How to interact with North Korea

That seems like a good analysis.

But we should still make it clear to Little Kim that he best not send a missile our way, as he will certainly not like the resulting incineration of his country.

 

Lots of boasting by NK but China would not want middles headed their way.

 

I seriously doubt that it would mean WWIII. After all, China--the DPRK's sponsor--has made it clear that it will not interfere, on the latter's behalf, if it were to attack the US.

Just what would you suggest that we should do, in response to a missile attack upon one of our major cities?

Just wipe away the tears, perhaps--and do nothing else?

 

You cant destroy North Korea wizhout massive destruction on chinese and russian soil.

What you should do? Same as in last 60 years. Nothing. Kim wont attack. You wont attack,

 

The State Department has totally failed with NK, stupidly failed, for more than five decades prior to Trump. Trump has tried another tack and so far it hasn't worked either. But the US is none the worse off.

Don't worry, a surprise nuclear first strike on a US city is unforgivable, and it goes without saying that there would be massive retaliatory strikes and then world nuclear war I, abbreviated WNWI. Nobody has to say it. Everybody knows it. JFK would have done it in answer to Nikita Kruchief, and Trump will answer the call likewise, and hopefully all successor presidents will do likewise.

I expect that you won't wimp out and say you really didn't mean it.

 

NORAD and the U.S. Pacific Command know immediately where any N. Korea missile test is heading and whether to take action or not. Remember the false alarm of a ballistic missile attack on the island of Hawaii last year? There was an incoming missile warning for the islands of Kauai and Hawaii and people panicked and started putting their kids down the sewers for safety. There were no defensive missiles shot off, there was no panic at NORAD. They knew that it was a false alarm. The Commanders at the Pacific Command will never shoot off any missile offensively as a first strike. Their purpose is defense and it's only in the defense of this country that they will send any missiles anywhere. That's why people that are afraid that Trump will nuke N. Korea of Iran or some other country are afraid for nothing. General John Hyten has it all under control.
https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-reminds-russia-we-are-ready-all-nuclear-threats

US Reminds Russia ‘We Are Ready’ for All Nuclear Threats

U.S. Air Force General John Hyten, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command

 

If Kim does not attack, the entire point is moot.

My point was not--not!--that we should attack Kim because of his incendiary rhetoric. (I never said any such thing; and I truly wish that you would not pretend that I did.)

My point concerned only what our response should be if he were to attack one of our major cities--and that we should let him know this, in advance.

Please re-read the OP.

 

Of course I will not.

I imagine that there will be at least three or four nuclear wars in the future. (Contrary to the imaginings of some, I really do not envision a nuclear war in apocalyptic terms. And that is especially true after the development--now being worked on--of low-yield nuclear weapons.)

 

Merely to know where a missile is heading--and to let it go if it is not headed for US soil--is insufficient, in my view.

If the test is obviously provocative, we should shoot down the missile.

Period.

End of story.

 

That's not going to happen, period.

 

You may be correct.

But that does not change the fact that it should happen.

 

I have always said that we have two choices. We can ignore North Korea and accept the nukes or we can go to war. Obviously we are doing the former.

 

No, it shouldn't happen. Extrapolate your opinion that any missile from N. Korea should be 'shot down'. Okay, so what if that missile is over Japan, should the US shoot it down over Japan and if so, what about the victims that will die because the US shot down a missile over Osaka or Tokyo?

What if the missile was just somewhere over the Sea of Japan and the US shot it down over the ocean where no humans could be harmed, then what? Does N. Korea send off a few more missiles to intentionally strike Japan in retribution? N. Korea hates Japan, so what would be the punishment for N. Korea for hundreds of thousands of Japanese killed by N. Korea missiles? Oh, I see, you're thinking nuclear bomb Pyongyang and kill millions of civilians in N. Korea, right? Keep thinking, this is going to get interesting in your scenario. What does China and Russia do? Will they take action, will they strike at the US mainland? China does't want millions of refugees fleeing N. Korea in China and South Korea surely doesn't want retribution taken against Seoul where there's 10 million people.

Am I getting through to you yet?

 

Denise, my wife, is so sweet. I came back in with the bug spray sooner than she thought, I guess; but when I came in, she was on the ground trying to somehow communicate to the ants that I was about to spay them and that it would be in their own best interest to just leave. She had a better chance of getting through to them than we have of getting through to NK.

 

Of course the US should not shoot down a North Korean missile "over Japan." But we could detect it long before it was yet there.

You are correct in noting that Little Kim might target Japan--and even South Korea, I might add--in a fit of rage, if we were to destroy his country.

But my suggestion would be this: That we should let Little Kim know--truthfully!--that if he were to destroy an American city with a bomb, we would retaliate by reducing his entire country to mere rubble (and not just Pyongyang, either).

I really do not think that schoolyard taunts are useful, in attempting a serious discussion of a quite serious matter.

China's leader, Xi Jinping, has already announced that China will not come to the DPRK's aid if it initiates a military conflict with the US.

And as for Russia, it cares for North Korea only to the extent that it can act as a thorn in the side of the US. It is quite unlikely to act as its protector.

 

Actually Obamacare is doing just fine without a mandate which Obama didn't want originally anyway. Inequality continues to grow so the bloated rich spend a lot in the stock market. Doesn't help anybody else. Illegal immigration stopped on its own. There is no crisis oh, just bologna repeated endlessly on the GOP propaganda machine. Pass the 2010 democratic immigration bill with an ID card that would end this mess like other modern countries. Trump is just kicking it down the road. The wall is stupid and won't work

 

For seventy years, America has held NK in check. America has tried a number of carrots and sticks to keep them in check including never giving them a recognition as a world power. So, where are we now?

1. NK wanted recognition as a world power - Trump gave them that.
2. NK wanted a stop to joint U.S. - South Korea war games - Trump gave them that.
3. NK would love a White House visit - Trump said maybe, no strings attached.
4. Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump wanted a nuke free peninsula - NK has a bunch of nukes and rockets to deliver them.
5. Trump said he and Kim "fell in love."
6. NK is preparing long range missile tests and thumbing their noses at U.S. and all the rest.
7. NK is building a Trident type submarine.

So, what to do. Frankly there isn't a helluva lot we can do now that NK is a nuclear power. Kim's not crazy. He's sure not dumb, he played his hand well. He just created a nuclear umbrella for himself so he can thumb his nose at anybody. China has made it clear that if the U.S. launched a preemptive strike on NK, China and us would be at war.

The only card we have now is to work the diplomatic channels with China, but to what end? What do we want that we have any chance of getting?

 

You have made my long-range viewpoint that any hostile actions on the part of Kim Jong-un would be signing his own death warrant. Kim Jong-un will do anything to remain in power and he's not about to risk that by sending any missiles into Japan, Hawaii, Guam or wherever. His actions are just bluster and threats. His generals have been old guard, men that stood with his father and some with his grandfather. Kim has been replacing some of those old military men with more moderate-thinking voices in the military. These are the advisors that will pave the way for a N. Korea that's more willing to make some concessions in their nuclear program, the old guard was not.

 

Perhaps.

 

You are quite correct.

I did, however, get a good chuckle out of the typo. (You intended to "spay" the ants--presumably, so that they could not reproduce.)

Of course, I have had my own share of typos over the years.

This one, though, was particularly funny.

 

Ya think Kim got the message Trump just sent to Iran?

 

Please try to stay on topic.

If you wish merely to regurgitate Democratic talking points, you might want to start another thread.

I have no intention of following you off-topic here.

 

I didn't catch that. That's hilarious. I couldn't have planned it better.