Threat from the DPRK (North Korea)

[David Horn]

(09-23-2017, 12:04 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(09-23-2017, 09:04 AM)David Horn Wrote: LBJ believed that Ho and company would negotiate if he made the pain great enough.  They wouldn't.

Actually, they did - just not with LBJ.  After all, we got a reasonable agreement in 1973, before the US reneged on our side of the bargain.

LBJ just didn't know how to negotiate.  He would permit a cease fire every time we went to the negotiating table, which Vietnam used to build up its forces while we didn't.  Nixon got it right:  keep the military pressure up while negotiating.  We needed Vietnam to keep feeling the pain.

Nixon bombed Laos and Cambodia back to the 13th century.  Laos just collapsed.  Cambodia went Khmer Rouge.  The North Vietnamese got the entire enchilada handed to them on a platter.  Not a great outcome in any of the three. 

Warren Wrote:I do agree that Kim is unlikely to give up his nuclear program in negotiations, though, at least as long as he thinks he can get what he wants without negotiations.  From what he has seen, the US always caves in the end; all he has to do is be patient.

True unless Raving Don (he needs a pseudonym too) pushes the envelope too far.  Again, it's the Chinese that hold the key.