President Trump has been in office 87 days and his campaign promise of legislation in his first 100 days in office is in peril. His only real accomplishments have taken place with his executive orders that rolled back progress made under the administration of President Obama. The President and his party's lies about having a plan to repeal and replace the ACA came crashing down in congress, his budget contains $2 billion to build a border wall he said Mexico would pay for that is in limbo, tax reform, immigration reform, the highway bill and other pronouncements have been delayed. China, who Trump told the people was a currency manipulator is no longer one because he wants China's help with North Korea.
The President not only failed in his legislative pursuits he miscalculated what was going on in Syria and was caught flat footed with the chemical attack in Syria a little over a week ago. The missile strike on Syria was born out of that miscalculation and the President's failures. Now we are hearing the drum beat of war with North Korea. And it is coming from Trump and his VP Mike Pence, the secretary of state and the secretary of defense.
The administration is speaking with one voice using the same statements: North Korea's missile test are provocative, ditto if they test another nuclear devise, their show of military power, their provocative talk against South Korea and America. North Korea is doing what every other nuclear power did, including the U.S. before they became a nuclear power. They tested their missiles and still do and they tested their nuclear weapons. Does that mean the U.S. and the other nuclear nations were provocative at the time? Is it provocative for the present nuclear powers to say we can have and keep our nuclear weapons but North Korea, Iran and others can not acquire their own? This writer feels sure that North Korea feels that is provocative towards their country.
Unintentional wars caused by miscalculation cost lives like it did in Iraq which is still playing out 14 years and counting. Who is the greater military threat to America and its allies? North Korea and Iran or Russia and China? Russia and China still test their missiles and other advanced weapons. And of course the U.S. holds joint military exercises with its allies in South Korea and off their coast and China's coast. We do the same thing in Russia's part of the world.
It seems like every country is doing something that could be questioned as being provocative to some one else. One small miscalculation could start a war of no return. North Korean leaders like to talk tough like republicans but the armistice that ended the Korean war in 1953 has been in effect for 64 years. North Korea is not going to start a war with South Korea or the U.S. It would be a war of a giant (the U.S.) against a flea (N. Korea) China would not allow N. Korea's leader to act so foolish even though their leader is a loud mouth like Trump.
President Kennedy was well aware how a miscalculation could have killed thousands in America and Russia during the Cuban missile crisis. That situation was 1000 times worse than what is taking place in North Korea because Russia had those missiles with nuclear warheads planted 90 miles from our shore. President Kennedy knew what war was all about being a veteran of WWII and had the wisdom that ended the Russian threat to this hemisphere. That wisdom needs to be found today for a better future.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
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