Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumTrump Just Walked Away From The Best North Korea Deal He'll Ever Get
Trump Just Walked Away From The Best North Korea Deal He'll Ever Get
March 1, 20195:45 PM ET
JEFFREY LEWIS
Trump and his team disagreed. One State Department official explained that North Korea must not merely end testing but also give up all the weapons developed on the basis of those tests.
"Testing was part of a process of developing nuclear weapons, and the weapons themselves need to be on the table," the official explained. "It's not the testing of the weapons; it's the actual presence of the nuclear weapons and, by the way, likewise in the case of missile testing, the ICBMs as well that are central to this discussion."
The U.S. position that North Korea must unilaterally abandon its nuclear capabilities in exchange for promises of some different future is a kind of American fantasy about power that is more suited to an action movie than the reality of international negotiations.
More:
https://www.npr.org/2019/03/01/698909173/opinion-trump-just-walked-away-from-the-best-north-korea-deal-hell-ever-get?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
The fantasy in DC and the media about Korean affairs reminds one of the fantasies about China over the last 150 plus years. One will never go broke playing to disastrous American delusions about Asia.
See James Bradley's book, The China Mirage.
qazplm135
(7,447 posts)I know Trump is the worst, but Kim is the worst too. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him.
This article treats the deal like it is one NK will uphold and stick to. There's no evidence that they will.
soryang
(3,299 posts)The US working negotiators indicated they were going with the step by step process with reciprocity, aka "small deal" to build trust. Also known as the trust building measures method. Bolton and Pompeo threw them under the bus. Bolton and Pompeo are back to the one bundle approach or Libyan approach. That will never happen.
This really isn't a negotiating process it's another regime change operation dressed up in fancy PR. Anyone who thinks that will turn out well, is under a delusion.
qazplm135
(7,447 posts)because one side is incompetent and the other side is dishonest.
soryang
(3,299 posts)Their reactors were shut down at Yongbyun recently. They stopped missile testing. So there is actually substantial evidence that they are bargaining in good faith.
qazplm135
(7,447 posts)signed someone who has the ability to know.
soryang
(3,299 posts)Each time the United States walked, a lot of people in Washington promised that patience and pressure would produce a better deal than the one squandered. And each time they were wrong.
qazplm135
(7,447 posts)you are so focused on how much we suck that you are blind to how much they suck.
both sides can be lying fools ya know.
soryang
(3,299 posts)I'll stick with the people who know what they are talking about, like Jeffrey Lewis, Siegfried Hecker, Robert Carlin, and Thomas Countryman.
qazplm135
(7,447 posts)with people who say what you want to hear.
soryang
(3,299 posts)I spend most of my time studying the right wing sources in Korea with whom I disagree to gain insight into the political situation in northeast Asia. I am not dependent on US analysts or experts.
Your responses are a projection of my original comment- "One will never go broke playing to disastrous American delusions about Asia."
as I said, you only see one side, and are blind to the other. It's a waste of time.
procon
(15,805 posts)that posited the impossible notion that even if there's just a 1 percent chance of our geopolitical foes are in noncompliance with US policies then we are justified in dealing with them in the harshest response, including war. Trump now has his similar Trump Doctrine, doing the same thing as Bush/Cheney, threatening to invade Venezuela, and blowing up any chance of negotiating any denuclearization agreement with No Korea until Kim meets all of his demands first.