Posted on 04/23/2017 5:47:10 AM PDT by Helicondelta
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton warned that the geopolitical situation with North Korea is bound to only get worse over time while calling to reunify the Korean Peninsula.
"The North Koreans – this very erratic, unstable regime – may soon have the capability to harm us directly," Bolton said in an interview with John Catsimatidis that aired Sunday on New York's AM 970.
"The real objective of the Trump administration has to be to convince China that it's in their best interest to find a way to reunify the Korean Peninsula as peacefully as possible," he added.
The former ambassador maintained that it is important to keep all military options on the table, while arguing that pushing China toward accepting reunification of the peninsula may be the only viable diplomatic option.
"If our main purpose is to prevent North Korea from having nuclear weapons, I think the only long-term assurance we have that that is achievable is by reunifying the two Koreas. Faced with the choice of using military force or trying to get reunification -- I think we always have to keep force on the table -- but if there's any diplomatic option left, it is pushing China towards accepting reunification," he argued.
Bolton also warned that North Korea is likely working on perfecting its submarine capabilities, making it possible for the country to send strategic submarines to the U.S. Pacific coast.
"If they can achieve that capability, they could put nuclear weapons on submarines that could get much closer to the United States … That might go undetected in the vast Pacific Ocean," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
I’m glad I don’t have to make the call.
But, consider: if Vladimir Putin were to announce: “I have a huge global nuclear delivery capability — and so, tomorrow, I am taking Poland, Germany, Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. My boys are moving in and will be setting up a Russian government in those countries — and you won’t try to stop me, because I’ll just nuke you all.”
No one would think that was acceptable.
North Korea is a crazy regime. But that’s not a compelling reason why we need to let them keep doing what they are doing. At the end of the day, you may have a million+ dead no matter what. So ... thinking longterm, what outcome is preferable? Now or later?
Hint: later Kim nukes the continental US.
Look at unified Germany. Their bankers and elitists have become a nightmare with EU policies destroying Europe. Lesson....be careful what they wish for.
ROFLMAO.
No, I dont think so. The South Koreans are as much responsible for this as the North. This might have been solved decades ago had the South had more skin in the game rather than relying on the US to do everything.
Why your logic mandates US involvement astonishes me and I cant disagree more...the same country which has never had an effective China policy until now: The US.
China and SK could have solved this on their own had it not deteriorated to this level, partly due to ineffective US policies. When the US meddles, it usually turns to shit and now we nearly have a shitstorm.
“Deciding this,” as you write, was a time that long ago passed...
All true, but its the SK’ers who will feel it first. Right now he has no intercontinental delivery system other then a freighter. All the choices area bad.
My preferred least bad choice is no more US, Western infusions of cash, goods etc. Let China keep paying his bills, I would gamble the Chinese will “take care of things” rather then have the complete chaos on their border. The hard thing for the SK’ers to do will be to do the Caesar at Alexia” thing. Where Caesar during the siege of Alesia forced the starving Gallic women & children back into Alexia to put pressure on Vercingetorix to end the siege. SK’ers will have to that to their fellow Koreans should chaos come. The world will hate them, but it most be done.
While I don’t yet agree with you about NK being able to reach the West Coast, I absolutely agree with you on the size of the mess.
Yep - as bad as Obama was domestically, he was even worse internationally. There is not one country or relationship that improved during his 8 years. It’s not just North Korea, which is a nightmare, but the also entire Middle East, and large parts of Central and South America where Socialism is coming to a boil. If you sat down to design a plan to have the worst foreign policy imaginable, you’d do exactly what Obama did for 8 years.
Obama was great at setting brush fires every place he went or intervened, and at the same time his only focus on the military, aside from the drone strike program, was to set about making it smaller, weaker, and more “inclusive” for those who were confused about their gender.
They absolutely had to be silent about foreign policy, because there were no successes to trumpet. Look at they way Benghazi was handled 6 weeks before the 2012 election. I didn’t fit the regime’s narrative, so they had to lie, with assistance from a complicit media, who continued to cover this turds in the foreign policy cat-box for the next 4 years.
While Trump may not have been talking about the size of the mess, I have to believe that guys like Mattis let him know exactly what he’d be inheriting.
You completely mischaracterized what I was saying. I was cautioning any rapid unilateral decision making on this. Like it or not we have a mutual defense treaty with South Korea so we are “involved”. Those past policies you cite, well they are in the past and are part of the dynamic that have brought us to this condition. Do you have any way of undoing them, perhaps a “hot tub time machine”?
Yes bad decisions were made in the past and they effectively “decided something”, we will see if bad decisions continue.
I will try to continue to amuse you.
About the west coast, I was thinking of the submarine launch technology, or even just floating a nuke in on a freighter.
We have a mutual defense treaty with Taiwan as well.
Are you also suggesting that justifies WWIII due to ‘past policy’ failures of prior administrations which just to happen to reinforce modern (imho, “defective”) foreign policy imperatives of meddling in other countries’ affairs?
“The real objective of the Trump administration has to be to convince China that it’s in their best interest to find a way to reunify the Korean Peninsula as peacefully as possible,” he added. “
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I do not entirely agree.
I do agree, that Trump is trying to get China to go after the current mess themselves.
I get that. And I agree with that. I agree China is in a much better position to resolve this mess.
But Trump is also poising America to deal with this directly, if China does not.
There is a HUGE amount of global trade, which Trump will immediately work to bring back to America, if China does not fix this mess.
I think that is the real issue, which is not in his review of this.
China is part of the problem with North Korea, but China is also a huge globalist powerhouse. Trump has said he wants America to bring back American production.
Right now, he is allowing China to resolve this problem. But I do not believe that is all that is happening.
If we need to resolve this, we will.
Not making a judgement call on whether that is good, or bad. But Trump is not handing the issue to China.
He is waiting, to see if they can fix this, themselves.
I’m less worried about a NK sub, pretty sure our SOSUS listeners would pick that up and kill it, but smuggling a suitcase bomb or worse in a container on a freighter - definitely plausible. I try to not subscribe to the Fear Merchants, but if you haven’t read One Second After by William Fortchen, it’s worth the read. Wouldn’t take much of a missle to light off an EMP strike.
They won't last a week... MHO.
NK is quickly becoming a direct threat to the U.S. and if left alone, their deliver systems will be able to target and strike anywhere on the planet including the U.S. That alone makes it's our decision.
Yes if it can be established they actually have achieved fission.
It’s been long established they have nuclear weapons and I believe they have conducted 5 tests, all underground. NK has threatened to nuke the U.S. west coast and they’re clearly developing more advanced delivery systems.
How long would you suggest we continue to standby and wait until it’s determined they have achieved fission?
I disagree. The Norks are directly threatening to nuke the
United States for no reason all. (Well, because we protect
South Korea against Nork designs.) This business now overrides South Korean concerns. But it would be good if it just stayed between North and South Korea. That would be best.
There is also the possible proliferation of North Korean nukes to terrorists groups who would do the dirty deed for North Korea.
It would be intolerable to live with that.
I’d be fine with China just taking over North Korea if they don’t want it “reunified.” The people running China are at least mentally stable as compared to NK.
I have often thought that a Tunguska type event could set off a war by accident.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event
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