Publisher's Notebook
Is North Korea the bigger threat?
Publisher Bruce Trogdon
In discussing what issue to poll this week, The Post’s Managing Editor David Sickels suggested we discuss either the Charlottesville or North Korea stories. He gave the edge to Charlottesville. I personally thought that Charlottesville was being flamed up by the media and so it wouldn’t have staying power as long as the North Korea threat.
It looks like David was right. I still think that the mainstream media has an agenda in driving this story, but as usual President Donald Trump bungled his messages and has kept fanning the flames with conflicting comments. Meanwhile, North Korean “Supreme Leader” Kim Jong-un appears to have backed down on the imminent Guam threat so it looks like David was right about which story will be a hotter item when we publish this weekend.
Nonetheless, I still think that North Korea is the most viable threat. It seems to me that the liberal media wants to paint all Trump supporters as neo-Nazis and reignite the Civil War. But the vast majority of the protesters were not Nazis. I think that politicians on both sides are trying to gin up a fight to keep their money flowing from their engaged bases.
Long term, America being divided up so shamelessly is very concerning to me. For sure, Charlottesville was another horrible example of this problem. As was the targeted shooting of the Republican Congressional baseball team even if it didn’t get played up as much by the media.
The news media loves to throw out the word Nazi, but isn’t the real Nazi Kim Jong-un? I think we need to be real careful before we start calling everybody that we disagree with “Nazis.” Nazis burned books and toppled statues too. So in all this American hyper-partisanship I am not sure who the real Nazis are. I would suggest that is the hateful zealots on both sides.
Fortunately, for now, North Korea pulled back its threat to attack Guam. This after days of exchanging increasingly bellicose rhetoric with President Trump, and just hours after China took tough steps against Pyongyang in support of unanimous U.N. sanctions.
The U.S. and China have been engaged in a delicate contest with the U.S. juxtaposing the North Korea situation with trade issues between the two super powers.
Beijing said that it would ban imports of North Korean coal, iron and seafood starting Tuesday. Whether this had anything to do with Trump’s dire warnings or his kicking off a probe into China’s thefts of U.S. intellectual property is hard to say. My guess is that Trump’s hard-line stance has paid some dividends. Time will tell.
Last Friday, Trump warned that the U.S. military was “locked and loaded,” should North Korea “act unwisely.” Most knowledgeable observers feel that North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile program is advancing even more rapidly than had previously been assumed. This has prompted questions about whether the Russians may be behind their progress, which certainly wouldn’t surprise me.
It is very easy to second guess President Trump for his bellicose talk and drawing red lines. But he didn’t cause this mess. Our previous presidents have kicked this can down the road for 20 years now so I am not sure what else we can expect the current president to do. If America gets attacked it will be laid on him, so I think I would be reacting the same way if I were in his shoes.
Should a military conflict take place, the U.S. military has tremendous advantages in firepower. But North Korea still has enough weapons to potentially inflict devastating damage to a major U.S. city. At the very least, the potential loss of life in South Korea could be unthinkably massive, even if North Korean’s attack was snuffed out relatively quickly.
How do you think President Trump should handle the North Korea threat? That is this week’s Post online weekly poll question. Choose between: It must be stopped — massive pre-emptive strike if necessary; Target their leadership only; Just continue to use diplomatic pressure, there is no military option; or The whole thing is just an exaggeration by the warmongers.
In the meantime, don’t forget to watch the “Great American Eclipse” this Monday afternoon. Last week’s poll confirmed that 67 percent of you plan to. And don’t forget to wear your special protective glasses!
It looks like David was right. I still think that the mainstream media has an agenda in driving this story, but as usual President Donald Trump bungled his messages and has kept fanning the flames with conflicting comments. Meanwhile, North Korean “Supreme Leader” Kim Jong-un appears to have backed down on the imminent Guam threat so it looks like David was right about which story will be a hotter item when we publish this weekend.
Nonetheless, I still think that North Korea is the most viable threat. It seems to me that the liberal media wants to paint all Trump supporters as neo-Nazis and reignite the Civil War. But the vast majority of the protesters were not Nazis. I think that politicians on both sides are trying to gin up a fight to keep their money flowing from their engaged bases.
Long term, America being divided up so shamelessly is very concerning to me. For sure, Charlottesville was another horrible example of this problem. As was the targeted shooting of the Republican Congressional baseball team even if it didn’t get played up as much by the media.
The news media loves to throw out the word Nazi, but isn’t the real Nazi Kim Jong-un? I think we need to be real careful before we start calling everybody that we disagree with “Nazis.” Nazis burned books and toppled statues too. So in all this American hyper-partisanship I am not sure who the real Nazis are. I would suggest that is the hateful zealots on both sides.
Fortunately, for now, North Korea pulled back its threat to attack Guam. This after days of exchanging increasingly bellicose rhetoric with President Trump, and just hours after China took tough steps against Pyongyang in support of unanimous U.N. sanctions.
The U.S. and China have been engaged in a delicate contest with the U.S. juxtaposing the North Korea situation with trade issues between the two super powers.
Beijing said that it would ban imports of North Korean coal, iron and seafood starting Tuesday. Whether this had anything to do with Trump’s dire warnings or his kicking off a probe into China’s thefts of U.S. intellectual property is hard to say. My guess is that Trump’s hard-line stance has paid some dividends. Time will tell.
Last Friday, Trump warned that the U.S. military was “locked and loaded,” should North Korea “act unwisely.” Most knowledgeable observers feel that North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile program is advancing even more rapidly than had previously been assumed. This has prompted questions about whether the Russians may be behind their progress, which certainly wouldn’t surprise me.
It is very easy to second guess President Trump for his bellicose talk and drawing red lines. But he didn’t cause this mess. Our previous presidents have kicked this can down the road for 20 years now so I am not sure what else we can expect the current president to do. If America gets attacked it will be laid on him, so I think I would be reacting the same way if I were in his shoes.
Should a military conflict take place, the U.S. military has tremendous advantages in firepower. But North Korea still has enough weapons to potentially inflict devastating damage to a major U.S. city. At the very least, the potential loss of life in South Korea could be unthinkably massive, even if North Korean’s attack was snuffed out relatively quickly.
How do you think President Trump should handle the North Korea threat? That is this week’s Post online weekly poll question. Choose between: It must be stopped — massive pre-emptive strike if necessary; Target their leadership only; Just continue to use diplomatic pressure, there is no military option; or The whole thing is just an exaggeration by the warmongers.
In the meantime, don’t forget to watch the “Great American Eclipse” this Monday afternoon. Last week’s poll confirmed that 67 percent of you plan to. And don’t forget to wear your special protective glasses!