Trump still dancing to dictators' tune

Donald Trump’s “surprise” toe-tap on North Korean territory is yet another of his “show-stopping” stunts that are essentially meaningless in reality. We have seen two previous “summits” between Trump and Kim Jong Un end in failure to accomplish anything but friendly handshakes between a dictator and a dictator wannabe. For the U.S., these “summits” represent foreign policy of the superficial over the substantial, the subjective over the objective—to “impress” a “base” of supporters who seem open to such rhetorical emptiness. As for North Korea, a country ravaged by economic misery, it is clear that Kim sees photo-ops with Trump as a way of demonstrating to North Koreans that he is doing something to alleviate their country’s isolation and suffering. But Kim is also interested in “practical” matters, like remaining in power and stopping the incidence of associates and family members who are something less than completely loyal who he feels obliged to have murdered. 

The irony of Trump’s tango with North Korea’s paranoid, murderous despot is that he is highly unlikely to get a “deal” that equals that of the Iranian nuclear agreement that seems, thanks to Trump’s anti-Obama anything idiocy, to be unravelling at a rapid pace to no good end. Kim’s price for total denuclearization is too high—the total U.S. military abandonment of South Korea, and with it the threat of Kim absorbing all of Korea under his thuggish thumb. 

All this comes on the heels of Trump’s G20 meeting with Russia’s dictator, Vladimir Putin. Trump wagged his teeny-weeny finger at Putin, seemingly joking with him about his “alleged” interference in U.S. elections. Trump certainly wants to be “friendly” with Putin, suggesting that he is a “better” option than a Democrat and he is not concerned with Russian interference since if there were any it clearly would be of benefit to his campaign (which of course brings up the suggestion of treasonable actions).  Again, why is Trump being so friendly with Putin? Under the Putin dictatorship, a 100 or more journalists and political opponents have been “mysteriously” murdered; that Trump likes to character-assassinate members the media and political opponents suggests that they are of a mind. Furthermore, while Putin early on made Chechen “terrorism” a major issue in remaining in power, in fact innocent civilians have been killed by incompetent Russian security forces at a far greater rate than by Chechen rebels—such as in the 2002 Moscow theatre and 2004 Beslan school hostage events. Meanwhile,  the recent discovery of a “secret” Facebook group of current and former U.S. border agents “joking” about migrant deaths in and out of their “care” and engaging in dehumanizing characterizations of Hispanics seems to demonstrate that Trump’s own subhumanizing tone has had its intended effect.

If people are disturbed by the fact that Trump is more concerned with how much military hardware the U.S. can sell to Saudi Arabia’s dictator-crown prince than the obviously ordered from-the-top murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, it goes without saying that Russia’s “extrajudicial” activities rather far exceed the mere anecdotal. For example, in September 1999, Moscow, Buynaksk and Volgodonsk were rocked by explosions in apartment complexes, killing nearly 300 people and injuring over 600. Chechen “terrorists” were of course blamed, but a few days later it was reported that a resident of an apartment building in the city of Ryazan had seen two men carrying suspicious sacks into the basement of the building. Police were notified, and they found sacks of white powder, with a timing device and detonator armed and ready. After the device was disarmed, it was discovered that the bomb-making material was Russian military in origin. It was also revealed that a telephone operator had overheard two men telling each other they had to “get out of town” fast; the incoming call was traced to an office of the FSB—the successor to the KGB. Thus “rumor” had it that Russian intelligence was at work to concoct an “event” which would garner public support for another war in Chechnya. The anger from these suspicions was so strong that FSB director Nikolai Patrushev was forced to issue a statement, admitting that indeed the bombs in Ryazan were planted by FSB agents—but only to “test” the responses of security forces. One observer noted that this "presents a chilling portrait of the Russian leadership and its total disregard for human life." 

While Trump continues to shower praise on dictators, he continues to shower contempt on our long-time allies, friends and neighbors. What explains this? Because it is easier to “bully” our allies? Can it be that Trump actually dislikes being a “leader” in global affairs? Is that why he has backed-out of many international agreements? Is that why he keeps harping on allies to “pay their “fair share”? Is this all just another way of saying that Trump doesn’t want to be “saddled” with the responsibility of global leadership? It certainly seems to be the case. He just wants to do his “own thing”—which is typical of tyrants.