環球時報に寄稿された評論
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1106038.shtml
Trump-Kim summit shows US power waning
By Dmitry Shlapentokh Source:Global Times Published: 2018/6/7 20:53:40
トランプ・金正恩サミットに見る米国のパワーの衰退

Still, his statements, for example, his demand for payment from allies whom he
wanted to sacrifice, indicated not just irrationality but implicit weakness.
Indeed, the quick transition from an a promised nuclearimminent nuclear war to
praise for Kim indicated the subconscious sense of insecurity and weakness.
Kim could hardly take Trump's threat of war and "Qaddafi scenario" seriously.
Trump would have struck North Korea long ago if not for General Mattis' sober
note that a full-blown conflict would have catastrophic consequences, not just
for North Korea, South Korea and Japan, but for the US itself.
He also understood that neither South Korea nor Japan would be fully on the
US' side. Negotiation is the only option which, regardless of its outcomes,
would implicitly underscore the US' diminishing ability to impose its power on
the rest of the world. Indeed, no American president would treat as an equal
the leader of a small country which has been dubbed a "rogue state," and
which generations of presidents dismissed as not being worthy of sitting with
the leader of a superpower.

The very fact that Kim would discuss these matters with Trump not only
indicates his status as leader of a nuclear state, but would implicitly be a
sign of the US' diminishing status in the global arena, regardless of
Trump's hubris.

The author is an associate professor of Indiana University, South Bend,
Indiana. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn