tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7061582353562134652.post7023878821848698105..comments2024-03-26T16:02:48.175-07:00Comments on Very Angry Bird: The week everything could changeVery Angry Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15026531280513685057noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7061582353562134652.post-5551636251400936692018-06-11T17:19:08.182-07:002018-06-11T17:19:08.182-07:00One day before his summit with Donald J. Trump, th...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.<br />Speaking 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.”<br />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.<br />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.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15898532001022482469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7061582353562134652.post-86194237341101916752018-06-10T08:48:02.222-07:002018-06-10T08:48:02.222-07:00Kim Jung Un could care less about making nice with...Kim Jung Un could care less about making nice with the US.<br />There are deeper, strategic reasons for Kim’s change of heart, to which a habitually under-briefed Trump seems oblivious. <br />It is usually assumed that China is the North’s inalienable friend and ally. <br />In fact, Pyongyang has always gone its own way. <br />Bilateral relations have become increasingly strained of late, especially after Beijing backed tough new UN nuclear sanctions.<br />Unusually, Xi Jinping, China’s president, has met Kim twice this year. <br />Xi is plainly worried North Korea could stop playing buffer state and “go over” to the western camp. <br />China fears a new alignment between North and South and – even worse – reunification under US auspices. <br />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. <br />Who knows, might the North one day seek US protection, too?<br />Kim is deftly exploiting these Chinese fears. <br />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. <br />In this canny maneuver, Trump’s role is less global peacemaker and more useful idiot.<br />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.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15898532001022482469noreply@blogger.com