Soap Box

 As of this writing, there has been a somewhat murky exploratory proposal - or more aptly overture - from Kim Jong-un for talks between himself and President Trump.

Now admittedly, what I know about international diplomacy and delicate negotiations between heads of state could be fitted into a child's sewing thimble, but after living through the Korean War and witnessing the interminable on again, off again negotiations at the 38th Parallel in an attempt to end the war and work out borders and such, I know the North Koreans are a slippery bunch with the morals of a rattlesnake and the integrity of a hyena.

How many times have the North Koreans agreed to clean up their act to get sanctions removed? You can figure the answer to that question if you know how many times they've reneged, they're exactly the same.

It's my firm belief that the North Koreans are still just playing the same old bait and switch, pretending to back off their nuclear project to get sanctions lifted, make a few cosmetic gestures and keep right on doing what they are doing, playing us for time to finish their WMD and reach the day when they no longer have to acquiesce, but, having a nuclear warhead and a missile capable of delivering it, demand what they want out of the world.

Their hole card, with or without a long-range delivery device is South Korea, which is so densely populated that even the lowest yield nuke, set off over, or in almost any part of South Korea could kill millions of people and, I'm convinced that the only deterrent is the stone cold fact that NK would be totally annihilated in a matter of minutes, and I'm sure they know that the means to accomplish that has long been in place, but how long can you trust a lunatic to be rational.

Add to the equation a missile that could deliver a nuclear strike to America's west coast plus destroy half the population of South Korea and it becomes clear just what a dangerous thug Un and his henchmen are and what a tedious, and complex problem NK is.

The situation is one of damned if you do and damned if you don't, unless Trump can really pull off a coup and get the NK to agree to an exhaustive inspection and oversight program, something they have vehemently refused to do heretofore.

So is this a real attempt by North Korea or just another strategic time out, does it really mean that Kim Jong Un and the powerful elite in NK would be willing to give up their long-held dream of being a nuclear power in favor of freer trade and an attempt a move toward the sufficiency and affluence for the masses their neighbors to the south have enjoyed for so long.

The truth of the matter is that only a hand full of the politically connected in NK ever even get enough to eat. The rest live in abject, and justified, fear.

NK has the world's cruelest labor camps, where the inmates are literally starved and worked to death, it has been going on for over half a century, and that's just the tip of the iceberg of the systemic evil that makes up the hierarchy of the NK regime.

They do what they want to who they want at any time they want and there is no system of checks and balances to counteract.

And the aid and assistance that is sent never trickles down the downtrodden anyway and the Kim regime spends any cash they can lay their hands on into buying and developing more firepower.

So, you've got a few thousand elites living in relative luxury and several million living in abject poverty, with no electricity and forced to destroy what little forest there is left to keep warm and cook what little food they can come up with.

A nighttime satellite picture of North Korea looks like a black hole in space.

There has never been an ounce of humanity in the ruling class their cruelty and thirst for more power knows no bounds, and should they ever get their hands on a WMD and an intercontinental delivery system, the repercussions are something no sane person wants to even think about.

So, we all wish President Trump God speed when - and if - he sits down with Kim Jong-un in hopes that some sane and verifiable arrangement can be struck, before this runaway train starts the Third World War.

God help us.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, our police and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

— Charlie Daniels

PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST

Feel free to comment on Charlie's soapboxes, but please refrain from profanity and anonymous posts are not allowed, we need a name and you MUST provide a valid email address. If you provide an email address, but leave the name as "Anonymous" we will pick a name for you based on your email address. No one other than website administrators will see your email address, not other posters. If you post without a valid email address, your comment (whether positive or negative) will be deleted. — TeamCDB