kayhan.ir

News ID: 53368
Publish Date : 25 May 2018 - 21:33

Villain of the Piece Postpones Prospects of Peace in East Asia

By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer
     
Donald Trump’s abrupt cancellation of the summit in Singapore with Kim Jong-un scheduled for June 12 – a first-ever meeting between the heads of state of the US and North Korean which he himself had announced – and his resumption of war rhetoric, not only strengthens the conviction that Washington should on no account be trusted, but is a further proof of his being a dotard.
The Don Quixote in the White House thinks he is clever – all fools do – and might not realize the lasting damage he is causing to the US and to world peace, as villain of the piece in every matter.
He fails to understand that his yet another shameless move on the international political scene, following his breaching earlier this month of the 7-nation nuclear accord with Iran, is not a bargaining tactic of the shady US corporate world where he has made billions of dollars through foul play.
He assumes he is playing a great game of chess by thundering threats by bragging of the doomsday nuclear weapons of the US and what destruction he is capable of doing.  
For seasoned diplomats, however, including Americans, Trump appears to be an unmanly coward, worried that his inflated ego is likely to be punctured if Kim does not agree to total denuclearization at any direct talks and insists the US reciprocate North Korea’s voluntary dismantling of its underground nuclear testing site.
Analysts note that North Korea last Thursday, watched by reporters from around the world, completely dismantled its Punggye-ri nuclear test facility "to ensure the transparency of discontinuance” of nuclear testing – a goodwill gesture that has not been matched by the US, which possesses the world’s most dangerous nuclear arsenal.
Pyongyang expects Washington to provide concrete security security guarantees by withdrawing its occupation troops from South Korea and removing the so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from South Korea and Japan.
The US, instead, has whipped up tensions by holding military exercises with South Korea that naturally drew strong objections of insincere intentions by the US, even when Kim had endorsed Trump’s own idea of face-to-face talks.
Kim Jong-un, after his winter Olympics diplomacy that successfully thawed the US-imposed freeze with Seoul and led to the historic meeting with President Moon Jae-in at the 38th Parallel that has continued to unnatural divide the Korean Peninsula since 1950, resulting in Trump’s own decision to meet him, is now placed in a prime position.
In other words, Kim now holds the Trump Card. With Trump’s abrupt U-turn, accompanied by war threats, he looks all set to trump the US president, as is clear from the reconciliatory message from Pyongyang that the door on talks is still open, although North Korea is not afraid of any military showdown.
As a result, Kim’s popularity has immensely surged amongst South Koreans who have reacted angrily to Trump’s theatrics, making them rightly feel of being cheated of a chance of a lifetime to live in peace.
From government officials to the man in the street in South Korea are saying with one voice: "Trump has no interest in peace in our country. Why can’t he just let us, the two Koreas, live in peace?”
They are absolutely right, and so are China, Russia and Japan, who have now no illusions that as long as a psychopath and his growing team of deranged thugs hold sway in Washington, there will be no peace in East Asia, or for that matter in other parts of the world.