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Touchy-feely approach has not worked with world’s rogue leaders

The belligerent behavior of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his almost daily boasting of nuclear power and threats was met this week with two counterpunches.

First, there was a rare unanimous United Nations Security Council vote for increased sanctions against North Korea. Most notably, Russia and China joined in the resolution.

Second, President Trump warned that any action by North Korea with its nuclear weaponry would be met by “fire and fury unlike anything the world has ever seen.”

Naturally, the president’s statement was seen by some as too bold and something akin to adding fuel to the world’s fire.

These are the voices who continue to believe appeasement is the best methodology for getting terrorists, rogue leaders and countries bent on destruction of our democracy and way of life to change behavior.

How has that worked in the past decade? Iran is more empowered than ever, thanks in part to a weak-kneed, incomprehensible deal struck with the Obama administration. Terrorism, bolstered by a loose approach to the migration of people from countries such as Syria, is a daily threat in Europe and the United States.

President Trump inherited a world on fire because of the soft approach of the past decade.

The stubborn insistence that people leading these terror and military threats against Western civilization could be talked into loving our culture, government and way of life and turning down the threat temperature has not worked.

We need strong words. We need confidence in our own capabilities to defend our country against threats.

Obviously, better diplomatic relations with North Korea that would prompt that country’s leader to end his belligerent behavior would be an ideal outcome. But the touchy-feely posture has not worked with rogue leaders and terrorists for quite some time.

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