Why Rocket Man Doesn't Keep Me Awake At Night

Kim Jong-Un fired off another rocket last night. It got close to Japan, supposedly. Friends, neighbors, and even political rivals have called me, terrified about where this military build-up is headed. Trump has mobilized a greater show of force in the Pacific rim. Hawaii is under red alert, prepared for a nuclear attack at any moment.

But as for me, guess what? I don’t care. I may live on the Western rim, but I have survived along the San Andreas Fault all my life, and despite earthquakes, terrors, wars, rumors of wars (and even the LA riots), I am not worried.

First of all, I take God at His Word, and rest in the promises of Psalm 91. Yet even for those who have no spiritual convictions, there is still no reason to be afraid, and even fear itself is not something to worry about. Little Kim represents a brightly-lit yet still dying ember of the Stalinist Resistance, the latest movement of communism which is quickly tumbling into the ash heap of history (except on college campuses, of course).

Communist regimes had a long, storied history of moderating their hardline collectivist, tyrannical, statist stances from generation to generation. As head of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin killed anyone whom he viewed as a threat. His successor Nikita Khrushchev moderated his dictatorial bearing in part because of pressure from the Inner Party higher brass. Even the politically-connected don’t want to suffer under abject, arbitrary despotism. Forty years later, Mikhail Gorbachev desperately needed economic openness so that the Soviet Union could survive, let alone thrive. President Reagan knew that communism wasn’t cashing in, and Gorbie was willing to play nice. What Reagan also knew, of course, is that once free market reforms and cultural liberty expanded enough, the will and thrill of the Soviet Union would collapse, as happens every time with communism.

In China, Mao Ze-Dong was a ruthless butcher, killing millions in the wake of his Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward. His successor Dieng Xiao-Ping had to permit economic liberal reforms, or the entire country would have collapsed into heaps of starving bodies. The successive Chinese premiers have retained autocratic political power, but economic growth has risen based on free market reforms. Communism is not really communism in China.

In Cuba, despite Obama’s best efforts to prop up a new rapprochement (he should have focused on working with Congress and representing our Republic), Cuba’s record of civil rights abuses will not go unchecked. President Trump is clamping down on their abuses, and has scaled back diplomatic relations. Thank God that Fidel Castro is dead, and his brother Raul didn’t bother to attend his one-year commemoration. Look forward to Little Raul scaling back the repressive communism of his brother’s era as the Trump Administration continues playing hard-play with this serial human rights abuser nation.

North Korea, though, has been a small yet persistent thorn in the side. This dumpy, dark Communistic regime has so far bucked the Communistic trend that as the new guard replaces the old guard of corrupt blood-thirsty cronies, that the regime takes on more moderate stances, in domestic policy if not in rhetoric. Kim Jong-Un has become more belligerent, not less, and the military brass and political establishment in North Korea can’t keep him in line. Remember the rumors about Little Kim feeding his uncles to rabid dogs? Whether those stories are true or not, the fact that such rumors surround the regime exposes Rocketman as a more demented, dogmatic leader. While Grandpa Kim Il-Sung had achieved deity-like status as a propped-up puppet of the Soviet Union, and Daddy Kim Jong-Il would take over and just go for international crime syndicate status, Rocketman is truly nuts!

But still, I am not worried. What we see with Kim Jong-Un is a relentless, spoiled brat who is in the final temper-tantrum death throes of his regime. Like the impetuous Rehoboam in the Bible, he is not listening to any kind of wise counsel, but wants to play rough and tough on the world stage. But it’s not working. If he had weaponry to hurt us, he would have used it by now.

This game of global chicken will not end well for Kimmy Jong Uh-Oh. Unlike Obama, Trump has a backbone, and he’s not afraid to shame the little boy-dictator and put him in his place. The walking zombie-like North Koreans want any kind of relief they can find. More North Koreans are defecting to South Korea and to other parts of Southeast Asia. China is ramping up the sanctions against the futile regime, against closing off the borders.

The latest rocket launch is not a credible threat since they did little damage. Japan’s conservative government has increased their numbers to supermajority status, which means they can amend the nation’s constitution. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government wants to reinstate a standing army for the country.

I say it’s about time. I do not think that any country should be prevented from protecting itself with a strong army. Japan’s rearmament will not lead to the rise of another brutal dictator like Hideki Tojo. Trump and Abe are good friends. And it’s time for China and North Korea to know that they are not going to push everyone else around in Southeast Asia. The Philippines are taking charge of the vicious drug cartels and Islamic extremists in their country too, even if we find President Duterte’s methods extreme and border-line illegal.

When it comes to international terrorism, we should focus on Iran with more scrutiny. Their theocratic megalomaniacs running that country want to usher in the Islamic apocalyptic age. After all, their last President threatened to blow Israel off the face of the earth! North Korea is run by a brutal, arrogant man-child, but at the end of it all, he is angling for food and more money. Call it dialectical materialism on steroids. The Kim Jong-Un regime has no interest in blowing up the world to push some apocalyptic end.