by Jan Gruiters, PAX
Two men with a red button met in Singapore. It can just end up in a disastrous failure. But it could just as well be the beginning of a historic breakthrough. An end to the war between North and South Korea. A start of nuclear disarmament. Today the impossible has happened, who knows what else is waiting for us.
One thing is certain. Nobody knows for sure how this will end. On the way to Singapore, Trump showed why. Again he became known as a capricious egocentric president who attacks his friends and embraces his enemies. He pleaded for permission from Russia to the G7. For neighboring and ally Canada, only a special place remained in hell.
The Guardian warns that we should not see the summit as negotiations. It is a show for two leaders who have come to Singapore with other goals. Negotiations require a healthy dose of realism, a clear goal and a strategy to achieve that. North Korea has been preparing for years for this moment. If not Trump. Prior to the summit, he did not need “too much preparation”. As a self-proclaimed expert in the art of negotiations, Trump has sufficient ” touch and feel “…