While Americans focus on what President Trump may do next in Syria and the rest of the Middle East his greatest test may prove to be his response to North Korea. Some have mocked his acknowledgment that the situation in the region is more complicated than he first realized but the truth is that knowing what North Korea will do next is a mystery even to closest ally, China.
With North Korea’s continuing blustering about its ability to strike anywhere in the world including the U.S. many are comparing what President Trump faces with China and North Korea to President John F. Kennedy’s Cuban missile crisis of 1962.
Robert Litwak of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has termed the current international situation, “the Cuban missile crisis in slow motion.” One thing about the Trump Whitehouse is that “slow motion” is not in its vocabulary.
Things have appeared to heat up since Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Trump a few days ago in south Florida. It was after that meeting that President Trump acknowledged the complexity and political sensitivity of the relationship between China and North Korea.
It was after that meeting that President Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he saw that China did not have the power over North Korea that he thought it had. After meeting with Xi Trump said he “realized it’s not so easy.”
“After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy,” Trump said. “I felt pretty strongly that [China] had a tremendous power over North Korea. But it’s not what you would think.”
Since that meeting with Xi, Trump has promised to pressure the Chinese leader to take a tougher approach to North Korea, he has ordered an increased naval presence in the area, and North Korea’s usually successful missile tests have failed miserably.
At this point, the President has proved as cautious as his predecessors in responding militarily. For now, it seems he is following previous presidential conclusions that while the United States can be more aggressive, it needs to stop just short of confronting North Korea.
Even so, the current situation has grown only more volatile. The slow-motion part of this missile crisis may be speeding up. President Trump and his aides have made it clear that the United States will no longer tolerate the incremental advances made by North Korea.
Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has said repeatedly that “our policy of strategic patience has ended.” This is in direct response to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un pursuit of two primary goals: having a nuclear weapon that can fit atop a long-range missile, and developing a hydrogen bomb.
Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser, said on ABC’s “This Week” that there is no doubt the North Korea/ China situation is a “difficult balancing” act. General McMaster, an acknowledged military historian, said that while the president had not ruled out any option, it was time for the United States “to take action, short of armed conflict, so we can avoid the worst” in dealing with “this unpredictable regime.” The message there is that pre-emptive strikes are an option but off the table for now.
Amid concerns about North Korea’s advancing weapons program, a U.S. Navy strike group was ordered into the west Pacific near the Korean Peninsula last weekend.
North Korea called the strike group’s movement an aggression and threatened a nuclear strike if provoked by the U.S.
The North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said, “Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theater but also in the U.S. mainland.”
President Trump’s decision to order strikes in Syria coupled with the use of a MOAB bomb in Afghanistan have sent a message that Kim cannot miss: the new U.S. president means it when it when he draws a line in the sand.
North Korea has usually been successful at launching missiles, to the point that its missiles have been sold around the world and its sudden launch failures suggest outside interference.
K. T. McFarland, General McMaster’s departing deputy, was asked on Fox News if the United States had played any role in the latest missile failure. “You know,” he said, “we can’t talk about that.” The truth is that no one knows for sure, but the ambiguity of McFarland’s response is in itself a message – President Trump is not one to be intimidated.
Regards,
Ethan Warrick
Editor
Wealth Authority
