Support NeoGAF

[XiaNaphryz]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-korea-may-be-only-option-gen-keane-says.html

On the heels of yet another North Korean missile test, albeit one the Pentagon says failed, and ahead of a meeting between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Trump’s first choice for Secretary of Defense told Fox News the U.S. is right to consider first-strike military action against Pyongyang.

“We’re rapidly and dangerously heading towards the reality that the military option is the only one left when it comes to getting North Korea to denuclearize and not weaponized [intercontinental ballistic missiles]," said retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane.

Keane said going to war is undesirable to the Trump administration because of the toll it would take on human lives.

“But the Trump administration cannot accept a nuclear launch,” he said. “We cannot rely on our missile-defense system to defeat it and expose the American people to a nuclear attack. Therefore if an ICBM attack was imminent the president would have to conduct a preemptive strike.”

Such a position is intended to send a message to Chinese leaders ahead of tomorrow’s meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

“Three past presidents have sought political, economic and diplomatic steps to get North Korea to denuclearize but failed miserably,” Keane said. “All three tried to leverage China but also failed.”

Keane said that while former President Obama never fully removed the military option – a move Obama called “strategic patience” – both China and North Korea believed he had done so.

The Trump administration has said that policy is not working and plan to put the military option back on the table, Keane said.

“North Korea ought to be at the top of the agenda in Mar-a-Lago,” said John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. “How much do you fear a nuclear weapon? That's the question. We have to look at preemptive military action. If China doesn't like that prospect maybe we can start bringing down the regime with other measures, like cutting off the supply of food and fuel to North Korea.”

The Trump administration is said to be considering a range of new sanctions against the North Korean regime. But, as in the past, such moves require help from Beijing. That help has not often been forthcoming.

Keane said what is particularly dangerous is Kim Jong-Un’s rhetoric that he intends to use these weapons against the United States.

“There’s not another world leader who says he intends to use nukes against the U.S.,” Keane said. “We have to take this threat very seriously.”

In his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump could try to get help from China. But experts say even if that does come up, China would likely not agree to it.

“North Korea has strategic value to China,” said Shen Dingli, vice dean of international relations at Fudan University in Shanghai, and a frequent commentator on U.S.-China relations. “The U.S. has to end its military threat to China, on the issue of Taiwan, before asking China to do it a favor by demanding something from North Korea.”

But experts said Trump’s candor and blunt approach is appreciated in China and could help him.

“Being unpredictable and questioning conventional wisdom can be an effective strategy at times,” said Paul Haenle, who served on the national security staffs of Presidents Bush and Obama. “A healthy dose of unpredictability is useful in our strategy with China.”

Still, some experts said Trump has to be careful in how he deals with China and North Korea. Any provocation, they say, could backfire.

“If the U.S. attacks without provocation, China is legally bound to defend North Korea,” said Shen Dingli, vice dean of international relations at Fudan University in Shanghai, and a frequent commentator on U.S.-China relations. “Don’t expect China to let North Korea collapse. China will join North Korea to a level that will prevent its collapse.”

Keane said President Trump is going to be diplomatic, but he isn’t afraid to urge China to take sides.

 

[NYR]

Trump trying the Bush strategy - start a war to lock in a second term, no matter how many people hate you.

 

[sphagnum]

Trump trying the Bush strategy - start a war to lock in a second term, no matter how many people hate you.

I was just about to suggest that - is he purposefully trying to start a war to get his approval numbers up? With any other president, bluster about NK would just be talk but it's impossible to tell with Trump if he's serious about this.

 

[Stinkles]

Good idea. It won't create a giant humanitarian crisis and cause a proxy war with China, or any number of other reasons nobody has considered this in the past.


NK is a bad guy. But it has the world by the jewels because of forty years of dumb geopol.

 

[sprsk]

This is literally the worst idea this administration has had.

 

[The Kree]

Do they know about China or?

 

[Black Mamba]

glad we didn't vote in the war hawk $hillary!!!

