ASPartOfMe wrote:
Is his theory that he will scare Kim so much that unlike in every time in the past the regime will not voilate the agreement?
Kim would be desperate for any type of gesture that he could use to give himself legitimacy to his people not to mention his well publicized obsession with American entertainment, remember how they rolled out the red carpet for Dennis Rodman? A ball signed by Michael Jordan given by Madeline Albright is housed in museum among their greatest gifts they've received from foreign leader. Meeting sitting the US president would be the most momentous moment in North Korean history.
The reality is that North Korea is a nuclear weapons state and I don't think even China is happy about that but North Korea has dug it's military in defensively for 60 years and even with antiquated equipment they could overwhelm the South with missiles and artillery along with a million troops who have been preparing to invade the South forever. North Korea is a state that we do not understand, we have this idea that is ran by this complete madman but is that the truth? Diplomacy I think could be a powerful tool with a leader like Kim Jong-Un, it is worth a shot trying to reach this man as he was western educated and is similar to his father in his love of basketball and culture of the west. This idea that we can isolate and just put the country under siege essentially as we have and basically starve them out I think is foolish and doesn't punish the leaders but the people. Millions died from famine in the 90s which was completely preventable, what might seem like a meaningless token gesture could mean the world in terms of our relationship with the country. Sitting back and doing nothing doesn't seem like a good NK policy, I think we can do better than the status quo and if it doesn't work then it was at least worth a shot. To mention it again North Korea is a nuclear weapons state, it has the delivery system and it could nuke it's immediate neighbors(at least until Russia rolls out it's new S-500 air defense system, which is another reason making peace with Russia is imperative since this new system could essentially make themselves impervious to ICBM strikes allowed them to survive a first strike)
Brinkmanship with North Korea is not something I am interest with, we have to take them seriously even if we accept the reality that they're an nuclear weapons state because if we starve them out and place economically crippling sanctions then what is the one thing they can sell?
Diplomacy shouldn't be a dirty word, it should be exhausted before all else.