June 12 2018 — President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un made history today by signing a declaration to denuclearize North Korea and embark on a path to diplomatic relations between the two countries and ending the Korean War (which is technically in ceasefire mode since the Armistice was signed in 1953). This is the first time any US President has met face-to-face with a North Korean leader, with the sole purpose of the meeting being “for the promotion of peace, prosperity, and security of the Korean Peninsula and of the world.”
And for this President Donald Trump is being derided in the US press.
CNN headline, “Trump gives up a lot for vague concessions.”
“Rocket Man 1, Trump 0.” “Summit was a Bust for the US,” says the Daily Beast.
“Trump Says North Korea Summit Agreement Is Far More ‘Comprehensive’ Than It Actually Is,” reads the Huffington Post. And adds, “Murderous Dictator Meets Dishonest President Behind Closed Doors,” in case you thought they were going soft.
Lovely.
Not to be outdone here’s two from the Washington Post: “Trump and Kim got what they wanted. The rest of the world, not so much,” (Aww.) “Trump lost the summit before photographers even left the room.” That’s more like it!
Oh, almost forgot the New York Times. “Statement Promises a Nuclear Retreat but Lacks Details,” OK, if you say so. “Trump Was Outfoxed in Singapore.” Nice!
These are the sentiments from our own press corps here in the good old US of A. Dennis Rodman would not get skewered like this if we sent him instead. I guess I can safely predict Trump won’t be getting the (real) Time Man of the Year Award for his efforts.
This is just the first step in a longer process and the American people are lead to believe it’s already 1st and 20 from our own 1-yard line. So what does this calamity actually say?
- The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new U.S.-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.
- The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
- Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
- The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.
Establish diplomatic relations; build a lasting peace between nations; complete denuclearization; and bring home POW/MIA remains from the Korean war (1950-1953). How dare they!
Trump would have been better off just dropping off a pallet of billions of dollars in Singapore and leaving. Now that’s how you win a political victory (see, Obama, Barack, re: Khomeini, Iran).
What is so galling to the media is that we took a stride towards world peace and it’s not under a Democratic president. If it makes you feel better I’ll sign Chuck & Nancy’s names to the declaration. Will that be enough to appease you?
I’ve watched enough of the television news coverage post-Summit to list their grievances for you here. The first outrageous claim is that If Obama had made this deal the Republicans and people on the Right would be outraged.
No, I don’t really think so. If Obama had successfully removed me off the nuclear Target List of North Korea I would indeed be thankful. Plus, when he took Osama bin Laden off the board did you hear anyone, Left or Right, complain about it? No, you didn’t. So this is a completely baseless claim, yet parroted by every network talking head I saw this morning.
The US got nothing in return. Well denuclearization is something of an accomplishment, afterall, can you name any US President or world leader who has done that? Okay, name a single country that had nuclear weapons and then got rid of all of them. Name one. (I’ll wait.) You can’t – yet that is how Donald Trump is starting out.
The Agreement only states “complete denuclearization.” And Secretary of State Mike Pompeo clearly stated that, “complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the only outcome the United States will accept.”
You’re kidding me here, right? We’re quibbling over a single word (verifiable)? Does that change the entire meaning and merits of the Agreement? How long do you think it takes to dispose of 60 nuclear warheads, an hour?
This is one day after the G7 meetings in Canada where President Trump has asked for “fair, reciprocal, and free trade,” and the press is going after him for attacking our allies. When they read that clause they report, “One-way US sanctions and tariffs against our best friends.” Countries that have been ripping us off for decades, but beloved nonetheless. I just can’t rationalize the press picking apart an agreement to denuclearize a whole country and not reporting fairly on inequity in our global trade deficit that we have with every country in the world. I can’t respect them, actually. Why can’t the media turn their jaundiced eye to trade and tariffs?
