Trump admin is doing the right things, just too small of a scale. Start imposing sanctions and isolating the Chinese and Russian banks that are being used to move money for NK. Isolate and sanction the companies that use NK labor. It won't take long before China and Russia start to feel the pain and hopefully it's enough. Under no circumstances should there be a military option unless it's a massive first strike that eliminates the thousands of artillery pieces aimed at Seoul. Any kind of measured military response would be disaster for the S.Koreans.
Isn't this like the same thing NK does ALL the time? Why are we taking this so seriously now? Nothing ever comes of their threats. They are like a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum is all.
This. And that last sentence is the reason for all that went before. It would be very gratifying and easy to just go in and blow Kim up but he is literally holding a gun to the head of South Korea, our good friend and the reason we are there in the first place. This is something that gets to me about conservatives, the way they forget why we're doing what we're doing and just want to go in and kill everybody, friend and foe alike. They did it nearly constantly throughout the Vietnam war and now they want to do it here.
If we got into a protracted war with NK, and China sided with NK, it would probably mean a cutoff of trade between China and the US. Millions of Chinese workers would be affected, and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade would come to a dead stop. Would that really be worth it to the Chinese? It's not the 1950s anymore. Times have changed. Don't you think the Chinese might be inclined instead to simply weigh what was in their national interest? Is Kim really worth it? There is only one thing the US wants. We don't want NK territory. We don't want a change in the status quo. We don't necessarily even want regime change. I mean, sure, that would be nice, but it's not the fundamental thing we want. Really, all the US wants is an end to NK's nuclear program. We don't want to be threatened by Kim's ICBMs. Other than that, all we want is peace and the status quo. That's it. Nothing else. So what is in China's national interest? In the Korean War, the US and our allies lost 178,000 soldiers (33,000 American). About 2.5 million Korean civilians died. The American public is not going to stand for a repeat and a protracted war. I know I would not agree to tens of thousands of dead soldiers and hundreds of thousands of wounded just because we were afraid to use our power that could bring the conflict to an immediate end. If, in the end, China does nothing to stop NK's nuclear program, and we carry out a surgical strike to end it, and NK tries to wage a full scale war in retaliation, then I think the only option is to end NK's ability and will to fight overnight. I hate to say it, but if it comes to that, we should end that war using the power we possess. If I were the POTUS I would be telling the Chinese this now. And I would be pleading with them to act. If they wish to be thought of as a great nation, you cannot have that status just because you want it. Sometimes you must go out and prove it. Sometimes you must act. For China, now is that time.
Right. Why should we go to war which would be very costly when we could just bomb the crap out of them? I'd rather just ignore them entirely, but if we have to do something, then why should we put boots on the ground?
He is asking very simple and relevant questions. Does anyone ever stop and consider why? Nah we just run with the crap the media spews. The same media we claim to distrust. Kim isnt crazy. He has it made. He is living the life of a King. He has everything he could possibly want with one exception. International relevance. He gets is by playing the US like a fiddle. We give it to him by acting as if he is a threat. He knows full well if he did anything we could level his entire little world and his dream existence would come to an end. So who is really being played here? I say its the american people being played by our government with the full complicity of the media.
China probably figures with the amount of debt we owe them we would never end trade because they might call in their loans. Both China and Russia want to see America reduced in world presence and maybe a war with NK would accomplish this in their minds given what happened the last time we were there. I really think it will come down to it, we will have to take on NK to stop their actions. I do agree it will have to be done in a devastating fashion and strategic strikes will not take out everything. I think we have a leader who will allow the military leaders to do what's needed to accomplish the tasks needed. If we have to go to war with NK then our military needs to have their hands free to bring it to a quick end and the cry babies need to not be too concerned about NK causalities because there will be some.
I served during Vietnam and I remember the military having their hands tied by our politicians. If they had been allowed to operate the way they want to the war would have been short and we would have won. If we go to NK I think Trump will allow the military leaders to fight the war the way they want to so it should be short. The reason we are there is because we did not win the fight and we stay to keep NK from going into the south. If we had been allowed to actually win the war we wouldn't have to be there. Sure a war with NK would be bad for SK in the beginning but if our military is allowed to do what they do best it will be a short war and we wouldn't need to protect them any longer.
Oh yes, I agree with that. Our responsibility is first to ourselves and the South Koreans. It seems ludicrous to me to choose to take tremendous losses to our troops and to the South Koreans because we are too guilt ridden about the fate of the North Koreans.
