Thursday 24 May 2018

Does Trump know what comes next?

Having announced that the summit with Kim Jong-un was cancelled you just hope that Trump had a plan for what comes next. And I don't mean Option B because Option B in Trump's mind is probaby all about taking military action. I mean Stage Two. In other words, taking into account everythng that HAS been achieved and moulding it into something new, not necessarily a summit but definitely hgh-level dialogue to keep the process going. Trump owes the South Korean president that and, indeed the whole Korean Peninsula. What we can't have is all that childish rhetoric again where Trump and "Chairman Kim" mouth off at each other. Having got this far - shared hockey team at the Winter Olympics, Moon and Kim handshake, Trump's acceptance of a summit, Mike Pompeo's two meetings with Kim - all the positive bits can be worked on. Indeed must be worked on. Pompeo is the man for this. He seemed to get on with Kim. The former CIA director should take the lead in bringing Kim back to his senses. Trump's sudden announcement about pulling out of the summit next month was clearly a move by the president to jump first. He knew from the chats between North Korean and US officials that things were going badly. He also had a tip-off from President Moon that Kim was about to pull the plug. So leap in first and make it look very adult and sensible. Kim's great moment, sending a bunch of well-behaved journalists to the mountain nuclear test site to see it blown up - really? - was lost once Trump's letter arrived on Kim's desk. He must have thought: "Why the hell did I bother have all these reporting dogs come to my country?" Still the vey healthy-looking CBS reporter did a fine job pointing out the lovely beaches and the supposed hotel construction going on. So now it's big decision time, Mr President. Send Pompeo back to North Korea and order your cohorts, especially John Bolton, NEVER to mention Libya or Gaddafi again. Let's hope something good can be scraped from the detritus of the abandoned Singapore summit.

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