Barroom Brawler
As we keep hearing from President Trump that if North Korea continues to test missiles in defiance of the United States’ objections he will take care of the problem regardless of China’s input, indicating that he will, “Bomb the s _ _ t out of them!” He says that if their insolent behavior continues the U.S. will engage in a very serious, catastrophic, conflict with North Korea.
Wow! Who talks like that? Certainly not a U.S. President. Our presidents are cool, calm, collected ..smart and diplomatic. They exude grace and dignity, self confidence and composure. They don’t get rattled and certainly don’t engage in saber rattling with smaller powers. Our presidents speak softly and carry a big stick.
The president of north Korea, however, Kim Jung-un talks that way, but he’s expected to. Just look at his hair. But with our President Trump’s recent saber-rattling rhetoric this business with North Korea sounds like the beginning of a barroom brawl that can easily get out of hand.
Just look at his hair.
Every time Trump comments on the issue, and every time Secretary of State Tillerson speaks out regarding sanctions and consequences, the North Koreans answer with more missile tests in direct defiance.
This is exactly what Assad is doing in Syria. It’s what Iran is doing in spite of the nuclear arms agreement. It’s what the Russians are doing.
Saber rattling aside, this is getting kind of serious. One misspoken word, one miscue, one failed North Korean missile launch test that goes awry and accidentally hits South Korea or Japan and this whole thing can turn into a very ugly global conflict right away.
Trump is viewed by this side of the world power community as an irrational clown, his administration being in disarray. They are testing him at a time when they perceive America to be at its weakest and most vulnerable.
It’s a fact that many of the North Korean missile tests fail. They blow up. I don’t think they have a handle on their own missile technology. I saw a video of a test preparation to launch and it looked like the hatch cover the technicians were installing was made of plywood!
This North Korean missile technological inferiority is significant to the overall situation, and to a strategy the U.S should be applying in response to North Korea’s contemptuous behavior.
We keep hearing that the North Koreans will soon have the capability to reach the west coast of America with a missile carrying a nuclear warhead. Yes, this development has serious implications, but for a U.S. president to act and talk like a barroom brawler and threaten to retaliate in such a violent manner to such a clownish regime is more dangerous than the perceived threat from North Korea.
North Korea may indeed someday have the capability to deliver a nuclear warhead missile to California, but without any shadow of anybody’s doubt the U.S. already has the capability of blowing North Korea off the map in a New York second. There is no comparison to the military strength of the U.S. to North Korea so why even engage in that saber rattling rhetoric with them.
It only encourages them, and pisses them off even more. It’s the wrong tact and the wrong direction, and it only exacerbates the problem.
Why is Trump playing this stupid political PR game of double-dog dare with North Korea acting like they are a serious contender? North Korea is a broken and desperate country, pathetic and almost totally dependent on China for trade and economic support. Their people are starving and their leader is crazier and more erratic than our President Trump!
The risk of either an accidental or defined strike by North Korea puts thousands of U.S. military personnel in jeopardy, not to mention the millions of people of Seoul and South Korea.
And Japan.
This all makes for great reality TV right now, and gives President Trump the image of a tall-in-the-saddle cowboy hero, and maybe that’s what this is all about on both sides, everybody likes a little publicity, but this might be too serious and volatile a situation to be doing anything but trying to calm everyone down.
But Trump is acting more like Kim Jong-un than a U.S. president. This is the time for President Trump to be acting more like Father Knows Best.
Why not follow the old Mafia rule, like in ‘The Godfather’, “..keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” ..? Befriend Kim. Negotiate. Be diplomatic. Throw him a bone. Kim and North Korea just want to feel and appear important on the world stage.
He just wants to be loved.
Going head to head with this nutcase just makes the U.S. and Trump look like a nutcase. It gives the impression that we fear him and that he is a worthy opponent matching our military strength, when in reality North Korea is just a fly in the ointment.
Russia must be enjoying this, just waiting in the wings.
Placate the guy, Make him feel important ..like a real player. Instead of sending Dennis Rodman over to talk basketball with him, invite Kim to the White House for a beer and some pretzels, and a talk. Give him a ride in the presidential limo.
Take him to Disneyland.
Because if we keep rattling this guy’s cage, he just may do something really irrational and unpredictable ...even before we do.
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-george-kushma-379a5762
http://newsbout.com/a/John+Kushma
