What do we do with North Korea?

Mountainmanbob said:

If that is what you think to be the case, I guess prayers would be in order for mr. Trump.
M-Bob

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No, removal would be in order...

Allandavid said:

No, removal would be in order...

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You all seem to be stuck on that notion. It's not getting you or our Country anywhere. If it's your main message up until the next election, Trump will easily win again. You all truly seem to be frustrated with Trump? Maybe that's Trump's plan for as an old mentor taught me.

Frustration is like castration.
It makes the message impotent.

M-Bob

Mountainmanbob said:

You all seem to be stuck on that notion. It's not getting you or our Country anywhere. If it's your main message up until the next election, Trump will easily win again. Maybe that's Trump's plan for as an old mentor taught me.

Frustration is like castration.
It makes the message impotent.

M-Bob

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Nice Try trying to channel Confucius.

Mountainmanbob said:

You all seem to be stuck on that notion. It's not getting you or our Country anywhere. If it's your main message up until the next election, Trump will easily win again. You all truly seem to be frustrated with Trump? Maybe that's Trump's plan for as an old mentor taught me.

Frustration is like castration.
It makes the message impotent.

M-Bob

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Your nation will be safer, better respected and more stable once that incompetent is removed. Take a while and a lot of hard work to remove that stain though....

Allandavid said:

Your nation will be safer, better respected and more stable once that incompetent is removed. Take a while and a lot of hard work to remove that stain though....

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Ya, like we were safer with the last guy -' right.
M-Bob

Allandavid said:

Your nation will be safer, better respected and more stable once that incompetent is removed. Take a while and a lot of hard work to remove that stain though....

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Meh, I only would consider it more stable to the extent that Democrats would be happier...

Mountainmanbob said:

Ya, like we were safer with the last guy -' right.
M-Bob

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Yep, that's right...and better respected and more stable.

You're getting it...!

TailsFox said:

Meh, I only would consider it more stable to the extent that Democrats would be happier...

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Are you telling me that Republicans have been happy with the 'stability' in government since January...?

TailsFox said:

Meh, I only would consider it more stable to the extent that Democrats would be happier...

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Such as?
Obama's Policy's actually helped the Economy, Trump barely did anything he's just Claiming Obama's Economic Legacy as his own.

Trump banned Transgender when No one in the military even really gave a crap, None of the Generals knew it was coming the Pentagon was even blindsided

Obamacare although has a lot of faults saved people and also helped the prices of Insurance somewhat (yes it's still alot but it would of been worse without it)

Meh, the real story is people were tired of Obama and that resulted in Trump being elected. I wasn't sure on Trump at first, but seeing a President stand up to bullying from a violent nation has my support.

TailsFox said:

Meh, the real story is people were tired of Obama and that resulted in Trump being elected. I wasn't sure on Trump at first, but seeing a President stand up to bullying from a violent nation has my support.

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Tired of Obama because he was a more Mature president?
Ummm no, again the electoral college among many other factors led to Trump being president, not Obama.

Stand up to Bullying? You mean Escalating a situation with a Dictator? Do you really think that's wise?

Are you that Naive to think that NK doesn't know we have superior firepower and have had the vast majority of Nukes for the longest time? What do you think "Standing up to NK" will exactly accomplish?

szechuan said:

Stand up to Bullying? You mean Escalating a situation with a Dictator?

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I guess you have not heard what that dictator wants to do to you and your children?

I don't think he is a friendly guy.

Obama did not want to deal with him and didn't have the guts to do it.

Trump will stand strong for America and in short time all will see what a fine job he has done regarding North Korea.

And what will you say then?
Going to give credit to Obama?
He would only pass it on the Bush.

M-Bob

Mountainmanbob said:

I guess you have not heard what that dictator wants to do to you and your children?

I don't think he is a friendly guy.

Obama did not want to deal with him and didn't have the guts to do it.

Trump will stand strong for America and in short time all will see what a fine job he has done regarding North Korea.

M-Bob

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Oh I know a lot of about NK.

You're saying Obama didn't stand Strong with NK? Because? Did you want him to Invade NK? You do realize we had Sanctions too against NK with Obama and told them to stop making Missiles.

You guys from forign countries ......
Are you sure you want Obama back?????
Meltdowns in these countries with Arab spring
Egypt yemen ...middle east
Civil wars in these countries.....
Syria
Iraq
Lybia
IRan gaining nuclear weapons soon......
Rise of Isis and islamic terorism in 35 countries.....
Are you guys in Europe sure you want Obamas policies ....
Open borders for Islamic terorist from Isis to come into your country....
Islamic Terorist attacks all over europe. France spain germany and now England.
Maybe you should follow the example of Trump....
Close your borders to illegals and clean up the mess......

szechuan said:

Tired of Obama because he was a more Mature president?
Ummm no, again the electoral college among many other factors led to Trump being president, not Obama.

