Being the liberal pussy that I am, I think that violence, war and bloodshed should be an absolute last resort after all other options for diplomacy have been exhausted. With that being said, I am thankful that the U.S. has the largest military in the world.

We spend more on defense than the next 12 top-spending countries combined, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In 2011, the most recent year available from the SIPRI, we spent a whopping $711 billion, making up 41 percent of the world’s total military spending, followed by China with 8.2 percent and Russia’s 4.2 percent.

President Obama has called for budget cuts to trim the fat and reduce unnecessary waste when it comes to defense spending. As long as it is done responsibly and under a conscientious eye, while its effects won’t be seen for quite some time, it will greatly benefit us in the long run as we reduce the debt and learn to become more efficient in our spending. Even with the cuts, no doubt the U.S. will still remain on top of the spending chart.

Knowing that we have the greatest military in the world makes threats like North Korea’s recent nuclear intimidation seem like a joke.

Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea, is running his country into the ground. He’s acting like a spoiled brat, making brash decisions just because he isn’t getting his way. His father, on the other hand, knew how to deal. Kim Jong-il was a wild card; no one knew what that nutty bastard was up to. He was intimidating and unpredictable. Everyone figured that he was as crazy as he looked.

Kim Jong-un is trying to follow in his daddy’s footsteps and live up to the legacy he left behind. I imagine that it has to be pretty stressful, especially now with the whole world watching him, and that there is a lot of pressure on him to make a name for himself and show that he can hang with the big boys and speak in the only language that they understand: nukes. Once you get a nuke, you become a player on the world stage, and suddenly your voice is heard loud and clear.

But in his quest for glory, he let his emotions get the best of him and backed himself into a corner and now has to choose one of two options. Either he reveals that he’s all talk and that he’s just bluffing, or he nuts up, puts his money where his mouth is and starts an all-out war.

We could wipe North Korea off the face of the Earth, and I’m sure that he knows that as much as we do. So then why chance complete annihilation? If Kim is willing to put it all on the line and place his people in harm’s way for his own selfish power play, then obviously the biggest detriment to North Korea isn’t America, like he believes, but it is Kim himself.