"Better to jaw jaw than war war,” Winston Churchill
Trump's meeting with Kim Jong Un is a potentially positive step in moving away from military conflict with North Korea.
At the same time, we must be realistic about outcomes. Reagan cautioned to "trust but verify.” Given the failure of past agreements, there is no basis for trust with North Korea.
Given the closed nature of the country and lacking detailed intelligence on their existing nuclear weapons and fissile material, it will be impossible to verify complete and irreversible denuclearization.
North Korea has endured sanctions for decades in order to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. It is unrealistic to believe they will give up the weapons capabilities that prompted this week's summit.
A more realistic outcome might be to reduce the number of weapons and missiles, while offering security guarantees and opening the country to the rest of the world.
At the same time, we will need to maintain a strong deterrence on the peninsula.
Trump's comments about removing troops and halting joint exercises are troubling. North Korea is playing a long game with the goal of gaining control of the peninsula. Removing our troops prematurely would create an impossible situation for South Korea and our Asian allies.
It is easy to see our president negotiating an agreement to "denuclearize" that everyone knows will occur in name only. That may well be a better outcome than war war. Let's hope the desire for a deal doesn't leave the world worse off.
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