With N. Korea, Chickens Have Finally Come Home to Roost

North Korea is a threat to America and our allies, and must be dealt with now, whatever the costs and risks. After the conclusion of World War II, the U.S. became engaged in the Korean conflict. An armistice was signed in 1953, but a peace treaty has, to this day, never been signed, and we have been kicking this festering can of worms down the road for over a half century.
The situation we now face in Korea bears a strong resemblance to the one the world faced in the 1930s with Germany; Hitler was intent on dominating Europe, and he feigned negotiating in good faith in order to buy time to build up Germany’s military power. The rest of Europe feared another war, and he used that fear to get them to continually give ground, and not enforce the disarmament terms of the Versailles Treaty signed after World War I.  Their dread allowed Germany to grow ever stronger.
When Europe finally awoke to the disastrous situation they had created by giving into their fears, it was too late, and World War II could not be avoided. Unfortunately history repeats itself, and where the world was in the 1930s with Germany bears great similarities to where we find ourselves today with North Korea. By tolerating their lies and deceits, and with decades of wishful thinking, U.S. security has been compromised. Today, North Korea cannot deliver nuclear weapons to America, but it is demonstrating an increasing ability to do so. The U.S. can no longer wait for the day to arrive that it indeed can make good on their threats. 
When President Obama turned the reins of office over to Donald Trump, according to The New York Times, he is reported to have warned President Trump, North Korea would likely be the most urgent problem he would confront.
An article in the April 18, 2017 edition of The New York Times entitled, “Why a Solution to North Korea’s Nuclear Threat Has Proved So Elusive,” reported, “As time goes on, analysts say, the risks only grow. ‘If the current action-reaction cycle continues,’ Darly G. Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association, wrote in a recent policy brief…, ’it will increase the risk of a devastating nuclear war.’
“John R. Bolton, the Bush administration ambassador to the United Nations, told Fox News this week that the only ‘way to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is to end North Korea by bringing about the government’s total collapse.
“Mr. Pollack (editor of the Nonproliferation Review), asked if he agreed, at first dismissed Mr. Bolton as a ‘hard liner’ saying a war would risk nuclear devastation, but then he acknowledged that the assessment of North Korea’s determination was probably correct. They’re not gonna give this stuff up.”
*   *  *  *  *
At the end of the day, what does this all come down to? This world is a dangerous place; to keep us as safe as possible; we have the police, to keep internal order, and the military for our external security. We can never be completely safe, but we are safer when we empower those in place to protect us, to do whatever it takes at whatever the costs to confront those who desire to do us harm.
Art  Hall
From the Bible:  The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. Proverbs 29:25