America’s traditional Pacific allies watched with increasing consternation earlier this month as President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un exchanged a series of blustery threats. These included allusions to “fire and fury” from Washington and promises of a “sea of fire” from Pyongyang.

These front-line states, including South Korea and Japan, who have served as the foundation for the alliance structure which has brought peace and unprecedented prosperity to the Pacific in the decades following the Vietnam War, are keenly aware that they would pay the ultimate price for any nuclear showdown with North Korea. They apparently yearn for the days when America’s leaders followed the famous axiom of U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt to “speak softly and carry a big stick.”