The ball is actually in the court of the United States as far as the North Korean crisis is concerned. It is not with North Korea. Pyongyang is bent on seeing its nuclear ambitions through. And the only way to stop it is not by means of sanctions, no matter how harsh and restrictive. In fact sanctions will only drive North Korea into greater obstinacy and intransigence.
The only way to stop North Korea dead in its tracks is to bomb it silly. Or take out Kim Jong Un and hang him from the nearest tree. And the only one that can do that is America. The problem is, can America? No, let me rephrase that, because the US most certainly can. The problem, rather, is will America? Donald Trump sounds like he might. But would he? And then again it might be added -would that be the right thing to do?
There used to be a time when the entire world entertained no such questions. Those were times when such questions were preposterous. Those were times that when the US said it would, the world did not ask whether it will, but waited when. My earliest recollection of such a world was in the early 1960s, when the US blockaded Cuba in the Cuban missile crisis.
I was nine years old in those "Thirteen Days of October" when John F. Kennedy gave Nikita Krushchev an ultimatum to remove his missiles pointed at the United States from Cuba. I remember the great hubbub that erupted at my uncle's house next door. They apparently got word that their son -my first cousin- who was in the US Navy, was on one of the ships that blockaded the island. And that if the Russians did not blink, there would be war.
Well, the Russians did blink. And the world became a safer place, until of course the danger started coming in a different form -Islamic terrorism. And then who do you think should come into the picture to complicate things even further but that madman from North Korea Kim Jong Un. Even his traditional ally China is now finding it extremely difficult to deal with him.
The Chinese are very disciplined and patient people. In the back of their minds, Beijing must truly be having a hard time restraining the urge to strangle Kim. But they cannot do that and risk all sorts of trouble, especially at their common border. To Beijing, the problem is best left to the US to deal with, its role being merely to ensure America does not break any bones when it resorts to some hard arm-twisting.
But even China, and Russia for that matter, must realize, and realize soon enough, that they have as much stake, or even more, as the US has in a peaceful outcome to this crisis. Both countries, while always eager to project military might, are also in very deep in the struggle to attain economic clout. Both are not oblivious to the fact that in the modern world, the big stick is no longer weaponry but economic dominance. Cost efficiency is everything today.
In answer to a question posed above -it is no longer wise to bomb North Korea. Pyongyang has already positioned itself to inflict as much damage as the US and its allies can. And it is the US itself, by its lack of resolute action while it still can, that is to blame for allowing Kim to get into such a position. As to taking Kim out, that is even more dangerous. It will cause a mad scramble for power among generals who nobody knows and who probably hate the US even more than Kim.