According to the administration Iran is planning some sort of trouble and we have dispatched a carrier.
In a somewhat sad commentary of our current faith in our government, there is a "show me" attitude since the WMD fiasco in Iraq.
Its also likely that our simpleton in the White House who bought in to all the FOX news criticisms over the years about how the prior administrations simply had to flex some muscle to get the world to comply with us.
It doesn't work, at least not in any meaningful sense.
Our foreign policy is pretty much a mess, with our allies concerned about our reliability and trustworthiness and our enemies manipulating our dontard.
One of the successes he touts is that he has inspired our allies to spend more money on their defense, and they have, but so have we.
If the benefit was supposed to be that we would spend less, it isn't happening.
Everyone spending more turns into an arms race.
Isis was being pushed out of territory when he took over and that continued. They aren't destroyed and may be more dangerous than ever. Certainly the middle east isn't friendlier and we managed to let Russia and Iran exert more and more influence.
North Korea played us and he let them.
Sanctions, tariffs and sending in a carrier are not much in the way of foreign policy. Its all he seems to have though.
Showing posts with label Korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Korea. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Korea - Vietnam
The meeting with North Korea in Vietnam didn't result in any progress on de-nuclearization and it wasn't likely to.
North Korea has achieved most of what it wanted just getting treated as an equal giving it great propaganda at home.
While clearly it would be in the country's best interest to agree to de-nuclearize in exchange for an end of sanctions, the dictator is only interested in his own grasp on power.
Opening up the country to outside influences isn't likely to help in that respect, what does help is his propaganda showing him standing up to the Americans.
As much as his people are deprived of many things we take for granted, they aren't generally aware of how much worse off they are, and seeing their leader on the World Stage gives them a sense of patriotism.
Our president has a similar motivation, but it should be obvious by now that he is generally outclassed by most people he deals with.
One could argue whether this was predictable based on his somewhat spotty career as a developer and business man.
He did at times make deals and in a few instances the deals worked out. However he didn't build an empire our of nothing, he started with a significant base and pretty early on played the publicity game making his name a bit of a commodity that has been worth a fair amount.
His goal of getting North Korea to denuclearize is not actually achievable and his belief that suspending testing is a great victory is questionable, since they might not need more testing to get what they were aiming for.
Still, as predictable as this outcome was, it was probably worth a try.
North Korea has achieved most of what it wanted just getting treated as an equal giving it great propaganda at home.
While clearly it would be in the country's best interest to agree to de-nuclearize in exchange for an end of sanctions, the dictator is only interested in his own grasp on power.
Opening up the country to outside influences isn't likely to help in that respect, what does help is his propaganda showing him standing up to the Americans.
As much as his people are deprived of many things we take for granted, they aren't generally aware of how much worse off they are, and seeing their leader on the World Stage gives them a sense of patriotism.
Our president has a similar motivation, but it should be obvious by now that he is generally outclassed by most people he deals with.
One could argue whether this was predictable based on his somewhat spotty career as a developer and business man.
He did at times make deals and in a few instances the deals worked out. However he didn't build an empire our of nothing, he started with a significant base and pretty early on played the publicity game making his name a bit of a commodity that has been worth a fair amount.
His goal of getting North Korea to denuclearize is not actually achievable and his belief that suspending testing is a great victory is questionable, since they might not need more testing to get what they were aiming for.
Still, as predictable as this outcome was, it was probably worth a try.
Saturday, July 28, 2018
North Korea
Yesterday marked the 65th anniversary of the armistice that stopped the fighting in the Korean war and it also saw the return of some remains of soldiers who died in that war.
Obviously the symbolism of the first had something to do with the timing of the second, but certainly there is nothing bad about returning the remains.
North Korea is one of the most closed societies on the planet and has a lot to gain from normal diplomatic relations.
It finally got some recognition with the threat of nuclear weapons and since those were its best bargaining chips, its going to play them carefully.
Its main goals would appear to be the formalization of peace, the removal of sanctions, and the removal of the American troops in the South.
There may be other things, but they will become obvious as time passes.
Our position seems to simply be the elimination of their nuclear program when for all these years it was tied to other objectives, like a reduction of the threat to the South.
North Korea is a country that would hardly be worth talking about except they have managed, despite being a fairly backward nation, to maintain a large military presence and have represented a threat to peace in the Korean peninsula since the 1950s.
They also have seemingly figured out that our dontard is mostly interested in getting his ego stroked and public relations so they can proceed without much real cost.
