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Ron Paul See other Ron Paul Articles Title: Trump Scraps North Korea Summit to Save Face – What Comes Next? Pyongyang has emphasized that it won’t tolerate the unilateral shifting of goal-posts beyond acceptable lines, while Trump has been caught between the positions of top diplomat Pompeo and John “Strike First” Bolton. WASHINGTON — United States President Donald Trump’s cancellation of next month’s summit with the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong-un, came as a bit of a surprise and a jarring break from developments such as the release of three U.S. hostages by Pyongyang and the country’s apparent follow-through on a pledge to demolish its nuclear test facility. In many ways, Trump’s letter cancelling the summit – which was due to begin on June 12 in Singapore – was a defensive reaction to the DPRK’ reminding the White House that it’s not a pushover and that its limited patience was being exhausted by the unceasingly hostile moves, confused stance, and belligerent rhetoric emanating from Washington. Pyongyang had been crystal-clear that it wouldn’t swallow its pride, unilaterally surrender its nukes, or tolerate the Trump Administration’s cavalier and thoughtless shifting of goal-posts beyond acceptable lines. The DPRK government has also keenly followed Washington’s moves not only in the Korean peninsula, but also in Libya, Iran, and any “independent [countries] against imperialism like Cuba and Venezuela or those countries disobedient to it.” According to reports, Trump’s letter canceling talks — allegedly dictated word-for-word — was a largely impulsive move intended to pre-empt an expected withdrawal from the summit by Pyongyang. Multiple White House sources claim Pyongyang’s barbed reactions to administration talking points convinced the U.S. leader — with National Security Advisor John “Strike First” Bolton at his shoulder — to unexpectedly scrap talks and avoid the appearance of losing the initiative in the unfolding U.S.-DPRK diplomatic process. A senior administration official also told reporters that Pyongyang had “simply stood [the White House] up” when it failed to send diplomats to meet Trump’s deputy chief of staff to Singapore for a meeting ahead of the summit. The move also came on the tail of recent tit-for-tat barbed statements and U.S. demands in recent weeks, Trump’s pullout was roughly equivalent to the sentiment, “you can’t fire me – I quit!” However, he did importantly leave the door ajar for the eventual continuation of U.S.-DPRK diplomacy. “We won’t beg; we never invited you to begin with” Pyongyang’s cognizance of Washington’s continued hostility was made clear when DPRK Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son-hui issued a statement Wednesday excoriating the “unbridled and impudent remarks” of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who once again – defying all common wisdom – compared the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula to the disarming of Gaddafi-era Libya. The late Libyan leader gave up his unfinished nuclear program only to be butchered later by NATO-backed fighters. Previous invocations of the precedent by Bolton had infuriated North Korean officials, who described such comments as deliberate provocations that would dampen talks and reverse progress “back to square one.” Likewise, Pyongyang surely drew conclusions from the fate of the six-party nuclear deal the U.S. had signed with Iran in 2015. Following the signing of the deal, which stipulated the lifting of sanctions on Tehran in exchange for major restrictions on its civilian nuclear program, Washington repeatedly violated the spirit and letter of the accord before scrapping it altogether on spurious grounds. Choe noted: I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice-president … it will be proper for him to know even a little bit about the current state of global affairs and to sense to a certain degree the trends in dialogue and the climate of détente.” Stressing that the DPRK has paid a heavy price — including crippling sanctions, international isolation, and major financial costs — to achieve its “powerful and reliable strength” in the form of its deterrent arsenal, Choe added that the nuclear-equipped state is hardly comparable to a Libya “that had simply installed a few items of equipment and fiddled around with them” prior to surrendering its program and meeting “a tragic fate.” She concluded: It is to be underlined, however, that in order not to follow in Libya’s footstep, we paid a heavy price to build up our powerful and reliable strength that can defend ourselves and safeguard peace and security in the Korean peninsula and the region. It is the U.S. who has asked for dialogue, but now it is misleading the public opinion as if we have invited them to sit with us. I only wonder what is the ulterior motive behind its move and what is it the U.S. has calculated to gain from that. We will neither beg the U.S. for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us … In case the U.S. offends against our goodwill and clings to unlawful and outrageous acts, I will put forward a suggestion to our supreme leadership for reconsidering the DPRK-U.S. summit.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — a regular visitor to Pyongyang in recent months — surely has gained some sympathy for his fired predecessor Rex Tillerson, who was often prevented from doing his job by his unpredictable commander-in-chief. In this case, his own hope to move forward and hold talks was frustrated by Bolton and Pence, who were reading from a “Libya” script that jarred with the motives of the Department of State. 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#1. To: Ada (#0)
(Edited)
Strump changes his position every day. He needs a psychiatrist, not access to the red button.
There are no replies to Comment # 1. End Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
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