The North Korea Thread

ShivaX · 2018-05-04T14:18:27.910Z

TheWombat:

There was an article, I think in the NYT (maybe CNN? can’t recall), that dealt with the facts thing. It argued that for Trump loyalists, all that matters is that what is said could have been true. For example, in this case, to these folks, if the people in NK custody had been there during Obama’s presidency, it could have been true that Obama failed to secure their release. Likewise, any other lie that Trump spouts could be true (or in his supporters’ eyes, should be true), and hence, it’s ok.

Using that logic, Trump could’ve stopped 9/11 and failed.

KevinC · 2018-05-04T14:18:53.497Z

No no no it only works in one direction.

TheWombat · 2018-05-04T15:04:31.546Z

KevinC:

No no no it only works in one direction.

Ayup. It’s not quite “logic,” really, but rationalization I guess.

rowe33 · 2018-05-04T15:17:09.911Z

Trump could have sexually assaulted more women or slept with more porn stars or cheated on more wives but he didn’t. Therefore, he is a Godly man and clearly worthy of salvation (and re-election)! So say we all.

Gordon_Cameron · 2018-05-09T17:18:20.988Z

nytimes.com

North Korea Frees American Prisoners, Lifting Hurdle to Nuclear Talks

The president said that North Korea had released the American detainees in a good-will gesture as the two countries prepare for a meeting between their leaders.

“Today he became President.”

Seriously, though, good news for those individuals.

Djscman · 2018-05-09T17:29:06.809Z

Sure, it’s nice for those Kims (the three prisoners and the dictator). I bet Trump wants the lion’s share of the credit, though. After all, he’s been deporting tens of thousands of prisoners all throughout his administration! North Korea has a long way to go to catch up!

Timex · 2018-05-09T18:27:37.749Z

Hey, Trump deserves credit for that.
I mean, it’s not really significant from any kind of policy perspective… and in return, the US is giving NK what they’ve wanted for decades. So, probably not really a great trade for us. But still, Trump brought 3 Americans home, so that’s cool.

rowe33 · 2018-05-09T18:31:31.502Z

I love the way the article doesn’t really say that they ARE released, just that Trump SAYS they’re released. Got to leave that wiggle room these days.

ShivaX · 2018-05-09T23:45:58.119Z

twitter.com

David P Gelles (gelles)

BREAKING: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he has no commitments for the release of 3 Americans in North Korea. He said he hopes North Korea will "do the right thing." He adds, "It'd be a great gesture if they'd agree to do so."

6:58 PM - 8 May 2018 210 140

I’m sure the psychopath who uses nerve agents in public places on his relatives and kills people with anti-aircraft guns for fun will do the right thing.

Timex · 2018-05-10T00:11:25.546Z

Didn’t they already release them? I think they already landed in Alaska.

NK is totally going to release them. It costs them nothing to do so.

rowe33 · 2018-05-10T01:07:36.482Z

No, Trump SAID they were released. And sure, he’s normally the epitome of reliability and the leader of our country would never lie about something like that BUT maybe he was simply mistaken.

Menzo · 2018-05-10T01:33:49.643Z

Huh? They were released. They landed in Alaska a few hours ago.

ShivaX · 2018-05-10T13:12:33.145Z

twitter.com

Kevin Baron (DefenseBaron)

Trump said Kim Jong Un “really was excellent to these people.” They were hostages. One was in hard labor. One hadn’t seen daylight in a while, Pence said. Really excellent. twitter.com/markknoller/st…

11:33 AM - 10 May 2018 3.7K 1.8K

Nesrie · 2018-05-10T17:49:08.747Z

Their brains are still working so that’s an improvement!

rowe33 · 2018-05-10T20:02:23.495Z

Yep, it’s amazing how the piece of shit can say those things after that one kid came home and died. What a fucking travesty this President is.

scharmers · 2018-05-10T21:32:40.339Z

Can we swap Un for Trump? I’m pretty sure we can rework Cocaine Mitch’s signing bonus to keep us under the salary cap

Timex · 2018-05-11T18:09:56.452Z

POLITICO Magazine

Hold the Nobel Prize: Kim Is Setting a Trap for Trump

It’s far too early to get excited about the possible outbreak of peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Pointing out the fairly obvious issues with the whole fiasco.

However, a few points that I noted from the article:

Insist on the Libya model of denuclearization.
To me, this highlights why I seriously doubt any of this shit is going to go anywhere… because I don’t think anyone wants to go down the road Libya did. How’d that work out for Khadafi? (not well)

The Trump-Kim summit is an achievement in and of itself.

I don’t see how this could reasonably be interpretted as an achievement.

Literally every president for the past 30 years could have had a summit with NK, whenever they wanted. NK wants one so bad. Past presidents have refused to meet with NK, not because they couldn’t, but because meeting with NK is a concession to NK. It legitimizes them, which they do not deserve.

Every member of the GOP said exactly this when Obama came into office.

My biggest fear here is that Trump is so fixated on a win here, because he thinks it’s the only thing to save the GOP midterms, and thus save his own administration, that he is going to accept a totally awful deal. He’s going to do some profoundly stupid shit, but the repercussions of that stupid shit aren’t going to be understood by many voters.

antlers · 2018-05-11T18:45:47.119Z

I thought that was a completely useless article. It’s a wishlist with nary a suggestion as to how to get there.

Denuclearization must be complete and near instantaneous.
Agreement can’t be limited to nuclear issues: it must also address chem/bio, missiles, and human rights.
Negotiations can’t be long and drawn out.

Why not throw in a pony as well?

Timex · 2018-05-11T21:01:13.316Z

Exactly, that’s why Trump is almost certainly going to fail.

Those things he lost are what would essentially be the minimum that the US would need to get… But there’s no way NK will give those things.

RichVR · 2018-05-12T17:15:41.719Z

I thought I saw, in passing today, that there would be a ceremony to de-commission their nuclear test facility? The one that has already collapsed. Anyone heard anything about this?