Oh boy...
Someone used the word "strife"?Talking about "strife" is hugely overblown verbiage.
"Compromised"? Did someone use that word? More like... challenged... and in both cases the US and then Japan collapsed like a wet paper bag in the face of a Chinese challenge.US commitments and interests in NE Asia have not been at all compromised, and there's no indication that they're likely to be, unless of course the US gets stupid and starts doing a bull-in-the-China-shop act.
Denial works for some. It is obvious that if the new bully says "don't do that" or "give that back" and the two being addressed snap to attention and comply that there has been a brace of humiliating back-downs.Nobody's been humiliated, unless you take the schoolyard perspective and assume anything that isn't confrontation is humiliation.
This is germane to North Korea because it clearly indicates that the US and ROK are merely posturing while Uncle Hong is really running the show.
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