Tensions on the Korean Peninsula late last week had China and Russia both expressing concern that the US might attack North Korea, and while it hasn’t happened just yet, Vice President Mike Pence’s talk of US patience being over continues to give the impression that a US attack could be imminent.
North Korean officials aren’t backing town either, cautioning that this is a “dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war could break out at any minute.” North Korean Ambassador Kim In Ryong added that his government is fully ready to react to any war launched by the United States.
That’s a noteworthy aspect of this, as opposed to most “hot spots” around the world, that there appears to be no real sense that this war would be anything other than unilateral decision of the US to attack North Korea, with North Korea couching their moves as defensive, and US officials simply presenting everything North Korea does as “provocation” that might lead them to strike.
Pence heavily emphasized recent US attacks in Syria and Afghanistan, including cruise missile strikes against the Syrian military and the use of the “Mother of All Bombs” against a spot in rural Afghanistan as proof of America”s “resolve,” while President Trump warned that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has to “behave himself.”
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song Ryol insisted that North Korea would continue to conduct missile tests regularly, believing that the US is “reckless enough to use military means” and that they intend to be ready to respond to a war.
While the White House has downplayed North Korea’s ability to retaliate with nuclear weapons to a US attack, North Korea has a massive conventional military arsenal, which is capable of devastating retaliation against targets in South Korea, meaning any US attack would have major military consequences for US troops stationed in South Korea, as well as economic consequences for South Korea and the region in general.
I feel like I should take up drinking or maybe heroin, I mean, f**k it, might as well at this point. God help this brain-dead planet with such lovely creatures on it. We really f**ked up this time.
Relax comrade, we’re still in the bluffing and blustering stage. The big three have the situation under control.
That does not reassure.
It’s designed to sell to the Korean people and it can’t be helped if you americans buy into it too. I would say you have at least a month left to clean up some loose ends and maybe explain to your children what’s about to happen.
China is the one at fault. It clearly has supported NK’s nuke program.
And it could still stop it.
NK has threatened to nuke the US. What should the US do when a country threatens to nuke it?
“What should the US do when a country threatens to nuke it?”
Why, the US should start a nuclear war of course! And then hope that Russia and China don’t come to the rescue and nuke the US.
LOL
So you have no answer. We understand.
If only China could get rid of NK’s nuke program we could bomb and invade yet another country!
That would be true IF the US or any country had been threatening North Korea, which is not the case.
North Korea has been aided and helped by South Korea and the US.
North Korea’s behavior is what has put it in danger.
And here I’ve been thinking all this time that N.Korea was building a nuclear defense to prevent the US from invading and killing it’s people!
If that’s what you’ve been thinking all this time, then that thing you’re doing that you think is thinking, isn’t.
The Problem is Washington, Not North Korea By Mike Whitney
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46884.htm
That must be why most of the world considers NK to be a pariah state.
I wonder if the North Koreans starved and murdered by their leaders agree with you that the problem is the US.
How’s the Internet service in NK, by the way?
Hello?! “Axis of Evil!” US rebuffing NK proposals to formally end the Korean War? US participation in war games with troops at their border.
NK is evil and has broken every nuke agreement with the US.
That’s why NK is universally condemned.
No one was going to invade North Korea. SK and the US would not be so stupid nor would they want to tangle with China.
Perhaps NK thinks that Japan is going to invade it again and so that’s why NK shoots missiles at it?
NK is evil and starves its own people.
Exactly! Just ask Iraq and Libya. No way will NK get rid of their Nukes.
Why would NK threaten to Nuke the U.S.? Oh that is right it is because the U.S. threatens them on a daily basis.
No one was going to attack NK until the latter started its paranoid nuke program with China’s connivance.
President Truman ordered General McArthur to stop at the border between North- and South Korea. He did not obey and moved US troops up to the border of North Korea and China. The Chinese then attached and drove our army out of North Korea. Both sides suffered heavy casualties.
From China’s point of view a nuclear North Korea is less likely to be attacked by South Korea and/or us.
Ordering General MacArthur to stop at the border between North and South Korea was President Truman’s best action .. And, it was MacArthur who refused the order and moved US troops up to the border of North Korea and China. The Chinese, afraid that the US troops would cross their border, rightly attacked and drove the US Army out of North Korea. Both sides wound up suffering heavy casualties as a result, and MacArthur was dismissed by Truman in disgrace.
All Kim Jong-Un wants from the USA is a peace treaty, which was never signed after the fighting ended .. Only an armistice was. So, what’s wrong with signing a peace treaty? Nothing. It’s a whole lot better than issuing dumb threats.
Yes, and China is using NK’s nukes as a way to scare Japan too.
By the way, no one was going to invade NK.
That is a myth.
No one had any interest in doing so until NK started exploding nukes.
