North Korean Kim Jong Un is pictured inspecting a special forces commando operation on April 13. (Photo: Getty)
One of the things we have tried to impress upon ourselves (the rest of the world probably ignores us) is that the leader of North Korea is 'nuts'. Kim Jong-un, the Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is described as 'looney as a coot'. We believe it because we say it is so. Recently, former presidential candidate John McCain said that Kim Jong-un was “this crazy fat kid that’s running North Korea”.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, described Kim Jong-un by saying that “we are not dealing with a rational person”.
There is complete and total belief in the United States that North Korea is difficult to deal with because Kim Jong-un is insane, out of his mind and all of those other attributes of being 'crazy'.
In a Guardian article by Isaac Stone Fish, he suggests the obvious, "Let's stop calling North Korea 'crazy' and understand their motives".
On Sunday, the Pentagon deployed a strike group moving towards the western Pacific, because “it is prudent” to have the ships near North Korea, said national security adviser HR McMaster. In response, on Tuesday North Korea’s state media threatened that they could “hit the US first”, adding that “pre-emptive strikes are not the exclusive right of the United States”.
Regarding the idea of holding Korea on a leash or forcing Korea to yield and submit to the United States, Trump recently warned: “if China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them!”
"Solve the Problem"... this is a very dangerous miscalculation and every indication is that it is the United States whose leadership is unhinged. The idea that the United States will decide who can and cannot have certain weapons is not realistic.
Kim’s desire for deterrence – to not end up like Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi – helps explain the existence of its weapons program. “Would the Americans have gone in and done what they did to Gaddafi, and to Syria, if they had what we have?’
A Washington Post article by Anna Fifield points out that “North Korea has consistently been treated like a joke, but now the joke has nuclear weapons,” said John Park, director of the Korea Working Group at the Harvard Kennedy School. “If you deem Kim Jong Un to be irrational, then you’re implicitly underestimating him.”
Leaders throughout the centuries have realized it can be advantageous to have your enemies think you’re crazy. Machiavelli once wrote that it can be wise to pretend to be mad, while President Richard Nixon wanted the North Vietnamese to think he was unstable and prone to launch a nuclear attack on a whim.
Leaders throughout the centuries have realized it can be advantageous to have your enemies think you’re crazy. Machiavelli once wrote that it can be wise to pretend to be mad, while President Richard Nixon wanted the North Vietnamese to think he was unstable and prone to launch a nuclear attack on a whim.
In the Daily Mail, Mark Almond puts the whole situation into realistic and practical perspective... He knows he can't win but it would be an unimaginable humiliation for him to back down: In a deadly game of dare, Kim Jong-un will take the suicide option.
And we, the United States of America, and our leaders are working relentlessly to 'call his bluff' --- now that's really crazy, and that's the truth !!!
Kim Jong-un is prepared for North Korea to take the suicide option with devastating consequences for the region. And so a terrible game of dare is unfolding between the Supreme Leader and America’s new President
North Korea Warns
of 'Thermonuclear War' After Trump Threatens Strike 'Yet again, the Trump administration appears to be threatening a preemptive war against North Korea. When the inevitable retaliation comes, what form does it take?' by Nika Knight, Common Dreams The Trump administration has succeeded in ratcheting up tensions in the Korea Peninsula after dispatching a Navy strike group to the western Pacific Ocean and threatening a "pre-emptive strike" against North Korea if the country goes ahead with a nuclear bomb test. "Given that some of North Korea's nuclear warheads are likely to survive any U.S. strike, the worst case scenario is frankly terrifying." —Peace Action In response to the Trump administration's saber-rattling, North Korea on Friday warned of a looming "thermonuclear war," threatening a pre-emptive strike of its own if the U.S. engages in "reckless" aggression. In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Vice Minister Han Song Ryol said that "Pyongyang has determined the Trump administration is 'more vicious and more aggressive' than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama," AP writes. "He added that North Korea will keep building up its nuclear arsenal in 'quality and quantity' and said Pyongyang is ready to go to war if that's what Trump wants." And in a statement attributed to the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Institute for Disarmament and Peace, officials also warned: The U.S. introduces into the Korean peninsula, the world's biggest hotspot, huge nuclear strategic assets, seriously threatening peace and security of the peninsula and pushing the situation there to the brink of a war. This has created a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out any moment. "We've got a powerful nuclear deterrent already in our hands, and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a U.S. pre-emptive strike," Han told AP. "Whatever comes from the U.S., we will cope with it. We are fully prepared to handle it." China, too, warned of imminent war on Friday, telling all sides to pull back or go down "an irreversible path." Foreign policy experts, peace activists, and politicians are calling on the White House to recognize the grave danger posed by Trump's aggressive approach to North Korea. As Peace Action said in a press statement late Thursday: "Yet again, the Trump administration appears to be threatening a preemptive war against North Korea. The mere threat of such an attack has already ratcheted up tensions in the Korean Peninsula. Following through on the threat could lead to all out war and give the invasion of Iraq a run for its money as one of the most catastrophic foreign policy decisions in U.S. history." |
