Friends, don't believe everything you read or hear -- in my humble opinion, we are still on track for an historic meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, and for peace on the Korean Peninsula. Read all about it in my latest article:
https://amgreatness.com/2018/05/26/trump-will-get-a-deal-done-with-north-korea/
r. Waddy: I do not doubt that you are right; our President is a happy "Hardball Player". All communist monsters are hardball players of much different water but they know power when they are confronted by those they believe willing to use it. What stopped the hellhound Stalin from simply taking Berlin in 1948? He was convinced that Harry Truman would use the A Bomb which only he possessed. Was Harry going to show the rest of his hand (eg.intent)? Hell no and our gutsy President is cast of the same mold. I fully agree with you;they will meet; many millions will benefit and the American left will look like petulant juveniles when they carp (little enough but it will be all they can manage; thye have but little credibility.
ReplyDeleteYes, the leftist criticism of Trump's opening to NK is very telling: they would be singing the praises of this approach, surely, if it were a Clinton in the driver's seat. They must feel conflicted, though -- they do so love a communist dictator, and are always willing to take the side of the Reds over that of the US of A. What will they do if Trump and Kim shake hands and make nice? Will they admit Trump was right all along? I doubt it. Probably they'll turn on Kim and condemn him as a Trumpian stooge! Perhaps Putin orchestrated the whole thing? That would sound plausible to the talking heads on MSNBC, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: We have a plausible historical case study to consider - Nixon and China. I was perhaps half a mile from the border between then truly "Red China" and the then British ruled rural areas outside of the cities of the Hong Kong colony, in early 1972. I was on a hill from which I could see perhaps ten miles into the PRC and I remember thinking "that's a place no American can go". A couple of months later Nixon shook hands with the monstrous Mao Tse Tung in Beijing, to the benefit, nonetheless, of both their countries. I suppose even Mao was then seen to have some human characteristics. In November 1972, Nixon was reelected in a landslide. I don't remember there having been appreciable outrage at Nixon having dealt with China in his way. Leftists now are in an increasingly marginal position; they may have to swallow their gum and refrain from criticizing Trump for what is looking more and more like a mastery on his part of such negotiation, lest they be seen as the childish dilettantes they are. They may not have the ability to do so; we must earnestly hope they don't. That they are willing to apologize for any outrage perpetrated by Marxist savages is an old story and an ever more tiresome one. Any condemnation of Kim by them would be grotesque comedy with little credibility or influence.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting that you visited Hong Kong in '72! You were on the front lines of history, Jack, as I'm sure you realize now, and no doubt realized at the time. What a pity that Hong Kong had to be surrendered to communist rule...but let's hope it will all work out in the end.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: It may actually be that Hong Kong is a little better off under the somewhat flexible rule of a PRC which has, I think, put paid to Communist ideology, while conveniently retaining some of its totalitarian ways. It was shamefully coerced from China in the execrable Opium Wars and the Brits did the honorable thing in peacefully fulfilling the terms of their 99 year lease. Even when I was doing Chinese Studies in the mid '70's China had designated Autonomous Regions (eg. Tibet, Sinkiang) where some deviation from the "Little Red Book" was tolerated in a limited sense. Hong Kong may enjoy some of that freedom today. It always was an entrepot and the Chinese apparently recognize its value as such today. I'll bet they don't countenance the open debauchery and perversion that the Brits allowed in Hong Kong and Singapore and which was so offensive to Chinese sensibilities. The "Walled City of Kowloon",transported from the corporate limits of Dante's inferno, was off limits even to us sailors. I'd guess the PRC has dealt with that.
ReplyDeleteInteresting perspective, Jack. No doubt you're right that rule by one's fellow Chinese is preferable to British rule in some respects. In addition, the people of Hong Kong are still benefiting from an orgy of trade and investment -- "communist" rule didn't change that.
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