So, on the face of it, Trump's threat to bomb North Korea if it so much as looks at us crosswise seems... weak. A rational person would have put out an obvious and hard deadline, such as actually launching a missile or test, rather than merely looking like you might. A smart person would never have boxed themselves in on a bluff they didn't want to be called on. A mildly competent person would not have promised to start a war over imaginary weapons of mass destruction, particularly after having spent so many years complaining about the last one.
Despite all that, is mere incompetence and narcissistic nilhism really sufficient to explain this latest move? Particularly as it comes on the heels of President Xi of China's visit with Trump, which apparently included an education on Asian geo-politics. (So nice of China to educated our President for free! I'm sure they did it entirely out of the goodness of their hearts, with no ulterior motives at all.) And following the impulsive attack on Syria, it looks doubly suspicious.
Here's my idiot conspiracy theory for the day: Xi put Trump up to it. Now Xi is sending more diplomats to NK to tell them, "The Americans are insane - they might do it! You need our help to defuse the situation." They are playing good cop/bad cop, and they tricked Trump into being the bad cop.
If it works - great! The Chinese get to squeeze NK a little more, peace gets restored, and things go on as before but with China in a better position. If it fails - it is entirely on the USA. Trump either backs down from his empty threat or worse, carries it out. We get either massive collapse of international prestige or an actual war that will kill millions. Either way the USA is made a fool; in all cases China's position is only improved.
This, my friends, is the work of a Great Negotiator.
I'm trying to guess how long it's going to be till people realize how wrong they got it and what they will do about it. Of course most people never admit they are wrong. Are we a country full of narcissists?
ReplyDeleteNarcissism does seem to have taken root. The rejection of facts in favor of comforting illusions has taken over the Rightwingers.
ReplyDeleteWhich is kind of funny, given all the years they dismissed the hippies for being soft-headed idealists instead of hard pragmatic realists.
They're as delusional as the Flower Children, except their delusions are ugly.
Since this is your latest post in the blog, I will simply say that sanity would be better in american politics than not.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, looking forward to your 4th book. I'm curious about a lot of things.
You continuously set up the allies of the protagonist to be the heroes while he has to shoulder every decision they have to make on his account. Of course Christopher is a hero himself but he himself gets little reward for his heroics. Fae for example did great for herself at first glance or Gregor or the church.
And I wonder will the main character's reward be his introduction of guillotine to the king? After all, it's a democratic way of dealing with the nobility.
Partly that's because of narrative requirements: Christopher can't reap the rewards because then he would be a Mary Sue wish-fulfillment character. He can only gain things he doesn't want. :D
DeleteAnother part of it is that Christopher, by nature, wants very little. Like Frodo, he isn't interested in glory or grand adventure; he just wants to go home to his wife and his mundane life.
The irony, of course, is that Christopher falls into greatness because of his heroic attempts to be merely mundane.
The King is a central character in book 4. Although, in the end, it's not actually Christopher who settles the matter - but I'll let you see for yourself. :D Hopefully January or so.