Cancelled: we saw that coming

Warning: minor rant

Hands up. Who is not surprised that the much-anticipated talks between Trump and Kim, aka the US and North Korea, just got derailed?

And South Korea is apparently blind-sided, trying to figure out what just happened. I like South Korea, and I’m going to leave them out of this. Unfortunately, we’re all going to be impacted by what comes next.  IMHO, Kim played Trump all along. There was never going to be a “let’s be friends” summit.  We’ve had Kim’s number for a long time. Why would we expect otherwise? He has nukes now, and he knows how to use them. He’s not giving those up. Sorry not sorry.

I won’t try to predict the future. Kim is not what we call rational, so good luck trying to analyze what is really going on here.  However, this latest manoeuvre has created distraction and casts doubt on the Trump administration. Which is a win for Kim. I do not believe Kim ever thought of Trump as “honourable”, so setting him up for a fall would actually be part of credible endgame because Kim has consistently sought to undermine the US.

As always, what we should be concerned with is what we don’t know. Deception is an art form in politics, and we need to remember that: what is the overt actually concealing.  Let’s ask again: what’s in this for Kim? What does he stand to lose if things don’t go through? How far is Kim willing to push Trump? What is Kim’s actual endgame? I have a feeling we aren’t going to like what comes next.