June 14, 2019

     Trump’s triumphant meeting with Kim John Un. Some thoughts. I am glad that, now, our attention will be turned to the World Cup in Russia, and he won’t be seen in the news with the frequency he has been the last weeks.

   First, I remember when I was released from prison in 1987, I spent almost a month in DC, mostly out of the office of our Michigan senator, Karl Levin, now retired. One of the visit I made was to the State Department to emphasize to them that no matter how they chose to see it, the fact was (as it turned out) that the ANC would be the next government (it was listed, at the time, as a terrorist organization). So, they had better start planning to meet the leaders and plan together for the future.

     I think it is out of the negotiators text book, that, one way or another, you have to meet your enemy, and do your negotiating. Shouting at each other, insulting each other, making fun of each other, brings no results. Getting together, as uncomfortable as that may be, is necessary.

     Trump likes to drive home to his fans, and to all those who are subjected to his photo ops, that he is the one who is responsible for forcing Kim (Rocket man) to the negotiating table, with his constantly increasing sanctions. However, he must have forgotten that the sanctions, no matter how heavy they got, didn’t stop Kim for testing his ballistic missiles, and trying to  miniaturize his nuclear bombs, until he was able to target any place in America. AS I see it, it was then that Kim could say, OK, now I am ready to meet and talk…in spite of all the sanctions and threats. Once he had this ace in his arsenal, he had some bargaining power and could afford to agree to a meeting with the very enemy who had threatened to annihilate him and the whole country (remember, we had an even bigger, nuclear button).

     There is no doubt that Kim won big in that meeting (nice words….they had all been said before…. But no real substance) since he (cold-blooded dictator that his is, with the blood on his hands of many, including members of his own family, and millions in prison, and millions more suffering starvation, etc. etc. etc.) was now seen by the whole world as an equal to the American president, unbelievable three weeks ago. What his father and grandfather only dreamed of, he managed, by pushing his nuclear program and ballistic missiles program.

     To see how Trump, who flayed his allies, especially Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron, not to mention the former presidents and their advisors (they were all stupid and he, genius that he is, used his super intelligence to accomplish what they were never , to accomplish), on the one hand (still fresh from the G6 +1 meeting) and then praising Kim to the skies and inviting this great young man to the White House. Holy Moses. I was getting sick watching all this.

     However, as I said in the beginning, I always believed that it is the only way to resolve anything, by sitting down and discussing with your worst enemy. I would have done it in a different way, though. I would have had private meetings with him, not covered by the news, so that things could be discussed and hammered out outside the glare of the cameras. Later, if something came of it, there might be some open news, but without a lot of fanfare (but I doubt of Trump would even think of that…he needs fanfare, and drama, and attention).

    It is ridiculous that, once the meeting was over, and he had taken credit for, unilaterally have engineered this meeting (you remember the on again, off again approach) that has now made the world safe from nuclear war. (Wow, what a jump forward.) It was also quite amazing that he could now quote, almost verbatim, Kim’s words that the military training exercises were provocative, by even calling them “war games”. Hey, whose side are you on? And besides that, his two Asian allies, who have most to lose if there is war between N.Korea and US, were never even consulted when it came to cancelling these training exercises, which keep their troops in tip top shape in case something happens, since they will be the first ones to experience the damage.

     From Kim the terrorist rocket man to Kim the hero for all the world to see, made possible through the unbelievable intelligence of Genius Trump.  Don’t you think that they both deserve a peace prize?

   

Otherwise, I have been busy with pastoral work, work in the garden (jungle),  and other odds and ends. Believe it or not I have been reading a book called “Saving Capitalism…for the many not the few” by Robert Reich. th he says that the more money you have (big companies and big banks, etc.) the more power you have to make new rules that will help you to get even more wealth, at the expense of those who don’t have money, and therefore, don’t have the power to make the rules of the game that lead to the obscenely rich and the increasing number of those in one or other degrees of poverty. Interesting.

    But I have to go now. I will continue when I get another break. See you later. Cas.