BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 10, 2018) — Still no word from anyone in official Pittsfield about the weekend’s shootings and murder. The Boring Broadsheet did, however, break in with a page one above-the-fold banner story about a … about a … stolen kitten. Glad to see the fearless rag fulfilling its mission as crusading, Fourth Estate guardian over the three branches, which in Pittsfield have grown to rot.

There is nothing to fear but fear itself, as we recall from our U.S. History, and that’s the good news, because there’s plenty of reason for the “F” word. All of Pittsfield’s problems could well be solved in an instant by what’s happening on the Korean peninsula. Although THE PLANET doubts there will be a military outcome — there are no “solutions” — to the current crisis issuing from both sides of the 38th parallel, it unfortunately remains on the scope.

The problems there go back to the end of World War II, when the United States and Soviet Russia decided for the rest of the world that an endless Cold War would be preferable to a lasting world peace. The two countries greedily divided the map into spheres of influence, with Korea being split in two. The Soviets got the north, and the United States took the south.

Each set up puppet regimes. These 70 years later, we can see how that turned out. The North began with most of the peninsula’s resources. The South began with next-to-nothing. This set up one of the great field experiments in economic history. The USSR imposed communism and central planning on Pyong Yang, while in the South, the U.S. planted capitalism. Today, nighttime satellite images illustrate the stark contrast in the two countries: While the North shows up as pitch black, the South blazes with the lights of development, progress, and success. As it turns out, communism (little “c”) is far too idealistic for human nature. It may have worked for the early Christians, but for the most part, greed overwhelms the human heart, sinking this noblesse oblige, otherwise known as the Dictatorship of the Proletariat (capital “C”). Capitalism has as its key feature the incorporation of greed.

Kim Jung Un‘s possession of nuclear weapons, however, obliterates history and makes the past irrelevant. It’s what happens from here on out that matters. Analysts estimate that Kim controls between 10 and 16 nuclear bombs. They also know, as does the world, that the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (PDRK) possesses ICBMs. It came as no coincidence that the country saved its test (successful) of an ICBM — the Hwasong 14, as designated — to coincide with America’s Independence Day.

A study of the launch’s data as well as footage taken during a recent parade in Pyong Yang confirmed the missile in question has intercontinental capabilities. Analysts pointed to the missile’s hollow cone section, a tell-tale design for ICBMs and, more ominously, MIRVs — multiple, independent, re-entry vehicles.

What can be done? What are President Donald Trump‘s options? Boil it down, and there are only three:

1. Keep the present course, largely consisting of economic sanctions.
2. Military intervention.
3. Diplomacy.

Option 1, while being the most feasible, insures that the situation remains at the boiling point — unless China fully implements economic sanctions. China remains reluctant because it fears regime collapse in DPRK will send millions of refugees across the border. It also wants the North to serve as the border’s strategic buffer.

Option Two assures that a.) the United States would prevail and Kim’s regime would end and b.) millions of lives would be endangered, likely lost, in the region. Presently, that is unacceptable. Kim would  unleash his arsenal on the South as well as Japan, Taiwan, and large areas of the Pacific Rim. Even if Kim used only conventional forces, his 1.2 million-man army would see that millions died.

Option Three is the best of these three regrettable alternatives. The President has offered to meet in person with Kim. He is the first president to do that. Such a meeting could be set up through back channels or even front, using envoys from Sweden, Russia, and China as brokers. Trump is master of the deal. He has the skills to meet with Kim and end the crisis once and for all — before it’s too late.

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“Diplomacy has worked in the past with North Korea, and it could work now.” — Prof. David Courtright, University of Notre Dame.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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