Obama told Trump North Korea is what keeps him up at night, and he (Trump) should focus on solving the North Korea problem as his first priority. Obama was right.
This is not a bash Trump post. Trump did not cause the problem. It did not happen on his watch. But he is the President now, and his leadership and decision making is what will dictate where we go from here. How did we get to this point?
President Bush labeled North Korea, Iran and Iraq the "Axis of Evil." He then proceeded to make one of the dumbest decisions in the history of the United States. He invaded Iraq based on highly questionable evidence. The invasion led to the second longest war in the nation's history (Afghanistan is barely longer), blew a hole in the national debt, destabilized the region, removed the only regional check on Iran, and strengthened them to a point of being a regional menace, and took the eye off of North Korea.
North Korea sat and watched what happened to Iraq, and other nations, when those nation's disarmed. They watched the United States invade those nations, or kill their leaders. Going by that example, North Korea accelerated their nuclear program to protect their sovereignty. Nations that could not protect themselves have been invaded and/or attacked: Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan in the past decade and a half (list not complete).
So here we are. North Korea blatantly says it will not give up it's nuclear capabilities because it needs them to protect its sovereignty. History says they are right to hold this belief. 15 years of bad decision making across two administrations, and one of the worst decisions in our nation's history (invading Iraq), have left the Trump administration of having to deal with a mad man with nuclear weapons. No good options on the table at this point. I only hope Trump makes better decisions than the last two with regard to North Korea.
This is not a bash Trump post. Trump did not cause the problem. It did not happen on his watch. But he is the President now, and his leadership and decision making is what will dictate where we go from here. How did we get to this point?
President Bush labeled North Korea, Iran and Iraq the "Axis of Evil." He then proceeded to make one of the dumbest decisions in the history of the United States. He invaded Iraq based on highly questionable evidence. The invasion led to the second longest war in the nation's history (Afghanistan is barely longer), blew a hole in the national debt, destabilized the region, removed the only regional check on Iran, and strengthened them to a point of being a regional menace, and took the eye off of North Korea.
North Korea sat and watched what happened to Iraq, and other nations, when those nation's disarmed. They watched the United States invade those nations, or kill their leaders. Going by that example, North Korea accelerated their nuclear program to protect their sovereignty. Nations that could not protect themselves have been invaded and/or attacked: Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan in the past decade and a half (list not complete).
So here we are. North Korea blatantly says it will not give up it's nuclear capabilities because it needs them to protect its sovereignty. History says they are right to hold this belief. 15 years of bad decision making across two administrations, and one of the worst decisions in our nation's history (invading Iraq), have left the Trump administration of having to deal with a mad man with nuclear weapons. No good options on the table at this point. I only hope Trump makes better decisions than the last two with regard to North Korea.
