{"id":1364,"date":"2017-12-03T17:36:51","date_gmt":"2017-12-03T08:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nedforney.com\/?p=1364"},"modified":"2017-12-10T14:07:57","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T05:07:57","slug":"twenty-and-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nedforney.com\/index.php\/2017\/12\/03\/twenty-and-counting\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty and Counting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/nedforney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/North-Korea-missiles.jpg\" alt=\"North Korean propaganda poster depicting destruction of US capitol\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"640\" width=\"442\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>North Korea has launched 20 (yes, twenty) missiles this year. And we still have a month to go. Tensions on the Korean peninsula are at an all-time high, and as we look back on the Trump administration\u2019s response to Kim Jong-un\u2019s reckless and relentless pursuit of a nuclear-armed ICBM arsenal capable of hitting the US, it appears that three strategies have been used:<\/p>\n<p>1. A concerted effort to implement and enforce sanctions on the 3rd generation dictator and his regime. Unfortunately, it\u2019ll take time and patience to see results, if ever.<\/p>\n<p>2. An attempt &#8211; largely unsuccessful &#8211; to get China to cut its economic lifeline to the rogue nation. This also is a long shot and, realistically, isn\u2019t likely to happen. The Chinese Communist Party has no reason to push Kim into a position that causes regime change. The last thing Xi Jinping wants is millions of refugees spilling into China. Even more terrifying to him and his cronies is democracy &#8211; freedom of speech and an open society &#8211; on his border.<\/p>\n<p>3. Intimidation and threats. Over the past 11 months we&#8217;ve seen\u00a0Trump\u2019s \u201cfire and fury\u201d tweets and bombastic \u201cwe\u2019ll totally destroy North Korea&#8221; speech at the United Nations and Sec. of State Tillerson\u2019s \u201cdiplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More recently, we&#8217;ve heard US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley say, \u201cAnd if war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed; \u201d Senator Lindsey Graham predict that \u201cwe\u2019re headed to a war if things don\u2019t change;&#8221; and Sec. of Defense Mattis warn that \u201ca massive military response, effective and overwhelming,\u201d will take place if North Korea continues its behavior.<\/p>\n<p>Today, White House national security adviser HR McMaster said he thinks the potential for war is &#8220;increasing every day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re in a predicament\u00a0that has no easy solutions. North Korea\u2019s intentions have been obvious for decades, but unfortunately, the US and the world have done little to stop the increasingly volatile and dangerous situation. At this point, vigilance and deterrence are our only viable options.<\/p>\n<p>2018 could be a critical year for the Korean peninsula.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/nedforney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/North-Korea-missiles-2.jpg\" target=\"_self\" itemprop=\"url\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/nedforney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/North-Korea-missiles-2.jpg\" alt=\"North Korean propaganda poster with the words, \u201cNothing will stop our way!&quot; (Photo credit: Reuters)\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"428\" width=\"640\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\tNorth Korean propaganda poster with the words, \u201cNothing will stop our way!&#8221; (Photo credit: Reuters)<\/p>\n<p>Top photo:\u00a0\u00a0North Korean propoganda poster depicting the destruction of the US capitol. (Photo credit: Reuters)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NedForney\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow Ned on Facebook<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Korea has launched 20 (yes, twenty) missiles this year. And we still have a month to go. Tensions on the Korean peninsula are at an all-time high, and as we look back on the Trump administration\u2019s response to Kim Jong-un\u2019s reckless and relentless pursuit of a nuclear-armed ICBM arsenal capable of hitting the US,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,10],"tags":[193,243,241,242,67,240,239,64,102,238],"class_list":["post-1364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-events","category-korea","tag-donald-trump","tag-hr-mcmaster","tag-icbm","tag-james-mattis","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-lindsey-graham","tag-nikki-haley","tag-north-korea","tag-united-nations","tag-xi-jingping"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6.1 (Yoast SEO v28.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Twenty and Counting - nedforney.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/nedforney.com\/index.php\/2017\/12\/03\/twenty-and-counting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twenty and Counting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"North Korea has launched 20 (yes, twenty) missiles this year. And we still have a month to go. Tensions on the Korean peninsula are at an all-time high, and as we look back on the Trump administration\u2019s response to Kim Jong-un\u2019s reckless and relentless pursuit of a nuclear-armed ICBM arsenal capable of hitting the US,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/nedforney.com\/index.php\/2017\/12\/03\/twenty-and-counting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"nedforney.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-03T08:36:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-12-10T05:07:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/nedforney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/North-Korea-missiles.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"442\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ned Forney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ned Forney\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ned Forney\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/412066911bb7b1b8a65782c110844237\"},\"headline\":\"Twenty and Counting\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-03T08:36:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-10T05:07:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":400,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/412066911bb7b1b8a65782c110844237\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/North-Korea-missiles.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Donald Trump\",\"HR McMaster\",\"ICBM\",\"James Mattis\",\"Kim Jong-un\",\"Lindsey Graham\",\"Nikki Haley\",\"North Korea\",\"United Nations\",\"Xi Jingping\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Current Events\",\"Korea\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/\",\"name\":\"Twenty and Counting - nedforney.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/North-Korea-missiles.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-03T08:36:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-10T05:07:57+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/03\\\/twenty-and-counting\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/North-Korea-missiles.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nedforney.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/North-Korea-missiles.jpg\",\"width\":442,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"North Korean propaganda poster depicting the destruction of the US capitol. 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