Proportional Response

After the Soviet Union collapsed there was much talk about a "peace dividend" resulting from cuts to defense spending all across the globe. Fortunately, forward-thinking policymakers in the United States recognized that "peace in our time" was just a fantasy and that the world would now be moving into a much more unstable, dangerous time. As a result, defense spending in the United States maintained its Cold War levels and even managed to increase over time. Many weapons programs and systems that were on the chopping block for being too expensive or no longer necessary were allowed to continue to become active systems. Russia meanwhile continued to decline in both economic and military might. A superpower in name only, Russia became a regional power at best. Instead, China took up the reins as "the only nation capable of putting the United States in check". The Chinese military began a massive overhaul of their military, growing to become the second strongest military next to the United States. One beneficiary of the new superpower status enjoyed by China was North Korea. Although still an isolated hermit kingdom, leaders in North Korea were determined to continue with their nuclear weapons programs including smaller warheads and the delivery systems to deliver them. The United States and other allies in the region strenuously objected to the continued development, but little was done due to fears that a conflict with North Korea would quickly involve China. Instead, the United States opted to take a diplomatic approach to the North Korean problem. When North Korea began testing their new IRBMs and ICBMs, the United States took a "carrot and stick" approach to stop North Korea. This rapidly gave way to just the carrot as the US unsuccessfully attempted to outright bribe North Korea into ending their program. In May of 2026, North Korea conducted an unscheduled test consisting of several short and medium-range ballistic missiles, landing in the Sea of Japan. As luck