Saber Rattling

Several times a year, because of my background, experiences and current job, Kathy inevitably asks me about North Korea or Iran. She wonders just how much stock anyone should put in the threats and claims made by the two regimes.

I tell her, “It depends.”

It depends on several variables, but the greatest variable is just how out of touch with reality the individual leaders have become. We’ve all seen the headlines of how Kim Jong Un has claimed he can destroy US territory with nuclear-tipped missiles and how Rouhani claims he can restart nuclear enrichment within 5 days or shut down the Strait indefinitely and there is little the US can do to stop him. We’ve also seen of late how President Trump and Secretary Mattis have responded with saber rattling of their own.

This type of political posturing has been around since the dawn of time. Who can forget the peacocking done by Goliath, “10…This day I defy the armies of Israel!...(44) Come here…and I will give your flesh to the birds” (only to be slain by the diminutive and future favored King David (1 Samuel 17), or Sennacherib’s threats towards Jerusalem in 2 Kings 18:33 - 35? Of course, those overt threats only apply if we agree these United States were founded on Christian principles and we continue to seek His face even in today’s glut of debauchery. (Topic for another blog)

My Christian world view, that the US is in the right, is bolstered by practical facts as well as faith. Iran’s Rouhani can make all the claims he wants – it’s the pragmatic Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that will make that decision. While Khamenei is no friend of the US, he is much more the realist than was Khonmeini who presided over the country immediately after the Islamic Revolution. Still, Iranian saber rattling has teeth since the world relaxed sanctions in the last 24 months and ever-colder ties with Russia have led to increasing friendliness between those two nations. Still, Iran’s threats against the US as the primary supporter of Israel are annoying, but only carry teeth if we are in need of Biblical correction.

North Korea is an entirely different animal; although, history shows the father Il and the son Un are cut from the same cloth. Without fail Kim Jong Il, the former Supreme Leader, threatened the US with destruction every time we held joint military exercises with South Korea. True to form, current Supreme Leader Un continues that practice; however, Un has increased threats, backing them up with underground nuclear tests and overt missile launches. However, before we all go out and buy doomsday bunkers, North Korea’s capabilities remain very limited to a few hundred nautical miles using rockets that might strike within 20 miles of their targets.

So what is the answer? Do we just ignore rogue regimes or is our response like Mattis’ to remind them that the greatest military might in the history of the world is poised to destroy anyone who dares defy us?

I prefer David’s response. “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands.” (1 Samuel 17: 45-46)