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What Happened with North Korea? Trump Weakened 70 Year Alliance with South Korea; Aided China's Rise
The news coming out of the mid-June meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-Un from Republicans, Fox News, and Trump enablers is emblematic of the reason why Trump envies Kim and North Korea. Lies, misinformation and propaganda about the results of the "summit" like you'd see on state-run television in that country, one where Kim executes family members he dislikes.
The real headline of the Trump-Kim summit.... should have been: “U.S. weakens its 70-year alliance with South Korea.” The most striking elements of Trump’s initiative were not simply that he lavished praise on North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Un, but also that he announced the cancellation of military exercises with South Korea, adopting North Korea’s own rhetoric by calling them “provocative.”
Trump has no idea what he's talking about once again but this time with stakes at unbelievable levels.
....it is North Korea that provokes and threatens South Korea, as it has done since it first invaded the South in 1950. North Korea is thought to have about 1 million active-duty troops, almost twice as many as the South, and it has constructed perhaps as many as 20 tunnels to possibly mount a surprise invasion. North Korea also has more than 6,000 pieces of artillery that can reach South Korea, including some whose range is so long that they endanger 32.5 million people, more than half the country’s population, according to a study by the Rand Corp. The Defense Department estimated in 2006 that if North Korea opened artillery fire on the South, 250,000 people would be killed in Seoul alone...
.... about a decade later, North Korea now has up to 60 nuclear bombs, complete with the missiles to deliver them. South Korea’s “war games” with the United States are necessary defensive exercises undertaken in the shadow of an aggressive adversary.
Ending our military exercises and treating North Korea as a good actor is the height of stupidity and dangerous beyond words.
Trump signaled that he would like to end the U.S. troop presence in South Korea. Through bitter experience, the United States has found that it is much better to have troops ready, battle-trained and with knowledge of the local geography rather than keeping them all in the United States, only to be sent abroad when trouble breaks out.
North Korea, the only rogue nuclear power in the world, scores a big win. But they are not alone. The big winner of this is China.
Consider what China has always wanted.
First, the stabilization of North Korea. Until recently, there was much talk of the impending implosion of the North Korean regime. For China, this would be a nightmare, since unification would take place on South Korean terms. This would mean a large democratic state allied with Washington, housing U.S. troops right on China’s border. That nightmare looks unlikely....
China’s second great desire has been to rid Asia of U.S. troops.... Trump appears inclined to do this as well. After the Cold War, many Asian countries got nervous that the United States would withdraw from Asia, leaving its allies to the tender mercies of a rising China.....Defense Department official....committed the United States to maintain a forward troop presence in Asia of about 100,000. Were Trump to follow through on his impulse to withdraw troops from South Korea, the United States would fall far below that threshold.
Trump is working magnificantly on behalf of China, North Korea, and Russia.
For China, the Trump administration has been the gift that keeps on giving. Trump began his term in office by pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was created by a group of U.S. allies to stand as an alternative to the Chinese market. The partnership was a bulwark against Chinese power that could have proved attractive to other Asian countries. Now the rules of the road are being written in Asia, and they are being written in Mandarin.
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