Wong Maye-E / AP
Charles Krauthammer's column in WashPost — "North Korea: The Rubicon is crossed" — details the U.S.' breaking point with N. Korea: "Across 25 years and five administrations, we have kicked the North Korean can down the road. We are now out of road."
The meat: "How many times must we be taught that Beijing does not share our view of denuclearizing North Korea? It prefers a divided peninsula, i.e., sustaining its client state as a guarantee against a unified Korea (possibly nuclear) allied with the West and sitting on its border."
The kicker: "Alas, there will be none. Because, while this is indeed a global threat, there is no such thing as global interests. ... [T]he most likely ultimate outcome, by far, is acquiescence."
Go deeper: Axios Expert Voices charts five courses of action for the U.S. confrontation with North Korea