Michael Breen on Why Critics Are Impatient with President Trump’s North Korea Policies
ROK Drop favorite Michael Breen writes in the Korea Times that critics of President Trump’s North Korea policy need to show more patience. Good luck with that ever happening, but he does accurately depict the media environment that is driving much of the negative criticism against Trump:
And yet, a majority of experts have criticized the American president. Why? Failure to secure a more detailed agreement. Talk about impatience.
This criticism is widespread, despite the fact that everyone accepts that, in contrast to many summit meetings where the top leaders sign off on agreements reached between their respective teams, this one was intended to kickstart a process.
So why was the analysis not about a good start?
I believe there are two parts to the answer and they are not easily separated. One is the good faith expert viewpoint and the other is the media environment in which it is expressed. (…………)
The error in my opinion derives from media obsession with the person of the American president. This both slants reporting and media commentary and influences the way experts deliver their opinions.
If truth be told, media love Donald Trump. He just has to scratch his head and it’s newsworthy. Underlying almost all coverage is a view that he is morally and psychologically unfit to be president. (This is partly because he is a Republican, a party that has almost zero support among news reporters, and partly because, well, he is kind of unorthodox.)
The daily Trump story satisfies on the titillation level ― look what the idiot has done now ― and on the media self-righteousness level ― be warned, this is serious, this man has his finger on the button.
Had Barack Obama held this summit with Kim and achieved the same result, he would probably be up for his second Nobel Peace Prize. But because it’s Trump, I expect that even if the North does de-nuclearize, sign a Korean war peace treaty, and open an embassy in Pyongyang and open the gulag, Trump will still be found wanting. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link.
North Korea Making ‘Rapid’ Upgrades to Nuclear Reactor Despite Summit Pledges
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/27/north-korea-nuclear-reactor-upgrades-summit-pledges
Looks like Denny beat me to the punch. Seems that Fatty is up to his usual tricks. But does Trump play the same game as his predecessors, or will he take a different route?
Only time will tell…
I would not be surprised if the Kim regime is trying to rush completion of these projects and then try to have them considered as part of a peaceful nuclear power generating system. They could argue that South Korea has nuclear power plants generating electricity, why can’t they have them too?
Anyway Trump extended sanctions on the Kim regime last week so I am not hitting the panic button until sanctions are dropped for little to nothing in return.
Frankly, I think the critics of Trump have no actual idea how negotiations are done. Heck, major corporations with extensive experience take 18-24 months to negotiate IT Outsourcing deals. This is considerably more complex and important.
I would have been surprised if Fatty wasn’t dealing in bad faith considering all the tricks they’ve done over the years.
He is dealing in bad faith. Some negotiations take awhile but with nk and Koreans in general they are unique, because they lie and their culture takes pride in that.