So Kim's meetings with SK and the summits with Trump were what then?
I don't think Kim is going to hold multiple summits with his counterpart in SK and then meet with Orange Man Bad twice and then all of a sudden go back into Exorcist mode, spewing green bile everywhere.
No, I think he's got to put on the last display of fireworks because his people are so brainwashed it'll make our transgendered people look like the descendants of the Founders.
There was also that raid pulled on the Nork embassy in Spain while Kim was in Vietnam meeting with Trump.
That raid has DS written all over it.
If they’re brainwashed already why should he go to the trouble. Are their brains getting dirty again?
[So Kim’s meetings with SK and the summits with Trump were what then? ]
The way Trump does things - it’s always give America’s serious adversaries (i.e. the nuclear-armed countries) face. You might be kicking them under the table, but always say nice things about them. He has made a point of praising Putin while doing really unfriendly things, like killing a few hundred Russian mercenaries* in Syria, providing weaponry to Ukraine that Obama had refused to do and exiting arms control treaties that the Russians had counted on flouting while Uncle Sam was constrained by them. He also praised Xi all last year while increasing the frequency of freedom of navigation ops* through Taiwan Strait and the China Seas, imposing tariffs on half of China’s exports and continued his effusive praise while imposing the latest 25% tariffs. These people think they are the only guys who can do flattery while sticking the shiv in. Trump has shown he’s fully capable of doing the same thing, the idea being to avoid making the disagreements into a clash of personalities. This is a clash of national interests, not individual personalities.
Trump met Kim because he thought Kim might be persuadable. I think he may have now concluded that Kim is not, which is why all of the blandishments on offer have now been withdrawn. We are no worse off than we were, but it’s clear that our choices are reduced to either a defensive one of building more missile defenses around North Korea (which also help against Chinese missiles), an offensive one of destroying NK’s nuclear and missile installations or some combo of the two. The likelihood is that a ground invasion of the North will draw in the PLA, and give it an excuse to annex North Korea, even if it’s simply South Korea that moves north of the 38th parallel, so this method of eliminating the threat from North Korea is likely out of the question. Not to mention the fact that a move north by the South could give China the excuse it needs to attempt what it failed to do in 1950 - conquer all of Korea.
* While Wagner Group personnel are technically mercenaries, I tend to think they’re more Russia’s way of saving face if the Syrian regime falls. It’s similar to the American Volunteer Group (aka Flying Tigers) assembled in 1941, prior to Pearl Harbor, to help the Nationalist Chinese keep the Imperial Japanese Army at bay.
** In Obama’s 8-year tenure, the Navy conducted 4 FONOPs. In Trump’s first year alone, the Navy conducted 6 FONOPs. In his second year so far, FONOPs have been a monthly thing. It would not surprise me if Trump had an entire CVBG eventually conducting a FONOP through the disputed Spratlys and Paracels, with the carrier screen passing through waters within the 12-mile limit that China claims as its own. One round of ordnance from the Chinese on these man-made islands and the installation ends up looking like the battered Russian mercenary unit in Syria.
https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/freedom-navigation-south-china-sea-practical-guide
https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/freedom-of-navigation-ops-will-not-dent-beijing-s-south-china-sea-claims-experts-say-1.575609
I think everybody is missing the obvious. Last week n Korea announced worse than usual failed harvests and food rations reduced to the lowest level ever.
Usual totalitarian response, divert the masses by raising risk of war.
Trump’s aim was to remove NK support and missile trade with Iran and Syria at the same time removing Iran/proxies from Venezuela.