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So if people didn't vote Trump because they were tired of Obama, are you saying Trump got in on his own merit?

TailsFox said:

So if people didn't vote Trump because they were tired of Obama, are you saying Trump got in on his own merit?

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Are you saying Trump didn't lie with his Rhetoric to get into the office in his own Merit?
You didn't see all the MAGA hats?

Traveling teacher said:

You guys from forign countries ......
Are you sure you want Obama back?????
Meltdowns in these countries with Arab spring
Egypt yemen ...middle east
Civil wars in these countries.....
Syria
Iraq
Lybia
IRan gaining nuclear weapons soon......
Rise of Isis and islamic terorism in 35 countries.....
Are you guys in Europe sure you want Obamas policies ....
Open borders for Islamic terorist from Isis to come into your country....
Islamic Terorist attacks all over europe. France spain germany and now England.
Maybe you should follow the example of Trump....
Close your borders to illegals and clean up the mess......

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You see, before you can solve a problem, you have to understand the problem...and you are woefully uninformed on a major part of this problem.

The vast majority of terrorist atracks in the West are committed by homegrown terrorists...!

Please explain how closing borders will address that problem...

TailsFox said:

So if people didn't vote Trump because they were tired of Obama, are you saying Trump got in on his own merit?

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Yes. Spend 40 minutes or so and watch the CNN special regarding why Trump won. People were tired of Washington, and mad at Washington. Even now, Trump is twice as popular as Congress. White workers without a college degree have been solid Democratic voters for decades. I think that Reagan and Nixon were the only ones to win their vote. Trump solidly won their vote, AND got them to turn out in very large numbers, especially in WI, PA and MI.

doubtingmerle said:

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are in a hostage situation. Kim Jong-On has basically held South Korea, Japan, and American interests in Asia hostage. The first rule of hostage negotiation is to calm the situation down, to prevent things from escalating, to establish communication with the hope of getting the hostage taker to back down. That is what we should do.

Instead we have a madman as our leader engaging in a shouting match with North Korea. It is as though there are two men with guns yelling at each other to shutup or I will shoot. That is not likely to have a happy ending. Neither can back down from the shouting match and save face. Eventually, one or the other is like to decide that a confrontation is inevitable, and that the best chance is to take the first shot.

There are no good options. In the link below, 4 options are presented with the problems with each.
Must We Accept a Nuclear North Korea?


1. Nuke them into the stone age: Retaliation is still likely. Unleashes an enormous humanitarian crisis, and America loses all goodwill abroad.
2. Surgical strikes: Substantial retaliation very likely.
3. Assassination: You can't kill them all. Whoever is left is likely to lead a massive retaliation.
4. Negotiation and Sanctions, living with the best arrangement we can get: Not what we want, but probably the most humane.

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Edits to the OP:

1. By the way, the second optional was meant to be "Surgical strike". I accidentally hit the send button before I proofread the survey, and there is no way to change it now. Sorry about that.

2. For an evaluation of the current North Korean military capacity, see
2017 North Korea Military Strength

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There is no reason to restrict a response to any one of your options. With a sober risk analysis based on the actual consequences in terms of death and destruction plus the potential consequences it is possible to develop an escalating response. I see Nuk'em as having absolutely unacceptable consequences with no positive upside.

No Option

I would immediately eliminate the Nuk’em option as the one with totally unacceptable consequence both actually and potentially. Even without North Korean retaliation it would inevitably result in the death of millions of ordinary North Koreans, South Koreans and Chinese. If North Korea is able to retaliate it will amp up the South Korean death rate and possibly bring about American deaths. It would potentially draw China into the fight. Apart from deaths directly related to warfare there will be millions of deaths, well beyond the war zone, from radiation sickness, hunger and exposure.

Second Stage

I would combine your options two and three together to make a response designed to eliminate the total North Korean leadership plus destroy (as far as possible) all NK military assets and do this using conventional (non nuclear) weapons. The actual consequence would be the death of a limited number of ordinary North Koreans. The potential consequence is the death of many (millions?) of South Koreans especially those in Seoul within range of conventional NK artillery. The risk of NK nuclear retaliation is low given present volumes of projectable nuclear warheads and the likely effects of the attack on military assets.

First Stage

Your fourth option (i.e. negotiate/sanctions) is my starting point. I would ally this with an ongoing risk assessment covering the probability that NK will actually attack. Sanctions are to be maximised. Diplomatic rhetoric will be tempered to avoid escalating the situation (i.e. Trump will shut up). The actual risk may involve sacrificing a little national pride however this option will not result in any actual deaths, Potential risk lies in the possible miscalculation of the point at which NK will commit to military action resulting in significant South Korean deaths and, possibley some American deaths. Much depends on the US's ability to take out ICBMS.

If and only if , an attack by NK is seen as inevitable – proceed to Stage Two above.
OB