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Donald J. Trump. I would imagine this is not a popular opinion here, but he had the entire world convinced he would use nuclear weapons against North Korea. Th
by ianhawes 9y ago
Donald J. Trump.
I would imagine this is not a popular opinion here, but he had the entire world convinced he would use nuclear weapons against North Korea. That has to have some effect on the North Korean regime.
- maxxxxx 9y agoI think he did the right thing by offering a meeting with Kim Jon Un. And he was the only one able to do it. If Obama had done this the Republicans would have thrown a total fit.
- north_east_dev 9y agoIt's like that old Vulcan proverb "Only Nixon could go to China."
- rainbowmverse 9y agoI like the original Klingon version: "Only Picard could go to Qo'noS."
- swebs 9y ago>If Obama had done this the Republicans would have thrown a total fit. Let's please not turn this thread into /r/politics
- maxxxxx 9y agoI think I stated an obvious fact.
- sho 9y agoThat category of statement cannot be a fact; it's your opinion. It might be true, it might even be obviously true, but it's not a "fact".
- Jtsummers 9y agohttps://www.vox.com/2018/3/9/17100880/north-korea-republicans-right-conservatives-obama https://www.vox.com/2018/3/9/17100880/north-korea-republican... Conservatives saying exactly what they did (condemn Obama) when he offered essentially the same thing as Trump has (with regard to talking with North Korea sans preconditions). Fact, not opinion.
- Brockenstein 9y agoWhile I understand the sentiment behind your statement. I would have bet every penny I have that the republicans would have thrown a fit and I'd be retired at 36. It's about as safe a bet as the Sun rises in the east. But only because republicans pitched a fit about anything Obama had a hand in. It was predictability as constant as the Northern star.
- sho 9y agoWell naturally I agree with you. But words are important. It's like if I state that The Beatles have, in total, more musical merit than Katy Perry. Well, that seems totally obvious too and one would be hard-pressed to find any sane adult who would disagree. Nonetheless it's not a "fact". Maybe I'm being a pedant but these little things annoy me. Words have meanings, those meanings are important. Anyway, I made my point too many times over already so I'll leave it :P
- maxxxxx 9y agoWhat do you think would have happened if Obama had offered talks with North Korea?
- emaginniss 9y agoSpeculation is never fact
- simonh 9y agoIdeally we should be able to discuss political issues reasonably, precisely because we are not /r/politics.
- simonh 9y agoAs they have over the Iran deal.
- cdelsolar 9y agoWhich he did, and they did.
- wwweston 9y agoWell, I suppose the moral of the story is that if you want to be seen as the only actor able to address a specific issue, the most effective tack is ruthlessly depict the motives of the opposing actors as corrupt and thoroughly tribalize it until you have a faction that will distrust any effort others make regardless of its merits. Then you're the only one that can make an effort to solve the problem. Neat. Maybe someone else besides Nixon could totally have done what he did diplomatically? > If Obama had done this the Republicans would have thrown a total fit. It's an interesting exercise to consider what specific hypotheses for which the conditional didn't evaluate true.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- HenryBemis 9y agoIf USA would use nukes against NK, (which borders China AND Russia) I have the feeling that the next nukes would have gone off to NY, or CA (or somewhere equally painful for the USA). Horror/WW3 scenarios apart, it's most likely that USA-originated sanctions have absolutely nothing to do with this, as if Russia and China want to support the continuation of NK-regime, there is no way to force them to stop. I'd say that pressure from Russia and China are pushing for the permanent resolution of this conflict. It's a tiny/annoying thorn in their sides, and sooner or later they will remove it.
- AndyMcConachie 9y agoI think you need to understand this kind of blustering makes the people of South Korea more afraid of the USA. It's not as if the history of the USA in S Korea is all roses and honeydew. South Koreans don't want to be in a constant state of war anymore and they don't want to be occupied by US troops. My feeling is that most South Koreans want a merge like West Germans wanted to merge with E Germans. Look at some of the policies and statements made by their new President Moon, whom was partly elected on a policy of reunification.
- dba7dba 9y agoI disagree. Is UK occupied by US forces? Germany? Eastern EU nations? Japan? And let's not kid ourselves on why Moon was elected. He was in large part elected because of strong disgust (justified) people felt against the previous impeached president. Moon was elected with 40% of the votes.
- maxxxxx 9y agoI was in Germany during the Reagan years and a lot of people were very nervous about him and the aggressive way he talked when he came in. It got better once he developed a good working relationship with Gorbachev.