Running North Korea freakout thread

Surprised he hasn't killed himself.

Good thing he was a Hall of Fame rebounder.

 

North Korea was much cooler during the Olympics when the regime was trolling Pence. Let’s not pretend either side doesn’t pick and choose its outrage when it comes to dictators.

It is heartening to see Conservative Twitter trash the optics of this summit and Trump’s ridiculous praise of Kim. Feel terrible for the parents of Otto Warmbier. Has to tear their heart out to see and hear this nonsense.

 

I'm most worried about what Trump will give up for the sake of declaring a victory.

 

Yes, and?

 

I'm not convinced North Korea was ever cool. But I'm willing to consider the possibility that Kim is a true reformer, who sees the reality of what his country is, and wants to actually change things.



But you know .... Trust, but verify.

 

He apparently said something like, "Without Otto, this wouldn't be possible." What a fucking horrible thing to say.

 

Yes. I know what he was trying to say, but it came out so cringeworthy and awful.

 

POTUS on NK:

"They have great beaches. You see that whenever they are exploding the cannons in the ocean. I said, ‘Look at that view. That would make a great condo.’ I said instead of doing that, you could have the best hotels in the world. Think of it from the real estate prospective.”

Trump Gives Kim Major Concession at Summit and Got a Photo-Op in Return

 

That'll leave more money for Oklahoma State to come up short in November.

 

I think that's a very good summary. One thing I'd add is that it seems that Trump told China ahead of time that he'd be announcing the end of joint US-South Korea military exercises, but he hadn't told South Korea, who is not just our ally but the one in the most direct line of fire. China reportedly announced the end of the exercises to reporters before Trump did, so it seems they had to have known.

But hey, South Korea's just been our ally for 70 years. Meanwhile Xi leads our greatest geopolitical rival but treated Trump like an Emperor (the nicest that China has ever treated anyone ever, according to Trump) and is "tough" enough to have eliminated dissent to become President For Life. We've seen again and again which things mean more to Trump.

Though No. 3 above bears repeating. We're in a much better place than six months ago in terms of the near-term threat of a significant military engagement that could even turn nuclear. That is absolutely a very good thing, and Trump—and especially the administration's sanctions—deserve significant credit for getting us here.

The question is now, where do we go from here? Given that Trump made a specific and significant concession (i.e. no military exercises) without receiving anything commensurate in return is a big concern. Then there's the fact that it would be very difficult to rev up serious sanctions again any time soon if NK doesn't start coming through; in fact China announced that now is the time to lift sanctions, not later (as Trump said). So that potential stick is much less practically useful. If things start going sidewise, that leaves one main stick—military action, even if "limited." Which is what Bolton, for one, has long argued for, and might again at some point, as Gee noted.

 

POTUS on why experts who believe denuclearization would take 15 years are wrong:

"I think whoever wrote that is wrong... There will be a point at which when you are 20 percent through you can’t go back. I had an uncle who was a great professor for, I believe, 40 years at MIT. And I used to discuss nuclear with him all the time. He was a great expert. He was a great brilliant genius."

Trump lauds Kim and will end war games