Trump Cancels Summit Meeting with North Korea

Michael Berookim did not write this blog post and the content within this article does not express his views on the topic.

In the latest string of events in the past few weeks, including the meeting of South Korea’s President and President Trump at the White House,
Donald Trump called off the summit meeting set for June 12th in Singapore with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un. In a letter addressed to the North Korean leader, President Trump withdrew from the Summit in a kind yet stern way. President Trump left the door open by welcoming the North Korean leader to write him or call. In his letter, which is said to have been dictated by the President himself, he mentions that this was sadly a missed opportunity but left the possibility of a future summit at a later date open depending on whether there is constructive action and dialogue coming from North Korea. The United States sent a team to Singapore to make preparations for the Summit where they were not met or received as no North Korean team was sent to prepare for the Summit. President’s Trump’s actions were allegedly based on a culmination of these events and lack of dialogue with North Korea over the past few weeks.

North Korea was infuriated by comments made by President Trump’s National Security Adviser and Vice President Mike Pence regarding the comparison to Libya’s past leader Muammar Gaddafi, who gave up nuclear weapons and then was brutally murdered. In response, a North Korea representative foreign vice minister issued a statement yesterday calling Mike Pence a “political dummy.”

North Korea obliterated three of its nuclear sites this morning claiming to be acting in good faith. North Korea is taking the position they are surprised by President Trump’s calling off the summit. We will look to the future to see whether another summit will be scheduled to take place. In the meantime, we hope that President Trump’s actions prove to be fruitful in future diplomatic relations and are a successful version of his “Art of the Deal.”

Venezuela’s Re-Election of President Nicolas Maduro

Michael Berookim did not write this blog post and the content within this article does not express his views on the topic.

In light of the recent Venezuelan re-election of President Nicolas Maduro’s that took place this past Sunday, many commentators including Vice President Mike Pence are calling the election a sham. The election gives President Maduro another 6 years in office. In recent weeks, President Maduro expelled two American diplomats. In response, President Donald Trump expelled two Venezuelan diplomats and were instructed by the State Department to leave the United States within 48 hours.

The international community is weighing in on the recent election in Venezuela and considering pulling its ambassadors from the country’s capital, Caracas. We will have to wait and see how diplomatic relations continue to assemble or dissolve between the United States and Venezuela over the next few weeks.

President Trump Welcomed France’s President Emmanuel Macron at White House

This blog post was not written by Michael Berookim and does not reflect the opinions of Michael Berookim.

President Trump’s alliance meeting today with French President Emmanuel Macron went seemingly well. The French President and his wife were welcomed by approximately five hundred US Military members as well as a 21 gun salute.

On Tuesday night, the White House hosted a State Dinner. The two world leaders discussed three primary topics during their meeting: the Iran Nuclear deal, the denuclearization of North Korea and the crisis in Syria.

President Trump was able to sway the French President away from his prior position that the Iran Nuclear deal should remain intact. Mr. Macron also supports a new deal should be forged with Iran, which is in alignment and consistent with the White House’s position on the topic.

As to the issue of the chemical weapons in Syria- the bases which were attacked with the help of US allies- France and Britain- was a successful strike against Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime. It seems President Macron was able to sway President Trump to leave a footprint behind in Syria to ensure the situation does not worsen- by leaving troops behind although Mr. Trump wanted to leave Syria sooner.

The France-USA alliance is positive and strong which will hopefully forge ahead to tackle difficult world issues.