Per the Wall Street Journal:
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump on Tuesday demanded North Korea not “make any more threats” to the U.S., saying the U.S. would respond “with the fire and the fury like the world has never seen.”
Link: Similar from
The GuardianUPDATE, Per the Wall Street Journal: (5:55 PM, EST)
North Korea Makes Rare Explicit, Specific Threat on Guam
North Korean Military “Carefully Examining” Operational Plan to Launch Missiles at Guam—North Korea
Kim Jong Ordered Guam Plan After U.S. Air Force Flyover—North Korea
Operational Plan “To Be Soon Reported to the Supreme Command”— North Korea
If Carried Out, U.S. Will Be “First To Experience the Might of the Strategic Weapons of the DPRK”—North Korea
North Korea Urges U.S. Not to “Regret Today in the Future”
OK, both of these nutjobs have lost it. NOW WHAT???
Comments
Dear Orange has met his equal in Dear Leader. Both are full of bluster and bloviation, relatively clueless about the world, and have their fingers on nuclear triggers.
We are waaaaaay beyond whackadoodle land now.
Edit: From an investment perspective, does anyone know which public companies sell iodide pills? ;/
That's worked fairly well, even with nuclear-armed neighbors (India and Pakistan, for example) who have a fierce dislike of one another.
My guess is that Mr. Trump has consciously chosen to mimic Mr. Kim's rhetorical style to help share the "you think you're crazy? Wait until you hear this" message. Mr. Kim's prime objective, I read, is to maintain his regime in power; his paranoid reckoning is that the best way to do that is to be too scary to mess with. Which, I suspect, is why the stock market's response to threatened apocalypse was a downward drift of 0.2%.
And an (interesting?) aside, the US is forbidden by law from encouraging nuclear proliferation. Nonetheless, we have a long tradition of covertly slipping nuclear weapons safeguard technology (called Permissive Action Links, or PALs) to countries that have broken international law and acquired nuclear weapons. It seems to prudent thing to do, all the while playing "the crazy game."
David
To quote C-3P0, "this isn't very reassuring." *bangs head*
Trump’s Threat to North Korea Was Improvised
By PETER BAKER and GLENN THRUSH AUG. 9, 2017
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Trump delivered his “fire and fury” threat to North Korea on Tuesday with arms folded, jaw set and eyes flitting on what appeared to be a single page of talking points set before him on the conference table at his New Jersey golf resort.
The piece of paper, as it turned out, was a fact sheet on the opioid crisis he had come to talk about, and his ominous warning to Pyongyang was entirely improvised, according to several people with direct knowledge of what unfolded. In discussions with advisers beforehand, he had not run the specific language by them.
The inflammatory words quickly escalated the confrontation with North Korea to a new, alarming level and were followed shortly by a new threat from North Korea to obliterate an American air base on Guam. In the hours since, the president’s advisers have sought to calm the situation, with Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson assuring Americans that they “should sleep at night” without worrying about an imminent war.
But the president’s ad-libbed threat reflected an evolving and still unsettled approach to one of the most dangerous hot spots in the world as Mr. Trump and his team debate diplomatic, economic and military options.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/09/us/politics/trump-north-korea.html
Just scratching my head. The "statement" wasn't really all that coherent - especially the last part. I was going to suggest he hire a new speech writer (until you cleared it up).
Normally, I'd be concerned about all the Generals he's got around him. But under the circumstances, guess it's better than the alternative.
But I agree, this is scary times. It's like we're on the Titanic, we've hit the berg, and after running to the bridge for guidance on what to do to try and save the ship, we find Daffy Duck. (apologies to Daffy Duck)