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Trump-Kim Hanoi summit gets off to shaky start

Newsletter: A closer look at the day's most notable stories

Jonathon Gatehouse · CBC News ·

https://i.cbc.ca/1.5034152.1551205231!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_780/kim-jong-un-hanoi-summit-trump.jpgNorth Korea's leader Kim Jong-un sits in his vehicle after arriving at the Dong Dang railway station in Vietnam, at the border with China, on Tuesday. (Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

The perils of speed-summits

The second "peace summit" between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has come together at lightning speed for a big, international event — in just over a month.

And as the two leaders arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, this morning, the hasty arrangements were on full display.

The agenda for the two-day confab is still being hammered out, with an initial meeting and a "social" dinner set for tomorrow evening Vietnam time and then perhaps as many as four face-to-face sessions on Thursday

https://i.cbc.ca/1.5034165.1551205589!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_780/trump-hanoi-summit.jpgU.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Noi Bai Airport for the summit with Kim in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Tuesday. (Kham/Pool/Reuters)

The purpose of the discussions is hazy, too, with Trump indicating he may come away without any sort of deal beyond the vague denuclearization vow the North Koreans made during the first summit in Singapore last June

Although the clearest indication of seat-of-the-pants flying came when Kim arrived in the Vietnamese capital Tuesday and checked into the five-star Melia Hanoi — the same hotel where the White House media had booked rooms and set up a press filing centre. The reporters and TV crews were given an hour to clear out and find new digs, which isn't sitting well with some big U.S. network stars, still cranky after a 20-hour flight.

In nearly 10 years covering the @WhiteHouse, having been on Presidential trips to more than 100 countries, I have never seen the White House Press Corps kicked out of our unilateral press/broadcast center by request of a foreign leader.
John Roberts @johnrobertsFox
For example, in Buenos Aires, we were in the same hotel as French President @EmanuelMacaron and there was zero problem. Kim comes to Hanoi and we get evicted from space we had bought and paid for just because he is in the same hotel.

The North Korean leader's trip was even longer, featuring a cross-China train trip of 50 to 70 hours (depending on which source you believe) including smoke breaks

The green bullet-proof train with 21 carriages is reportedly quite luxurious, fitted out with comfy pink leather arm chairs, big-screen TVs, private sleeping and dining quarters and an all-white conference room.

It also carried the Mercedes-Benz limousine that ferried Kim over the final 160 km from the Chinese border, since the two countries' rail networks use different-sized tracks – a legacy of past invasion fears.

The train trip may have been borne out of necessity, rather than travel preferences, since his official Soviet-era government jet is no longer considered safe enough for the Supreme Leader

The sanctions that the United States and other Western nations have imposed on North Korea prevent Kim from buying a new aircraft, but apparently not luxury cars, as he has recently been observed tooling around Pyongyang in a Rolls Royce Phantom and a new armoured Mercedes Maybach S600, a vehicle with a base price of more than $500,000 US.

At a time when the North Korean government is seeking urgent assistance from the UN's World Food Programme, saying that the combined effects of drought, floods and sanctions have forced it to impose 300g per person rationing, Hanoi will provide a prosperous contrast.

Some of the face-to-face meetings will take place at the historic Metropole Hotel, which has hosted celebrities from Charlie Chaplin to Jane Fonda, and where Graham Greene wrote The Quiet American. There's a shopping concourse with Chopard, Patek Philippe and Hublot boutiques, and visitors can tour the Vietnam War-era bomb shelter that was tunnelled out beneath the hotel bar.

(Trump is staying down the road at the JW Marriott, which promises five-star accommodations and "the pinnacle of luxury," including a spa, indoor pool, "sumptuous bedding" and the Cool Cats Jazz Club.)

Deal or no deal, the U.S. president will fly home on Friday. Kim, however, may stick around for a couple of days of sightseeing, with members of his advance team having already scoped out the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Halong Bay, a famous coastal beauty spot 160 km from Hanoi.

It's not clear if either leader will check out one of Hanoi's newest tourist attractions

But some of the reporters already have.

