Though the White House conceded that the rhetoric coming out of North Korea has not been followed with any significant changes to their mobilization, the US continues to deploy military hardware in the Korean Peninsula, raising the stakes in a war of words.
Starting with nuclear-capable bombers flying along the frontier between North and South Korea, the US added F-22 stealth fighters over the weekend and has now deployed the USS Fitzgerald, a heavily armed destroyer, off the Korean coast.
The USS Fitzgerald’s primary use has been its radar systems, and it has long been part of the US Navy’s missile detection/defense system. This is the justification of the deployment; North Korea has threatened to launch missile strikes against the US mainland.
Yet realistically North Korea’s missile systems are nowhere near as advanced as advertised, and experts say they couldn’t even theoretically launch the sort of attacks they have threatened. Thus the Fitzgerald, assuming it is used for anything at all, would see its deployment off the coast primarily as a platform for launching missiles against North Korea, rather than defending against the largely illusory threat.
I looked at a Google map of the area yesterday and thought about the technological expertise of North Korea and its neighbors. It is foolish to thinks that it doesn't have the ability to do what it is threatening…
The Norks could probably attack their neighbors, but they can't attack the United States. We need to remove all of our troops from Asia and put them to defending the United States. It is foolish to do anything else. Asia is none of our business.
So, your theory is that location on a map corresponds to the ability to launch an intercontinental missile? Really?
Yet another person who really needs to turn off their TV.
Some facts … North Korea's longest range missile, the one the TV set uses to draw scary lines of where their missiles can reach, has been launched exactly once. Generally, N. Korea's missile launches are a hit and miss affair. They tend to try to test fire missiles that either don't launch at all, or which malfunction after launch, or that go nowhere near where they were supposed to go. Their nuclear tests are about the same. Often they either don't go off or they are a dud that doesn't really explode with the force of a nuclear weapon. And they have absolutely no ability to put these together. They can't even come close to making a nuclear bomb that's small enough to be the warhead on their weak missiles. And that means they haven't even started to work on the problem of making a warhead that can withstand all the vibration and g-forces of a missile launch and still actually work when it gets to where its going …assuming they ever develop a missile with the accuracy to actually hit the continental US in the first place.
Is Obama hoping for another war so that he can demonstrate his "toughness"?
That's ludicrous and you probably know that. POTUS may be powerful but not that much so. He/she does not have dictatorial powers. Obama and everyone else knows that war with N. Korea will likely mean near total destruction of South Korea and Japan along with N. Korea. You may not like Obama but he's not that stupid. That would not be a legacy any president would want.
If push comes to shove, our biggest weakness as it was in Viet Nam, Iraq, and Afghanistan is the lack of commitment to wining a war at all costs that would mean killing millions of civilians.
"near total destruction of South Korea and Japan"
That is the legacy war president Truman wanted and achieved.
Actually, in terms of war, a US president pretty much does have 'dictatorial powers'.
The constitution says that its only Congress that can declare war. But, by that definition, the US hasn't been at war since World War II and FDR's day-that-will-live-in-infamy speech. Dubya had stretched the Constitution to the point where a vague congressional resolution yielded 10+ years of war powers against anyone they could call a terrorist.
Obama has already shredded that with his war in Libya that didn't even have the fig leafs of a Congressional or UN resolution. That was just Obama saying he wanted a war and giving the orders. In other words, 'dictatorial powers' with regards to starting wars. Which is what founders like James Madison thought was a mighty danger to all American liberties because of the way that every government attacks and suspends liberty during times of war.
You know a nation has gone completely insane when you hear people saying its a weakness of the nation that it won't slaughter millions of people on a whim.
Notice that there's actually talk in Washington of late of cutting the defense budget. That's the real target of this war scare.
My thought exactly. My theory is that despite his lack of a military background, the president want to show that he can be just as tough as the republican warmongers by pushing a few buttons and deploying military hardware, little realizing the havoc he is creating. Like a cartoonish Mr. McGoo.
Is Obama hoping for another war so that he can demonstrate his "toughness"?
We can thank the stars that there aren't any crazy American religious fanatics who think that North Korea was given to say descendents of Druids by God.
No.., he is not.., the entire vulture capitalism social political and e onomica system asked him to start the Third World War including the EU and Saudis and Qatari.., etc. that's why they started with Syrian war which will continue to….., wherever.
USS Fitzgerald is in much safer waters than the USS Liberty was.
good point
Is B.O hoping for another Gulf of Tonkin incident/false flag as an excuse to attack N. Korea? He does realize the N. Koreans have submarines out there?
That's so 50 years ago. Obama has already declared with Libya and to many respects Syria that he doesn't need another fake Gulf of Tonkin (our ships weren't fired on that night by the way) to start a war. He just does it by Presidential degree.
North Korea possibly has oil in the Seohan Bay area. The US wants it – or at least the profits from it.
Lets see an air burst Nuke or even a Ground burst Nuke right on the Border near Souel would be devastating for Sth Korea, and let me be blunt with the Paranoia and the sociopathic tendencies of the leadrership there anything is Possible, especially if there is a Northerly wind!
which leadership with sociopathic tendencies? The US leaders who seem to want to start a war a month anywhere in the world?
War of words…I like those cause only feelings and egos are hurt.
In Un's new year speech he stated he desired a demilitarization and future cooperation and reunification with the south.Then we have a new S.Korean president and more war games scheduled.So it stands to reason that even if these war games are normally scheduled that perhaps it would be prudent to stop antagonizing N.Korea with perceived threats from its neighbor and the U.S.
How many of us really know what the reasoning is or what has happened.Think about where we get our news from and the slant that's put on it in order to drum up support for they're own actions.We have troops in place and tons of ordinance in case he was to be so foolish to act on his threats.Stop the war games and let China deal with this one.The U.S. has sent its message and is standing by just in case.Lets cut the macho talk because no war in Asia has ever been a cakewalk. 2 million died in the last Korean war and that's probably just a rough estimate.Oh but we could just bomb everything which is the tough talk from the air force.Sorry they thought that long ago as well.So how well has that low causality air war plan worked out so far in other areas of conflict that have dragged out ??? As I have said countless times already-Let China deal with this.They're a superpower,so let them be the peacekeeper.It truly is in they're best interest to do so.
The first black 'president', a zionist puppet cannot do a damn thing where he knows it too. His pocket is full of HOLES. This is not the middle east that Arab puppet head of states who support and fund CIA killings.