BORDER FOLLY
Delacourt, Burman and Daniel Dale on the week in U. S. relations,
So, in the wake of the Singapore and G7 summits, what did we learn during this remarkable week in the history of this 21st century?
We already knew that the 45th president of the United States is an uninformed, egotistical fool who would take any risk and tell any lie if he thought it served his own personal interests.
And we already knew that Donald Trump has a pathological infatuation for dictatorships and the authoritarian leaders who rule them, and a loathing of everything that genuine democracy entails.
But what we learned this week is that Trump’s use of his presidency to exploit the two — in the face of fragmented opposition — is a deepening danger to us all.
Here are five ways that the history books will remember this past week:
1. North Korea’s Kim wins the day The overwhelming consensus of nuclear experts is that Kim Jong Un clearly outmanoeuvred the U.S. president. The North Korean leader made fewer concessions than in previous negotiations with the U.S., dating back to the 1990s. He promised only to “work towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” — but with no timetable or details. In exchange, not only did he achieve a unique one-on-one summit with the American president — an obsession of the Kim dynasty for decades — but Trump also agreed to Kim’s request that the U.S. cancel joint military exercises with South Korea.
2. Trump glorifies a hideous regime Incredibly, the U.S. president praised North Korea’s murderous dictator and regime. Only six months ago, Trump had described North Korea in these terms: “The horror of life in North Korea is complete … Leaders imprison their people under the banner of tyranny, fascism and oppression.” Yet, after the Singapore summit, Trump told the Voice of America that he had this message for North Koreans: “I think you have somebody that has a great feeling for them. He wants to do right by them and we got along really well.” 3. It’s all about U.S. domestic politics. After the summit, Trump made this absurd claim: “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office …” But he showed why this is all about the mid-term congressional elections five months from now: “Honestly, I think (Kim) is going to do these things. I may be wrong. I mean, I may stand before you in six months and say, ‘Hey, I was wrong.’ I don’t know that I’ll ever admit that, but I’ll find some kind of excuse.”
4. Iran deal has never looked better What was notably missing from the public statements of U.S. officials was any acknowledgement of the difficulties ahead. North Korea has a developed and sophisticated nuclear program, hidden in underground bunkers throughout the country. Nuclear experts estimate it would take years for the process to happen. None of that was reflected in the skimpy twopage Singapore statement written by Trump and Kim. In contrast, nuclear experts point to the detailed, 159-page Iran nuclear deal as a potential model for any North Korea nuclear breakthrough. Of course, this is the deal that Trump has attacked as “the worst deal ever … defective at its core.” He spoke too soon.
5. Democracies are under siege The only achievement of the Singapore summit is that it happened at all, since talking is better than fighting. But there is little evidence this meeting will lead to an enduring peace. The other epic event during this week was the disastrous G7 meeting in Quebec. Through insults and bullying, Trump injected chaos in the western alliance that he seems to loathe so much.
Coming as it did immediately before his lovefest with Kim Jong Un, the uproar revealed the enormous challenge currently being faced by 21stcentury democracies in the Era of Trump. That may be the ultimate warning bell from this historic week.