North Korean military show of force
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”- Albert Einstein
In the days to come, the world will be in its most worrisome condition since the failed nuclear showdown between the Soviet Union and the United States during the cold war. Fears of an impending global armed conflict have become apparent in the news, social media, and internet search engines. Rumors of war have been in circulation for decades but this time, the threat is clearer than crystal. A volleyball of dangerous rhetoric between nations have contributed greatly to such deeply unsettling state of affairs, not to mention the pompous display of force and firepower that may annihilate humanity in an instance.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, while not technically crazy, is quite a scary character who suffers from extreme paranoia and wild messianic delusions. He is a cunning despot who absolutely knows his game well and he, with the hidden blessings of Russia and China, has been playing the global community for a fool longer than necessary. Things should have been nipped in the bud but for the sake of peace, the rogue nation was sanctioned with nothing more than a slight slap on the cheek. Hence, right under our noses, his romance with nuclear weapons flourished and its devastating climax is now clearly in the offing.
If North Korea’s reported nuclear and military capabilities are true as claimed, then the world is certainly in very big trouble. With voluntary disarmament being highly unlikely, pre-emptive action may be the only solution though the cost is immensely inconceivable. This is the dilemma that rests heavily upon the President of the United States who is left with less and less choices each passing of the day. How can one disarm such enemy when doing so directly puts your limb and your friends’ lives in the line of fire? Any strike, surgical or otherwise, on North Korean Facilities will undoubtedly unleash hellfire upon South Korea, Japan, and perhaps other countries in the region.
At the end of the day, self-preservation will always be the norm. President Trump will have to make a painful choice between the lives of its citizens and foreign lives, between the US heartland and foreign soil. North Korea needs to be disarmed particularly of its weapons capable of reaching the United States even if it comes with a heavy price. To eliminate a clear and present danger to national security is an onus placed in every Presidential Office. One cannot really blame the Donald if he so chooses to take action without support from any country lest he goes down in history as the last US President. Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi Jinping may appear to be diffusing tensions through “soft” condemnations and “mild” economic sanctions against their erring puppet but the threat to the United States continue to grow. The only diplomatic solution is to convince Kim Jung Un to abandon his nuclear ambitions and voluntarily destroy his arsenal. Additional sanctions will not prevent him from pulling the trigger as long as it remains in his control.
World War III, which according to the Pope has already begun albeit in a piecemeal manner, remains a bone-chilling proposition but current world events seemed to be fueling its inevitability. The North Korean problem is only one side of the spectrum and if left unabated, may very well set the stage for the future of warfare; one fought with sticks and stones as Einstein puts it.