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North Korea's Kim Jong-un, left, and South Korea's Moon Jae-in pose during a signing ceremony near the end of their historic summit at the truce village of Panmunjom.STR/Getty Images

Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

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Peace in a peninsula

U.S. President Donald Trump says North Korea has played previous presidents “beautifully, like a fiddle” (With Possibility Of Trump Triumph Comes Peril Of Trump Failure, April 30). He is too self-absorbed to realize that he is the one who is being played.

Kim Jong-un knows his peace overtures inevitably will lead to Mr. Trump prematurely taking full credit, even to the point of promoting himself for a Nobel Peace Prize. Now, at the least sign of a Kim backtrack – and this will happen – Mr. Trump will be forced to buy off North Korea with virtually everything it wants, lest his only foreign relations “triumph” collapse.

J.D. Murphy, Barrie, Ont.

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in is clever to suggest that Donald Trump be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize. Jonathan Swift called flattery the “food of fools” – and it’s well known Mr. Trump loves to gobble it up, even more than his Kentucky Fried Chicken.

But Nobel Peace Prizes don’t go to those who threaten to “totally destroy” another country by unleashing “fire and fury” upon it.

Bringing the world to the brink of a devastating war may sometimes cause the other guy to blink, but it certainly shouldn’t win peace prizes.

Tom MacDonald, Ottawa

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It’s not Donald Trump, but China’s Xi Jinping who should receive the Nobel Peace Prize. China is North Korea’s lifeline, and when Mr. Xi threatened real sanctions, Kim Jong-un had no choice. Donald Trump had little to do with it.

Ken Olsen, Toronto

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Re North Korea Must ‘Completely’ Abandon Nuke Program: Ottawa (April 30): Should Ottawa also stipulate that the United States must withdraw its 25,000 troops from South Korea? Why the one-sided demand?

The best we should expect is for all external forces to exit the peninsula and leave it to the Koreans to settle their disputes. China and the U.S. could become guarantors to hold the peace, should fighting once again break out between North and South Korea.

Ed Bodi, Oakville, Ont.

A Ford Nation app

Re Ontario Is Not Immune To Political Populism (April 30): The hard scientific method of thinking that has made human wishes come true with gadgets and apps ironically seems to have convinced the masses of the superiority of magical thinking in politics. For populists, doing politics should be as easy and miraculous as using apps seems to be.

So Ontarians better get ready for the Ford Nation app, asserting the primacy of magical thinking over sober second thoughts. Its terms and conditions of belief are the cure for chaos. Experts are out. Common people are in. Gut intuition is in. Knowledge is suspect. Ignorance is power. Tax cuts are in. Sex ed is out. Government services are a waste. Human rights are special interests. Private enterprise knows best.

And less is always more.

Before the election, Ford Nation promises to be the triumph of the populist secret in politics – ask, believe, receive. After the election, Ford Nation will be what reality deems it to be – a failed state of mind in politics and life.

Tony D’Andrea, Toronto

Real estate greed

Re Flipping Of Condo Units By Insiders Fuels Hot Vancouver Market (April 30): Once again, the Vancouver real estate industry has received yet-another black eye, thanks to the greed of (I hope) a very few salespeople.

When I received my real estate licence in 1993, I was proud to join a group of people I had always looked up to. After a very short while, disillusion set in as I became aware that others had ambitions for themselves first, and the people they served, second.

I’ve worked with the finest. Unfortunately, I have also worked with the greediest. Shame on them for bringing their self-serving ways to this industry.

Armida Spada-McDougall, Vancouver

Manhood, constrained

Re Through a Screen, Darkly (Opinion Section, April 28): “ … and so to admit weakness [italics are mine] means admitting utter failure.”

If feelings of pain, vulnerability, hurt, disappointment, fear, loneliness and insecurity are considered weaknesses by men and boys, then this narrow and constraining definition of manhood removes itself from the common shared experience of being human. Denying part of one’s humanity may indeed lead to inhuman behaviours.

Similarly, if the so-called “incels” are people within whom compassion and the ability to love were never nurtured, perhaps it is this more than their physical traits that has left them alone and frustrated, willing to hurt others for their perceived rejection.

Tuula Talvila, Ottawa

Senate scenarios

Re Senators Should Be Elected – Or Eliminated (April 28): Today, people who might get into government fall between two extremes. At one end, they are highly electable, but barely competent; at the other, they are highly competent, but barely electable. Most fall near the middle.

Our Senate provides a means to bring into government some who are eminently qualified, by their expertise and life experience, but who are unlikely to seek election, or to succeed if they tried.

Such people are just as valuable to Canada as those we elect. The current federal government is trying to move toward this ideal. The system is vulnerable to abuse – several successive governments have been offenders, and the reputation of the Senate has suffered as a result. But if we see an attempt to move the Senate closer to the role it should be playing, shouldn’t we wait to see how the new scenario plays out?

Harry Duckworth, Winnipeg

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Kudos to Konrad Yakabuski for reminding us of the Senate’s non-democratic, Alice-in-Wonderland structure. An all-party joint Commons/Senate committee, after extensive cross-country hearings, proposed an elected Senate with restricted powers simply to delay rather than block legislation.

Some day, the stars may align so that all Canadians might successfully persuade the Senate, Commons, provinces and Indigenous leadership to finally bring democracy to Parliament.

Paul Cosgrove, former joint chair, Select Committee on Senate Reform, 1984

Bear hugs

Re Finding The Heart In A Minimalist Lifestyle (Pursuits, April 28): On behalf of my 13-member hug (a collective noun for teddy bears), I protest against saying “Teddy bears don’t have feelings.”

A true understanding of teddy bears reveals their purpose is to render comfort and friendship to humans lucky enough to host a hug. Teddys bring out the best in us humans.

My hug is sorry Anne Donahue didn’t know this. All 13 teddys forgive her and are willing to help her through her worst moments of anxiety or feelings of being consumed by things she can’t control.

Jocelyn Smith, Vancouver

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