re: #633 avanti

First, both Iran and Korea are not threats to the US for several years, and both may have new leadership before that.
A automatic response would follow the rules of all previous POTUS’s dealing with a nuke threat from China or Russia by mutual deterrence. If a attack is launched on the US by the Norks, Russia or China a full nuke response would be automatic.
Let me ask you a question. Do you support a preemptive strike on the Norks well before they are a threat ? If so, what effect on the safety of our troops in South Korea do you anticipate and is it worth a potential second Korean war, perhaps involving the Chinese to react now.

I would only be in favor of a preemptive strike in the following two cases:

1. The North was clearly about to attack South Korea, Japan or the US (and even then I’d still probably wait for them to shoot first).

2. The North was shipping nuclear weapons components to Iran or another rouge actor. In this case, the risk to our troops would just have to be accepted. North Korea cannot be allowed to sell nukes to Iran or to terrorist groups. In stopping them means war, then war it must be.