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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSlate - The Trump Administration Is Acting Hysterical Over North Korea
If the era of strategic patience is at an end, does that mean that unstrategic impatience is now the norm?
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2017/04/there_doesn_t_need_to_be_a_north_korean_crisis_right_now_why_is_trump_creating.html
North Korea is a knotty problem, but theres no cause for the hysteria that President Trump and his aides have been pumping up in recent days, and its time to turn down the heat and the noise, before someone gets hurt.
The worry (and its a legitimate worry) is that, sometime soon, the North Koreans will test another ballistic missile or nuclear weapon, which would, yet again, violate a U.N. resolution and put them one step closer to threatening American troops and allies in East Asiaand maybe, years from now, the United States itself. But there is no immediate crisis, no threat that must be staved off now or never. And yet President Trump is sending an aircraft-carrier task force and a guided-missile submarine toward North Korean shores. At the same time, he has summoned all 100 U.S. senators to a classified briefing on the subject, to be conducted on Wednesday, at the White House, by the secretaries of defense and state, the director of national intelligence, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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At least Kelly acknowledged that the specter of a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile lies some years in the future. Some of his colleagues seem to be in more of a hurry. Vice President Mike Pence, during his visit last week to South Korea, said the era of strategic patience is over. He was referring to President Obamas phrase for a policy that recognized the limits of U.S. military power against North Korea and that focused instead on sanctions and containment as tools for eroding the Kim regime over time. Strategic patience may have borne scant fruit so far, but what is Pences alternativeunstrategic impatience?
Trump is not going to order a strike on North Korean soil, not even in retaliation to another missile or nuclear test, as long as South Korea or Japan has anything to say about it. If he does order a strike in defiance of their protests, then say goodbye to South Korea and Japan, among others, as alliesand thats the best outcome. (The worst is the end of alliance plus a massive death toll.)
On the other hand, if the North Koreans do test another missile or nuke, and if Trump in his wisdom does not respond with military force, then his bellicose warnings of the past weekthe threatening tweets, the siren-laced briefing, the gunboat demarchewould seem, in retrospect, like the growls of a paper tiger.?
Doreen
(11,686 posts)has anyone ever thought that our government is actually working WITH NK and this nuclear and nit picking at each other is just a show to keep the public from knowing what is actually going on? I mean so far trump has made friends with all of the other dictators in the world what makes us think he has not actually done that with NK?
VigilantG
(374 posts)Mentioned the existence of saboteurs in NK. They cannot elaborate on it whenever they are asked, obviously.
VP Pence also has been asked about cyber sabotage into NK missile systems. My guess is we may have human and cyber sabotage elements involved. Maybe the meeting with all Senate members this week will confirm we were involved in the last failed missile launch.
Doreen
(11,686 posts)VigilantG
(374 posts)I find myself getting overwhelmed with anxiety at times. I remind myself to breathe, and have a plan, just in case something does happen. Too late to be doomsday prepping now though. 🙃
The sooner Repugs are out, the better we will all feel!