Trump's 'Calm before the Storm' is a Message to North Korea and Iran

Ronald Reagan was vilified relentlessly for his "Evil Empire" comment and "Star Wars". The Progressives trip over each other to shoot alarm at the Truth and Facts. In the last 50 years, the Left has not seen a conflict or enemy that they won't run away from.

The Progressive is consumed by a Utopian vision that believes that it and only it can create Paradise on Earth.

Two countries led by children pretending to be men leading their countries. It's all about childish petulance and seeing just how far they can go before being scolded! The problem being that this situation is serious and therefore needs a serious response, or the consequences could be deadly for a great many innocent people. Far too many of these so-called leaders like to play games as long as they themselves are not in the frontline!
Sanctions don't work because it's the public that suffers, and not the leaders themselves, they are put out sometimes, but never actually really affected. The only way is for a force of some description to locate, enter the country and destroy everything, but that won't be easy at all. There cannot be the use of bombs because people will be housed in the vicinity being used as human shields, and nuclear is definitely out of the equation. Whatever the outcome, it won't be easy and no safe endgame is guaranteed. Trump can threaten and say whatever he wants but unfortunately, he's dealing with lunatics!

The only alternative to a diplomatic solution is war. And how do the USA, based on the experiences from Vietnam, Irak and Afghanistan expect to win such a war, or even to end it successfully?
The only thing to do, is to find a solution in cooperation with Russia and China. An attack on NK or Iran will end in disaster - also for the USA.

Short but sharp analysis by Alan. M. Dershowitz. Many thanks to Gatestone for having such distinguished experts. Good to know that Donald Trump is much smarter than many of his critics and enemies.

In today's precarious world where the USA is no longer the only dominant military power, can any one nation which has developed a nuclear arsenal dictate to others what they can or should not do? Surely negotiations mut prevail. It must be clear to the leaders of Iran and North Korea (and Pakistan??) that if they ever used nuclear weapons it would lead to such a devastating response they, their people and their country would be wiped off the face of the earth. Their people too should be made aware of the consequences as the vast majority want peace and are not responsible for the actions of their leaders. Perhaps some leaders need to be removed from office by whatever means are available. But can the people rise up against harsh regimes and overthrow their leaders who hold power through their armies and police forces?

The time is approaching when the situations with the DPRK and Iran may become unmanageable without an exchange of nuclear weapons. If anything is to be done to stop these people, it needs to be done before they can produce nuclear weapons, and missiles accurate and reliable enough to deliver them where they choose, in numbers sufficient to be a deterrent.

If Trump decides on military action to prevent this (and it seems unlikely that anything else will prevent it), he needs proper support and advice from within the government and the military. Many of the people he will have to rely on seem to be working against him, and need to be replaced quickly -- beginning with Tillerson, Mattis, McMaster and Dunford. He certainly needs people in these positions who will give him their honest opinion, and tell him when they believe he's wrong, but not the present lot who are in disagreement with his general policy, and contradict him publicly. High ranking government officials and military officers cannot be allowed to publicly take policy positions opposed to the president. If they can't accept his decisions, they should resign -- if they won't resign, they must be fired. Dissent must end after a decision has been made, or government can't function.

This article is right on target!!

The stakes for the free world are too high for the President to hesitate in making the hard choices that are being thrust upon them by Iran and North Korea.

It is pragmatic and smart to call these nations out, so that they are in no doubt of the consequences of continuing along their chosen parts. It is equally smart not to take any action necessary to ensure neither of these countries can make a pre-emptive strike against either the USA or its allies.

Unhappily, too many western leaders lack the spine and moral courage to make the only rational decision when confronted with a nuclear armed and aggressive rogue state. Having a position of military strength but not the courage to use it, puts a nation in a position of weakness.

NOKO may well learn that President Trump is not a "Paper Tiger", and after that situation, Iran can make a decision, too.

It would be amazing if Mr. Trump actually followed through on his campaign promises but he hasn't lived up to any of them, weak as water. He surrounds himself with an Obama leftover State Department with weak inadequate advisors. He's all talk, weak as water, a one term president!

On the one hand, Mr. Dershowitz, you think "something" MUST be done by our nation because we have been continually threatened. Then on the other hand, you put the ball-carrying on the backs of the two most destabilizing roque nations, along with other bad actors, to make the determining decision.

I believe that the major determining decision has already been made by both. They want NUCLEAR POWER for the purpose of becoming a major power broker around the globe. They have felt that WE, the USA, are able to globally set the agendas,(maybe they even call it bullying), for everyone else to cater to just because we have this highly developed technological power and we have an arsenal to back up our power position.

What these nations don't understand is that this so-called power, called into play, is really a RESPONSIBILITY. NEVER to have to USE that particular power is the constraint under which we MUST govern our decisions. That which I have just described is truly NOT power! It is a BURDEN. We have, by using this power, put a huge burden on ourselves that we have taken very seriously since 1945!!!

