Trump shouldn’t brag over nuclear weapons

United States president Donald Trump on Thursday pulled out of talks that he had been slated to have with North Korea ruler Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12.

The talks had been highly anticipated and there was a measure of hope that they would be a great step towards returning peace to the Korean Peninsula following 65 years of tension since the inconclusive end of the war between the South and North in 1953.

Hopes that the impasse would be resolved had been raised when the leaders of North Korea and South Korea met for the first time in 10 years on April 27, which was reported as the first time North Korea’s Kim Jong-un stepped on South Korean soil.

Pessimism crept in when on May 8 Trump pulled US out of the Iran deal, a deal that his predecessor Barack Obama and US allies had worked hard to hammer out. Trump’s action followed pleas by US’s allies – France, Germany and UK – to keep in the deal, which Trump ignored.

It is incredible how Trump has acted without regard to his country’s long-standing interest in preserving friendships even with its allies, and applied arrogant brinkmanship in his relations with adversaries. We fear that this endangers world peace.

What is even more worrying is the easy-going manner in which Trump brags about America’s possession of nuclear weapons. Before talk of Trump meeting with Kim gained momentum, the two leaders had a series of public spats, in one of which Trump, in response to bragging about nuclear weapons by Kim Jong-un, responded that his nuclear buttons are much bigger.

In the letter in which he called off the talks that had been slated for June 12, Trump stated: “You talk about nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.”

In emphasising America’s nuclear capabilities, Trump is not saying anything new. Students of International Relations and related fields will have heard of US’s “second strike capability” regarding nuclear weapons.

Whereas we appreciate Trump’s intention to act differently from the rest – he repeatedly talks up his ability to shun political correctness – there is wisdom in paying attention to the words of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, who stated: “Speak softly, but always carry a big stick.”

What Roosevelt meant is that Americans should negotiate peacefully but always have the military in the background. We don’t see any reason why this should end.

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