Trump can never win

Sometimes, not very often, I feel sorry for Donald J Trump. Let's take North Korea for example. Trump made much of the fact that he was relying on China to put the pressure on Kim Jong-un to end the confrontation over the North Korean loony dictator's nuclear weapons programme. So Trump told Xi Zinping, "Look mate, let's be good partners, for our sake, for your sake, for the world's sake, please can you order your neighbour to stop threatening everyone, and in return for helping them out economically, end your ridiculous world-threatening programme and come into the international family." Seems a reasonable strategy to me. Beijing allegedly has the clout to sort out Kim Jong-un, so it's high time the Chinese bosses did just that. But no, Xi Zinping did nothing. Or to put it another way, he told Trump he'd make a phone call but probably did sod all, zero. China doesn't really care what North Korea does. The Chinese are so intent on rebuilding the world to suit their trade ambitions, North Korea is just a pinprick mosquito. But poor old Trump now gets lambasted by the US papers for totally failing. His China tactic to pressurise Jim Jong-un failed, says the New York Times. Well, no actually, it's China that failed. It's China that did nothing. They have all the cards to blockade North Korea but they don't want to because it doesn't suit their selfish plans for a mega-empire. I would say Trump probably did his best to challenge Beijing to do the honourable thing but Chinese leaders have always been two-faced. They smile as if they're going to play ball but then laugh behind their hands. So now Trump has to think of another way of dealing with the dangerous Kim Jong-un. John McCain who I reckon would have been a good president of the USA, had he not picked that dopey Alaskan bird to be his vice-presidential running-mate, has revealed his two main world concerns: North Korea in the short term and Russia in the long term. You should add China to the second category, Senator. But North Korea in the short term sounds alarming enough. It happens to be what Jim Mattis, the US Defense Secretary, also feels. So, now that China has funked it and failed to do what they promised Trump they would do, the US president is stuck with two choices: either to let North Korea carry on and become a nuclear power capable of hitting America, or start ratcheting up the military profile. Call Kim Jong-un's bluff. Do something to wipe that oily smile off his face. Then let's see whether China gets off its expensive bottom and takes sides. The right side, ie our side.