Pirate's Cove

On the “straight” news pages, the NY Times has called the North Korea situation a “slow motion Cuban missile crisis.” On the opinion pages, the Editorial Board almost seems to be taking North Korea’s side in order to Bash Trump, their favorite game

President Trump’s Loose Talk on North Korea

As a candidate, Donald Trump seemed to pay no more attention to North Korea’s accelerating nuclear weapons program, which his predecessor has warned is America’s most urgent threat,…

Actually, Obama said that ‘climate change’ was America’s, and the world’s, most urgent issue. But, in all due respect, Obama had the right idea in mostly ignoring North Korea’s, or, to be specific, Kim Jong-un’s, provocations. Typically, when the North Korean leaders became frisky and bombastic, the United States, the U.N., and other nations gave them stuff. Like when Bill Clinton gave them a nuclear reactor. Of course, NK tested lots of nuclear bombs and long range missiles during Obama’s time. But, they would anyhow. Obama didn’t give them anything for those provocations.

…than he did to other complex foreign policy issues. Now he is paying attention, but not in a helpful way. His intemperate talk is adding to regional tensions, unnerving allies and likely reinforcing North Korea’s longstanding fear that it could one day be attacked by America — the very reason North Korea invested in a nuclear arsenal in the first place.

It would be risky for Mr. Trump to let overconfidence and bombast, expressed in tweets and public statements, box him into some kind of showdown with the North’s ruthless leader, Kim Jong-un, who has displayed similarly macho traits. South Korea, Japan and even Russia have urged both sides to avoid a devastating miscalculation.

It almost seems as if the NYTEB is taking North Korea’s side, does it not? But, um, wait, how did this get in the editorial

The North will almost certainly test another nuclear device in the future. But pressure from China, the North’s main ally and trading partner, which itself is under pressure from Mr. Trump, may have helped persuade Pyongyang to postpone that nuclear test for now.

So, wait, Trump’s bombast and hard talk (remember the Cuban missile crisis article? Guess who else was talking tough as that occurred?) has made a difference? Huh.

What’s missing in the White House is a coherent strategy, something beyond statements and asking China for help. Mr. Trump needs to be firm, not reckless in his talk, ratchet up sanctions and find a way to engage the North in negotiations. Peace and security in Asia, as well as the relationship between Washington and Beijing, depend heavily on whether Mr. Trump and President Xi Jinping of China can together manage the North Korean threat.

Well, no one has really managed the NK threat as of this time. You look at the timeline regarding NK’s missile and nuclear diplomacy, and you see a rogue nation which continuously ramps up the provocations. How have all the sanctions since 1992 worked out? How about all the negotiations?

Crazy nut jobs like Kim Jong-un are going to do what they do. Perhaps Mr. Trump’s threats, tough talk, and bombast will succeed where others have failed, because he’s trying to get China to Do Something. As a client state of China, NK might actually listen. But, then, it might not. Who knows. What we do know is that the leftist media prefers to slam Mr. Trump rather than Kim Jong-un.

Crossed at Right Wing News.