re: #1 dangerman

ok, reposting from downstairs cause y’all just left me there

(dinner was yum)

just want to point out the over obvious, if we really do get past diplomacy being a solution:

if NK shoots something toward guam, depending on what it is, we dont *have* to retaliate with nukes

if somehow we’re ‘provoked’/forced into a ‘first strike’ or ‘warning’ maneuver - ie NK hasnt actually shot anything off, we dont necessarily have to use nukes there either

this doesnt mean they wouldnt respond nuclear. and still it doesnt consider what would happen re South Korea etc and all the conventional weapons amassed on the border

just that ‘we’ can/could drop/send/deliver lots of different things, and mass quantities, that arent nuclear

That misses the point - saber rattling with a nutcase like Kim is not only ineffective but is likely to produce the opposite effect. In a rational person’s mind military might makes a difference but in today’s global economy economic influence has an even larger impact. Kim is not rational. He likely believes NK is quite able to respond to the US on an equal footing & that the US is incapable of hurting NK significantly.

Engaging a schoolyard bully with ‘my dick is bigger than yours’ isn’t going to stop the bully, it’s going to force him to preserve ‘face’ by responding violently. You back him into a corner & give him a single way out - violence.

Economic policies work.

Both the carrot and the stick are necessary.