We say to NoKo we're ready to use force, but . . .

United Nations -- The United States made it clear on Wednesday that it is ready to use shock and awe if it must, in order to put a halt to North Korea's nuclear ambitions. 

But while President Trump said that the "age of strategic patience is over," NoKo has apparently developed a hydrogen bomb that's ten times more powerful than what they've already developed. The ballistic missile that would carry such devastation has the ability to reach Alaska and Hawaii, yet we're still saying that we'd rather use diplomacy.

Diplomacy has not worked and our stark warning has also gotten nothing but contempt and further nuclear development from Kim Jong Un. Of course, it's easy to sit here and call for a military response, but what else can we do?

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley met with U.N. Security Council and said that North Korea's actions were "quickly closing off the possibility of a diplomatic solution" and the United States is ready to defend itself and our allies.

"One of our capabilities lies with our considerable military forces. We will use them if we must, but we prefer not to have to go in that direction," Haley said. She again urged China to intervene as they are North Korea's only major ally.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis spoke with his Japanese counterpart Tomomi Inada, and emphasized our "ironclad commitment" to defend Japan and provide "extended deterrence using the full range of U.S. capabilities," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement.

Last Tuesday's missile launch is a direct challenge to Trump and his promise to prevent North Korea from being able to reach the U.S. with a nuclear missile.

Haley said the U.S. would propose new U.N. sanctions on North Korea in the coming days and if Russia and China didn't support the sanctions, "we would go our own path."

While not going into specifics, Haley outlined possible options:

"The international community can cut off the major sources of hard currency to the North Korean regime. We can restrict the flow of oil to their military and their weapons programs. We can increase air and maritime restrictions. We can hold senior regime officials accountable."

China has not been fully enforcing the international sanctions currently in place on North Korea and they have also resisted tougher sanctions such as an oil embargo, bans of North Korean airline and guest workers, and measures against Chinese banks and other businesses being carried out with NoKo.

"Much of the burden of enforcing U.N. sanctions rests with China," Haley said. 

According to U.S. officials, we might need to take unilateral action and sanction Chinese companies that do business with North Korea, particularly the banks.

China's U.N. ambassador, Liu Jieyi, told the UN Security Council that the missile launch was a "flagrant violation" of U.N. resolutions and "unacceptable," but apparently Pyongyang doesn't care if they accept it or not--they're just words.

Technically, the U.S. is still at war with North Korea because the Korean conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty. For sixty years there have been periods of antagonism and harsh words, but so far they've fallen short of active combat.

NoKo dic-tator Kim Jong Un said the ICBM test completes their strategic weapons capability, including atomic and hydrogen bombs, the KCNA state news agency said.

Kim has vowed that they will not negotiate with the United States to give up their weapons until we abandon our hostile policy against them, KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

Kim's real fear is that he will be overthrown and either be killed or end up having to eat grass and family pets in order to survive, much like the people he rules with a fat iron fist.


Trump will be discussing strategies to rein in NoKo's weapons program with other leaders from the G-20 nations meeting in Germany this week.

Russia's deputy U.N. envoy said that the U.S. should not consider military force against Pyongyang and called for a halt to the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea. 

They would also like us to dispose of our nuclear arsenal, disarm our military, impeach Trump, make Hillary Clinton president, and learn to speak Russian, 

Screw Russia--we can't leave South Korea defenseless against a lunatic like Kim.

The Russian envoy also said that attempts to strangle North Korea economically were "unacceptable" and that sanctions would not resolve the issue.

Unacceptable?

So Russia's alternative for us is to simply allow North Korea to expand their ballistic missile and nuclear program and mind our own business. Gee, that sounds like a good plan . . . if you're Russian.

Sure, we can defend ourselves against a NoKo ballistic missile, but allowing them to get to the point of firing one at us is unacceptable, to use Russia's word.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis discussed a successful test last month where a U.S.-based anti-missile missile knocked down a simulated incoming ICBM. 

However, we have not tested our ability to knock down 50 simultaneous incoming ICBMs.

"So we do have confidence in our ability to defend against the limited threat, the nascent threat that is there," Davis told the media, and acknowledged the "mixed results" of the past tests.

The North Korean launch this week was both earlier and "far more successful than expected," said John Schilling, a U.S.-based missile expert. 

It would now probably be merely a year or two before a North Korean ICBM achieved "minimal operational capability," he added.

Schilling admitted the U.S.'s missile defense system was "only minimally operational" and would take over two years to upgrade to give us a more reliable defense against incoming missiles.

Let's hope it won't be needed before then.



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