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Demerara_Guy posted:

Trump-Kim Hanoi summit gets off to shaky start

Newsletter: A closer look at the day's most notable stories

Jonathon Gatehouse · CBC News ·

https://i.cbc.ca/1.5034152.1551205231!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_780/kim-jong-un-hanoi-summit-trump.jpgNorth Korea's leader Kim Jong-un sits in his vehicle after arriving at the Dong Dang railway station in Vietnam, at the border with China, on Tuesday. (Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

The perils of speed-summits


https://i.cbc.ca/1.5034165.1551205589!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_780/trump-hanoi-summit.jpgU.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Noi Bai Airport for the summit with Kim in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Tuesday. (Kham/Pool/Reuters)

The purpose of the discussions is hazy, too, with Trump indicating he may come away without any sort of deal beyond the vague denuclearization vow the North Koreans made during the first summit in Singapore last June.

Perhaps indeed, Trump looks extremely scared and will not get any deal; nothing absolutely nothing.

FM

Aren’t you happy to see failure regardless of consequences!  Trump said what he said is a message to NKs he is not desperate for a deal!  If they screw with him, they might lose an historic opportunity to bring his Nation out from the cold!

FM
Baseman posted:

Trump said what he said is a message to NKs he is not desperate for a deal!

Perhaps, Trump is meeting with Kim Jong-un to simple have a "chit_chat" and then they will say "bye_bye".

He probably will sign another agreement with Kim Jong-un and return to the US_of_A  without knowing the principles of the documents.

Most likely it appears from the countenance on his face that he is quite worried on what has had and will transpire at the hearings Michael Cohen had/is having at the committee meetings.

https://i.cbc.ca/1.5034165.1551205589!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_780/trump-hanoi-summit.jpg

FM

Trump will overcome and bring home success, unlike any other American president. Canada and the world will also benefit from Trump success. So, all you continue shooting breeze. 

FM
Demerara_Guy posted:
Baseman posted:

Trump said what he said is a message to NKs he is not desperate for a deal!

Perhaps, Trump is meeting with Kim Jong-un to simple have a "chit_chat" and then they will say "bye_bye".

He probably will sign another agreement with Kim Jong-un and return to the US_of_A  without knowing the principles of the documents.

Most likely it appears from the countenance on his face that he is quite worried on what has had and will transpire at the hearings Michael Cohen had/is having at the committee meetings.

https://i.cbc.ca/1.5034165.1551205589!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_780/trump-hanoi-summit.jpg

You are a non- thinker.   Just worthless bull crap!

Now run along and change your diaper!

FM
Prince posted:

Trump will overcome and bring home success, unlike any other American president. Canada and the world will also benefit from Trump success. So, all you continue shooting breeze. 

Trump will deliver.  The track with China and NK are linked.  

Trump knows how to massage Jung Un’s ego.  

Jung Un wants to come out from under the China vice grip.  Trump will offer him a way out and lots of free food aid!

There will be a Trump Tower in Pyongyang and Jung Un will be gifted a top level!

FM
Baseman posted:
Demerara_Guy posted:
Baseman posted:

Trump said what he said is a message to NKs he is not desperate for a deal!

Perhaps, Trump is meeting with Kim Jong-un to simple have a "chit_chat" and then they will say "bye_bye".

He probably will sign another agreement with Kim Jong-un and return to the US_of_A  without knowing the principles of the documents.

Most likely it appears from the countenance on his face that he is quite worried on what has had and will transpire at the hearings Michael Cohen had/is having at the committee meetings.

https://i.cbc.ca/1.5034165.1551205589!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_780/trump-hanoi-summit.jpg

You are a non- thinker.   Just worthless bull crap!

Now run along and change your diaper!

You are obsessed with your firm view that others have your urgent need to be constantly wearing diapers.

FM
Nehru posted:

Base, I am listening to Cohen and now I say he is worst than a skont

Nehru posted:

Trump is a skont!!!

Indeed Nehru; indeed.

Cohen is revealing issues in a calm and cool manner.

FM
Demerara_Guy posted:
Nehru posted:

Base, I am listening to Cohen and now I say he is worst than a skont

Nehru posted:

Trump is a skont!!!

Indeed Nehru; indeed.

Cohen is revealing issues in a calm and cool manner.

Cohen is a skont!

FM

Donald Trump offers public embrace of 'my friend' Kim Jong Un as Hanoi summit begins

White House aides have said the president is determined to sell Kim on a vision of modernization

Washington Post, David Nakamura and Simon Denyer, February 27, 2019, 9:02 AM EST, https://nationalpost.com/news/...-hanoi-summit-begins

https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/summitedited.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=780President Donald Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019, in Hanoi.Evan Vucci / ASSOCIATED PRESS

HANOI, Vietnam — President Donald Trump opened two days of summits Wednesday by offering a public embrace of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, referring to the brutal authoritarian ruler as “my friend” and holding up Vietnam as a model for economic growth if he pursues steps to denuclearize.

