"We need to keep our fingers crossed and our heads bowed in prayer this week. History could be made. But in our upside down world of Washington, some grease-ball Democrat is at the same time, trying to file articles of Impeachment against our President."
There is a certain buzz in the air this morning. Our President, the master of the "art of the deal", is winging his way on Air Force One to Singapore. The long awaited on again, off again summit with the North Korean leader is on. To stress how important this meeting is to all concerned (as well as the rest of the world) could not be stated strongly enough. Simply put, this week Donald Trump has the opportunity to make the world a much, much safer place.
The President and his team have done a masterful job in settling the table prior to the start of talks. The Mike Pompeo visit in his waning days as CIA Chief, was the "prepping of the table". Although the result and the character of those talks have been closely held, I would imagine Mike laid out a vision for the future of North Korea which looks quite a bit different than the one they have today.
But - it probably was still the carrot and the stick. If the North Koreans agree to totally and in a verifiable way de-nuke the peninsula, then North Korea's economy and standard of living can start looking more like South Korea's. But if North Korea tries to screw us, or play fast and loose like they have in the past, the hammer will come down even harder.
One of the best negotiators I met in my professional career worked at Lockheed Martin. He was the head honcho of their contract's organization. Besides being my competitor, he and I became famously good friends. He was a master at setting the table prior to a negotiation. Getting the expectations at just the right level. Watching him in a negotiation was like watching a skilled surgeon at work.
When the negotiation would start, my friend would say (in his unique way), "pay attention - for my first offer will be my best offer." When I first started hearing him say that, I thought it was just negotiation bluster. It was not. His first offer was his best one. If you rejected it, the next offer was not nearly as alluring.
This morning on the news, one of Trump's longtime friends said Donald Trump will be able to access the lay of the land within two or three minutes after the first handshake. He will then know how serious the North Koreans are in coming to a meaningful agreement. Trump already knows where the cards are on the table - they are all on our side. If the deal falls through, life goes on for us. Life for the North Koreans however, stays pretty crappy.
If I were a betting man, I would be betting on our negotiator-in-chief to convince the North Koreans the deal on the table will be the deal of a lifetime for them. Now that Kim's sister has been to South Korea, she knows that life could be a whole lot better for her people. I also hope that Trump shows some pictures of modern day Viet Nam. This communist state has agreed to play nice and now is a trading partner for us, a vacation spot and a friendly allie.
We need to keep our fingers crossed and our heads bowed in prayer this week. History could be made. But in our upside down world of Washington, some grease-ball Democrat is at the same time, trying to file articles of Impeachment against our President.
I know, I know. On the eve of what could be a Nobel Peace Prize event for Donald Trump, our clueless Washington Democrats continue to attempt to re-litigate the 2016 election.
Kim Jung Un could care less about making nice with the US.
ReplyDeleteThere are deeper, strategic reasons for Kim’s change of heart, to which a habitually under-briefed Trump seems oblivious.
It is usually assumed that China is the North’s inalienable friend and ally.
In fact, Pyongyang has always gone its own way.
Bilateral relations have become increasingly strained of late, especially after Beijing backed tough new UN nuclear sanctions.
Unusually, Xi Jinping, China’s president, has met Kim twice this year.
Xi is plainly worried North Korea could stop playing buffer state and “go over” to the western camp.
China fears a new alignment between North and South and – even worse – reunification under US auspices.
In the run-up to the summit, for example, Kim has not backed the longstanding Chinese call for the closure of US military bases in South Korea.
Who knows, might the North one day seek US protection, too?
Kim is deftly exploiting these Chinese fears.
Just as Richard Nixon played his “China card” in 1972 by wooing Beijing to offset Soviet influence, Kim is playing his “America card” to send a pointed warning to Xi.
In this canny maneuver, Trump’s role is less global peacemaker and more useful idiot.
In exchange for giving Trump the Nobel Peace prize he craves, Kim will walk away with guarantees the US will not attack North Korea and, forswearing regime change and ignoring human rights abuses, will support him as unelected supreme leader-for-life.
One day before his summit with Donald J. Trump, the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un, has offered to host peace talks between the United States and Canada.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking to reporters at his hotel in Singapore, Kim said that the rising tensions between the North American neighbors were posing an “intolerable threat to world peace.”
In addition to offering to host U.S.-Canada talks in Pyongyang, Kim urged the immediate creation of a demilitarized zone along the border separating the two hostile nations.
In exchange for Canadian Mounties agreeing to stand down on their side of the border, the United States, in turn, would dismantle its nuclear weapons, Kim said.