Still any progress there is a good thing, as long as the threat to the South is curtailed.
Its just hard t imagine they aren't ready to unify the peninsula as soon as we leave.
Obviously the symbolism of the first had something to do with the timing of the second, but certainly there is nothing bad about returning the remains.
North Korea is one of the most closed societies on the planet and has a lot to gain from normal diplomatic relations.
It finally got some recognition with the threat of nuclear weapons and since those were its best bargaining chips, its going to play them carefully.
Its main goals would appear to be the formalization of peace, the removal of sanctions, and the removal of the American troops in the South.
There may be other things, but they will become obvious as time passes.
Our position seems to simply be the elimination of their nuclear program when for all these years it was tied to other objectives, like a reduction of the threat to the South.
North Korea is a country that would hardly be worth talking about except they have managed, despite being a fairly backward nation, to maintain a large military presence and have represented a threat to peace in the Korean peninsula since the 1950s.
They also have seemingly figured out that our dontard is mostly interested in getting his ego stroked and public relations so they can proceed without much real cost.
Still any progress there is a good thing, as long as the threat to the South is curtailed.
Its just hard t imagine they aren't ready to unify the peninsula as soon as we leave.
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Historic Meetings
Reading the text of the joint statement issued after the meeting with North Korea you notice how it refers to the meeting as historic a few times.
Now by definition it was historic, it is now part of history, but when you read most historic documents they don't normally talk about how "historic" they are.
Besides this we see very little except we have agreed t stop joint war games with South Korea and the North will work towards denuclearization.
Interestingly, our dontard made a comment that it will be a long process, but once its started its basically over.
Odd how he didn't feel that way about the much more specific Iran agreement, which was the worst deal ever.
I think the difference is more related to the fact that his followers are much more anti-Muslim then anti-Korean.
This may lead to something and its better than lobbing missiles, but it was much better for the image of Kim, who got the war games to stop and has lots of propaganda with meeting the United States as his equal in a country where image is nearly as important as the oppressive force of the regime.
The dontard will also try to use it as propaganda but I just don't see it playing nearly as well.
His performance with our allies is the more historic event, really.
Now by definition it was historic, it is now part of history, but when you read most historic documents they don't normally talk about how "historic" they are.
Besides this we see very little except we have agreed t stop joint war games with South Korea and the North will work towards denuclearization.
Interestingly, our dontard made a comment that it will be a long process, but once its started its basically over.
Odd how he didn't feel that way about the much more specific Iran agreement, which was the worst deal ever.
I think the difference is more related to the fact that his followers are much more anti-Muslim then anti-Korean.
This may lead to something and its better than lobbing missiles, but it was much better for the image of Kim, who got the war games to stop and has lots of propaganda with meeting the United States as his equal in a country where image is nearly as important as the oppressive force of the regime.
The dontard will also try to use it as propaganda but I just don't see it playing nearly as well.
His performance with our allies is the more historic event, really.
Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Policies?
One way to look at some of the actions of the dontard is to say he is standing up to his enemies and holding to certain principles.
I suppose that is the way his supporters look at it as he fights with more and more people, both domestically and internationally over his stands on things like trade, pardons, collusion, lying, immigration, gun control and abortion.
Of course that is the most favorable light you can put on it.
The one that seems to ring truer is that he is acting like a toddler who throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way.
His decision to disinvite the Super Bowl Champion Eagles because some of the team wouldn't attend is just like the kid who wants to take his ball and go home if he isn't picked first.
Now his apparent belief that owners or anyone else can force citizens to do things they don't agree with is typical of his disregard for the rights we have in this country.
Of course a few people missing from the group would be no big deal except it would have been played up in the press, probably more than it should be. Still the big toddler can't accept any criticism and rather than recognize the team's achievements he made it about himself and his odd beliefs.
He is also finding national leaders from other countries starting to disagree with him. His "friend" Macron apparently told him how he disliked his decision on tariffs. What did he expect?
Many of the allies are working with Iran to salvage the nuclear deal and circumvent American sanctions, imposed despite Iran's compliance with the agreement.
This provides some wonderful opportunities for China and Russia to increase influence and ties with the rest of the world. Where it ends is anyone's guess.
The historic summit with North Korea has done more to legitimize that regime already than any action by any administration since the Korean War. It is already a major success for them, not matter what the outcome is.
