It’s North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, not Trump, who Forced the US to the Negotiating Table

Credit where credit’s due

I'm no fan of police states or of dictators, whether in Russia, China, North Korea or under development here in the United States, but let's at least be honest about what's behind the news that President Trump has agreed to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the man he has been calling "fat" and “Little Rocket Man."

The corporate media in the US has been lavishing at times grudging praise on Trump, claiming that it was his "harsh sanctions" and threatening military moves around the Korean Peninsula, and leaked White House talk of "bloody nose" incursions into North Korea, or threats to destroy that country that forced Kim to agree to talks.

The reality is quite the opposite, though. While we may be loath to admit it, that truth is that it has been Kim's dogged persistence, in the face of US sanctions, boycotts and threats, in testing and developing both a credible nuclear arsenal of atomic and thermonuclear weapons, and in demonstrating that he has missiles that can reach US targets, probably including the lower 48 states.

With as many as 60 such deliverable weapons, according to some estimates, Kim's North Korea has reached a point where the only way the US could hope to undo his accomplishment would be an all-out war against the North and is one-million-man army, its dug-in artillery, and even then the chances of doing this without North Korea launching at least some of its nukes would be slim.

Credit should go also to South Korea's President Moon Jae-in, who has defied the US by reaching out to Kim, first by inviting North Korea to participate in the Winter Olympics just completed successfully in South Korea, including the fielding of a joint North and South Korean women's hockey team, and then offering to meet directly in the North with Kim, after which Moon delivered Kim's invitation to meet with President Trump.

The US had opposed the Olympics invitation, and has been pressuring Moon not to meet with Kim, trying to queer the deal by upping the sanctions against the North, but failed. All along, amid calls in South Korea and by both China and Russia, for the US to negotiate with Kim, the Trump administration, like those before it, has been demanding that North Korea first get rid of its nuclear weapons before any negotiations -- a demand that it knew meant no negotiations.

Now, suddenly, faced with a real offer of head-of-state face-to-face negotiations, and a reported offer by Kim to get rid of the country's nuclear weapons if the US gives a guarantee not to attempt to overthrow the North Korean government, the US has been forced to accept…

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