Behind the simple image of two madmen facing off with nuclear weapons, there’s a lot more to the North Korea story we don’t know. For example, who knew that more bombs were dropped there in the early 50s than in the entire Pacific theater in WWII? Whole cities were destroyed as about 10% of the population was killed. That did not make for a trusting government. As foreign policy columnist for The Nation Patrick Lawrence explains, the current emergency was “more or less scheduled to proceed no matter who took the White House in November. Trump’s 59 missiles sent in to Syria were targeted really at Beijing. North Korea participated in six party talks but according to Lawrence, the US cut that possibility off. And Trump has yielded decision making to the military, the opposite of Truman in the Korean War. Dig in: it’s as fascinating as it is scary.