Disturbing the peace

US President Donald Trump is taking the world to the brink with his abrasive, all-or-nothing style of diplomacy. It’s obvious now that no effort had been made to lay the ground for a smooth summit with Kim Jong Un. That became clear when the North Koreans did not turn up for a preliminary round of talks in Singapore. Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton talked about the ‘Libyan model’, knowing full well that the British and French bombed Libya not long after convincing Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to stop developing nuclear armaments. Bolton’s words were echoed by Vice-President Mike Pence, an experienced political hand who knew how his words would be interpreted in Pyongyang. The speculation is that the Americans pulled out when they realised that Kim wasn’t likely to hand over his nukes in the hope of largesse at a later date. It’s a mark of the Trump administration’s naiveté that they even thought this was a possibility. But arch-hawk Bolton is on record saying two months ago: “There’s no way we should give North Korea a peace treaty. They’re lucky to have a meeting with the president of the United States.”

The fact is that Trump has limited manoeuvring room dealing with North Korea. His every move will be watched by the key interested parties, South Korea, China and Japan. Bolton has said in the past that regime change is the only option but that might involve raining down missiles on Pyongyang, which, in turn might aim its missile launchers at Seoul, only 35 miles from the DMZ border. Also, watching keenly will be China which views North Korea as a buffer state between it and the Western powers. One estimate is that the North Koreans could have about 100 nuclear warheads by 2020. Amazingly, there’s talk in Washington of selling the Japanese missiles that could shoot down Kim’s missiles as they rise from their silos.

Most alarmingly, Trump is playing the same all-or-nothing game around the world. He has pushed the destruct button on the carefully constructed Iran deal, arguing that it will not stop the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons when the deal expires or prevent them from dabbling in politics in places like Iraq and Yemen. This prompted comment in Europe that it’s ‘special relationship’ with the US was at an end. Simultaneously, Trump has kicked off a trade war with China even though it’s the only country that might have reined in North Korea. He has even threatened this week to impose tariffs on Mexican and Canadian-made automobiles on grounds of ‘national security’ unless they rapidly revise the North American Free Trade Agreement. TrumpWorld is a dangerous place for all of us.

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