 

[commedieu]

The problem is... trump doesn't know what he is doing. And people will take advantage of that for an agenda. This is very well possible. More so than ever before.

 

[Heroman]

Thia is the dumbest thing I've ever read, No one in the USA wants another war after a decade + in Iraq.

 

[Puppet Shadow]

I'm really worried about the people that live in South Korea. Hell, I'm worried about the people that live North Korea.

 

[celsowmbr]

Fallout 5?

 

[DrSlek]

This can only end well.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Think of the jobs created with a huge draft and war though.

Best president, America first.

Thia is the dumbest thing I've ever read, No one in the USA wants another war after a decade + in Iraq.

If that were true, trump wouldn't have won. We're just going to endlessly be at war with someone.

 

[JordanN]

Do they know about China or?

China? You mean the country that fakes Global Warming to steal American jobs.

Attacking North Korea is how Trump will bring the coal jobs back!

 

[jelly]

He needs a distraction, the Middle East doesn't do it anymore and the military machine needs milked.

 

[guek]

You know what encourages pre-emptive strikes from rouge nations? Talking about pre-emptive strikes.

 

[jellies_two]

Afaik the NKs can't hit America

So how about war mongering general considers South Korean lives in all this, and Japan too, before trying to attack them for something they can't do, and watching as South Korea gets a nuke in the face. Those deaths will all be on trump. Not that he cares.

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

Trump trying the Bush strategy - start a war to lock in a second term, no matter how many people hate you.

I was told by an American who voted Bush "You never change presidents in the middle of a war!"

Sigh...

 

[EdibleKnife]

“North Korea ought to be at the top of the agenda in Mar-a-Lago,”

This is an astoundingly hilarious and frightening quote. Figuring out how to deftly navigate a situation so as not to start a nuclear war at the President's fucking resort. Even crazier that this administration has bungled up so much and now the next thing on the agenda is seeing if we can prevent nuclear winter.

 

[turmoil]

As soon as someone tells him that the guys making the Galaxys would be killed he will find another country to destroy.

 

[Makai]

hype

 

[jon bones]

damn i need to get to japan before Trump tries to war himself into public acceptance

 

[sprsk]

damn i need to get to japan before Trump tries to war himself into public acceptance

While there's still a Japan left, you mean.

 

[DarkKyo]

Afaik the NKs can't hit America

Apparently they'll be able to in a few years. I don't think war is the answer but I'm not sure what will happen if they can develop their offensive capabilities for another 20 years.

 

[Kahoona]

This is the think South Koreans want to hear...

 

[TwoDurans]

China? You mean the country that fakes Global Warming to steal American jobs.

Attacking North Korea is how Trump will bring the coal jobs back!

Maybe it will. A Chinese EMP attack will gut our solar, wind, and nuclear energy systems. We'll need something to keep the few lights we'll still have working.

 

[Beartruck]

Im sure Trump's approval will soar when his incompetence leaves Seoul a smoking crater.

 

[SmackAttack]

Fallout 5?

War

War sure as fuck changes

 

[Killthee]

Welp hope Trump was in the shitter when this segment aired on Fox News.

 

[tbm24]

I was just about to suggest that - is he purposefully trying to start a war to get his approval numbers up? With any other president, bluster about NK would just be talk but it's impossible to tell with Trump if he's serious about this.

Given that we have the Bush Years to look back to, if Trump starts a war and soldiers start dying, who's really going to turn around support Trump all of a sudden? Unless I'm grossly misreading the general war sentiment people have lately.

 

[ShironRedshift]

I'd be fuckin' terrified if I lived in Seoul right about now--these guys really have no idea what they're doing at all and are just making tensions worse with this kind of talk. =/

 

[Extollere]

If we do this we will actually become the evil imperialist America that North Korea has wanted its people to believe in so badly.

 

[UrokeJoe]

Trump trying the Bush strategy - start a war to lock in a second term, no matter how many people hate you.

Seems that way.

 

[Ac30]

Im sure Trump's approval will soar when his incompetence leaves Seoul a smoking crater.

As someone with family in Tokyo fuck this douche.

