Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Ban John Bolton from speaking!
No real surprise, it was always obvious to everyone except Donald Trump and John Bolton that Kim Jong-un at some point was going to lose his temper about all the pre-summit talk about North Korea giving up all its nukes. Kim and co have blamed John Bolton, Trump's old old-school national security adviser, for comparing the North Korea nuke situation with Gaddafi's Libya and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Well it was pretty stupid seeing as how Gaddafi was overthrown when he gave up hs nukes and chemical weapons and was then summarily murdered as he tried to hide in a large pipe and Saddam was found concealed in a hole in the ground after the US-led invasion and was later hanged. Not the best comparison to make when all Kim wants is for him and his regime to survive and rule for ever. Sorry, Mr Bolton, that was not one of your most intelligent moments. However, Kim would have found something else to complain about before he decided to play hard ball and cancel the meeting with South Korea and threaten to call off the summit with Trump in Singapore on June 12. Like, for example, all this stuff about Trump winning the Nobel Peace Prize if North Korea were to denuclearise. Trump should have stamped on that one straightaway. But instead, he nodded and winked as if to say, "Hey you Nobel people, that's a great idea. Obama got his for doing nothing, I'm saving the world." I reckon I would be pretty irritated to say the least if I was Kim sitting in Pyongyang and, by the way, making all the running in the peace stakes and issuing positive vibes every other day to encourage everyone to think this is a great moment in history. Now it's all shattered. Well, not looking so good, and Trump and Bolton will be desperately trying to eat their words to get Kim back on track again. But, please, do not imagine, and everyone has been saying this until they are blue in the face, that Kim is going to walk into the summit wth Trump and just say, "Well, hi, Mr President, I want to get rid of ALL my nukes TODAY." He has spent billions of dollars on buildng a nuclear arsenal only to throw it all away on Day One? That was never going to happen. But Bolton waffles on on TV about how Kim is going to be another Gaddafi or Saddam. Mike Pompeo at State, a pretty shrewd guy, must be seething. It's one thing to start from a strong position and talk tough, but quite another to write the script before the talking has really begun. You have to do these things slowly and carefully and cautiously, not blunder around like a blind buffalo and treat your opponent like a......well like a Little Rocket Man or a "crazy fat kid" (John McCain's choice phrase although that was a long time ago now). Bolton should be banned from the airwaves. Leave the negotiations before the summit, if it happens, to Pompeo who hasn't yet put a foot wrong, and perhaps try out the soon-to-be new CIA director, Gina Haspel. Let her smooth the path. But Bolton, get back in your bunker!!!
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