Boroughwide

Common Sense: Korean Crisis

August 4, 2017 JERRY KASSAR
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It appears from all account that North Korea is on the verge of testing a true Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), which will have the capacity to deliver a nuclear warhead to the United States’s west coast. The United States will have no choice but to act.

What actions the Trump Administration will take against this serious threat are unclear. What is clear is that Trump’s policy change on transgender soldiers is receiving more attention in the New York media than an insane dictator having a nuclear-tipped missile with a 3,000-mile range.

What we do know is that the United Nations will act and that the United States Representative Nikki Haley will ask for very tough sanctions. The assumption is that China will support these new sanctions. There remains a big question as to how cooperative Russia will be on any new actions against North Korea.

If Russia does not come on board, the U.N. will once again show itself to be powerless. North Korea in recent months has shown itself to be resistant to unilateral Chinese sanctions. The U.S. for its part has no formal relationship on any level with North Korea so anything less than a military response will be ignored.

What was unthinkable only a few years ago – a military response greater than saber rattling – could become a necessary option.

Make no mistake about it. The United States cannot allow a lunatic to have nuclear weaponry that can reach cities throughout the western part of the nation and beyond.

North Korea is a country that tortured a 21-year-old American to death for removing a poster from a hotel wall. It is a country that has kidnapped dozens of Japanese citizens from the beaches of Japan over a 15-year period at the height of the Cold War.

It is a place that has changed little in 60 years except now to be ruled by Kim Jong Un who if anything is crueler than the family members that preceded him and might actually be crazy if we believe the tales of the horrid executions of his enemies.

It is worth noting that a cease-fire exists between the combatants of the Korean War – not a truce or peace treaty. Thus, in a technical sense, hostilities between the North and the South and those who supported the South continue to exist. The actions of North Korea could result in it becoming a “hot war” once again.

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Congressmember Lee Zeldin will be honored by the Brooklyn and Queens Committees of the Conservative Party at Russo’s on the Bay on the evening of Tuesday August 8 at 7 p.m.

Congressmember Zeldin in his second term represents the South Shore of Suffolk County from Islip to Montauk. A former state senator, the congressmember holds a reserve commission in the Army and has been deployed in a combat zone several times.

In Congress, Zeldin is known for his commitment to conservative principles including support for tax and health care reform. As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, he has been a staunch supporter of America’s allies in the Middle East.

The Conservative Party’s citywide ticket is led by Nicole Malliotakis for mayor, Michel Faulkner for comptroller and Michael O’Reilly for public advocate.

Tickets for a full evening of food, drink and ol-fashioned politics are $175 per person. To purchase a ticket or for more information, call the Conservative Party at 718-921-2158.

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