So long mom, I'm off to drop the bomb....

Tom Lehrer - A man who was way ahead of his time in many ways. I only wish he would (and could) write and perform some new tunes for today's absurd reality. But I can't stop thinking of his song written in advance for World War 3: "So long mom (A song for World War 3)."

North Korea is taking advantage of the weakness it sees in the West to become even more belligerent. Trump is the critical weak point in the West's resolve to keep the peace, a peace which allows South Korea to prosper. And I can only see war in the future, with the likely possibility that nuclear weapons will be used as they may be the only tools which will stop North Korea from becoming a threat to the entire Western world.

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The problem dates back to the 1950's, when China decided to fight with North Korea against America and its allies to keep the American forces from coming too close to their border. China got stuck with protecting the Kim family's dysfunctional regime. We were at the beginning of the Cold War with Communist states, and the fighting in Korea was an anomaly. The Kims saw that they could become miniature emperors as long as they tied their wagons to Communist horses.

After almost 70 years since the uneasy peace was declared, the Kim family is still in power. They have used an elegant form of ransom to extract money from the West - holding Seoul as an effective hostage. Since South Korea has become a wealthy nation, the West would lose even more wealth if war were to break out again. So it decided to pay the ransom and kick the can down the road to future leaders to deal with. This was a big mistake.

The Kims made a big mistake too. They decided on building both ICMS and nuclear weapons, with the goal of being able to hold any nation on the planet hostage to their aims. The USA can not afford to lose any of its major cities. (Insert cynical joke here, based on your politics.) So we will likely be forced to act, even though the West will lose South Korea's economy and wealth in the process.

Strangely, as much as I hate Trump the man, I'm glad that he will let the military make the decisions needed to fight North Korea when the time comes. The military knows he is not competent enough to make decisions required of a commander in chief. So they will act responsibly, but give him enough cover to look presidential.

But what happens after the war? Ay, there's the rub. In order to limit the damage, South Korea will need to be protected from reunification. Since the North Korean people have been brainwashed to worship the Kim family, it will be a great effort and risk to absorb this useless population into a South Korea that will be trying to rebuild a country after a major war. They will want (but never saying this) as many primates as possible exterminated between the DMZ and the Yalu river (the Chinese Border). This means that South Korea has an interest in America to test and use as many of its military toys as possible in that war. And our military will only be too glad to oblige.,

Am I being overly cynical and pessimistic? Maybe. But I haven't thought of any other possible solution that could occur with less bloodshed and suffering....

Even Eric Cartman couldn't cause this much trouble

I'm disgusted!  An all but acknowledgement of state sponsored terrorism, and no way to deal with the criminals behind it. (And if there is a plan, our government is not talking about it.)

We have just seen our 1st amendment trumped by a terrorist threat to bomb movie theaters that show "The Interview" - a film about two people being recruited to assassinate the leader of North Korea. Sony's computers have been hacked, theater chains refuse to show the picture, and the public denied the right to see a movie previously scheduled to open on Christmas day. Even worse, when theaters decided to show "Team America, World Police" instead, Sony shot down their chances of showing this film as well.

I never thought we'd see our freedoms at risk this way - Americans are running scared because of a threat from some unnamed hackers. North Korea is a basket case of a country, and one that will eventually collapse if both China and the West stop bailing it out. Sadly, there are problems with this. The South Koreans can't afford to rescue the North, the Chinese don't want a reunification that puts a strong American ally on its borders, Russia has a veto in every possible situation, and the Americans have every reason to wait things out. So North Korea continues to exist, blackmailing the major players in the region for what the dictatorship needs to survive.

But what would happen if we looked at this situation as an opportunity?

There is an old saying: "They shoot horses, don't they?" And maybe this is how the Americans, Chinese and Russians should think about North Korea.  What would happen if all possible opposition were neutralized in the North, and the three major powers were to create a consortium for the extraction of rare earth minerals - raping the land (something already being done) for their profit, instead of that of the Kim regime?

Yes, I am talking about the destruction of a nation for profit. But I doubt that anything could save the North Korean people - at least not at the prices that any of the stake holders are willing to pay. But please remember that I pose this "modest proposal" only as a thought experiment, and one meant to change how people are thinking of the problem posed by North Korea.  There are millions of lives at stake. And eventually, someone will have to address their needs when North Korea self destructs....