OT - Trump & Kim Jung Un

[Trickytreesreds]

Would you agree that the "threshold in his mind" is far different than the threshold that he's publicly stated, as evidenced by the quotes I listed above?

trump will do nothing but sanctions, until NK does something stupid.
You confuse me Andy, it is almost as if you are wishing for a first strike?

[jackal2]

Would you agree that the "threshold in his mind" is far different than the threshold that he's publicly stated, as evidenced by the quotes I listed above?

As I understand it from the news reports, Donald Trump's comment was that North Korea would face "fire and fury" if it continued to threaten the United States, which is a bit vague. I would imagine in his mind he means a serious physical threat such as a missile landing off Guam, rather than localised missile launches or verbal threats, which are pretty standard from Kim these days. You would certainly be right that if North Korea did aim an attack directly at or near US territory, and if Trump didn't respond, then he could indeed be accused of empty rhetoric.

[andy6025]

Did you miss how Donald Trump had already moved the goal posts before that?

[upthemaggies]

There's a lot of history involved but I really don't think it helped when Bush junior popularised the "Axis of Evil" phrase circa 2001 (including North Korea among them) at a time when North Korea's relationship with the rest of the world had seemingly been heading in a more positive direction, certainly compared to what it had been in 1994. It's been all downhill since then.

The depths of hatred for the United States in North Korea is perfectly understandable given what happened there in the late 1940s/1950s, but unlike Iraq and Afghanistan I think most people would have accepted some form of proactive intervention as justifiable some years ago. Sadly they left it too late and I don't think you can blame Trump for this current crisis. As things stand you could say he has succeeded in putting extra pressure on China to take sanctions more seriously which may be the way forward, though lord knows how this is eventually going to play out.