We learned recently that Mike Pompeo´s fourth trip to North Korea was suddenly called off by Trump.
The cancellation is the best thing that could have happened. And not for the reason you´re being told -- that North Korea is not making sufficient progress in dismantling its nuclear program.
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How do you flatten a kewpie-pie guy?
Answer: knock him off his game plan by out-kewpie-pieing him.
Here is Mike Pompeo´s biography. See for yourself: the man from Wichita hasn´t been anywhere or done anything that would qualify him to negotiate with North Korea.
He´s a mini-bantamweight fighter in a sport that has no mini- bantamweight class.
To see my point, watch this short video of Pompeo with the North Koreans.
An interpretation of what the North Korean chief negotiator was doing:
"It's a combination of Kim Yong Chol's unique sense of humor, typical Korean small talk about health especially when you reach the age of an ´elder,´ and trying to throw a jab, to posture, and give Pompeo a hard time," explained Duyeon Kim, a visiting senior research fellow at the Korean Peninsula Future Forum in Seoul.
One good jab deserves another. Pompeo´s response, "I slept just fine," wasn´t it. Clumsy, naive.
We have said it before; we will say it again. He who sets the definitions of the situation controls the rules of the game. He who controls the rules of the game has the power and wins the game.
The man from Wichita doesn´t have a clue what you just read means. Neither does the man from Queens.
To the contrary, the North Koreans have shown time and again they understand and speak the language of power. They understand perfectly the crucial importance of definitions.
The first definition of the situation is of the agenda: What Will We Talk About?
North Korean #2 Man Kim Yong Chol dictated it and Pompeo fell into the trap.
So, how might Pompeo have responded to Kim´s puerile gamesmanship?
First stop: don´t let petty sniping from a congenital Yes Man pass for oriental wisdom. Forget Charlie Chan. Forget The Karate Kid. Forget the TV series Kung Fu.
Poor Mike Pompeo. Like his boss, he just doesn´t get it. The man from Wichita hasn´t been around self-styled communists; consequently he ends up mystifying them.
Their innermost secret essence is more banal than banal: nobody in the entire world is less revolutionary than a communist bureaucrat.
Suggested Response Number 1. Softline:
"I didn´t sleep at all. Not a single second. In fact, I regularly go 5-6 nights in a row without sleeping. How is that possible? Well, when one knows that he truly represents the people, human rights, world peace, freedom, justice and peace, he has incredible energy.
And you, Mr. Kim -- did you sleep well last night?"
Suggested Response Number 2. Hardline.
"I slept terribly. I had a recurring nightmare. It just wouldn´t stop! A top official somewhere was paraded before a crowd, then blown to bits by an anti-aircraft gun. Completely absurd. To top it off, in the crowd I swear I saw the laughing face of...ah...forget it. Utter nonsense! Kill a man with an anti-aircraft gun! Outrageous! Why, only a gangster would do such a thing.
Wouldn´t he, Mr. Kim."
The trick here is to throw Kim Yong Chol off his game plan. That is best accomplished by igniting his startle reflex. It is rooted in survival and is auditory in nature. If you´re walking in the woods and a lion suddenly roars nearby, you don´t have time to analyze it.
The startle reflex is entirely involuntary. It jumps up, seizes control.
It overwhelms reason.