{"id":133803,"date":"2017-07-05T10:45:05","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T16:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/05\/on-the-dearth-of-good-options-regarding-north-korea.html"},"modified":"2017-07-05T10:45:05","modified_gmt":"2017-07-05T16:45:05","slug":"on-the-dearth-of-good-options-regarding-north-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/05\/on-the-dearth-of-good-options-regarding-north-korea.html","title":{"rendered":"On the Dearth of Good Options regarding North Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Assuming that our goal is a denuclearized Korean peninsula, it seems highly, highly unlikely. This is one of North Korea's existential goals, and they're going to pursue it no matter how many folk starve.<\/p>\n

Assuming that our goal is a reunified (South-dominated) Korean peninsula, that's not going to happen, either. China is distinctly against a US ally on its borders, as much as it, too, dislikes a nuclear DPRK.<\/p>\n

Assuming our goal is to bomb North Korea back to the Stone Age — well, yeah, we could<\/i>) do that, but only if we don't massive casualties in North Korea, South Korea, and Japan, not to mention the international fall-out (literal, if the DPRK gets nukes onto a warhead … or simply smuggles devices into other countries).<\/p>\n

I would feel a lot better that this won't end in rivers of blood if we didn't have our current President — but his predecessors haven't had much luck in actually accomplishing anything, either, not for long. There are no good options here, only bad one and worse ones, and we've never been a country (under any President, but particularly, I suspect, the present one) that's been any good at pursuing the least-worst option as policy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nFive Blunt Truths About the North Korea Crisis<\/a><\/span>
\nThe Trump strategy toward North Korea is failing. Then again, the Obama and Bush strategies failed, too — but here’s what might work.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Assuming that our goal is a denuclearized Korean peninsula, it seems highly, highly unlikely. This is one of North Korea's existential goals, and they're going to pursue it no matter how many folk starve. Assuming that our goal is a reunified (South-dominated) Korean peninsula, that's not going to happen, either. China is distinctly against a … Continue reading “On the Dearth of Good Options regarding North Korea”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3928,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/03\/08\/make_up_your_mi.html","url_meta":{"origin":133803,"position":0},"title":"Make up your mind","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 8-Mar-03 9:08pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There have been big anti-US demonstrations in South Korea, and the newly elected regime there has made a lot of noises about resenting US troops there, wishing they were fewer...","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6382,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/09\/13\/circle_of_life.html","url_meta":{"origin":133803,"position":1},"title":"Circle of Life","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 13-Sep-04 10:07am","format":false,"excerpt":"It is indeed ironic that military bases and no-go zones and the like -- what one might think of as both highly dangerous locations and emblematic of death -- are...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":136732,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/06\/12\/the-great-negotiator.html","url_meta":{"origin":133803,"position":2},"title":"The Great “Negotiator”","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 12-Jun-18 7:17am","format":false,"excerpt":"So the US has given up, unilaterally and without any agreement by either our own Defense Dept. or our ally South Korea, the joint exercises we have engaged with annually with the South. North Korea always purported to hate these, and sometimes lobbed weaponry around when they happened, but both\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/180612040529-trump-north-korea-presser-2-exlarge-1691.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/180612040529-trump-north-korea-presser-2-exlarge-1691.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/180612040529-trump-north-korea-presser-2-exlarge-1691.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/180612040529-trump-north-korea-presser-2-exlarge-1691.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":135515,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/04\/north-korean-hostility-us-not-just-tyranny-lies.html","url_meta":{"origin":133803,"position":3},"title":"North Korean hostility to the US is not just about tyranny and lies","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 4-Dec-17 6:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"During the Korean \"police action,\" US strategic bombing of the North killed an estimated (by the US) one fifth of the population. One might argue that the populations of Germany, or Japan, or even North Vietnam might have a similar grievance. But there's a crucial difference: the Korean conflict never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/north-korea-statues.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4096,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/02\/06\/danegeld.html","url_meta":{"origin":133803,"position":4},"title":"Danegeld","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 6-Feb-03 11:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"See? The South Koreans know how to deal with the North. Just send money. But make sure you don't stop. A former intelligence officer has revealed that the South Korean...","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3969,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/03\/05\/threat_levels.html","url_meta":{"origin":133803,"position":5},"title":"Threat levels","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-Mar-03 11:33am","format":false,"excerpt":"There's been a lot of chatter over the news that the warhead of a North Korean missile was found in Alaska. 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