#Trumplomacy

[sarcasticcynic]

Ten years ago, President Barack Obama was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. So naturally Donald Trump must have one now, to prove that he’s the best president, better than any other president, especially the black guy.

Turns out it’s not as easy as he’d hoped, though. Only certain individuals, such as current heads of state, are qualified to nominate potential recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. And Trump can’t nominate himself: “A nomination for yourself will not be taken into consideration.”

In 2017, someone fraudulently tried to nominate Donald Trump for the Peace Prize using the name of a qualified nominator. The nomination was rejected. In 2018, someone again tried to use the name of a qualified nominator to nominate Trump. The Nobel Institute again rejected the fraudulent nomination.

Last Friday, Trump bragged that Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe had nominated him for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. So he appears finally to have learned the proper procedure for getting himself nominated: Just ask an actual qualified nominator to do it for you.

“The U.S. government ‘informally’ asked Tokyo to nominate Trump after he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June.”

In accordance with the Trump administration’s request, Abe has allegedly nominated Trump for easing tensions with North Korea--tensions which Trump himself had created--and for the “historic” summit at which North Korea got everything it wanted and the United States got basically nothing.

Fake news? Doesn’t look like it:

“Abe said he wouldn’t comment on the report because Peace Prize nominations are secret for 50 years. But he did say: ‘I’m not saying it’s not true.’”

[justyournewsworld]

Trumplomacy: Where are things at with the Mideast peace plan? What does the newly-elected right wing government mean for Trump's peace plan?

[iwirenews]

Trumplomacy: Are we seeing the end of a close Israel-US relationship? https://ift.tt/2nynl1G

[news-fyi]

Trumplomacy on Golan Heights: What it all means http://bit.ly/2JwnTPR

[brevascigars]

Trumplomacy over Iran leaves Europe scrambling for answers

The US abandonment of the Iran nuclear deal left US allies spinning, writes Barbara Plett Usher.

copyright © 2016

        from Trumplomacy over Iran leaves Europe scrambling for answers via Trumplomacy over Iran leaves Europe scrambling for answers October 21, 2018 at 10:13AM

[zeroviraluniverse-blog]

Trumplomacy: Who's going to represent US at N Korea talks now?

Visit Now - https://zeroviral.com/trumplomacy-whos-going-to-represent-us-at-n-korea-talks-now/

Trumplomacy: Who's going to represent US at N Korea talks now?

Image copyright Getty Images

As President Donald Trump reshuffles his Team of Rivals, questions abound about who will be part of high-stakes talks with North Korea on nuclear weapons.

Within minutes of his audacious on-the-spot decision to accept an invitation from Kim Jong-un, news reports were detailing the thinness of America’s North Korea bench – which got thinner this week after Trump’s brutal sacking of his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

There’s been much handwringing from Washington’s foreign policy literati at the recent loss of Special Envoy Joseph Yun, a veteran diplomat who decided to retire for “personal reasons” after serving as point man for North Korea under both Presidents Obama and Trump.

So much so that the state department spokeswoman Heather Nauert fired back impatiently when I asked her about the status of plans to replace him.

“To think that Ambassador Yun is the only person who can handle the issues related to North Korea is simply false,” she said, pointing out that the department had plenty of experts who toiled in obscurity and were not “showboats”.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption North Korea envoy Joseph Yun retired for “personal reasons”

At which point she was forced to deny she was suggesting the discreet diplomat was a publicity seeker, but didn’t otherwise back down.

“Many of you ask me a million questions about Joe Yun, like he’s the second coming of Christ.”

To be frank, such a comparison didn’t occur to me. But Yun did seem to be having second thoughts in an interview this week with CNN, during which he praised Trump’s decision as a “great outcome,” and said he’d seriously consider any request by the president to return to action.

In the meantime, as Nauert pointed out, the department’s team is headed by career diplomat Susan Thornton, its most senior official on East Asian affairs and a Tillerson favourite.

It was on his insistence the administration finally nominated her to formally take on the role for which she’s been acting up, but she has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.

There is also Marc Lambert, the state department’s director for North Korea policy, who’s had previous negotiating experience with Pyongyang.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionFour defectors talk about what life is like in North Korea

The lack of an ambassador to South Korea, however, is a glaring vacuum.

Victor Cha, who served as George W Bush’s top adviser on North Korea, was a shoo-in for the job. But in the end the administration failed to nominate him, reportedly because he opposed the notion of a preventive military strike on North Korea being bandied about by some in the White House.

Nevertheless, there is talent in the region, should Trump choose to use it, such as the Charge d’Affaires in Seoul, Marc Knapper, and others.

The White House side is more eclectic and aggressive than the state department. There’s been greater scepticism about the value of talks with Pyongyang, and a greater readiness to consider military options should attempted negotiations fail.

The North Korea man on the National Security Council is Matthew Pottinger, a former journalist who caused a stir in February when a South Korean newspaper alleged he’d suggested that a “bloody nose” strike on North Korea would boost Republican chances in the mid-terms.

The White House flatly denied the comments, which seem to have been mistranslated but reflected concerns in Seoul about Trump’s team.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionWhy Trump only has bad North Korea options

And there is National Security Advisor General HR McMaster, who’s been the most vocal about the possibility of a “preventive war” to stop North Korea from threatening the US with a nuclear weapon. By all reports, he is on his way out.

