SH wrote:
trail wrote:
oldandslow wrote:
Sorry, not that simple. Look up Nordpolitik and Sunshine Policy. There was enormous potential and progress on reducing tensions, pretty much scuttled by the Iraq War and the "axis of evil" blather, which was supported by an enormous number of people who post here regularly. It's great if we have finally gotten past that unfortunate military and diplomatic cul-de-sac, at least on the Korean Peninsula.
W.r.t "axis of evil" we have to remember that amongst all the rosy photo ops and good press, that Kim Jong Un is an absolute brutal, evil piece of shit. Forget the death camps, etc. He (reportedly) put his uncle and closest aids in a pen with 120 starved dogs, and they were torn to bits and eaten. And of course poisoned his mostly innocuous half-brother to death.
I'm not going to play the "OMG Pompeo shook his hand!" game. But it must be hard to put on the sorority-girl fake-happy face and negotiate with this guy like he's a legitimate leader.
We have to remember that every action of his is purely motivated by self-preservation. I think it's insane to think he'll ever give up his nuclear weapons without having them forcibly removed from his grubby little hands. He saw what happened to Gaddafi when Gaddafi gave up his nukes. He's spent decades building up the strongest negotiating position he's ever had. He's not going to suddenly give it all away for free.
I'm thinking 95/5 odds that Kim Jong Un is purely making a propaganda play. It's 100% show.
Propaganda for what? He owns all the propaganda within his own country that he'll ever need.
I think Mr Jong Un was read the riot act by the Chinese during his trip there (if not before). I would expect attempts at weaseling, but I'd think that there are cards the other side(s) can play in that case as well. If there weren't any such cards, Kim Jong Un wouldn't be glad-handing his goto scapegoats today.
+1
It's not coincidence that this happens a month after Kim visited Jinping. Even DonBoy credits Xi for this: http://www.businessinsider.com/...se-xi-jinping-2018-4