US B-1 bombers escorted by South Korean fighters spent about 10 hours over the weekend flying around the Korean Peninsula, in what Air Force officials are describing as a show of force intended to be a “direct response” to North Korea’s most recent missile test.
B-1s are long-range strategic bombers designed specifically to drop nuclear bombs on targets. Though it’s not known if the B-1 bombers in this case had nuclear weapons on board, that was clearly meant to be the message sent to North Korea.
Between bomber overflights, warship deployments, and pubic threats, the US has made “shows of force” their go-to reaction whenever they want to exhibit displeasure toward North Korea after missile tests and the like.
That North Korea has been developing the missiles specifically as a deterrent for what they see as an imminent US invasion. This ultimately makes the US reaction counter-productive, just ensuring that tension remain high and that North Korea will keep scrambling to improve its retaliatory capabilities.
Oh I get it now. N Korea’s firing of missiles is “just a show of force”.
Nobody has said this yet, but it’s really starting to look like this war won’t start until after the Olympic Games in Seoul are over. Too much planning and money are at stake. International staffs will be in Seoul later this year, and it’s just become thoroughly impractical to topple the North Korean regime before the Olympics at this juncture.
I doubt that. Our government will point to the 1936 Olympics as a serious blunder of the later Allies.
This is what we call diplomacy.
The unintended consequence will almost certainly be that North Korea will work harder to get an operational nuclear arsenal sooner. There will be more NK A-tests and missile tests. Then our government must keep the nuke bombers and fighter planes constantly in the air over South Korea with the unintended consequence of more NK A- and missile tests or else a real war.