The argument for war with North Korea is no argument at all

For the U.S. to act against Pyongyang, South Korea and Japan would have to sign on, but this is a near impossibility given their place on the front line. The U.S., acting unilaterally, would shred Washington’s East Asian alliances, pushing the region closer to China. There would also a small, though distinct, possibility of Beijing coming to North Korea’s defense, and open conflict between the world’s two superpowers.

“Many countries would question the wisdom of their U.S. alliances,” says Richard Weitz, director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at Hudson Institute. “The consequences would be tremendous.”

Preemptive or preventative war to disarm a nuclear adversary has been considered by American leaders many times before: by Eisenhower against the Soviet Union, by Johnson and Kennedy against Mao Zedong’s Red China. Never did it pass rudimentary cost-benefit analysis, and history has proven those decisions correct. So if military action is so fraught, why the open bluster from Haley and Mattis? This appears to be strategic bargaining.