AP: Trump's options on North Korea going from bad to worse

[TomCADem]

Trump's administration began by boasting that the Obama ear strategy of "strategic patience" was over and proudly announcing that a military options "were on the table." Then, as North Korea responded with missile tests, Trump himself escalated by announcing that North Korea "will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen." All the while, the Trump administration has isolated itself regionally by pulling out of TPP and threatening China and South Korea.

Personally, if the U.S. wished to confront North Korea, they should have stuck with TPP, not alienate countries in the region, and not ratchet up the rhetoric with North Korea. Quite frankly, I am sure that North Korea has a dossier on Trump, and they know that he has a long history of making a lot of threats that he does not follow through. Unfortunately, Trump has already backed himself into numerous corners, thus North Korea is now just pressing the advantage to humiliate him, which might just prove enough to cause Trump to do something impulsive.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trumps-options-on-north-korea-going-from-bad-to-worse/ar-AArhpzk?li=BBnb7Kz

WASHINGTON — Sanctions on North Korea have been tried, and failed. Serious negotiations seem like a pipedream. And any military strike would almost surely bring mass devastation and horrific civilian casualties.

The Trump administration's options are going from bad to worse as Kim Jong Un's military marches ever closer to being able to strike the U.S. mainland with nuclear weapons. Just as President Donald Trump seeks to show global resolve after the North's most powerful nuclear test, his leverage is limited even further by new tensions he's stoked with South Korea, plus continued opposition from China and Russia.

With South Korea, the country most directly threatened, Trump has taken the unusual step of highlighting disagreements between the U.S. and its treaty ally, including by floating the possibility he could pull out of a trade deal with South Korea to protest trade imbalances. He also suggested on Twitter the two countries lacked unanimity on North Korea, faulting new South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has been more conciliatory to the North, for his government's "talk of appeasement."

It's an inopportune time for grievances to be aired, and on Monday the two leaders sought to show they were confronting North Korea together — and with might. The White House said that in a phone call with Moon, Trump gave approval "in principle" to lifting restrictions on South Korean missile payloads and to approving "many billions" in weapons sales to South Korea. Though no details were released, the idea was to show the countries were collaborating to bolster defenses against Kim's government.

[beachbum bob]

1. north korea is pushing the envelop and I don't think it matters what trump has said or done

concerning North Korea...the mere fact the NK has launch a missile over Japan and detonated a hydrogen bomb is rapidly sealing their fate. When US ambassador said NK is begging for war, that is more truthful than not. Only China can stop NK and mostly likely by force before US takes an appropriate response before NK can nuke Seoul or Tokyo.

[TomCADem]

4. Business Insider (2016): DONALD TRUMP: Here's how I'd handle that 'madman' in North Korea

You know how the North Korea situation has gotten worse with tensions escalating, not only with North Korea, but both China and South Korea? Well, wouldn't you know it, if you had listened to Fox and Friends back in early 2016, you would have known that this was Trump's plan all along. Indeed, at the end of the article, Trump even telegraphs how he would end the era of strategic patience under prior administrations, and would try to close North Korea's program down. So, how is the master plan working out?

In fairness, Trump was not the only Republican candidate promising to ratchet up tensions with North Korea.

http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-north-korea-china-nuclear-2016-1?r=US&IR=T&IR=T

"China has … total control over North Korea," Trump said. "And China should solve that problem. And if they don't solve the problem, we should make trade very difficult for China.

"We are holding China up," he added. "They're taking so much money. They're draining our country, and they're toying with us with North Korea. China should do it. They say they can't, they 'don't have that power.' They're toying with our politicians, who don't know what they're doing."

Trump said he would also lean on the US' economic ties and military alliance with South Korea. He lamented that in his view the US got "nothing" despite placing thousands of troops in South Korea. "I'd get South Korea — that's making a fortune, they're our trading partner, if you want to use the word 'partner,'" Trump said.

He continued: "We get almost nothing for what we do. We defend the world. We defend so many countries. We get nothing. They get everything. We get nothing. South Korea's going to have to start ponying up, OK? And we'll do it in a very nice manner. They'll like us even more than they like us now."

[C_U_L8R]

2. Not chess, not checkers

Trump appears to be playing Go Fish

[FLPanhandle]

3. I'd condemn Trumps approach more but nothing seems to work with North Korea

There is a long list of presidents who have tried different approaches with North Korea and they have all failed.

Obama tried sanctions, negotiations, bribes (aid), pressuring China, threats...and North Korea continued working on nuclear weapons and missiles.

Trump is trying outright threats. I doubt that will work either.

It may be that North Korea is so insane they don't see themselves as limiting things down to a military option.

[beachbum bob]

5. NK is setting themselves up for destruction from this point

they are doing it....and they will suffer the consequences.....trump or no trump

[gratuitous]

6. "Nothing seems to work"

Well, except for a system of incentives and rewards for neighborly behavior, but if we didn't do that with Castro, we're sure as hell not going to do it with the Kim family. Our country has about two tools that we're willing to use, and when sanctions don't "work" as quickly as we want them to (usually under a constrained timeline that demands instant results), we head right for military action.