WHAT A DEAL!

The Singapore deal between US and North Korea was all optics and very doubtful substance. It has now become a fashion in the White House for every U.S. President to choose a photo opportunity for the Nobel Prize and Trump had his own manufactured limelight in Singapore. But whether they were able to negotiate their way to removing a nuclear risk from the Asia-Pacific remains all shrouded in mystery.

But we, the rest of the world, have to ask a hard question. When two rogues meet, what's the worth of any agreement they may strike? An agreement is possible depending on the political will of the two sides. We know that because North Korea has agreed to rid itself of nuclear weapons four times already. In 1994, 1998, 2005 and 2008 there were negotiations with North Korea, which they failed to keep. So what has changed and why will they be sincere this fifth time. Yes, the last four times it was Kim Jong-un’s father, but this guy from Pyongyang is no saint. He rules mercilessly and he has no scruples. In consolidating power, he didn't just have his uncle arrested but stripped naked and fed to 120 dogs as hundreds of officials looked on. All his immediate family were killed as well. Kim Jong-un notoriously had his half-brother Kim Jong-nam assassinated by having VX nerve agent rubbed into his face in Kuala Lumpur airport. He had his defence chief and other top officials killed at a firing range. Not content to have them shot with rifles, he had them blasted apart with anti-aircraft guns. So he respects no rules. The nuclear and ballistic missile programs that he inherited were ruled illegal again and again by the UN Security Council. He didn't step back; he actually accelerated both programs and brought them to fruition.

And Kim is not the only rogue leader at the Singapore summit. Donald Trump has gone rogue as he breaks solemn undertakings of the US. Trump has withdrawn the US from the six-party nuclear agreement with Iran, a commitment enshrined in a UN Security Council resolution, although even his own top officials testified that Iran was honouring the deal. He has irresponsibly backed out of the Paris Climate accord, he took the US out of the TPP trade agreement, and he's seeking to renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. He has unilaterally succeeded in torpedoing the G-7 summit and when his trade adviser Peter Navarro took it into the surreal by saying that "there is a special place in hell" for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for daring to disagree with the US President, he has succeeded in putting the last nail in the coffin of international relations.

So, even if Kim and Trump strike an agreement, there can be no confidence that the two leaders - or even one of them - will respect it. They are simply not trustworthy; they are scheming, slimy rogue politicians and not statesmen. The rest of the world can afford to take them seriously at their own peril.