
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It has recently been revealed that North Korea has sent at least 3000 troops to Russia for military training. ; American officials say it is too early to know their purpose. ; Really? ; That should be obvious. ; This is a monumental escalation in world tension and warfare.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Up to this point, Russia has had to fight in Ukraine on its own – with only passive support from allies. ; Yes, they are getting weapons from Iran and North Korea – and technical assistance from China &#8212; but no boots on the ground. ; Even the Putin puppet government of Belarus has rejected sending troops into Ukraine. ; Conversely, no Ukrainian ally has sent in troops, including the United States. ; Yes, billions of dollars in weapons, munitions and humanitarian aid, but no western boots on the ground.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Let us assume that the North Korean troops are NOT there on vacation or attending a boy scout jamboree – and that they ARE there to be trained for on-the-ground combat in Ukraine.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Speculating on that possibility, White House National Security Advisor John Kirby spun the report as some sort of perverse good news – saying that it shows the Russian military has been weakened by the loss of more than 500,000 killed and wounded soldiers. ; But &#8230; the bad news is that Putin appears to have a means of compensating for those losses. ; Kim Jong-un sending his troops to fight for Russia is not – by any measure – good news for Ukraine.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There are several questions to be answered.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Why is North Korea sending troops? ; They must be getting something in return for such a bold and provocative move on the international stage. ; The best guess among the intelligence and military establishment in Washington is that Kim is getting valuable technical information and products to enhance and expand his nuclear capabilities.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Could President Trump have prevented North Korea from sending troops to Russia in view of his relationship with Kim? ; There can be little doubt that Kim’s more aggressive activities in recent years are a result of his perception of a weaker America. ; Would Trump’s election cool Kim’s activities? ; (Maybe Dennis Rodman can help. He and Kim are buds. ; ; But I digress.)</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The key question is what are the United States, NATO, the European Union and Asian allies going to do about it? ; We can bet that Putin and Kim are betting that we will do nothing – at least nothing that will have an impact.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The biggest concern is that by intermingling military forces, the two-combatant local wars are starting to look like a multi-alliance global conflict. ; It looks like the same dynamic that kicked off World War II.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In case you forgot &#8230; Germany was aided by alliances with Italy and other European nations. ; With the West fighting in Europe, Japan’s ambitions led to an invasion of China. ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">European nations fought because they were being invaded, like Ukraine is today. ; The United States was reluctant to get involved even as Hitler took over most of Europe and was on the verge of invading Great Britain. ; In his 1940 campaign, President Roosevelt promised the mothers of America that their sons would not die on foreign soil. ; That was until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 – three years after Hitler started the war by invading the Sudetenland and Poland. ; Immediately, Germany declared war on the United States.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In the Middle East, Iran has already expanded the war against Israel through alliances with Hamas in the Palestinian territories &#8230; Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon &#8230; Houthis in Yemen &#8230; and other terrorist allies, such as Syria. ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">While the Biden administration expresses concern about the escalation of a regional war in the Middle East, a multi nation regional war is already under way – and has been since October 7, 2023, if not before.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Unless the United States and our allies want to avoid being forced into a full-scale global war, we need to act quickly &#8212; with strength, determination, credible threats and potentially some surgical military actions. ; If we do not, we may find that we will face a more daunting and dangerous situation in the future – just as we did in World War II. ; ; We pulled victory out of the fire in that one. ; We may not have the resolve or ability to do that again if Russia, North Korea, China, Iran and other nations form a new evil Axis of aggressor warring nations.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">What can world democracies do?</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Give Ukraine every bit of weaponry and munitions they need &#8230; total intel support &#8230; American operated drones attacking Russian military sites inside Ukraine &#8230; provide the jet fighters &#8230; declare Ukraine a no fly zone and use NATO planes and weapons to enforce it. ; Defeating Putin will chill the ambitions for other world aggressors.</li>



<li>More sanctions on Russia – with serious enforcement, which has been lacking for past sanctions. ; Essentially make Russian oil a form of contraband. ; Possible disruption of the Nord Stream Pipeline that provides Putin with billions of rubles for his dirty war.</li>



<li>Maximum pressure – even sanctions – on China to get them to order a North Korean withdrawal from Russia. ; Kind of a Cuban missile crisis moment. ; China is still dependent on commercial ties to virtually all of the world&#8217;s democracies. ;</li>



<li>Re-open the Trump-like relationship with North Korea. ; It did result in a pause in intercontinental missile tests&#8230; the possibility of de-nuclearization talks &#8230; and had North Korea return the remains of missing in in action soldiers. ; That is a request every President has made since 1952.</li>



<li>Provide Israel with all the support it needs to quickly destroy the Iran-sponsored terrorist network in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere. ; This means putting more Navy forces in the area – and using them in defensive support of Israel.</li>



<li>Push for regime change in Iran by isolating the nation from the rest of the Middle East &#8230; imposing crippling Trump-like sanctions on Iran and nations doing business with them &#8230; interdicting military supplies being shipped to Russia &#8230; promote internal dissension and revolution.</li>
</ol>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">How all these actions would evolve strategically would be a matter of coordinated planning by the world democracies. ; They may not all be feasible or necessary. ; The objective is to stop and reverse the current evolution toward a major global conflict.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The shipping of North Korean troops may seem like a small event, but it is a game changer. ; It shows that the bonding between China, Russia, Iran and North Korea has become a unified and aggressive alliance. ; Putin and Xi Jinping had pledged an unbroken bond of friendship. ; Putin recently traveled to Pyongyang to cement ties with Kim (and we have seen one result of that rapprochement). ; North Korea has always been the stepchild of China. ; And all of them have ties to Iran. ; What is different today is that they are all operating off the same strategic plan of global expansion and domination.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We have a chance to avoid World War III, but it will take a tough form of diplomacy &#8230; and both symbolic and real actions to prove serious intent. ; We can avoid going to war by dissuading those who see benefit in starting wars. ; The movement of North Korean troops is just another aggressive move on the world chess board. ; As with World War I, World War II and the Cold War, America and the world democracies cannot afford to lose this one.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So, there ‘tis.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://punchingbagpost.com/dire-predictions-china-russia-iran-a-three-front-war/"><strong>Dire Predictions: China, russia, Iran – a Three front war?</strong></a></p>

Will North Korean troops in Russia ignite a world war?
