forth to support those brave men who tried to stop his madness.  Instead, all the conspirators who tried to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944, wound up dead while Hitler continued his tyranny. Hitler was just one mortal man.

It seems to me, the world is risking a lot by waiting to see what Kim Jung Un will do next. He's capable of anything and we must assume he will do whatever he wants, even on a whim, without any motivation.  

Obviously, the North Korean situation is precarious. One unstable man is inflicting unmitigated terror on his own people while keeping innocent people wondering what he's up to.

With the cruel execution of his uncle, Kim Jung Un has successfully proven he is a person who must be feared. We the people of the world must be afraid, very afraid.