North Korea/US Summit Back On
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Washington has been hostile toward North Korea since the late 1940s – using the nation as a convenient punching bag in the aftermath of Harry Truman’s 1950s aggression, China America’s main regional target.
It’s especially true now. Beijing is a major political, economic and military power, heading toward becoming the world’s dominant economy in the years ahead – relegating America to No. two status for the first time in the modern era, something Washington finds unacceptable.
It’s coming. China already matches or exceeds America on a purchase price basis – what a basket of goods costs in each country.
America prioritizes militarism, warmaking, and bullying other nations to bend to its will. China focuses heavily economic growth domestically and through foreign markets, taking advantage of its increasing technological expertise in numerous industrial, high-tech and other sectors.
US policy features sticks. China uses carrots, winning friends and influencing people at America’s expense. The same goes for Russia. Both countries cooperate with other nations politically and economically, polar opposite how Washington operates.
Hegemons at best are tolerated, not liked. Sino/Russian geopolitical policies achieve opposite results, gaining allies, a longterm winning strategy.
The on-again, off-against North Korea/US summit is back on for June 12. The announcement came after Trump met with top Kim Jong-un aide Kim Yong-chol (DPRK Central Committee vice chairman) in the Oval Office on Friday.
“We are going to deal, and we are really going to start a process,” Trump announced – calling a letter Kim Yong-chol delivered from Kim Jong-un “very nice…very interesting,” then said he hadn’t read it.
His regime has “new sanctions ready to go (if) talks break down,” he said – a hostile remark surely not going down well in Pyongyang.
Washington demands what’s inconceivable for the DPRK to agree to – a “complete, verifiable and irreversible” end to North Korean nuclearization, developed because of genuinely feared US aggression, the threat clearly remaining no matter what comes out of summit and follow-up talks.
They won’t end seven decades of US hostility toward Pyongyang. Previous talks failed because Washington reneged on promises made – how it nearly always operates, proving it can never be trusted.
It’s uncompromisingly hostile toward all sovereign independent countries, wanting their governments transformed into pro-Western puppet regimes – North Korea no exception, something it clearly understands.
Kim Jong-un wants normalized relations with Washington and the West, a formal end to the 1950s war, removal of all sanctions, and security guarantees, the threat of another devastating war eliminated.
It’s virtually impossible to get from Washington, its promises made to be broken, its duplicity longstanding, wrongfully blaming other countries for its maliciousness against them.
America consistently negotiates one way – insisting on its demands being met, offering nothing in return but pledges sure to be breached.
North Korea’s earlier dealings with Washington and the Iran nuclear deal are Exhibits A and B – clearly proving US promises aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.
The June 12 summit at most will launch more extensive bilateral talks to follow (China, South Korea and Russia not involved as they should be) – unless things break down in Singapore or shortly afterwards, a real possibility given Washington’s hardline position.
North Korea is unlikely to make concessions without US ones in return – most importantly relating to DPRK security, along with eliminating economically harmful sanctions.
Hoping Washington will negotiate in good faith is betting on what never was and almost certainly won’t be ahead – in US dealings with the DPRK, as well as with all other sovereign independent countries America doesn’t control.
The best Pyongyang can hope for is stepping back from the brink short-term, relieving some pressure.
US duplicity and rage for global dominance over all nations virtually assures no Trump regime commitment for peace and stability on the peninsula, no iron-clad security guarantees North Korea seeks, no tangible benefits from dealing with Washington.
Hegemons don’t negotiate. They demand, wanting things their way, offering nothing in return but empty promises – the American way throughout most of its history.
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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
