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I'm sure that we all know that in the chaos of Trump's presidency, North Korea has gained a frightening amount of nuclear power rather rapidly. One missile can even reach Chicago. I'm a little freaked about it. I'm just curious on the global thoughts on this Cold War II. Henrik, if you feel this is inappropriate, please delete this.

I'll admit that over here in Europe, after the WWs, the Cold War, the American and Isreali paranoia over Iran, the terrorism and today the ever-present threat of Putin's Russia and the increasingly worrying situation in Turkey, we've grown sort of blasé, even sarcastic, about all this. North Korea tends to be more the subject of jokes than anything over here, and so does Donald Trump for that matter.

I'm not panicking yet. Kim Jong Un has been all talk at this point. Far as I'm concerned, he, Trump, and Putin are just in an international dick-measuring contest.

North Korea building nuclear power is not meant to attack the US, Kim Jong Un is not THAT stupid (well, I hope at least), they know they'd be wiped out of the map if they even launched just one nuclear missile (probably even just a regular missile) on the US soil, that'd be an overly unbalanced fight. Furthermore if they attack first, not even China would try to back them up.
First it's a question of national pride, the regime being pretty much built on that.
Most likely is that they saw what happened to Ghadaffi and Saddam, and getting nuclear arsenal is a good way to deter western nations (and in particular the US) to try any operation against them.
Least likely (but more frightening for non North Korean citizens), they want to make the US leave the defense pact they have with South Korea (and potentially Japan) to make a unilateral reunification of Korea, though given the military power of South Korea (and Japan), nuclear arsenal would be catastrophic but probably not enough.

So bottom-line, with any other person as president of the USA, I'd say there isn't any risk for US citizens but a remote one for South Koreans.
Now, with Trump, who knows ? But only if the US attacks first would North Korea (in the unlikely case they have the means to react) strike back.

StevieFan13 wrote:Kim Jong Un has been all talk at this point.

Nassim wrote:But only if the US attacks first would North Korea (in the unlikely case they have the means to react) strike back.

I may be seriously wrong, but I believe North Korean missiles can't actually reach the American continent yet. They wouldn't be threatening to strike Guam if that was the case, they would be targeting Seattle or Los Angeles directly. Besides, as Nassim said, if they even dared to strike foreign territory with a missile, nuclear or not, they would be history. China and Russia have next to no interest in supporting North Korea in such a stupid venture.

Pierre wrote:North Korea tends to be more the subject of jokes than anything over here, and so does Donald Trump for that matter.

A lot of people here treat both Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump to be a joke. Of course, there are people who don't treat Trump like a joke, but that's a different story. I'm just getting a little concerned that the breaking point will quickly be nearing.

The Guardian wrote: "It only takes one madman to press the button. Now we have two." I think that's spot on. Two completely incompetent, immoral leaders, two little bullies with the power to destroy the planet. These situations have occurred before, and there isn't much you can do about it. You can only hope things calm down before it's too late. Constantly worrying about it doesn't help.

Those race riots are insane as well. I knew these people from Louis Theroux' documentaries, but now there seem to be so many of them.