The world is in shock and awe over the dramatic increase in the quality of North Korea’s missile delivery. Its ability to send missiles from hundreds of miles to well into the United States, has happened at an incredible pace. This has happened at a much faster rate than the United States or the international community ever expected. Now, it has been discovered that the hermit kingdom has a miniature nuclear bomb that these missiles can carry.
President Donald Trump, who has found his administration crippled by the Russia scandal, is probably the only person who might find comfort from this distraction. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is dealing with the fear of a nuclear apocalypse that is the greatest since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The question is, how should the United States respond to this crisis? Calls for increased civil defense are helpful, but this country — and several of North Korea’s neighbors — are in the middle of an existential crisis. Dramatic actions are clearly necessary, but how far will the Trump Administration go to deal with North Korea? Trump has been using the language of “fire and brimstone” when he discusses a response, which makes many wonder if he is considering his own nuclear option. Others think he might be looking at a customized version of the “Mother of All Bombs” used in Afghanistan.
Adding a nuclear bomb as a conventional weapon is certainly a logical addition to Trump’s bizarre cast of characters.
Knowing the dark side of Donald Trump, I almost think the nuclear option is weighing heavily on the President. After all, if he dropped a nuclear bomb, talk of Russia would likely evaporate rather quickly, as would untold lives. But, to my knowledge, none of the nuclear arsenal the United States has today would work in the North Korea situation. Pyongyang is only a little over 100 miles to the border of China. A nuclear bomb — even a small one — would have a high likelihood of actually devastating parts of China. In addition, it would probably do damage to South Korea, and the fallout would be significant for US allies throughout the region. Our current options that we are aware of, do not seem viable.
Don’t be surprised if they bring the neutron bomb to a theater (of war) near you.
This made me think about the neutron bomb, which was all the craze in national security debates back in the 1970s. The neutron bomb was considered more humane than other nuclear missiles. It was designed during the Cold War to be a deterrent to the Soviet Union in case it attempted a massive invasion of Western Europe, the missile would have been considered a tactical weapon because it had the ability to greatly limit the area it would target, would focus on the killing of lives rather than the destruction of infrastructure, and would have a a shorter radiation life than other nuclear bombs. In spite of the fact it seemed, full of “sensibilities,” policy specialists and the Carter Administration closed the door on its further development. It was simply too dark to have a nuclear bomb be considered a tactical weapon. It is the type of thing you find in a sci-fi movie. Then again, this current administration seems increasingly like a dystopia that would be common in a science fiction film. Adding a nuclear bomb as a conventional weapon is certainly a logical addition to Trump’s bizarre cast of characters.
We were told the doors were closed on the neutron bomb decades ago, but I doubt seriously they destroyed the information they had on it. The idea of it being “humane” would be far fetched to most, but makes perfect sense in the world of Donald Trump. Don’t be surprised if they bring the neutron bomb to a theater (of war) near you.