Out Of Control Threats Of Nuclear War

I can't begin to describe the ramifications at play here, with loose threats of nuclear warfare between Donald Trump & Kim Jong-Un, without turning it into a history lecture. That's the price I pay for being a history graduate from San Francisco State University. I'll try to keep this as concise as I can, but no guarantees.

Loose threats of nuclear war are terrifying beyond the imagenable, and it should serve as a major wake-up call to quicken the process of nuclear disarmament. For the people who grew up during the Cold War, this is a terrifying reminder of their childhood and adolescense. That makes their terror very justifiable.

However, one of the ways these threats have gotten so out of control is by the leadership in North Korea having absolutely no regard for human life. Even worse is the level of cockiness by Kim, who thinks that he'll be able to take on America with the aid of North Korea's de facto allies: Russia and China. This is where he is wrong on so many levels as the dynamics are much different now than with the start and end of the Korean War in 1950-3. The biggest reason is that Russia and China are not going to back North Korea up should it engage in a war of aggression against America and its regional allies.

This doesn't mean that the American side is without its own contributions. For years, America has been engaging in aggressive activity very close to North Korea's territory, both terrestrial and marine, through joint military exercises with both Japan and South Korea. Granted, these activities are primarily defensive in origin, but their execution can come across as a threat to the North. Another factor to add is the cockiness on display by Trump, who, in a way, is lettling his ego cloud his judgment in a sense. Trump is a president with no prior experience in government, which puts him at a huge learning curve. 

Recent step by China against North Korea

Well, ain't this a piece of good news. Then again, it confirms what I've said in my last posting about the situation with North Korea. In this new development, by the New York Times, it turns out the Bank of China, one of its state-owned commercial banks, has cut ties to some North Korean banks (essentially refusing to lend them any more money). The reason for saying that this is a positive step and is a real step in showing China's growing frustration is that North Korea has largely been ignoring all kinds of warnings telling it not to continue on with its illegal nuclear weapons program, nor more provocative actions. Only now can we see what steps North Korea will take in response. Maybe in the next week, or several, I think the North Koreans will start launching massive threatening volleys at the Chinese, and perhaps, at the Russians as well, since both seem committed to implementing the newer and heavier sanctions just passed in March.

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New developments with North Korea

Where do I even begin? Well, like I've been posting on Facebook and Twitter, it's kind of becoming a massive worry on my end that Kim Jong Un (the new North Korean leader) will actually do something stupid. So far, North Korea's threatened to invoke its right to wage pre-emptive nuclear war with America (its sworn enemy), and to bring down South Korea (its direct prosporous neighbor and sworn enemy on the other side of the DMZ - the Demilitarized Zone).

Engaging in this type of reckless behavior is not only counterintuitive, but it's also exceedingly suicidal. At this point, I'm beginning to think that Kim Jong Un has a massive death wish, especially in trying to start a war with the world's 2nd largest nuclear arsenal, especially in atomic warfare. If there's one thing America wants to seriously avoid, as stated by President Barack Obama, and both Foreign Secretary John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, it's a nuclear war, and all have made warnings to North Korea to not even go that route, as it will only bring unnecessary suffering to its people.

It should be said that this situation is more dangerous than the one in the Mideast, there at least things are much quieter. So far Iran isn't making many provocative statements, at least for the time being, and Israel isn't saber-rattling to the extent it was last year.