It's been pretty easy for Kim Jong Un since he assumed power in 2011 to provoke the rest of the world any way he wanted. As long as Barack Obama was president of the United States, he could be assured that he could do missile tests and take Americans prisoner, and the scariest American who would show up in his country would be Dennis Rodman.
Obama was predictable. Predictably weak and unwilling to take action.
Donald Trump? He's a whole different story, as Bashar Assad found out last week. And even as Trump is meeting with the president of China - the only ally the Norks have in the world - and urging him to do something about the situation, it's clear Trump is not prepared to just shrug his shoulders in Obama-like fashion if the Chinese won't, or can't, act.
Enter the U.S. Navy strike force:
The strike group, called Carl Vinson, includes an aircraft carrier and will make its way from Singapore toward the Korean peninsula, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity.
"We feel the increased presence is necessary," the official said, citing North Korea's worrisome behavior.
This year North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, have repeatedly indicated an intercontinental ballistic missile test or something similar could be coming, possibly as soon as April 15, the 105th birthday of North Korea's founding president and celebrated annually as "the Day of the Sun."
Earlier this week U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Florida, where Trump pressed his counterpart to do more to curb North Korea's nuclear program.
Trump's national security aides have completed a review of U.S. options to try to curb North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. These include economic and military measures but lean more toward sanctions and increased pressure on Beijing to rein in its reclusive neighbor.
From what I hear those options also include the assassination of Kim Jong Un. This is not to say it's the number one option, and it would obviously be a very risky mission for whoever undertakes it. But Trump's orientation is to focus on how you solve the problem, and without question one way to solve the problem of Bowl Cut Jr. would be to do what he does to his political enemies.
End him.
The attack on Syria late Thursday night was not tremendously valuable in terms of military strategy. We didn't even destroy the runway that helped facilitate the chemical attacks - and in my view, we should have. But it was extremely valuable if the goal was to raise doubt in the minds of bad actors that they can continue to operate with impunity. Maybe Kim will gamble that Trump will only go so far lest he provoke a war with China or Russia, and thus the Norks can survive a blow from the U.S. intact.
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But Kim would have to at least consider the possibility that this would be a miscalculation - and maybe it would be. Maybe Trump has decided he has no intention of spending his entire presidency dealing with this guy - especially if he's serious about testing ICBMs that can reach the mainland U.S. - and maybe Trump believe it really is possible to be done with him.
It was likely not a total coincidence that the attack on Syria happened while Xi Jinpeng was at Mar-a-Lago. Trump would really like the Chinese to put an end to Kim's provocations, as would everyone. And that doesn't even deal with the fact that the entire nation of North Korea is essentially a gigantic prison camp. China is the only nation that has any diplomatic influence over North Korea, and it hasn't used it to very useful effect in recent years.
Perhaps it would like to start doing so. Because if not, perhaps the U.S. Navy strike force is prepared to do more than just sit there on the Korean peninsula.
Trump wouldn't.
Would he?
Are you sure?
