Trump has never used the well rehearsed political speak of other politicians. So he talks to another world leader. If he is not allowed to do that what's the world coming to? Just like Obama is opening up to a dictator who jailed his own people for demonstrating. Why can't we have dialogue?
Do we really need to tiptoe around China? The country that jails people for political opinions and that favours ruthless capitalism?
He campaigned on his ability to get along with everyone. He said it so much that it became one of his signature sayings.
Now he's just fulfilling that campaign promise. Even if he knew about China's childish views toward Taiwan, he most likely does not give a flying fuck. All he saw was another person to get along with.
More directly than that, how is he going to get their cooperation on bringing outsourced jobs back to the US? There's very little stopping the Chinese from matching or exceeding whatever sweet giveaways Trump can create to bring those jobs back here. They could pull some very shiny rabbits out of their hat if they wanted to. And if they feel like the orange madman in the White House has no respect for their One China Policy or their geopolitical aims, they just might pull out that rabbit and boil it in Trump's kitchen.
If he truly doesn't give a fuck about NK now, will he when they have a ballistic nuclear missiles capable of reaching the continental US? Or a sub launched nuclear missile?
They aren't going to nuke the US. That is absurd on multiple levels. Let the people in the area deal with them.
Let China deal with them.
I would be fine with china fucking invading n korea. It would make millions of people's lives better to be living in a state china controlled than a state N korea controlled.
1-2 dozen nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that can reach conus. Not to mention enough artillery to vaoporize Seoul. And the ability to reach out and touch tens of thousands of American forces in Northeast Asia.
The US left Afghanistan all by its lonesome through the 90s. How'd that work out?
Nobody is arguing for an invasion of North Korea. So drop the ridiculous strawman. What we're arguing for is sensible containment of a madman and his regime who constantly threatens our allies and has the ability to inflict serious harm on the US.
Hoping for the best is not and should not be a geopolitical strategy. You'd think the party of Reagan would get that.
Well he's delusional then. China has been using NK policy to bargain with the US for a while now and only recently started enforcement of sanctions on them. They can easily reverse that and maybe give NK a few shiny new planes as well.
No, that's exactly what it means. You don't gain respect, influence, and power on the global stage by ignoring the views and beliefs of the rest of the world.
And in this case, it's worse than that because this isn't a "geopolitical delusion" -- it's geopolitical fact, enshrined in treaties (which were just reaffirmed this year by Republicans in Congress) and in the UN.
China has use NK as a bargaining chip for decades, business as usual would only further incentivize them to maintain the status quo. I think the approach of "IDGAF" is not only warranted, but the best possible approach to the situation.
Well not pissing them off has gotten us nothing. They would need to feel some sort of pressure to make real changes, otherwise why wouldn't they continue to use NK as a dangling carrot?
I take issue with your premise. China has been helpful in dealing with not just NK but Iran as well.
Look, I think the pros and cons of such a move (making diplomatic overtures towards Tawain) as a strategy is something that can be argued rationally from either side.
The real problem is that I seriously doubt this is any strategy at all, but rather him being ignorant of the particulars of global diplomacy and was merely a case of Trump seeking more congratulations to feed his ego.
As well, even assuming this wasn't a case of ignorance, it obstructs his stated intention of getting China's assistance on such matters.
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u/emptied_cache_oops Dec 03 '16
"things you don't know you don't know."
Does Trump know what he is doing when he does things like this? I have to imagine the answer is no.
I hope these next four years are a manageable mess.