“All the years of frantic diplomacy to date have only succeeded in buying the North time to bring its nuclear weapons program to successful fruition. It is now perfectly clear that, from the very beginning, North Korea was never sincerely willing to bargain away its nuclear activities. And even if that had been the case, how could one trust any agreement with the North, given its consistent willingness to violate agreements almost before the ink was dry?”
One could say the same thing about Iran. America has to come to grips with the fact that you can’t wish away all our problems through diplomacy. Obama seems to think that all of our problems CAN be solved through diplomacy or, worse, the United Nations. Diplomacy and the United Nations certainly has had a big effect on North Korea, right? In fact, in this case diplomacy has been worse than doing nothing because, while we have been “negotiating” with the North Koreans, the North Koreans have broken every agreement they’ve made and have been building nuclear bombs. So much for diplomacy. Obama and the far left just can’t come to grips with the fact that there are really bad countries out there that are willing to do really bad things, regardless of the cost.
So what do we do about it? We have to start by building up our military in Asia. Threats from us will not mean much if we don’t have the muscle to back it up with. We need to dramatically increase the number of carrier battle groups in the area. With three carrier battle groups, plus all of the American bombers based on Guam, we can show the North Koreans and the Chinese that the time for talking is over. We want results and we want them NOW, before the whole world is dragged into a nuclear war. We can also have a substantial number of aircraft based in South Korea and we can also add a number of land-based missiles in South Korea as well. Add to that South Korea’s substantial forces, and you have a very credible force in which to intimidate North Korea.
Then what? At the very least a naval blockade of North Korea. It forces North Korea to make the next move and it shows China that we’re serious about what we’re talking about. Then, China and North Korea have to decide how far they want to take this confrontation. A naval blockade will probably destroy North Korea’s economy (what’s left of it) and it could stop any shipments of illegal materials from leaving North Korea to other rogue states. But it MUST be a total blockade. Nothing goes in and nothing comes out. If a war is coming anyway with North Korea, you may as well start preventing all of the food and materials they need to wage war from coming into the country. Could they simply get what the need from China? Perhaps, but how far is China really willing to go to support North Korea? Is China willing to destroy herself over North Korea? The more pressure we put on the North will force China to answer that question. And, trust me, this isn’t 1950 anymore. China isn’t ready to fall on its sword for Kim and the crazy North Koreans. The answer will be no, and Kim’s regime will fall.
Put enough muscle into situations like this and your enemy will back down, just like they did in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