Ahead of meetings with Vietnamese officials, Trump on Twitter praised this Southeast Asian nation as “thriving like few places on earth” and said the North has a chance to do the same “very quickly.”

“The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un,” Trump wrote. “We will know fairly soon — Very Interesting!”

Trump’s overture to Kim came hours before they were scheduled to meet for the first of two days of meetings, including a social dinner Wednesday evening at the luxurious, five-star Metropole hotel in Vietnam’s capital city. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney are scheduled to attend the dinner with Trump and Kim, along with two senior North Korean aides, Kim Yong Chol and Ri Yong Ho.

“Nothing like having a nice private dinner,” Trump joked as a limited pool of reporters took photos during the dinner, according to CNN.

Seated at a round table with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Trump asked photographers to make him and Kim “look good” in their photos.

“We’re going to have a very busy day tomorrow,” Trump told CNN, adding later: “Our relationship is a very special relationship.”

White House aides have said the president is determined to sell Kim on a vision of modernization and present him with a choice between continued global isolation or burgeoning economic growth if he gives up the North’s nuclear weapons program

In brief remarks with Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong, Trump said he marveled at the construction projects his motorcade passed by during his drive into Hanoi after landing at the airport late Tuesday

Donald J. Trump  @realDonaldTrump
Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize. The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un. We will know fairly soon - Very Interesting!

“Vietnam is thriving,” said Trump, who signed a bilateral trade deal with Vietnam to purchase U.S.-made plane engines and other equipment and services. “And very importantly we have a very big dinner tonight and meetings with Chairman Kim. We both felt very good about having this very important summit in Vietnam because you really are an example of what can happen with good thinking.”

Yet if Trump aimed to show he was focused on his high-stakes summit with Kim, he appeared to undermine that shortly after wrapping up the meetings with the Vietnamese. Retiring to his hotel for several hours of downtime before his dinner with Kim, Trump unleashed a Twitter broadside on Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., mocking him as he has before over questionable statements he has made about his military service.

“I have now spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, the third rate Senate from Connecticut (how is Connecticut doing?),” Trump wrote. “His war stories of his heroism in Vietnam were a total fraud – he was never even there. We talked about it today with Vietnamese leaders!”

A readout from White House press secretary Sarah Sanders of Trump’s meetings with the Vietnamese made no mention of them discussing Blumenthal. And Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, is scheduled to tell Congress on Wednesday that Trump told him he claimed to have a bone spur that won him a deferment from the Vietnam War but that Trump provided no evidence of having had a medical problem and privately told him he never had surgery. Trump used another tweet Wednesday afternoon to charge that Cohen is lying.

Trump’s Twitter attacks on Blumenthal and Cohen raised a question over how rigorously he was preparing for the meetings with Kim.

Trump made his economic pitch to Kim during their first summit in Singapore last summer, showing him a four-minute video produced by the White House that interspersed images with war and destruction with gleaming hyper-modern cityscapes. Kim, in his mid-30s, has said in public addresses that he is focused on improving the North Korean economy, which has suffered under decades of international economic sanctions for the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs – and the regime’s corrupt governance.

https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/trumpedited1-1.jpg?quality=60&strip=allTrump’s overture to Kim came hours before they were scheduled to meet for the first of two days of meetings, including a social dinner Wednesday evening at the luxurious, five-star Metropole hotel in Vietnam’s capital city Saul loeb / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Analysts have said Trump’s strategy is risky given that U.S. intelligence officials have said Kim is unlikely to surrender an arsenal that is thought to include an estimated 65 nuclear warheads. Although Trump has pointed to a moratorium on testing that has been in place since November 2017, U.S. intelligence has discovered evidence that the North has sought to conceal its weapons programs despite publicly engaging with the United States and South Korea in denuclearization talks.

In another tweet Wednesday afternoon, Trump appeared to take aim at critics who have warned that he could wind up giving unwise concessions to Kim by easing economic sanctions too quickly.

“All false reporting (guessing) on my intentions with respect to North Korea,” the president wrote. “Kim Jong Un and I will try very hard to work something out on Denuclearization & then making North Korea an Economic Powerhouse. I believe that China, Russia, Japan & South Korea will be very helpful!”