Lets be clear, North Korea was never a real threat to this country even if somehow they could deliver a warhead that we didn't intercept. We would have annihilated them in an instant. The program did accomplish world recognition and their elevation to a player on the world stage.
Was probably worth every penny to them.
I suppose that is the way his supporters look at it as he fights with more and more people, both domestically and internationally over his stands on things like trade, pardons, collusion, lying, immigration, gun control and abortion.
Of course that is the most favorable light you can put on it.
The one that seems to ring truer is that he is acting like a toddler who throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way.
His decision to disinvite the Super Bowl Champion Eagles because some of the team wouldn't attend is just like the kid who wants to take his ball and go home if he isn't picked first.
Now his apparent belief that owners or anyone else can force citizens to do things they don't agree with is typical of his disregard for the rights we have in this country.
Of course a few people missing from the group would be no big deal except it would have been played up in the press, probably more than it should be. Still the big toddler can't accept any criticism and rather than recognize the team's achievements he made it about himself and his odd beliefs.
He is also finding national leaders from other countries starting to disagree with him. His "friend" Macron apparently told him how he disliked his decision on tariffs. What did he expect?
Many of the allies are working with Iran to salvage the nuclear deal and circumvent American sanctions, imposed despite Iran's compliance with the agreement.
This provides some wonderful opportunities for China and Russia to increase influence and ties with the rest of the world. Where it ends is anyone's guess.
The historic summit with North Korea has done more to legitimize that regime already than any action by any administration since the Korean War. It is already a major success for them, not matter what the outcome is.
Lets be clear, North Korea was never a real threat to this country even if somehow they could deliver a warhead that we didn't intercept. We would have annihilated them in an instant. The program did accomplish world recognition and their elevation to a player on the world stage.
Was probably worth every penny to them.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Great Deal Maker
It seems like the talks with North Korea are on again.
O course it can still change as we know the unpredictability of our dontard.
It seems like the North Korean dictator actually has more of a plan and certainly better control over his minions than our guy does.
It will be interesting to see what comes out of it, although whatever it is will be called the greatest deal ever negotiated by our egotistical dontard.
Doesn't matter what it is, unless of course there is no deal, in which case it will be the greatest walk our of a bad deal ever.
Clearly Muhammad Ali had a great influence on him, although he probably preferred his original name.
I read his ghosted book "The Art of the Deal" quite a few years ago, since my job entailed a lot of negotiations. The book isn't really about negotiations, it was mostly about all the things he had to do to build the Trump Tower, or whatever his first Manhattan building was called.
It certainly was a little interesting, but not of much use unless you had a similar project in the works, and even then probably not much help, except it sort of detailed the process in a very general way.
Ultimately it was a story of appeasement, how much he had to do to get what he needed from the zoning people, the unions and ultimately the buyers of his condos.
So in order to make a profitable deal you have to give as little as possible to get what you want.
Well, that's not really much of a revelation, unless of course you didn't already realize that.
Now what do the two sides want in Korea? One has already got a lot more international recognition before the talks even start. He also wants less American protection for the south and less sanctions.
What will we get in return? Probably about the same thing as we had in Iran, which in this case will be a wonderful, great deal.
Odd how that works.
O course it can still change as we know the unpredictability of our dontard.
It seems like the North Korean dictator actually has more of a plan and certainly better control over his minions than our guy does.
It will be interesting to see what comes out of it, although whatever it is will be called the greatest deal ever negotiated by our egotistical dontard.
Doesn't matter what it is, unless of course there is no deal, in which case it will be the greatest walk our of a bad deal ever.
Clearly Muhammad Ali had a great influence on him, although he probably preferred his original name.
I read his ghosted book "The Art of the Deal" quite a few years ago, since my job entailed a lot of negotiations. The book isn't really about negotiations, it was mostly about all the things he had to do to build the Trump Tower, or whatever his first Manhattan building was called.
It certainly was a little interesting, but not of much use unless you had a similar project in the works, and even then probably not much help, except it sort of detailed the process in a very general way.
Ultimately it was a story of appeasement, how much he had to do to get what he needed from the zoning people, the unions and ultimately the buyers of his condos.
So in order to make a profitable deal you have to give as little as possible to get what you want.
Well, that's not really much of a revelation, unless of course you didn't already realize that.
Now what do the two sides want in Korea? One has already got a lot more international recognition before the talks even start. He also wants less American protection for the south and less sanctions.
What will we get in return? Probably about the same thing as we had in Iran, which in this case will be a wonderful, great deal.
Odd how that works.
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