Nothing New on North Korea Except ...

[Jayhawker Soule]

Please see Nothing New on North Korea Except Donald Trump's Freak-Out.

Meanwhile our home-grown bully is being increasingly applauded for his bombast and Trump is clearly luxuriating in this enhanced aggrandizement. After all, it's so much better than focusing on the home-grown threat named Robert Muller.

The afterglow of all of this is manifest as Trump ramps up his belligerence towards the GOP leadership while proudly warning all who will listen that he is not taking the military option off the table when it comes to Venezuela.

The Bully Pulpit is here.

 

[Revoltingest]

My hope is that Trump is only posturing towards N Korea & Venezuela.
And that this won't ignite anything costly.
We shall see.

 

[The Holy Bottom Burp]

I think there is a bit of sabre rattling going on, on both sides. Korea knows it would be suicide to mess with America, but the nature of the regime means they can never back down, no doubt they will celebrate if the sanctions get lifted, and attribute it to their "military might". It is a bit depressing that we are still stuck with these hard line dictatorships after all these years. So much for the UN.

As for Trump, I hope he is not really as unbalanced as he comes across some times. He commands enough power to bring disaster on humanity. My instinct is that all this is more about posturing, appearing as the "strong leader" to the American public. He is a showman and a salesman, I think the tough talking is to impress his supporters, and perhaps distract them from checking up on all the pre-election promises he made...

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Korea knows it would be suicide to mess with America, but the nature of the regime means they can never back down, no doubt they will celebrate if the sanctions get lifted, and attribute it to their "military might".

North Korea also believes that the US, the UN, and most of the rest of the world are out to destroy them. They could easily get to a point where they see their own destruction as inevitable. Once that happens, self-preservation won't be a factor in their plans.

 

[Sunstone]

I would suggest that Madow's report, linked to in the OP, adds credibility to the notion that Trump may be saber rattling in order to shore up public support for him and his administration. There's a meme floating around the internet now, "Public Service Announcement: No one needs a war more than a politician whose favorability ratings are low in the polls". And no president has been less popularly approved of at this point in his administration than Donald Trump.

 

[Jumi]

Trump is being aggressive towards North Korea and Venezuela, while US congress and Media is aggressive towards Russia and just stepped on the EU's foot, hard by accident it seems. Not much good about the recent news.

 

[metis]

When Trump was preparing to debate Hillary, the man doing the prepping of Trump in the area of the military told former Republican representative Joe Scarborough that Trump asked him three times why, if we have nuclear weapons, aren't we using them? Trump also said in the campaign the he would be the most military man in our history, and just look at his appointees.

 

[sun rise]

One thing for sure, he's no Teddy Roosevelt ( "speak softly, and carry a big stick.").

 

[metis]

One thing for sure, he's no Teddy Roosevelt ( "speak softly, and carry a big stick.").

And because he has small hands, he's also not carrying a big-- oops, I can't say that here.

 

[Curious George]

My hope is that Trump is only posturing towards N Korea & Venezuela.
And that this won't ignite anything costly.
We shall see.

While I do not doubt that this is precisely what the intention is, the question remains is even this a mistake?

 

[columbus]

My hope is that Trump is only posturing towards N Korea & Venezuela.
And that this won't ignite anything costly.
We shall see.

At least I can keep crowing, "Well I am an American voter and we voted for somebody else! "
Tom

 

[The Holy Bottom Burp]

North Korea also believes that the US, the UN, and most of the rest of the world are out to destroy them. They could easily get to a point where they see their own destruction as inevitable. Once that happens, self-preservation won't be a factor in their plans.

Well that is what we cannot know Penguin (9/10ths penguin? I really think it is time you dispensed with the qualification and come out as a penguin! No judgement here friend! I like penguins!), how nuts are they? Saddam Hussein went into hiding to save his worthless hide when he realised there was nowhere to run. The threats turned out to be hollow. It is easy to see the parallels between his regime and the Korean regime, a government built on terror and subjugation of the people. The Korean people are too frightened to speak against the regime, though it is pretty clear many of them see through the insanity. If Trump is serious about bringing down that odious regime (and it is odious in anyone's book) the intelligent option would be to support armed internal insurrection. Dropping bombs, which inevitably means dead innocents, is a dumb option. Look at the Iraq, a complete mess, a complete human tragedy, a complete blood bath; it doesn't look like getting better any time soon despite the retreat of extremist forces. Talk about not learning the lessons of history, even recent history...

 

[Jumi]

While I do not doubt that this is precisely what the intention is, the question remains is even this a mistake?

You mean the posturing, or a real war against Venezuela and North Korea?

 

[Curious George]

You mean the posturing, or a real war against Venezuela and North Korea?

I mean the posturing itself. Our actions are not done in a bubble, but rather played out on stage. The notion that if no war or nuclear consequences come of this escalated rhetoric doesn't necessarily matter when deciding if the rhetoric itself was a mistake.

 

[Revoltingest]

At least I can keep crowing, "Well I am an American voter and we voted for somebody else! "
Tom

You're proud to have voted for Hillary, eh.
What a world we live in.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

My hope is that Trump is only posturing towards N Korea & Venezuela.
And that this won't ignite anything costly.
We shall see.

I think you're wrong. His "posturings" are tried and true ways for politicians to weasel themselves out of sticky situations (which I presume we all remember are still ongong -- google "muelller Russia"). Many presidents have tried it (Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, Bush(es), and it frequently works. Might even work for Trump. Of course, as in all the other instances I mentioned, it will come at a very steep cost to a lot of other people -- but as people in power have always accepted, "what does it matter what the cost is to others, so long as I'm safe?"

 

[DavidFirth]

Anyone who is new to the games NK plays gets angry and upset at their threats. I was in Korea for several years in the US army. When you are there you hear about everything they say - but you only hear what they want you to hear.

It's a game they play and they're good at it. It makes their leader feel good and omnipotent when he threatens the US. It also makes his own people think he's a god they should worship and obey. It is also designed to cast fear and unrest in his opponents.

After I had been there a year or so I learned not to pay NK threats any attention at all. It's all just their game.

Ignoring them is the best strategy and hopefully Trump will learn that in time.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

This is tangentally related but if anyone hasn't seen this...documentary(?) yet, they really should. Just highlights some of the more bazaar aspects of NK and how they treat outside guests.

 

[Revoltingest]

I think you're wrong.

I stated my hopes, & the incontrovertible fact that we shall eventually see if they're realized.
Wrong?
No....not applicable.

 

[DavidFirth]

Good post, ADA.

It is a very repressed society. No song can be sung in NK that does not glorify Kim Il Sung in some way. No one is allowed to criticize anything about the government or the NK way of life.

If you try to leave the NK you will be shot. Soldiers are stationed on the border with China to kill anyone who tries to leave.

If you get in you might not be able to ever get out.