Yes. Kim and his father before him. Seems like every spring they would come out from under the bunker they hide in make a bunch of idle threats until we send them an aid package or two to make him/them go away. It has worked very well for the NK regime and it gives the US government an opportunity to whip up a little domestic fear here in the states.
So you're okay with several millions of South Koreans dying in nuclear fire? Because that IS what will happen if we go into a full-blown war with North Korea and it won't be just bad for South Korea, it will be a disaster they will not recover from for years, if ever. North Korea is a nuclear power, they have the ability to wipe out a good deal of the South with conventional artillery using nuclear shells and just about all nations now have a good arsenal of short range rockets, which is all they would need for the rest. And in the meantime the only thing that would do what you're suggesting for the North is to turn them into a radioactive wasteland for the next 10,000 years What you're suggesting then, is that we basically wipe out Korea, the South of which is one of the main bulwarks of the entire world's economy. You say you served in Vietnam, what was I was saying about forgetting why you were there in the first place and just killing everybody?
Fear of the US is the main way's Kim keeps such a tight hold over his people. In the meantime we throw another trillion or two at our defense contractors so they can buy another aircraft carrier Captain Peachfuzz Trump can sail the wrong way next time. I have read that North Korea is, in fact, a supplier of weapons on the world market. I wonder how many of their salesmen talk to ours at weapons shows.
So you are suggesting we do nothing and forever live with the threat of nukes coming from this madman. I don't think any of which you predicted will happen because right now he doesn't have enough nukes to use on South Korea and threaten us with. He will most likely try to use conventional artillery against the south but if our first strike is heavy enough we should be able to take out enough of his artillery to mitigate the damage. If we do it right the "shock and awe" of Iraq will look like a summer picnic. We have the ability and the weapons but we will have to have the determination and will to take all fight out of North Korea quickly.
Because the only way to end the war quickly upnwith boots on the ground. I will reiterate my earlier point. The only way to prevent a slaughter in Seoul and the surrounding area would be a MASSIVE first strike. It would have to be massive on a scale not seen since WW2 and it would have to decimate the thousands of artillery pieces at the border. Any type of measured action would result in Kim firing that gun at SKs head.
And we continue to do our part to float his boat. At best i would give him a quarter and tell him to call someone who cares.
What an absurd claim. If N. Korea attacked S. Korea with nuclear weapons if we attack N. Korea, it would NOT be us who killed the S. Koreans. That is absurd reasoning. If the Allies has YOUR reasoning in WW2, all Germany would need say is if the Allies invade from the West or the East, they will murder everyone in France - for which in your logic either we had to surrender or we would be responsible for killing everyone in France. Hostage takers would love you.
PS. I meant that last comment as rhetorical about your logic, not you personally. I apologize if it seemed otherwise.
So if all the South Koreans are killed by North Koreans instead of us they won't be dead, right? By your reasoning we should pre-emptively attack everyone on Earth, because they MAY attack us at some point in the future.
You completely ignored my example and clearly claim that any country can prevail merely by threatening to mass kill civilians. If they are all dead it would be because Kim is a truly genocidal sociopath as his only motive would to mass murder people directly opposite his military best interests - proving he would not hesitate to kill every American he can for the joy of doing so as soon as he is capable of doing so. Of course, it is you absolutely insisting that he IS a truly genocidal sociopath and would use his weapons no in defense of his country or against attacking military forces, but instead would use his military forces to mass murder civilians for the joy of doing so. YOU are claims he is a true sociopath - worst ever in known existence - and then turn around and say we should trust him with our country's fate. 1 nuclear weapon on NYC, DC, LA would obliterate our economy and vastly eliminate civil rights as a result - not even counting the dead and dead zone - and he has more than one. Figure those 3 cities plus Chicago, Boston, Houston, Miami and San Francisco obliterated too. 30 million dead. Another 20 million dying. Social dystopia. Economy gone. As YOU say Kim is such a true genocidal sociopath, while in the same breathe say to trust him and that he is no different than any other foreign leader. Has Russia EVER said if we go to war against Russia they will launch their missiles on Canada or Mexico, or on Ukraine or any other neighbor? Yet that is what you say Kim's psychology is towards S. Korea. Genocidal sociopath. Name another country outright threatening us with nuclear weapons attacks and producing movies show a pre-emptive nuclear attack on us, while repeatedly launching ballistic missiles at our base in Japan? We have bases around Russia and also sanctions. While Russia does have nuclear weapons Putin does not go on world TV bragging that he is going to kill everyone in the USA.
