Kim Jong-un

President Trump’s bold ‘protectionist’ move of introducing import duties of 25% and 10% for steel and aluminum, respectively – and possibly more to come – may be more than just ‘populism’ and fulfilling a campaign promise. And why is the term ‘populism’ always used with a derogative slant? As if it was way below the intellect of those who deride it as addressing the thoughtless and primitive behavior by the people? Aren’t politicians supposed to work for the people?

Events in the US since President Trump agreed to South Korean President Moon’s proposal that he meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un show (1) the extent to which the US elite including large sections of the US government’s bureaucracy are willing President Trump to lose despite the huge damage this threatens the US; and (2) how President Trump’s foreign policy instincts are often superior to those of the foreign policy veterans or “adults” which whom he has become surrounded.

In the sixth Star Trek  film, The Undiscovered Country, Ambassador Spock tells Captain Kirk, “There’s an old Vulcan saying – only Nixon could go to China.” The line was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, suggesting that Nixon going to China was so symbolically significant that it had even become a saying among an alien race centuries […]

The key to understanding Kim Jong-un’s summit offer to Donald Trump is that it is the product of negotiations which have been underway since October.
At that time a senior North Korean diplomat visited Moscow, and reports of the talks which took place made it clear that the Russians were pressing for the opening of bilateral negotiations between the North Koreans and the South Koreans to end the crisis.

In a stunning turnaround from a year of playground insults and threats of nuclear annihilation, President Donald Trump agreed Thursday to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un by May.
South Korean official Chung Eui-yong said in an announcement on the White House driveway that Kim “pledged that North Korea will refrain from any further nuclear missile tests” the run-up to the meeting.

The pace of diplomatic activity to end the Korean crisis has intensified with a South Korean delegation delivering to US President Trump an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a summit meeting to be held before May.
Trump appears to have accepted the invitation

US State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert stated on 6 March the imposition of new severe sanctions against the Pyongyang government of Kim Jong-un, for the use of nerve gas in the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the leader’s half-brother, that took place last year. In a brutal attack, two women allegedly smeared the VX chemical agent on Jong-nam’s face in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, on February 13, 2017.

According to South Korean officials, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has expressed willingness to begin negotiation with the US on abandoning its nuclear weapons and that it would suspend all missile tests while engaged in such talks.
Head of the North Korean delegation, Ri Son Gwon shakes hands with his South Korean counterpart Cho Myoung-gyon

Sometimes it all comes down to whether or not you have a fake ID. Teenagers have used such forgeries to buy cigarettes and booze, or to get access to other “grown-up” entertainments they ought not. But how about getting a fake ID to travel around the world? It appears that the last two North Korean leaders have done precisely that.

With the icicles still glinting with the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic games, US President Donald Trump, like any disgruntled child, wanted to reassert his relevance.  Little Rocket Man had assumed diplomatic pose, or at the very least adopted a stance of considered caution towards his South Korean counterparts.  While the US seemed stubborn and sulky, South Korea seemed encouraged, taking Pyongyang’s gestures to heart.