Trump Should Keep the Promise He Made To the DPRK

The DPRK maintains large armed forces because the USA tried to destroy it in 1950 and the Americans refuse to leave the Korean peninsula. That’s the long and the short of it all. 

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While there are some in the USA saying it’d win their leader a Nobel Peace Prize, doubts were cast on whether the planned summit in Singapore between US President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un will actually take place. The on-off-on roller-coaster exposed a shocking lack of seriousness and preparedness on the US side, particularly on Trump’s part, as to how to seize such a rare opportunity to ease the tensions on the Korean peninsula. It’s true that for the two countries to agree to the historic meeting is in itself a major breakthrough, especially if we recall the sabre-rattling and war of words just months ago. However, while the DPRK made goodwill gestures in the past weeks toward improving relations and denuclearisation, by blowing up its nuclear test site and releasing three US detainees, it’s unclear what concessions the USA is willing or able to make going to the summit and subsequent talks.

Pyongyang made it clear that it’d cancel the summit if Washington forces it to surrender its nuclear weapons programme unilaterally or continues to float the Libya model. The DPRK long cited security concerns to justify its nuclear programme. After all, the relevant parties haven’t signed a peace treaty to end the Korean War, which started in 1950. The US security guarantee must be in a formal document so that the Trump Administration and future US leaders will have to abide by it. It’s a lesson learned from the Libya disarmament in 2003. The Obama Administration and its NATO allies pursued régime change in Libya in 2011; eight years after Muammar Gaddafi gave up his nuclear weapons programme.

In this sense, the USA has much to do to make its security guarantee credible this time around. The USA likes to blame the DPRK for all the past failures on denuclearisation. But certain US government actions… such as when the US government stopped shipping oil to the DPRK as agreed upon and former president George W Bush calling Pyongyang part of an “axis of evil”… were much to blame for past setbacks. Key in the security assurance is the DPRK’s long-standing opposition to the US troops stationed in the ROK and their frequent joint drills on and in the waters off the peninsula. If the parties involved sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War, it doesn’t make sense for the USA to continue to deploy those troops on the peninsula. Holding regular military exercises aimed at the DPRK would become unnecessary provocations.

Many US politicians and the military-industrial complex don’t want to see a de-escalation of tensions on the peninsula, let alone a unified Korea, because that’d take away the justification for such a US military presence there. The phasing out of UN sanctions and US unilateral economic sanctions on the DPRK, whilst a reasonable expectation for the DPRK, will, unfortunately, be extremely challenging politically for Trump at home. China has long advocated direct contact between the DPRK and the USA to ease tensions. China doesn’t oppose Korean reunification because no one else in today’s world better understands the term “reunification” than Koreans and Chinese. Chinese would applaud a reunified Korea as a peaceful, prosperous, and friendly neighbour. However, China wouldn’t like to see a reunified Korea that was a US puppet, used as a geopolitical tool by the USA against China. The ball is now in Trump’s court.

1 June 2018

Chen Weihua

China Daily

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201806/01/WS5b1083bba31001b82571d8d7.html

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1 June 2018. Today is World Children’s Day… A Wry View From Vitaly Podvitsky

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The International Day for Protection of Children is observed in many countries as Children’s Day on 1 June since 1950. It was established by the Women’s International Democratic Federation at its congress in Moscow on 4 November 1949. In other words, it’s a positive Soviet legacy.

BMD

ROK and DPRK Have High-Level Talks at Panmunjom

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On Friday, the ROK Unification Ministry said high-level officials of the ROK and the DPRK started talks at the border village of Panmunjom. The senior-level dialogue kicked off at about 1000 local time (0100 GMT) at the Peace House, a ROK building in Panmunjom. ROK Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon headed the five-member ROK delegation, comprised of officials in charge of railways, sports, and inter-Korean cooperation. Ri Son-gwon, Chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland,  led the DPRK delegation.

1 June 2018

China Daily

http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201806/01/WS5b10abb1a31001b82571d9c4.html

Blame It on the Ambien

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Actress, comedian, and former US presidential candidate Roseanne Barr claims the prescription sedative Ambien was the true culprit behind her describing Valerie Jarrett, a former White House senior adviser, as a child of the “Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes”. While some were debating whether Barr’s tweet was likening Jarrett to apes or speaking from a place of Islamophobia, the former ABC star returned from her hours-long Twitter hiatus to proclaim in a now-deleted tweet that her 0200 “Ambien tweeting” was “indefensible”. Not to be used as a scapegoat, Ambien maker Sanofi’s US branch shot back at Barr without even mentioning her name:

People of all races, religions, and nationalities, work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world. While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a side effect of any Sanofi medication.

Anxiety, depression, nervousness, strange behaviour, thoughts of self-harm, memory loss, hallucinations, and severe confusion are reported side effects… especially in women. Naturally, US President Donald Trump, who received vocal support from Barr during the 2016 presidential election, also joined in on the Roseanne cancellation “party” by calling out Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, which owns ABC:

Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that “ABC doesn’t tolerate comments like those” made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J Trump to apologise for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe, I just didn’t get the call?

While the ultimate fate of the leading lady’s show is unknown for the cast and crew, it seems certain that the actress is won’t be backing away from the Twitter app anytime soon.

31 May 2018

Sputnik International

https://sputniknews.com/cartoons/201805311064958615-roseanne-blames-tweet-sanofi-ambien/

Editor:

I think that ABC came down especially hard on Roseanne as she attracts the “wrong” kind of people… proles. Do bear in mind that Upper Middles look down their long noses at us and treat us with either condescension or contempt. I spit on them and everything that they stand for and hold dear.

BMD