In the July/August issue of The Atlantic, in an article by Mark Bowden titled "The Worst Problem on Earth: Here's How to Deal with North Korea, It's Not Going to be Pretty," Bowden cites four options:
1) Prevention: A Crushing Military Strike, 2) Turning the Screws: Limited Military Strikes, 3) Decapitation: Assassination of Kim, 4) Acceptance of Status Quo
"All options are bad."
Some summary observations by Bowden:
"Kim may be a madman, a tyrant but he is neither suicidal nor crazy. . . . as a young man with a lifetime of wealth and power before him, how likely is he to wake up one morning and set fire to his world?"
After reflecting on Bowden's fine essay, these are my thoughts:
1. Both nations have a strong sense of Manifest Destiny.
2. Both nations are highly militarized and both would not hesitate to use them.
3. Both nations have a racist, nationalistic mythology.
4. Both nations are self-righteously arrogant.
5. Both nations are nuclear powers.
Only the U.S. has already used nuclear weapons on civilians. MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction might save the day; it did during the Cold War.
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