Let me start this blog by stating that I am giving credit where credit is due. Donald Trump accomplished yesterday something that no other President has. He sat with the Dictator Kim Jung Un in a summit to discuss a go forward plan for North Korea. The document signed really doesn't lay out any major milestones or interdependencies requiring involvement from other nations, and doesn't lay a framework for the true plan, but it is a start. The question is, is Donald Trump patient enough to see something through that will likely take years to ultimately accomplish?
The things that are most vitally important when dealing with North Korea on a go forward plan are the complete denuclearization of North Korea to be done in a verifiable manner (which is one of the things we have done wrong in the past), and the subject of Human Rights in North Korea. This is a man who has killed hundreds of people for his benefit. He is a dictator who has treated the people of his country like slaves. We cannot forget those things when looking at how we move forward. Giving a dictator a pass on human rights would not leave a good mark on world history.
So there will be much more to learn from that Summit and what is planned to happen moving forward. I want to talk about some other things that have concerned me over the past week. We had the G7 Summit hosted by Canada at the end of last week. On the way to the Summit and at many points during the Summit Trump spoke up about Russia, and how he feels that Russia should be brought back into the G7 to make it the G8 again. He referenced that something happened and Russia was kicked out of the G8. That's putting it fairly mildly to say the least. If I remember correctly it was Russia invading and taking over Crimea that led to their being ousted from the G8. Since then they have committed many more atrocities, to include shooting a plane out of the sky, killing people with nerve agent in other countries, meddling in numerous world elections, and well, I shouldn't have to go into any further detail here. If you think Russia should be at the table with the rest of the G7 Countries, I take issue with that on its face. Russia doesn't deserve to be at any table with world leaders until they change their ways in a very verifiable manner.
Then once Trump left the G7 early, apparently not wanting to hear anything about the environment, the Prime Minister of Canada spoke publicly about the tariffs the US has been instating on its allies and stated that he has made it clear to Trump that Canada will have no choice but to instate tariffs of their own on the United States. Trump blasted the Prime Minister in a Tweet (because that is what he does), and also pulled the United States out of the signing of the G7 Letter.
Look at what we are seeing in recent months. Trump is ruining relationships with long standing allies of the United States, and trying to foster new relationships with Dictators. This seems a bit counter intuitive if you ask me.
I am willing to commend Trump for getting North Korea to the table for the first time, but I am not optimistic that things will improve on the world scale moving forward. Trump doesn't have the patience or knowledge to deal with some of these issues, and his tactics are not accepted by our allies. Our allies are getting to the point they are done dealing with us; done taking the bullying of Trump. We may be moving toward quite an isolationist time for the United States of America if we don't start improving our relationships very soon.
What worries me about the summit in Singapore is that it gave Kim Jung Un exactly what he wants. It gave him video to cut and use as propaganda in his own country; showing his oppressed people how important and powerful he is to be able to sit one-on-one with the United States President. He has that now and there has really been no ultimate concessions agreed to at this point. This meeting shouldn't have simply been a meet and greet. This meeting should have locked down some solid move forward requirements that both parties agreed to. It was fluff at best.
I guess all we can do at this point is sit back and watch, hoping that things begin to iron themselves out in the long run. As stated, I am not optimistic it will happen, but I certainly hope it does.
DUNK
The things that are most vitally important when dealing with North Korea on a go forward plan are the complete denuclearization of North Korea to be done in a verifiable manner (which is one of the things we have done wrong in the past), and the subject of Human Rights in North Korea. This is a man who has killed hundreds of people for his benefit. He is a dictator who has treated the people of his country like slaves. We cannot forget those things when looking at how we move forward. Giving a dictator a pass on human rights would not leave a good mark on world history.
So there will be much more to learn from that Summit and what is planned to happen moving forward. I want to talk about some other things that have concerned me over the past week. We had the G7 Summit hosted by Canada at the end of last week. On the way to the Summit and at many points during the Summit Trump spoke up about Russia, and how he feels that Russia should be brought back into the G7 to make it the G8 again. He referenced that something happened and Russia was kicked out of the G8. That's putting it fairly mildly to say the least. If I remember correctly it was Russia invading and taking over Crimea that led to their being ousted from the G8. Since then they have committed many more atrocities, to include shooting a plane out of the sky, killing people with nerve agent in other countries, meddling in numerous world elections, and well, I shouldn't have to go into any further detail here. If you think Russia should be at the table with the rest of the G7 Countries, I take issue with that on its face. Russia doesn't deserve to be at any table with world leaders until they change their ways in a very verifiable manner.
Then once Trump left the G7 early, apparently not wanting to hear anything about the environment, the Prime Minister of Canada spoke publicly about the tariffs the US has been instating on its allies and stated that he has made it clear to Trump that Canada will have no choice but to instate tariffs of their own on the United States. Trump blasted the Prime Minister in a Tweet (because that is what he does), and also pulled the United States out of the signing of the G7 Letter.
Look at what we are seeing in recent months. Trump is ruining relationships with long standing allies of the United States, and trying to foster new relationships with Dictators. This seems a bit counter intuitive if you ask me.
I am willing to commend Trump for getting North Korea to the table for the first time, but I am not optimistic that things will improve on the world scale moving forward. Trump doesn't have the patience or knowledge to deal with some of these issues, and his tactics are not accepted by our allies. Our allies are getting to the point they are done dealing with us; done taking the bullying of Trump. We may be moving toward quite an isolationist time for the United States of America if we don't start improving our relationships very soon.
What worries me about the summit in Singapore is that it gave Kim Jung Un exactly what he wants. It gave him video to cut and use as propaganda in his own country; showing his oppressed people how important and powerful he is to be able to sit one-on-one with the United States President. He has that now and there has really been no ultimate concessions agreed to at this point. This meeting shouldn't have simply been a meet and greet. This meeting should have locked down some solid move forward requirements that both parties agreed to. It was fluff at best.
I guess all we can do at this point is sit back and watch, hoping that things begin to iron themselves out in the long run. As stated, I am not optimistic it will happen, but I certainly hope it does.
DUNK
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