Dealing with Kim: Trump's team needs to raise its game

WEDNESDAY marks the first anniversary of the landmark Singapore summit, perhaps the US administration's signature foreign policy initiative to date. Yet, amid much White House hype, the process has predictably failed to live up to the billing, with the talks just as likely to collapse completely as to conclude with a deal agreed, which could now have dangerous, unpredictable consequences.

The reason why this was - potentially - foreseeable is the significant expectations gap that emerged out of last June's event. What was no more than a start to a potentially transformational, sustained strategic dialogue, saw President Donald Trump, for instance, declaring that the "nuclear threat from North Korea is over", giving the impression that he had already completed the immensely complicated process of de-escalating tensions in the world's last Cold War-era frontier.

Going forward, the US president still appears outwardly optimistic about the process, insisting that Kim Jong-Un wants an agreement. Yet a significant part of this, however, rests on the president's inflated assessment of his personal abilities to broker a deal.