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comment by kleinbl00
kleinbl00  ·  2211 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Another Giant Step

A Machiavellian would encourage their ambitions.

Freeman Dyson pointed out that Hitler spent more on the V-weapons program than the US spent on the Manhattan Project but Hitler's rockets were strategically insignificant and militarily useless. Had he spent the effort on the Luftwaffe outcomes would have been different.

It's entirely possible that North Korea is at the table because they've spent themselves into the ground. Famine got inspectors in there last time. They might simply be skint.





b_b  ·  2211 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    It's entirely possible that North Korea is at the table because they've spent themselves into the ground.

That might explain why NK is at the table, but it sure doesn't explain why we are. We apparently didn't even probe what concessions we could have extracted for even agreeing to explore the idea of bilateral talks. Trump is quite possibly the worst negotiator that has ever had a say in US foreign policy. And when you compare his negotiation skills with his own assessment of his negotiation skills, I think you might break the Dunning-Kruger scale. Bush made the comment "He makes me look pretty good" before this latest fuckup.

kleinbl00  ·  2211 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    That might explain why NK is at the table, but it sure doesn't explain why we are.

Was that a rhetorical question?

    Trump is quite possibly the worst negotiator that has ever had a say in US foreign policy.

That was a rhetorical question.

    And when you compare his negotiation skills with his own assessment of his negotiation skills, I think you might break the Dunning-Kruger scale.

In the land of Trump negotiation, you can -

1) Refuse to pay and find another sucker

2) Go bankrupt and beg to another bank

3) Move on to other things and sue anybody left over at your failures

If the goal is "have a small pile of the large fortune you were born with" Trump is a hell of a negotiator. The problem is we're all living his failed business venture.

b_b  ·  2211 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Will NK turn into the Trump Vodka of foreign policy? Not a rhetorical.

kleinbl00  ·  2211 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Our interests for the past ten years have been represented by this guy:

I'm not a fan of Taleb, but Trump is a foreign policy Black Swan. If you had told me ten years ago that North Korea would be negotiating with Dennis Rodman and Donald Trump, I would have been unsurprised. If you had told me one of them had the launch codes, I would not have believed you.