North Korea 'Ready for War' After US Sends Navy Team to Peninsula
'We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions,' a foreign ministry spokesperson reportedly said by Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams North Korea said it was "ready for war" and warned of "catastrophic consequences" on Tuesday, just days after the U.S. sent a Navy strike group to the western Pacific Ocean off the Korean peninsula. "We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions," a foreign ministry spokesman said, according to the hermit kingdom's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "[North Korea] is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S." The Guardian reports: The spokesman cited Washington's refusal to rule out a preemptive strike against North Korean missile sites as justification for its nuclear program. "The prevailing grave situation proves once again that [North Korea] was entirely just when it increased in every way its military capabilities for self-defense and preemptive attack with a nuclear force as a pivot," the spokesman said, according to KCNA. "We will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms." Reuters also reported the country's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper as saying, "Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theater but also in the U.S. mainland." The developments come just days after President Donald Trump approved an airstrike in Syria, which many also saw as a show of strength to North Korea, which fired a ballistics missile test just days before a U.S.-China summit last week. Trump on Tuesday reiterated that the U.S. was prepared to act alone if China did not pressure its neighbor into dropping its nuclear weapons program. White House officials have previously said that "all options," including a preemptive strike, are on the table when it comes to dealing with North Korea. 
People watch a TV news program showing a file image of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea
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"When the inevitable retaliation comes, what form does it take?" the group added. "North Korea could fire artillery into South Korea, it could bombard U.S. military installations, or send troops streaming south across the border."
"Given that some of North Korea's nuclear warheads are likely to survive any U.S. strike, the worst case scenario is frankly terrifying," Peace Action said. "If President Trump were to authorize such a reckless strike, he'd be putting millions of South Koreans and the roughly 28,500 U.S. troops stationed there in immediate danger.”
And while playing this dangerous game of brinkmanship with North Korea, Trump is enjoying his seventh trip to his golf resort in Palm Beach, Florida since becoming president—and this weekend, he's without any senior staff.
Trump's apparent disregard for the looming threat of nuclear war wasn't lost on observers:
"Given that some of North Korea's nuclear warheads are likely to survive any U.S. strike, the worst case scenario is frankly terrifying," Peace Action said. "If President Trump were to authorize such a reckless strike, he'd be putting millions of South Koreans and the roughly 28,500 U.S. troops stationed there in immediate danger.”
And while playing this dangerous game of brinkmanship with North Korea, Trump is enjoying his seventh trip to his golf resort in Palm Beach, Florida since becoming president—and this weekend, he's without any senior staff.
Trump's apparent disregard for the looming threat of nuclear war wasn't lost on observers:
Military officers visit the birthplace of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, a day before the 105th anniversary of his birth, in Mangyongdae, just outside Pyongyang, today.
Mark Almond, Director of the Crisis Research Institute in Oxford, explains the over-all situation quite clearly, "As the prospect of a North Korean stand-off with the West grows ever more likely, we are facing the most dangerous game of chicken since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Will Kim Jong-un be crazy enough to lash out at the US convoy nearing his coast?
Could Trump turn a blind eye to a provocative act by North Korea? Each man knows his domestic position could implode if, after so much bluster, he shows weakness. Trump could live with that – but not Kim Jong-un.
Yes, avoiding all out war with America would save North Koreans from descending into an even lower circle of hell, but it could leave Kim Jong-un fatally weakened. His repressed subjects will sense the regime’s retreat and might be emboldened to challenge it. The dynasty has developed weapons of mass destruction to protect itself as much from internal threats as a foreign invader. If his grip on power at home falters, he might well take his country – and the rest – down with him."
Will Kim Jong-un be crazy enough to lash out at the US convoy nearing his coast?
Could Trump turn a blind eye to a provocative act by North Korea? Each man knows his domestic position could implode if, after so much bluster, he shows weakness. Trump could live with that – but not Kim Jong-un.
Yes, avoiding all out war with America would save North Koreans from descending into an even lower circle of hell, but it could leave Kim Jong-un fatally weakened. His repressed subjects will sense the regime’s retreat and might be emboldened to challenge it. The dynasty has developed weapons of mass destruction to protect itself as much from internal threats as a foreign invader. If his grip on power at home falters, he might well take his country – and the rest – down with him."
Just like all leaders, Kim Jong-un recognizes the value of a good publicity photograph... perhaps the better phrase to describe him would be 'crazy like a fox'...
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