Psychopathological narcissism IS when a person (or nation), persist in exercising power over others; inflicting pain and death on humans with no remorse or conscience or feeling for their victims. War makes everyone walk very close to that line. When a leader is forced to kill on a large scale over a long period of time, what is "it" that keeps that individual from becoming a pathological person twisted by the single focus of "winning" a war by attrition?!?! I won't even attempt to answer that, because it is an answer that is as varied as the human genome!

These two nations inflict dire consequences on humans who patently disagree with their RULES, LAWS, or CODES they decree as if they are G-d, Himself! May I remind you, myself, and THEM that they are NOT HIM. They may wish to have His authority but they don't and never will. Not all the centrifuges, nuclear irradiated material, or ICBM'S will make any of us HIM.

What I see of these nations who focus on the military uses of this nuclear power by building strong industrial- sized complexes while ignoring the dire conditions of their people, is their limited vision of the future for their nation. So much prowess....so little progress...and in the push of a button, the wink of an eye, ALL is GONE! Mutual destruction for all parties in THIS power play is ALL that we have in terms of leverage!

G-d has said to us to CHOOSE life or death! Our foreign policy decisions boil down to this simple formula for choices that we make every minute of every day. Once we are forced to a choice, may we always choose "life" even when to do so means the death of a madness!

US was giving tones of money to NOKO. Bill Clinton gave them 3 billion dollars and others too. Obama gave Iran 150 billion dollars and Iran must have used part or all of it to get know how from NOKO.This was expected. Why invent the wheel if you can buy it from NOKO and than declare the truth "We do not produce nuclear weapons". They do not need to produce them because they have them ready to use.

Whoa, the cataclysmic danger is the EMP, ElectroMagnetic Pulse. Any nuclear device exploded high enough above a country, FRIES ALL its electrical elements. Result: 2/3 to more of Americans perish in six months due to starvation, thirst, climate exposure, no medicine, and riots. No communication except by smoke signals. No transportation except walking, bicycling, horses. No water travel except by ships with sails. WILL THIS BE THE EVENTUALITY AFTER ALL? Why not, it's technically easy now, and of course so inexpensive for result gained (like 9/11)

Mr. Dershowitz is a dedicated American who wants the best for this country. However, his aggressiveness now for this country to take strong action, including the military option, to stem North Korea and Iran's nuclear arms capability seems a little late. Where was his aggressiveness during the Clinton, Bush W and Obama years when he agreed with his Democratic Party that diplomacy and economic sanctions were the only course of action even though year after year, that action failed. Then Israel - who has had to look at it's possible destruction everyday - warned that action that included the military option, had to be considered to stop these countries before it was too late, but the warning fell on deaf American ears. Now, when we can really visualize nuclear weapons destroying our country by these two enemies, Mr. Dershowitz will accept any action. Better late than never.

There is no good choice. So then, we must decide what the worst scenario is and adjust our strategy to that, even if it means being on the offensive. If we are to become offensive, we must let the Chinese and Russians know in advance, that if they interfere on the side of North Korea, that we are obliged to retaliate with all necessary force at our disposal. In essence, letting them know that if they want the world to go up in smoke over a little country run by a dictator that no one likes, then go ahead and retaliate on his behalf. I do not believe that China or Russia would go war over North Korea and risk world destruction.

I both agree and disagree with Mr Dershowitz. I agree that Iran and North Korea both pose the greatest threat to world peace today, that their relentless fanaticism, intransigence and violent political, ideological and religious beliefs are a cause of worry, and I agree that there is indeed a storm coming whether we like it or not.

The only thing I disagree with Mr Dershowitz about, is that the military option is the "last resort". The military is the first, the last and the only viable and realistic option.

North Korea and Iran need both to be neutralized and have their conventional and non-conventional military abilities and resources completely and totally destroyed and dismantled to the extent that those military capabilities aren't existing anymore.

Furthermore, the dictatorships need to be dismantled, the dictators dethroned, and their political systems, i.e. North Korea's communist dictatorship, and Iran's Shia Islamic theocracy, need to be transformed and reformed into Western liberal democracies. This is the only viable solution.

Still relying on diplomacy until the bitter end, and failing to see that the military option is the only viable and realistic option when dealing with rogue states of such caliber, is neither civil nor civilized, but rather an act of cowardice of epic proportions, which places 7 billion human beings in lethal danger.

Iran and North Korea must be stopped at any price.

Millions for Defense but not one penny for Tribute!
It was the right attitude when America fought Jihad in North Africa in the early 1800's and its makes sense now.
Peace can not be bought under the false pretense of redistributing wealth.

May God Bless, protect and guide president Trump, his family, friends, colleagues and US peoples and military.

Great logic Mr. Dershowitz-where were you when Obozo negotiated this farce? Your "keen" legal mind seems to have failed you-the time to have halted this was 4 years ago. Your love for Obama prevented you from seeing the truth.