North Korea Won't Denuclearize, Might Team Up With Russia (Art of the Deal, Folks)
Maybe the most dubious item on President Trump’s self-professed “historic” list of accomplishments is the progress he claims to have made with North Korea. Since meeting with Kim Jong-un in Singapore last year, Trump has touted his loving relationship with the dictator while promising that the North Korean nuclear threat is a thing of the past. None of this squares with reality, as we were reminded for the umpteenth time Tuesday morning. Take it from National Intelligence Director Dan Coats:
“We currently assess that North Korea will seek to retain its WMD capabilities and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities because its leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival. Our assessment is bolstered by our observations of some activity that is inconsistent with full denuclearization. While we assess that sanctions on exports have been effective and largely maintained, North Korea seeks to mitigate the effects of the U.S.-led pressure campaign through diplomatic engagement, counter pressure against the sanctions regime and direct sanctions evasion.”
Link to tweet
This sounds like a pretty credible assessment. In fact, it sounds about as credible as such an assessment could possibly sound. North Korea is not denuclearizing. They never were, and they’re not going to in the future. Anyone with half a measure of common sense and a vague understanding of the last 30 years of U.S-North Korea relations knew this long before Coats made it the official position of the intelligence community on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the president of the United States possesses neither of these things.
Trump will undoubtedly dismiss this assessment and continue to maintain that North Korea is denuclearizing. The findings of the intelligence community mean nothing compared to the novelty “love letters” Kim has sent to Trump, the most recent coming earlier this year. “Kim Jong Un says North Korea will not make or test nuclear weapons, or give them to others – & he is ready to meet President Trump anytime.’ PBS News Hour,” the president tweeted. “I also look forward to meeting with Chairman Kim who realizes so well that North Korea possesses great economic potential!”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/north-korea-russia-786069/
But Trumpy and Kim are in love.
= new reply since forum marked as read