Trump administration officials, led by the State Department, have worked over the past two weeks to try to nail down specific commitments from Pyongyang to advance the process, but progress has been slow, according to U.S. and South Korean officials familiar with the talks.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., in a statement called last year’s Trump-Kim summit a “complete disaster” and discounted the North’s testing moratorium as a meaningful step forward.

The Democrats should stop talking about what I should do with North Korea and ask themselves instead why they didn't do 'it' during eight years of the Obama Administration?

“A temporary pause of nuclear and missile tests is not the metric for whether North Korea is changing its behavior,” Murphy said. “Nor is an agreement to dismantle facilities they no longer need. North Korea has a long history of pretending to comply in order to get what it wants – giving just enough to get something important in return, but never actually walking back its nuclear program.”

Murphy also criticized Trump for lavishing “syrupy praise” on Kim, whose regime, like those of his father and grandfather, has imposed a brutal rule on the public, with more than 100,000 citizens held in hard labor camps. In 2017, as he sought to rally international pressure on the North, Trump had denounced the North as a “hell no person deserves,” but he has touted a personal rapport with Kim since their first summit.

In another tweet Wednesday morning, Trump responded to the criticism of his strategy.

“The Democrats should stop talking about what I should do with North Korea and ask themselves instead why they didn’t do ‘it’ during eight years of the Obama Administration?” Trump wrote.

For his part, Kim visited the embassy of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in Hanoi on Tuesday, where the North Korean state news agency reported that he told staff to consolidate the deep-rooted friendly relations between Hanoi and Pyongyang.

Kim also met with his advisers to discuss working-level negotiations ahead of his summit with Trump. The state news agency published a photograph of Kim sitting at a hotel room table with four officials: Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, as well as Kim Song Hye, who is head of strategy at the United Front Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and Kim Hyok Chol, who has been leading the pre-summit negotiations with his U.S. counterpart, Stephen Biegun.

FM

Trump walked away from any deal.  If Jung Un thinks Trump is desperate for a deal, he is mistaken.  The sanctions remain in full force.  Trump will play hardball now!   Jung Un making a huge miscalculation!

China better watch out. The USA economy on overdrive so trump will be hard nosed.

FM

I was impressed that Trump did not budge on the sanctions. As indicated by Base, Trump is not desperate for a deal. Very impressive. Socialist Obama could have lifted the sanctions.

FM
Last edited by Former Member

Trump is willing to go that extra mile. But don’t mistake that for weakness. He wants to make a deal, but not at all costs.  

He looks pissed.  I don’t think Jung Un will get any further meeting without a  firm agreement beforehand!  The days of handshakes are over. 

FM
Baseman posted:

Trump is willing to go that extra mile. But don’t mistake that for weakness. He wants to make a deal, but not at all costs.  

He looks pissed.  I don’t think Jung Un will get any further meeting without a firm agreement beforehand!  The days of handshakes are over. 

Trump got ZILCH, NADA, NOTHING, except to be the usual laughing-stock.

https://www.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/10/2017/07/09/197681_600.jpg

He generally achieves nothing and as usual he always looks pissed..

FM

While some of you chose to joke with cartoons, Trump did what no other American president has done. Trump can not twist Kim's arm to give in more than he doesn't want. A good relationship is a great start with optimism for the future. Nancy Pelosi is also singing that Trump loses to Kim as though she could have done better. It's election season, remember?

FM
Nehru posted:

Trump went on an EXPENSIVE Vacation on the backs of Taxpayers. bloody Parasite!!!!

The Treasury is running over with tariffs, allies paying their fair share, fair deals and the economy. Before, the world was a freeloader on America's back. Trump should charge Canada to be so close to its borders. 

FM
Prince posted:
Nehru posted:

Trump went on an EXPENSIVE Vacation on the backs of Taxpayers. bloody Parasite!!!!

The Treasury is running over with tariffs, allies paying their fair share, fair deals and the economy. Before, the world was a freeloader on America's back. Trump should charge Canada to be so close to its borders. 

Why are we running such huge deficits if the Treasury is running over?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/e...igher-than-last-year

U.S. budget deficit running over 40 percent higher than last year

 

The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that this year’s deficit will jump to $897 billion, up 15.1 percent from last year’s deficit of $779 billion. Last year’s deficit had been the largest since 2012.

Mars
Last edited by Mars
Nehru posted:

Trump cant do squat to Little Man, Rockets will go off like Christmas time back in the days in Guyana.

He don't have to do squat...the sanctions are in full force!

FM

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