Schoolyard lessons need to be used
Having observed 10 presidents and studied world history, a simple way to describe international politics is to liken it to a schoolyard. Kids playing in a sandbox.
We don’t know if North Korea’s Kim Jung-un is crazy or just bluffing. He doesn’t know if President Trump is crazy or just bluffing. The world doesn’t know who is crazier. Of course, nuclear war is crazy, and talk of nuclear war is crazy. If someone throws rocks over and around your sandcastle you tend to want to stop it. Maybe we got lucky and got a schoolyard bully at a time when we needed one the most. Sometimes a way to avoid a confrontation is to confront your opponent.
There are other schoolyard lessons that need to be used before a face-to-face confrontation happens. We’ve all heard that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” How about, “The friend of my enemy is my enemy”? We should let people know if they do business with North Korea, then they will not be able to do business with us or any of our allies. A naval blockade of North Korea would be the next step. Capitulation and a nuclear-free North Korea is the only acceptable solution. After all, that is what we will want if we had a military confrontation anyhow.
Kevin Coit
Bentleyville