Dennis Rodman the ‘diplomat’

WHEN he began visiting North Korea in 2013, Dennis Rodman was not taken seriously, apparently because he went there as a diplomat of sorts, albeit one without any authorization from the US government.

Had Rodman, three- time NBA cham gone to the supposedly reclusive communist state as the star-- and a hugely popular one-- of the arguably peerless professional basketball league in the world, then he could have had much luck with the second Obama administration - bassador of goodwill.

Fast forward to March 2018 and under the oftentimes clueless Trump administration, the Bull who had been sporting red hair to maybe please the Red in North credit for the stunning announcement that the mop- haired White House occupant and former reality TV star was going to meet with Kim sometime in May this year.

Until last week this month, Rodman had

Apparently, Kim had been an NBA basketball fan and also apparently a fol- lower of Dennis in particular (he and the American were pictured together watching a basketball game in Pyongyang in February 2013).

Of course, the former NBA great evidently went for a slam dunk, knowing that he could only see North Korea up close and personal through and only through Kim Jong Un.

Apparently, Rodman also knew that he had no NBA career to risk anymore and, banking on his fame as a basketball legend, he must have thought if he were to get his extra 15 minutes of fame, Kim would be the best option for a notorious or equally famous (take your pick) host.

“I said it back in 2014 that doors will open.#Peace #Love #Not War.”

He also wrote on Twitter last Friday, “Much respect to President Trump and Marshall Kim Jong Un for their upcoming historic meeting.”

His words were a buzzer beater, bringing the only prominent American to have met the supposedly much hated guy in Pyongyang closer to even greater fame off the basketball court.

Our guess is that somebody out there would nominate the Dennis, Kim and Donald for the Nobel Peace Prize for “the landmark summit that aims at ratcheting down threats of nuclear destruction from both sides [ The United States and North Korea].”

Meanwhile, where were the smart guys of the State Department and the Pentagon and other that matter in the post-Cold War era, and for that matter the NBA and the International Olympic Committee, when Rodman was dribbling his way to North Korea.

We could be ambitious with the Nobel Peace Prize.

In which case, we would settle for the trio as magazine’s “Persons of the Year.”