America First? America Alone!
Published in Süddeutsche Zeitung
(Germany) on 24 May 2018
by Kurt Kister (link to original)
Trump humiliates Kim by cancelling the summit on precisely the day when North Korea is celebrating the destruction of its nuclear test center. Such a dilettantish course of action may rock the already unstable world order.
However one looks at it, America has never, since time immemorial, been ruled by such a dilettantish clique as the Trump group. First, a summit with North Korea’s dictator is announced with trumpeting fanfare. Then it is determined that Kim is behaving in principle as he has always behaved – and the meeting is canceled again. The damage, unfortunately, is enormous.
A summit in which, for the first time since the Korean War, a U.S. president would have met with the sitting North Korean head of state, could truly have been historic — historic, in the sense that such symbolically important meetings in fact bear the seeds of great change.
Whoever frivolously announces such a summit, then drops it on a whim, is also kicking the responsibility of history into the dirt. If this is done by the head of a controlling regime that has succumbed to the authoritarian cult of personality, it is regrettable, but not very surprising. If, however, the American president does this, as is now apparently happening, then it can rock the already unstable world order.
The U.S. is losing even more credibility on the international stage, if that is at all possible. The world apparently counts for nothing for this president. He abides by no treaties, positions himself openly against allies, and damages the interests of his own country because he considers foreign policy a poker game. Prior to the now called-off summit, North Korea again drew nearer to China. In its aspiration to supremacy in Asia — and elsewhere — China is being advanced and rewarded by the Trump government’s half-baked policies.
Who Is More Dangerous: Kim Jong Un or Donald Trump?
The American century has long since ended. Trump’s haphazard, even dangerous, foreign policy has led to “America First” no longer being valid, but rather, it is “America Alone.” This promotes the further rise of China as a great power and helps the very large middle-sized power Russia. Trump is changing the world.
Right now, and over the coming weeks, it is to be hoped that China can keep North Korea from dangerous overreaction. Kim will not shrug his shoulders and say, "We’ll meet later then." It is to be feared that he will threaten to use his nuclear arsenal again — especially since Trump humiliated him on the day North Korea was celebrating the destruction of its nuclear weapon test center. It is not known who is more dangerous: Kim Jong Un or Donald Trump.
However one looks at it, America has never, since time immemorial, been ruled by such a dilettantish clique as the Trump group. First, a summit with North Korea’s dictator is announced with trumpeting fanfare. Then it is determined that Kim is behaving in principle as he has always behaved – and the meeting is canceled again. The damage, unfortunately, is enormous.
A summit in which, for the first time since the Korean War, a U.S. president would have met with the sitting North Korean head of state, could truly have been historic — historic, in the sense that such symbolically important meetings in fact bear the seeds of great change.
Whoever frivolously announces such a summit, then drops it on a whim, is also kicking the responsibility of history into the dirt. If this is done by the head of a controlling regime that has succumbed to the authoritarian cult of personality, it is regrettable, but not very surprising. If, however, the American president does this, as is now apparently happening, then it can rock the already unstable world order.
The U.S. is losing even more credibility on the international stage, if that is at all possible. The world apparently counts for nothing for this president. He abides by no treaties, positions himself openly against allies, and damages the interests of his own country because he considers foreign policy a poker game. Prior to the now called-off summit, North Korea again drew nearer to China. In its aspiration to supremacy in Asia — and elsewhere — China is being advanced and rewarded by the Trump government’s half-baked policies.
Who Is More Dangerous: Kim Jong Un or Donald Trump?
The American century has long since ended. Trump’s haphazard, even dangerous, foreign policy has led to “America First” no longer being valid, but rather, it is “America Alone.” This promotes the further rise of China as a great power and helps the very large middle-sized power Russia. Trump is changing the world.
Right now, and over the coming weeks, it is to be hoped that China can keep North Korea from dangerous overreaction. Kim will not shrug his shoulders and say, "We’ll meet later then." It is to be feared that he will threaten to use his nuclear arsenal again — especially since Trump humiliated him on the day North Korea was celebrating the destruction of its nuclear weapon test center. It is not known who is more dangerous: Kim Jong Un or Donald Trump.
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