Clowning Around With Nukes

“It’s true, I’m a clown,

but what can be done?

You’re not what you want,

you are what you can.”

“Clown” by Rafael Pérez Botija

In 2016, when North Korea ramped up its intermediate-range missile testing, supposedly carrying nuclear warheads over the ocean, its target was not the coasts of San Francisco or Portland or even the islands of Hawaii. The North Korean rockets targeted mass media communication, especially in the West and a blip through South Korea.

The dictator over the northern portion of the Korean Peninsula wanted to make it very clear that he was knocking on the nuclear-armed countries’ front door to join the club, or at least take a peek inside. Similarly, India and Pakistan came knocking when they were engaged in territorial disputes that turned into wars. To date, eight countries make up the nuclear-armed club. The obvious ones are the United States, Russia, China, Great Britain and France. India and Pakistan have been added and most recently, North Korea.

North Korea does not have the financial, technological, political, and staffing capability to continue the trend of a serious nuclear arms race. A country without enough money to feed its people a daily bowl of rice cannot afford to be a military power. It has been a long time since armies were made up solely of masses of soldiers, which is what North Korea brings to the table, even if those soldiers are famished, indoctrinated young men. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is dying of hunger and is shooting off missiles into the air. Exactly: The military objective was media driven.

With all of his nefarious shrewdness, Donald Trump fell into the trap, and is scheduled to meet with the president of North Korea before May in an undisclosed location with an undisclosed agenda. Like all of Trump’s foreign policy decisions, the White House spokesperson’s explanation has been vague: The meeting will not take place without “concrete actions,” and North Korea has made certain promises. The government in Pyongyang says that during talks—- that is, from now until May — it will suspend nuclear testing.

As long as the country has existed, no U.S. president has met with an official from North Korea; there has not even been a telephone call.

What was Trump missing about Pyongyang? That is the question everyone around the world with a brain is asking. Actually, if this outreach goes anywhere, the roller coaster ride would end with the reunification of Korea — something that nobody wants. For China, which feeds Pyongyang, North Korea is its southern shield which would disappear. For Japan, a unified Korea is a potential military and commercial threat with the cheap and hungry workforce in the north. For Russia, any demerit against its presence in the region is bad.

What is Trump after? Not for the first time: a stage, attention. He will be the star of the three-ring circus, the clown of the little party. He said yesterday — tweeted — “I may leave fast or we will have an agreement that the world has never seen.”*

There are those who want 15 minutes of fame at some point in their life. Trump wants 15 hours a day. At any cost.

With a big red nose to boot.

*Editor’s Note: Though accurately translated, this quote could not be sourced from Twitter. However, at a Republican campaign rally on March 10, Trump is quoted as saying, “I may leave fast or we may sit down and make the greatest deal for the world.”