BREAKING NEWS
Ok,
children: this is the test. Trump has now drawn a red line:
"Threaten us one more time, and I'll do something very violent."
JFK succeeded in a scary nuclear confrontation in the Cuban missile crisis,
but it was very close. Can The Donald pull this off? This is not a
reality TV show. This is just plain "Reality."
Sure
glad I don't live in Alaska, California, or even Chicago, tho I have
relatives in two out of three.
But
I have to say, I don't think the Trump/Kushner/Bannon team has many options.
The North Korea lunatic is making very specific threats that our experts say
he is capable, or almost capable, of executing. And if not today, then
tomorrow for sure. So the here's the question: when a person who fails the
Anglo-American jurisprudential test of being a "reasonable man,",
says "I am going to kill you," and he has the incentive and
capacity to do so, does a sentient national leader whose population
is the object of those threats, take it seriously, and do something,
even if his predecessors did not?
I
pose this hypothetical:
Assume
please, you are a peace-loving person, living on a nice tree-lined street,
but in a community that has no laws, no police, and just gets along on the
assumption that no person would do something so uncivil to a member of the
community as to cause his victim, or the victim's friends, to respond with
equal incivility, or worse. Fantasy land? Game of Thrones? No, if you
think about it, that's close to basic global politics today.
Anyway,
this is my hypothetical, so I get to paint
the scenery. Bottom line, that's the community in which you live. Suck it up.
One
day, you are out cutting your lawn, and a moving truck pulls up in front of
the vacant house next door. A big shaved-head tattooed guy, with the
help of equally scary buddies, gets out of the truck and he and his team
proceed to carry boxes and stuff into that house. You make inquiry and
discover that the head of the group now living next door did 20 years in the
state pen for arson-murder. Further, you learn on Google that after release
he was arrested again for another murder, but escaped conviction with a
defense of "diminished capacity," and after doing three years at
the funny farm, he was discharged, and has moved in next door.
Your
new neighbor immediately takes offense at the color of your teenage
daughter's dress, and tells you if she leaves the house again, he is going to
kill her, and firebomb your house when you and your family are asleep. You
try to reason with him, but the several conversations always end with his
telling you, "Fuck off, asshole, I mean it. Just try me." He then
gives you a tour of his garage which is full of ready-to-use Molotov
cocktails.
You
are a peaceful person who loves his family. You have a rifle, that you
use only to kill deer during hunting season.
Remember,
no laws in this community. At least none that are enforceable. No police.
Everybody for himself.
One
day, your new neighbor stands on his front lawn and calls for you to come
outside. You go out. You hope you two can talk. But there is no talk, at
least no conversation. In one hand, he holds a gasoline-filled bottle
with a cloth wick, and in the other hand, a cigarette lighter. He says,
"Watch this, asshole. You are next!" He lights the device and
heaves it into the vacant lot on the other side of his house. You blanch from
the noise and heat generated by the ensuing explosion and fire that quickly
consumes every tree on the lot. He then turns to you with a sneer, and says,
"Last warning, shithead, I saw her again. One more time, you and your
family are toast!"
You
are incensed. Enough is enough. You go into your house, unlock the gun
safe, take out the deer rifle, load it, bring it down to the living room, open the living room window and sight the rifle through the living room blinds and put your neighbor in the cross
hairs as he stands on his lawn laughing at you, threatening you, telling you he
is invulnerable because he knows if you kill him, there will be collateral
damage. Decision time. You put your finger on the trigger, and ... .
I'm
not sayin' this is exactly parallel to the current situation
with North Korea, but ... .
Oh
yeah, if I recall correctly, Mr. Trump and his team denigrated his
predecessor who drew a "red line" about Assad's use of chemical
weapons and then did nothing when Assad crossed that line. Y'think the
President remembers that? Or if he doesn't, does Steve Bannon?
I
am going fishing tomorrow. The guys tell me the sea bass fishing off Block
Island is super. That's 15 miles east of my usual fishing
grounds, and "east" may be especially crowded tomorrow, but maybe
the family will come fishing with me for the first time in 20 years. Nah, I'm
just kidding. Really, but I am glad I don't have any
relatives in Alaska.
A
bientot.
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