At least Abe gets to test the SDF out I guess.

 

[Ponn]

Rich old warmongering white guys treating human beings as nothing more than pawns to be slaughtered for their egos. Sounds about right. Mixed with a psychotic Korean dictator with the same ego and disregard of life, what could possibly go wrong.

 

[super-heated plasma]

You know, why doesn't China just say that North Korea is part of China now, and get rid of Kim. Whats North Korea gonna do? Go to war with China? Sure they can try but it wouldn't end well for them. It would solve so many headaches for the world.

 

[NBtoaster]

Maybe something should have been done in the 50 years before they got nukes

 

[jellies_two]

Apparently they'll be able to in a few years. I don't think war is the answer but I'm not sure what will happen if they can develop their offensive capabilities for another 20 years.

If it's on the agenda at his tucking southern whitehouse swamp palace then they are not talking about a few years down the track. Pre-emptively attacking doesn't remove the threat because the USA doesn't know where the plutonium all is inside NK and for sure NK is going to be shuffling it around now.

So a pre emptive strike without an invasion invites a NK strike immediately, or after NK rebuilds s revenge option which in a military state takes no time at all. or it invites a Chinese reponse under the treaty they have.
It doesn't accomplish anything except keeping the orangutan in power for a while longer.

 

[HStallion]

Trump trying the Bush strategy - start a war to lock in a second term, no matter how many people hate you.

This stupid fuck will probably bomb the wrong country.

 

[WedgeX]

What happened the last time we listened to a general in attacking North Korea above the 38th parallel?

Oh right, MacArthur brought about China's formal introduction to the war and forced the UN's force to retreat for nearly a year.

 

[GameAddict411]

South Korea and to some extend Japan will be the victims in this war. North Korea has the capability to launch nukes to those countries and I seriously doubt that Trump knows anything about the complexity of the situation. He has a bunch of generals thirsty for war and to satisfy the arm making industry. Many people will die. I think the best way to approach this to work with China. If north korea loses their support, they can send ground troops to neutralize the government and that will still cause incredible amount of causalities. There is also the fact that there are millions of people living in North Korea. What will become of them? Will the koreas merge? I doubt that will go well considering the difference in wealth. The north Korean people have been exposed to decades of propaganda. I doubt it will go very smoothly.

 

[maquiladora]

This is nothing new. It has been "considered" since the Clinton administration, and was very close to happening back then. It was also considered in the late days of the Obama administration.

 

[turmoil]

You know, why doesn't China just say that North Korea is part of China now, and get rid of Kim. Whats North Korea gonna do? Go to war with China? Sure they can try but it wouldn't end well for them. It would solve so many headaches for the world.

They would just launch a nuclear strike against China I guess.

 

[CyclopsRock]

Does anyone here actually disagree with the statement "Therefore if an ICBM attack was imminent the president would have to conduct a preemptive strike?”

 

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

It would open the floodgates for world war. An evil or completely incompetent suggestion.

 

[Protein]

Trump would probably hit Iran before North Korea. He doesn't give a shit about countries without resources that his rich, fuckwad friends can exploit. But then again, NK could probably get under his thin skin and cause an incident.

 

[UrokeJoe]

Maybe something should have been done in the 50 years before they got nukes

Also this. Honestly something needs to be done, but I have no confidence in this admin.

 

[Billy_Pilgrim]

 

[Ac30]

This is nothing new. It has been "considered" since the Clinton administration, and was very close to happening back then. It was also considered in the late days of the Obama administration.

Yes, but Bams was also smart enough to realize that killing millions of Koreans and provoking a war with China might not be the best policy.

Also how can you tell if a strike is "imminent"? They'd detect the launch and it's game over anyways.

 

[2Smashed4U]

Does anyone here actually disagree with the statement "Therefore if an ICBM attack was imminent the president would have to conduct a preemptive strike?”

Right. This is pretty the standard position the US has always held towards North Korea. I don't think anything new is particularly being said here, as much as it is being reiterated given North Korea's recent activity.