A Different Goal For North Korea

The current government must go. Period. Whatever it takes, up to and including war, those guys have got to go. And now, not later.

Traveling this week, I was assaulted by Airport CNN repeatedly wherein Wise People with Important Degrees and Long Years of Experience lectured viewers that Trump's rhetoric was dangerous and destabilizing. What we needed was dialog and de-escalation.

Until what? Until the Norks have 10 nukes instead of 5? Until they've mounted miniaturized warheads on missiles with 3,000 or 5,000 mile ranges? Until they've sold nukes to Hezbollah? What exactly is the plan 10 years out for the "negotiate" crowd? Dig this Hillary Clinton quote from a CNN piece today.

During former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearing in 2009, she said the Obama administration believed that six-party talks were "a vehicle for us to exert pressure on North Korea in a way that is more likely to alter their behavior." "We will embark upon a very aggressive effort to try to determine the best way forward to achieve our objectives with them," she added.

Alter their behavior? Really? I'm sorry, Ms. Clinton, but the rest of us can't hear the voices in your head. You're going to have to convince us using things we all can see. In any case, we tried just that during the Obama Administration and now we've got potential mini-nukes on 5,000-mile missiles. In the non-fantasy world, that was an utterly predictable failure of the highest order. It's time to stop doing what clearly doesn't work.

Yes, right now, the Norks probably have functional nukes that can be delivered by ship or submarine, if nothing else. Yes, a war might end up with a few cities flattened. Yes, Seoul would suffer mightily. Game this out 5 years into the future, using only actual facts and patterns of behavior and no wishful, peacenik thinking and let me know how it gets better and not much, much worse.

The time to knock off the Norks was when Bill Clinton capitulated, enabled by that epic schizophrenic Jimmy Carter. Carter, living in a world that only exists in his mind, played rogue negotiator and betrayed us all, giving that coward Bill Clinton an out from confronting the Norks. Well, that opportunity has passed and we are where we are. Waiting longer is just going to lead to more advancements in Nork missile and nuke technology.

Backing up to a higher level, what we're seeing is the fruits of 40 years of Pax Americana. This generation has grown up thinking that peace and prosperity are the norm. That's why we concentrate on trannies in bathrooms. We think we have the luxury to debate such issues and that they're even vaguely important.

Meanwhile, the world becomes less and less stable at a fundamental level. Huge debts in the West, nukes in the hands of Kim Jong Un and the Ayatollahs, Muslims slowly conquering Europe through demographics, none of these are discussed as existential threats because we've never experienced an existential threat in our lifetime. In our minds, they don't exist and never will. Instead we worry about men in women's restrooms and micro-aggressions.

If you think this is all over-the-top, caffeine-driven ranting, try this little exercise. Go back in time 20 years with the Norks and apply the analysis process below for all of our diplomatic efforts. Your goal is peace and stability in the region and no or reduced threats from the Norks. How'd "engagement" and "diplomacy" do?