TRUMP NOT MENTALLY CAPABLE OF DEALING WITH BEING PRESIDENT

…Just one of North Korea’s missile tests.

 

So far, our braggart and blowhard president has no idea about dealing with North Korea.

 

I am of the age that I remember being told to hide under my school desk in case of a nuclear attacked by the then Soviet Union.

 

The good news back then was that both the US and the Soviets had intelligent and capable leaders that, even though it became close in a stand-off in the Cuban Missile Crisis, diplomatic negotiation was able to win-out.  That’s not the case today.

 

Based on the current leader of the United States and the young Dictator of North Korea, our current situation shows no signs of diplomatic answers being a reasonable option

Based on the latest missile test by North Korea, even the US military has admitted that the ICBM tested by North Korea could reach as far as New York or Washington DC.  Could a similar missile also carry a nuclear warhead weighing one ton?  Nobody knows, but based on the trail of successes of the Pyongyang military tests, the experts have agreed that their calculations show that the missile launched this week, which flew 10 times higher than the International Space Station, it could theoretically reach Washington DC.

 

The reality is that whether North Korea’s missiles could carry a nuclear warhead or not, at some point they will eventually reach that ability.

 

It was only a couple of years ago that the experts were saying it would be another decade before either North Korea or Iran would have the ability to threaten the US, or our allies, with a nuclear device.  It appears that the Iran threat has only been postponed, but the new, young leader of North Korea has driven his country to the edge of starvation in order to reach their current level of nuclear and missile expertise.

 

While the North’s, Pyongyang capital is prone to exaggeration, its boast of having all of the United States in range is today in line with those experts’ calculations.

This latest missile had a longer flight time than any of its predecessors and it went farther into the atmosphere than ever before, reaching a height of 2,800 miles. To put that in perspective, the International Space Station is only 240 miles above the Earth.

 

The missile was purposely sent to this higher altitude to show what it could do if they felt the need, and the test was done in a way to also threaten Japan, as the missile ended its flight in the Sea of Japan.

 

The famous North Korea news reader, Ri Chun Hee said in a special live broadcast on state television. “This Hwasong-15 missile is far more technologically advanced than July’s Hwasong-14 missile. This signifies that our rocket development process has now been completed.”  Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, had personally authorized the launch, Ri said.  A photo of Kim at his desk and the handwritten order then appeared on the screen.  (FYI: “Hwasong” in Korean is translated as “Mars”.)

 

The fact that the test was performed after more than two months, many thought it had been put-off due to their additional sanctions by the US and the UN.  But it is now understood that this latest missile launch timing was for seasonal issues and weather, rather than a strategic decision.

 

This latest launch, is a clear sign that the North Korean leader is pressing ahead with his nation’s stated goal of being capable of striking the United States’ mainland.  It is also a way for the young Korean leader to demonstrate that he is not caving in to the Trump administration’s strategy of threats and applying what our bragging president mistakenly calls, “maximum pressure.” 

 

This is the ump-tenth time that President Trump has threatened North Korea with possible war or military attacks.  But the reality is that there are few alternatives available, either militarily or diplomatically.  If the US were to use military force against North Korea, their first response would be to attack South Korea.  The experts predict that in just hours there could be millions of lives lost within 30 miles of the North / South Korean border, and those fatalities would be mostly civilian losses.  There are thousands of Americans in South Korea, both the US Military and US civilians.  While still traveling doing business, I personally visited South Korea many times, and there were many Americans living and working in Seoul, South Korea.

 

A growing chorus of voices in Washington is calling for serious consideration of military action against North Korea, although this is strongly opposed by South Korea, where the Seoul metropolitan region is home to ~25 million residents and is within the range of North Korea’s conventional artillery.

 

Normally, there would be some diplomatically options.  But under President Trump and the US Secretary of State, Tillerson, the State Dept. today is devastated and many necessary positions have not been filled, including there's no ambassador for South Korea.  China seems to have virtually no ability to deal with North Korea and they have refused to shut down their trade with North Korea, which does 90% of its trade with China.

 

In the 1960s, under the specter of imminent nuclear war with the Soviet Union via Cuba, President John F. Kennedy ordered the creation of fallout shelters in population centers. Now, with North Korea as the latest US nuclear threat, will we again start seeing nuclear fall-out shelters?

 

President Trump, together with South Korea and Japan and the UN Secretary General, condemned the latest launch. “We will take care of it,” Trump told reporters at the White House, calling it a “situation we will handle.”  But he will handle it how?  The North Korean leader has refused to stop his development of nuclear capability and his long range ICBM’s as he continues to ignore the US president’s bombast.

 

And now Trump has grabbed his phone and tweeted that Democrats should join with Republicans to pass a spending measure to avert a government shutdown. “After North Korea missile launch, it’s more important than ever to fund our gov’t & military!”  But Trump has no clue, other than his boasting and threats of “Fire & Fury” against North Korea, with no explanation for what "Fire & Fury" that would actually means.

 

Despite an increase in tensions with North Korea over the past two months, including a US Navy three-carrier strike group conducting military exercises in the sea between Japan and the Korean Peninsula, we are no further to having any resolution other than using the military.

In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations late last month, Joseph Yun, the US State Department’s special representative for North Korea policy, said that if North Korea went 60 days without testing a missile or a nuclear weapon, it could be a sign that Pyongyang was open to dialogue.

 

But as of this latest test, there is nothing to support Mr. Yun’s statement.

 

And our president has no idea for what needs to be done beside being a threatening braggart and a reality TV blowhard.

 

Because the US was surprised with the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, because of this latest missile test by North Korea, the Hawaiian government has now reinstated the old Cold War missile warning sirens all over the islands.

 

Maybe the American mainland will also need those warning systems and those fallout shelters, sooner than later.  Because of our not-so-bright president, perhaps we should all just grab a shovel and start digging those shelters.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017