The meeting between President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jung Un in Hanoi, Vietnam is over. It ended early without any deal being reached. Even the signing of a joint agreement which could have outlined interim steps to be taken was abandoned. The President's main comment was "sometimes you have to walk away."
Clearly, it would have been better had there been an appropriate agreement reached. Nevertheless, it was a refreshing switch to see the USA walk away from a deal that did not meet our goals. Just think of the Iran nuclear deal and the negotiating style of president Obama and John Kerry. No matter what Iran wanted or needed, Obama and Kerry agreed to it in order to get a deal done. The stated American goal was to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons, but Obama and Kerry agreed to a deal that ends with Iran having nukes in 10 years (just six years now) because they were terrified of not having a deal. They agreed to the spectacle of pallets of cash being delivered to the Iranians to close the transaction. President Trump didn't bow to the North Koreans just to get a deal; he actually put the interests of the USA first. It was a very good move for the future of the USA and even for the future of US-North Korea relations.
The meeting in Hanoi was a different sort of presidential negotiation. Normally, deals like this are negotiated by lower level officials and only signed by the leaders in big ceremonial meetings. President Trump took a chance by meeting to negotiate directly with Kim. He strategized that the only opinion that mattered in North Korea was Kim's and that direct contact with Kim was the best way to convince the North Korean that a deal made sense for his country. It is hard to tell how much progress, if any, has been made on that front. I doubt that Kim is going home to North Korea to start his missile testing program back up. He knows that such a move could bring a very strong US response. It may be that Kim just needs to stew about the proposed deals for a while and that a further meeting months from now could bring good results. We will just have to wait and see.
The reaction of the mainstream media to the meeting, however, has been laughable. One article I read this morning actually says that President Trump walked away from a deal with Kim because he wanted to take the focus back from yesterday's Cohen testimony before Congress. That has to be the single most stupid "analysis" I have ever seen in the mainstream media. Many articles have been written criticizing the President for his saying that he asked Kim about the death of Otto Warmbier and he believes Kim when he says that he did not know about it. That criticism is bizarre. There's no question that poor Otto Warmbier was gravely mistreated by the North Koreans. Still, he was a student in prison for stealing a poster. I doubt that Kim was getting bulletins on his treatment. The biggest refrain in the media though is not about Warmbier. Rather, the media "experts" are all discussing how President Trump "elevated" Kim by meeting with him while getting nothing in return. This is the kind of analysis that led to the agreement with Iran; it analyzes things based upon what gets said and what things look like, not on the actual results. Kim's meeting with President Trump doesn't change who he is or what North Korea is. It doesn't change the North Korean nuclear missile program. That program, however, has been changed since the first meeting when the NK's stopped missile and nuclear weapons testing. The American captives that were held in North Korea were released after that meeting, and that is an actual change. The remains of US servicemen lost during the Korean War were returned, and that is an actual change.
We will have to wait and see where this thing goes next.
Clearly, it would have been better had there been an appropriate agreement reached. Nevertheless, it was a refreshing switch to see the USA walk away from a deal that did not meet our goals. Just think of the Iran nuclear deal and the negotiating style of president Obama and John Kerry. No matter what Iran wanted or needed, Obama and Kerry agreed to it in order to get a deal done. The stated American goal was to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons, but Obama and Kerry agreed to a deal that ends with Iran having nukes in 10 years (just six years now) because they were terrified of not having a deal. They agreed to the spectacle of pallets of cash being delivered to the Iranians to close the transaction. President Trump didn't bow to the North Koreans just to get a deal; he actually put the interests of the USA first. It was a very good move for the future of the USA and even for the future of US-North Korea relations.
The meeting in Hanoi was a different sort of presidential negotiation. Normally, deals like this are negotiated by lower level officials and only signed by the leaders in big ceremonial meetings. President Trump took a chance by meeting to negotiate directly with Kim. He strategized that the only opinion that mattered in North Korea was Kim's and that direct contact with Kim was the best way to convince the North Korean that a deal made sense for his country. It is hard to tell how much progress, if any, has been made on that front. I doubt that Kim is going home to North Korea to start his missile testing program back up. He knows that such a move could bring a very strong US response. It may be that Kim just needs to stew about the proposed deals for a while and that a further meeting months from now could bring good results. We will just have to wait and see.
The reaction of the mainstream media to the meeting, however, has been laughable. One article I read this morning actually says that President Trump walked away from a deal with Kim because he wanted to take the focus back from yesterday's Cohen testimony before Congress. That has to be the single most stupid "analysis" I have ever seen in the mainstream media. Many articles have been written criticizing the President for his saying that he asked Kim about the death of Otto Warmbier and he believes Kim when he says that he did not know about it. That criticism is bizarre. There's no question that poor Otto Warmbier was gravely mistreated by the North Koreans. Still, he was a student in prison for stealing a poster. I doubt that Kim was getting bulletins on his treatment. The biggest refrain in the media though is not about Warmbier. Rather, the media "experts" are all discussing how President Trump "elevated" Kim by meeting with him while getting nothing in return. This is the kind of analysis that led to the agreement with Iran; it analyzes things based upon what gets said and what things look like, not on the actual results. Kim's meeting with President Trump doesn't change who he is or what North Korea is. It doesn't change the North Korean nuclear missile program. That program, however, has been changed since the first meeting when the NK's stopped missile and nuclear weapons testing. The American captives that were held in North Korea were released after that meeting, and that is an actual change. The remains of US servicemen lost during the Korean War were returned, and that is an actual change.
We will have to wait and see where this thing goes next.
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