More than anything else, the presidency of Donald Trump is associated with controversy. Most of it is probably the US president’s deliberate attempt to provoke; some of it is because he doesn’t know any different or any better. He thrives on his skirmishes with real and imaginary enemies, and his Twitter account is a platform for abuse and bullying. However, one should not take from him, for better or for worse, his panache and his penchant for drama and unorthodoxy. It is in this vein that we should look at his spontaneous meeting with North Korea’s president last Sunday. Trump became the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea, where he met his new-found friend President Kim Jong Un. When he crossed from South to North Korea, he consigned to oblivion the G20 meeting he had attended the previous day; no one was any longer interested, though some of the issues discussed there are most crucial to the state of the world, especially that of rebuilding a healthier, fairer and sustainable world economy. Since Trump became president, every international event he has been involved with has become something of a Trump traveling circus, characterised by its unpredictability and disconcerting to those who engage with him, while providing a rather twisted form of entertainment. The G20 summit in Osaka was no different. On his way to Japan he had already, by design or by irrepressible urge, managed to insult some of America’s closest allies and especially the hosts of the summit, Japan. In an interview with Fox News — who else? — he returned to one of his customary laments about Germany and Japan not shouldering their fair share of maintaining the West’s collective security. His ignorance about why those two countries have been excluded from sending troops abroad, and his flippant way of expressing it (“If Japan is attacked, we will fight World War Three ... if we’re attacked, Japan doesn’t have to help us at all, they can watch it on their Sony TVs”) are a source of genuine irritation, and an affront to his hosts. There were more sour grapes tweeted about India’s new trade tariffs on the US. But most revealing of his state of mind was the assertion he made in the same Fox interview that “Almost all countries in this world take tremendous advantage of the United States … it’s unbelievable, OK?” It is indeed unbelievable that deep into his first term he still retains this siege mentality while about to attend one of the world’s most important international gatherings. Since Trump became president, every international event he has been involved with has become something of a Trump traveling circus, characterised by its unpredictability and disconcerting to those who engage with him, while providing a rather twisted form of entertainment. Yossi Mekelberg When the leader of the world’s most powerful country perceives relations with its allies in such simplistic, transactional terms, it renders the entire G20 gathering redundant. Add to this the presence of two lame duck prime ministers, Germany’s Merkel and Britain’s May both in the twilight of their political careers; China’s president Xi Jinping, who is in the middle of a trade war with the US and looking apprehensively over his shoulder at events in Hong Kong; a Brexit haze that is engulfing the entire European Union with uncertainty; and Russia’s expansionist tendencies under Vladimir Putin, who claims that “the liberal idea has become obsolete” — and one wonders whether the G20 belongs to a completely different period in history. The very essence of the G20 forum has been one of providing leadership aiming at ensuring peace and prosperity through global cooperation, but this is not what many of the current leaders of the G20 stand for. Ultimately, we all benefit if world leaders engage in discussing the state of the global economy, innovation, environment and energy, job creation, women’s empowerment, sustainable development and even the state of the world’s health, as the summit’s agenda proposed. But are they committed to work together “to foster global economic growth, while harnessing the power of technological innovation, in particular digitalization, and its application for the benefit of all,” as the concluding declaration of the summit states? Or are too many of them of the nationalist, populist and protectionist persuasion who take exactly the opposite view? On the major issues such as climate change, sustainable development, tariffs, gender equality or nuclear proliferation, the schism between some of the countries is growing. This leaves the G20 mainly as a high-profile gathering of the photo-opportunity variety and an arena for representatives’ posturing and airing differences more than areas of agreement, mainly to enhance their prestige and standing at home. However, in the peculiar world of diplomacy, especiallyTrump’s, a visit to Japan was an opportunity to suggest a spontaneous a visit to his North Korean counterpart, since he happened to be in the neighborhood. If we keep with the script that it was a completely last-minute, tweet-improvised diplomatic initiative, then what was its purpose? Was it about eclipsing all the other leaders of the G20 and the summit itself? Was it about being the first president to cross the border into North Korea? Trump might have achieved both those aims, but the big winner is the ruthless dictator of North Korea, who gets recognition and legitimacy, though he hasn’t made a single concession. It was suggested that actually, behind the scenes, an agreement had been concocted to allow North Korea to remain a nuclear force. This might be a slippery slope, and scupper attempts to stop governments aspiring to become nuclear powers. So far Kim is getting too many freebies from Trump — who talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk regarding the need to contain rogue elements within the international community who are after nuclear capability or are intent on destabilizing the international system.