Originally Posted by
IMPress Polly
Well, to my own surprise, it looks as though North Korea has successfully tested their first missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead not only to the continental United States, but indeed anywhere in the world. I had figured such a development to be years away yet; a premise that formed the basis for my previous prediction of war with North Korea by year's end! With that premise having just been discredited, I must now alter my prediction fundamentally: war with North Korea now seems like an extremely unlikely possibility. My previous forecast of war had been premised on North Korea being unable to retaliate against the United States itself for any bombing campaign or ground invasion. Now that it appears they have at least some capacity to do so, I believe the Korean Peninsula to be basically safe from the threat of external attack! You could tell as much by the president's muted response to the news:
Upon receiving word that North Korea had apparently just successfully tested a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the White House, the fiercest response President Trump could muster was "It is a situation that we will handle". It was a far cry from his earlier rhetoric toward the regime. No more talk of "fire and fury". No more threats to "completely destroy" North Korea and its 24 million inhabitants. No more talk of diplomatic options running out. No more "Rocket Man". With but a missile test, a Second World regime run by a king my age accomplished a feat that no one else has been able to so far: he has shut the leader of the so-called free world's trap. And with that development, the regime has manifestly accomplished its self-described goal of acquiring a better negotiating position with the United States going forward. And so there the billionaire leader of the "free world" sat, defeated by the boy-king of a developing country. I hate to say that I was rooting for the latter in this little spat, but you know what, that someone on this Earth was able to shut President Trump up is to me the most satisfying development of the year so far.
Now imagine, by contrast, if Kim Jong Un's regime had taken us up on our generous offer of admission to the world community proper and improved relations with us in exchange for giving up their nuclear weapons program. Well...we need only look to the example of Libya to see what happens to you when you accept that offer. Muammar Ghadafi accepted just such an offer vis-a-vis his country's weapons of mass destruction back in 2003. Eight years later, he was dead and his country in ruins from a U.S.-led bombing campaign. Or consider the case of Iraq, which in 2002-3 stood accused by the U.S. government of developing nuclear weapons. Weapons inspectors were brought in and only after they found no evidence of WMDs did the United States decide to invade. Or consider the case of Iran, which we struck a deal with two years ago to halt the development of their nuclear power program in exchange for a partial release from economic sanctions. Two years later, we are the ones pulling out of that deal despite Iran's adherence thereto. It all begs the question: why should North Korea's leaders ever have believed us?
If North Korea had accepted our generous offer of improved relations in exchange for scrapping their nuclear weapons program, they would have been attacked as soon as their nuclear weapons program was gone! And what of South Korea? Well, they would have been invaded by North Korea in response to the aforementioned American attack, and whatever was left after the said war would not have been rebuilt because the only reason we give South Korea favorable trading agreements and aid is because their country serves as a bulwark against North Korea in the region. With the North Korean regime's ouster, the U.S. would find that South Korea had exhausted its usefulness and be left it to rot. THAT was the alternative available to the Korean Peninsula in reality! So thank you, North Korea, for preserving the peace between our two countries and on the Korean Peninsula!
That is what I have to say.
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