The Agreement says nothing about human rights violations. Yes, North Korea is insanely corrupt and brutal in its treatment of its citizens. Agreed. But what the Agreement doesn’t do is lift any of the US Economic Sanctions already in place for, among other things, human rights violations. Every single sanction is still in place, and will remain in place until North Korea gets its act together. And the United States usually (from time to time) does not do business with countries accused of flagrant human rights violations.
The US has agreed to suspend military drills with South Korea. Each time we have done these military training exercises the press blasts President Trump for “antagonizing the North.” This is a concession of no consequence. We still have a large military presence in and around the Korean peninsula. We gave up nothing here. We have enough nuclear weapons on submarines to blow up the planet, we don’t need to practice beach landings to prepare for anything.
We legitimized an evil dictator on the world stage. This actually befuddles me here. Kim Jong-Un strolled around Singapore the other night, I don’t see how that changes anything. But what if it does? In order to have peace and get rid of the DPRK’s nuclear weapons I’m fine with Kim doing some late night shopping and visiting the tourist attractions. Besides, the guy’s never left his country before, where has he ever been, China? South Korea? Briefly, once last month. No one anointed him Time Man of the Year (yet).
The final (so far) grievance is that the Agreement is “unclear.” Really? Harder to wrap your mind around than Obama’s Iran Deal? The deal where we promised a US$150 billion bribe to the Islamic Republic of Iran to halt their nuclear weapons program for ten years? Just 10 years! Unlike “complete denuclearization” that Trump has initially secured. That’s hard to understand?
President Obama secured the release of US$6 billion dollars from a bank in Oman to Iran. He
further paid Iran US$12 billion between 2014-2015. On top of that he gave back the US$400 million dollars withheld from Iran because of the Iranian Hostage Crisis back in 1979 — with interest, to bring the total to $1.7 billion dollars. US. (We gave them interest!) Iran has estimated they’ve received between US$25-50 billion so far, and they have an incentive to low-ball that number.
Don’t get too nauseous just yet because there is more to come on this matter as the government is finally investigating this fiasco. Turns out it is quite illegal to circumvent the US Banks and financial system to pay off a hostile foreign government via a pallet of cash. Remember the pallet of cash? Yes, that was because none of the banks in the United States would wire the money over to Iran, nor would they wire it to any European banks to get around the finance laws. US banks actually said “No,” to the President and his trusty Secretary of State John Kerry. So this cash payment was withdrawn either directly from the Federal Reserve, or The Clinton Foundation. Remains to be seen. Either way, now you know why Trump ripped up the deal just months into his term in office.
But Obama was hailed as a hero for the Iran Deal (JCPOA). And there was never an agreement to not build any nuclear weapons! ‘On what planet is this normal?’ as CNN’s Jim Acosta would say. (To Trump, not Obama, of course.)
So which leader would you rather be today heading back to your country? Kim Jong-Un? His country has worked for decades to develop nuclear weapons. They poured all their money into this project, and starved their people along the way. During the height of the program development in the 1990s North Korea suffered a terrible decades long famine. And now Kim gets to say it was all for naught, we’re throwing them out.
President Donald Trump on the other hand gets to say, “Hey you know that North Korean nuclear program? It was all for naught, I’m making them throw them out.” You would think there would be a clear winner and loser in this situation.
This is a win-win situation for both countries and the world. The world can thank us for limiting the chance of a nuclear war breaking out at any moment (excepting India and Pakistan). The North gets to enjoy the military defense protection of the most powerful force in the world (not China). The North will soon be flooded with freshly made US goods and services. Banks, Starbucks, and Olive Gardens will be popping up in Pyongyang in no time, and their people will actually have real jobs flipping burgers, making sandwiches and delivering pizzas.
That’s called economic development, and corporate profits for more US companies to spend back here in the USA. So President Trump has opened up a new consumer market and convinced them to join the world order as a peaceful, obedient, non-nuclear country.
The only way this works out badly is if Kim Jong-Un never had any weapons in the first place….
