Diplomacy, negotiations needed with N.Korea, not saber rattling
Freeze for a freeze: North Korea agrees to stop its nuclear weapons tests in exchange for the cessation of U.S.-South Korea nuclear war games targeting North Korea.
That’s a reasonable proposal that has been made by North Korea, China and Russia. Washington has rejected it. (World Peace Council, “Halt the U.S Drive to War with North Korea")
Given that perhaps millions of lives in North and South Korea will be lost in the event of a U.S. military action against North Korea, and that China and North Korea have mutual defense agreements, a U.S. preemptive nuclear strike against North Korea is a non-starter, according to knowledgeable observers. The latter includes South Korean leaders who insist that there is no military solution to the Korean conflict. Diplomacy and negotiations, not nuclear saber rattling, is what is necessary.
But such a realization requires rational thinking. President Trump does not sufficiently possess this, observes a recent Information Clearing House article appropriately titled “The Madman with Nuclear Weapons is Donald J. Trump, not Kim Jong-un.”
The article noted that in February, a group of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers wrote to the New York Times “that the grave emotional instability indicated by Mr. Trump’s speech and actions makes him incapable of serving safely as president.”
Kudos to Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu of California, a former colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve who has stated that if Trump starts a war with North Korea without congressional approval, that would be grounds for impeachment. And kudos to Indivisible-CD16 for its Aug. 11 call to urge Congress to pass HR 669 and S 200 identically titled “Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017.”
The title to a Truthout article sums it up: “We Need A Mass Movement to Prevent Nuclear Conflict in the Korean Peninsula.”
Robert Phillipoff
Bradenton
This story was originally published August 18, 2017 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Diplomacy, negotiations needed with N.Korea, not saber rattling."