by WorldTribune Staff, December 7, 2017
The Trump administration has a “three-month window” to act before North Korea has the ability, including with nuclear weapons, to strike major U.S. cities, the CIA has warned, according to a former U.S. ambassador to the UN.
John Bolton said that CIA “chiefs” had made the assessment that the Kim Jong-Un regime could make good on its threats of war and “fire” as early as March 2018.
Bolton made the comments in a meeting with officials at the UK’s House of Commons last week, according to a report by The Guardian.
The Guardian also reported that a senior U.S. commander recently made the same assessment in a meeting with former European parliamentarians at the Demilitarized Zone.
Related: 26 years ago, this strategist urged a U.S. preemptive strike on North Korea, Dec. 4, 2017
In a separate appearance on Fox News last week, Bolton said President Donald Trump should be “seriously” considering a military option. Bolton also questioned the effectiveness of sanctions in stopping Pyongyang from furthering its nuclear strike capabilities.
“You have to ask when we’re going to start seriously considering a military option,” Bolton said. “There is no time for this [sanctions] to have impact. Look, if the State Department is still focused on sanctions, then I will guarantee you – I’ll bet the ranch right now North Korea will have deliverable nuclear weapons.”
Bolton said that “The one diplomatic play that’s left here is with China. Presumably, the president delivered that message, which should be something like: Look, Xi Jinping, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.”
Bolton added, “China has a unique capability to bring that regime in North Korea down, to reunite the two Koreas, to put in a new regime, to get rid of the nuclear weapons, but there isn’t any time to talk to North Korea about it, because they will use additional time to cross the nuclear finish line.”
Subscribe to Geostrategy-Direct __________ Support Free Press Foundation