But there’s speculation he may replace the commander of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) General Vincent Brooks, who has a good understanding of the region and has apparently perplexed his South Korean hosts by saying he will be leaving his post by the summer. McMaster may leave, but he may stay, so to speak.

One of the candidates in the running to replace McMaster is North Korea hawk and former UN Ambassador John Bolton, who has made a legal case for striking North Korea first. He’s also rooting for the summit with Pyongyang to fail, in order to “foreshorten the amount of time that we’re going to waste in negotiations”.

Then there’s First Daughter Ivanka Trump, the president’s emissary to the closing of the Olympic Games and apparently beyond.

South Korea’s foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha was reportedly set to meet her during a trip to Washington this week, which was also supposed to include a chat with Tillerson. His deputy John Sullivan did the honours instead.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Ivanka Trump (l) and South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha (2nd-right) attend the Snowboard – Men’s Big Air Final on day 15 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games

Tillerson’s abrupt departure after months of personal and policy tensions with the president has added a whole new level of uncertainty to Trump’s North Korea gamble.

The outgoing secretary of state has done a lot of spade work on this. He led the charge – quite successfully – for harsh international sanctions. At the same time he was an early advocate for talks – too early and too eager, reportedly, for Trump.

In fact, White House officials said the president’s decision to sack him now was largely based on the desire to have the CIA director and Trump loyalist Mike Pompeo at his side for potential negotiations to eliminate Kim’s nuclear weapons.

Pompeo is thoroughly across the brief – but as the head of the CIA, not as the secretary of state crafting a complex diplomatic process.

It’s not clear what the switch means for negotiations, but we know that Pompeo’s rhetoric has been belligerent, that he’s mused in public about removing Kim Jong-un, and that he’s widely believed to be more open to military options than Tillerson was.

His fans say he’ll set the necessary red lines for negotiations: communicating clearly to Kim Jong-un that denuclearisation is the only option, and that should diplomacy fail, the US will act.

His detractors say he will increase the chances of a failed summit and possibly war.

Ambassador Yun, however, spoke hopefully of Pompeo’s prospects. He told CNN that Tillerson’s ousting would contribute to the cohesion between the state department and White House necessary for successful talks.

“In an administration, you’re going to have different views,” he said, “but I think the time has come to speak with one single unified voice and that voice has to be of the president.”

And that, of course, is the biggest wild card: whether the president will work with the team he eventually assembles, or continue the way he started this adventure – as his own strategist, diplomat and negotiator.

[latesthubnews]

Trumplomacy: Has Trump made the world more dangerous?

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Trump and Kim on TV screens in Seoul

The world has become a more uncertain place since US President Donald Trump issued his “America First” decree in the dark and dystopian language that so alarmed allies and intrigued adversaries. But has it become more dangerous?

Not if you look at…

[kemvid]

Trumplomacy: Tillerson's 2018 hopes for North Korea - https://wp.me/p91bka-gg1 - #Hopes, #Korea, #North, #Tillersons, #TopStories, #Trumplomacy

[cushydiet-blog]

Trumplomacy: Tillerson's 2018 hopes for North Korea - https://wp.me/p8IYwe-e1H - #Hopes, #Korea, #North, #Tillersons, #Trumplomacy, #World_News

[morningnews24h]

Trumplomacy: Mike Pompeo eyes history on Israel swansong trip By Barbara Plett UsherBBC State Departme... https://albahuth.info/?p=48402&feed_id=170538

[sarcasticcynic]

*squeak*squeak*squeak*

*splash*

Things Defense Secretary Jim Mattis successfully talked Trump out of doing:

Launching a military strike against North Korea

Assassinating Bashar al-Assad

Abandoning NATO

Withdrawing from the Korean peninsula

Abandoning the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement

Things Mattis successfully delayed Trump from doing:

Staging a massive military parade in his own honor

Abandoning the Iran nuclear deal

Banning transgender military service

Withdrawing all U.S. troops from Syria months ago

Reasons Mattis is resigning:

Trump declared (falsely, as per usual) that he had defeated ISIS and unilaterally announced that U.S. troops would leave Syria, without consulting the Pentagon or Mattis.

Trump disrespects, threatens, and angers our allies: “While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies.”

Trump cozies up to our enemies, siding with them against U.S. interests: “We must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours. It is clear that China and Russia, for example, want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model ... to promote their own interests at the expense of their neighbors, America and our allies.”

Trump dismisses contrary views from subject-matter experts: “My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues. ... Because you have the right to a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position.”

[gocurrentcom]

Trumplomacy: Mike Pompeo eyes history on Israel swansong trip Mike Pompeo became the first US secretary of state to visit a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, physically putting his stamp on a Trump administration policy that has embraced the expansionist vision of the Israeli right.

[actutrendnews]

Trumplomacy: Mike Pompeo eyes history on Israel swansong trip

The visit is as much about putting pressure on Iran as it is about shoring up the Israeli right.

[cushydiet-blog]

Trumplomacy: Is there a Mideast strategy beyond arms sales? - https://goo.gl/MJcSp5 - #Arms, #MidEast, #Sales, #Strategy, #Trumplomacy, #World_News