We've reached the last of the four-stage isolationist foreign policy strategy for dealing with North Korea already?
Face reality: North Korea is a nuclear power:
American foreign policy is often built on illusions. One is that North Korea must not possess nuclear weapons. Of course, it developed them long ago. The only questions today are how many nukes will Pyongyang produce, and who will it target? The answers, unfortunately, almost certainly are “a lot” and “America.”
Oopsy! We've known the threat was coming for several decades and did nothing but pretend to act. None of the options were good, but we--in a bipartisan manner--by inaction essentially chose the first option. Although I'll grant Bush 43 some slack given we were busy with the more acute threats from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Let's hope Plan B works if North Korea starts looking trigger happy.
Next up for nukes? Iran!
UPDATE: Eric, who runs the excellent Operation Iraqi Freedom FAQ site, emailed to wonder why (tip to Eric) the old six party nuclear talks are gone. Given his record, I'd have expected Trump to revive efforts to improve relations in his second term. But I imagine that circumstances mean that it is pointless now.
And if Trump de-fangs Russia with a deal that truly ends Russian aggression against Ukraine, dealing with North Korea will be an easier task.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
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