Hm, how about, actually evaluate the threat first? And in a rational, not a knee-jerk jingoistic kind of way? And possibly figure out a solution that does not involve threats of destruction or regime change? You know, act like a civilized country rather than a bully.
NK does this because the USA is a global bully. Unlike NK, the USA has illegally invaded sovereign nations and dropped bombs in others. NK, which is frequently derided in Western media as being a nation of leader-worshippers led by an unstable madman (a criticism which hits a little too close to home here in the USA lately,) has decided the best course of action to keep the USA from invading it is to make an invasion of the peninsula seem suicidal. That seems perfectly rational to me.
You could flip the question around – “The USA, *which has invaded NK in the past,* and has repeatedly threatened to do so again, keeps a military force close to the border at all times, and has threatened regime change in NK yet again. What should NK do to prevent this?”
That’s what America has been doing for 25 years with North Korea ever since it started its nuke program.
NK has broken every signed document and China has fooled everyone.
Well, at least VP Pence has been at the DMZ and has stared menacingly into North Korea.
If you want to “send a message” or “show resolve” I suggest a Western Union telegram, or perhaps pass a resolution. Otherwise this rogue regime should stop threatening to invade countries on the other side of the world for no good reason.
Without a direct threat of retaliation by the Chinese or Russians, we have to expect a “pre-emptive” attack by the U.S. in the first week of May. All parts of the fleet will be ready to strike by April 29th. South Korea is politically weak and going along. Japan is going along. The Pentagon is in control of American information and their leadership, including Petraeus who talks to McMcaster on a daily basis and John McCain’s network of hawks are pushing to get this over with. Trump told us that nobody will ever “mess with us” and he’s “very militaristic”, and “”With nuclear, the power, the devastation is very important to me.” Be prepared and hope for the best, but plan for the worst.
What??!! The Pentagon’s in control of American information and their leadership?! And, what the hell is Petraeus doing, talking with McMaster? He’s a disgraced former Army Commander and CIA Director who shared classified information with his girlfriend. His security clearances should’ve been revoked after he was convicted, if they haven’t been already.
And, McMaster isn’t much better .. His involvement with Patraeus is enough for him to be ousted as National Security Advisor. It looks like Donald Trump’s just a figurehead and the Pentagon’s launched a “soft” coup d’etat. This provocation of North Korea’s not only unnecessary, it’s totally insane and suicidal. Get that armada out of there .. North Korea doesn’t pose any threat to the USA. Leave it alone, Kim Jung-Un’s only bluffing .. so, why provoke him into launching missiles at not only the armada, but also at Japan .. And, as for South Korea, the North has more than sufficient mortars to destroy Seoul in two hours. Is that what the Pentagon and the White House really want? This is a violation of both the US Constitution and International law .. In other words, it’s a war crime of aggression.
Trump must assert himself as Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces and order the Pentagon to withdraw the armada from the Sea of Japan, so that sanity can prevail. This isn’t a child’s game, it’s serious business. Trump’s supposed to be very intelligent, but his latest antics only show him to be a clown. He’s no John F. Kennedy by any standard. JFK, too, was a very intelligent man; but, unlike Trump, he handled the worst crisis since WWII (the Cuban Missile Crisis) in a very adult-like manner and got the late Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to back down and remove all of his nuclear warheads from Cuba. The Donald has a lot to learn from what JFK did.
Eileen, when will you start listening to me? Trump is not involved in any of the decision making. And the 3 major powers are handling this in concert with each other. They know what is at stake.
The only thing up for debate now is just how much Russia and China are willing to back off. And of course, the US too for the sake of it’s people who are going to die in the tens of millions if nuclear war is started by the US.
I’m very confident that no nuclear war will be started but that really depends on whether the US hits N.Korea or not. The US won’t because I’m also confident that a solution will be worked out. But it will depend on the US having to eat some crow this time around. Russia and China are not going to back off any further this time!
Historic and Factual Basis of North Korea’s Hatred Toward America
http://www.newnationalist.net/2017/04/18/the-historical-and-factual-basis-of-north-korean-hatred-against-america/
Historic and factual basis of US hatred and slaughter throughout the world, starting 40 wars of aggression since WW2 alone.
http://www.countercurrents.org/lucas240407.htm It’s no secret but it’s somehow justified if it’s the US starting them. While N.Korea attempts to prevent being the next victim country. Add about 3 to the link’s 37.
The next step in the game: http://legal.un.org/repertory/art51.shtml
It’s most likely that the US will take care of that business first but then it would be likely that Russia and China would quickly follow suit. N.Korea being the victim country in the eyes of the world won’t bother with the details.
We’ve probably got at least another month to debate the pros and cons, before the situation is defused.
Is this not an obvious Mouse That Roared scenario?
What other out has the Kim crime family got? They can’t admit they were wrong. The people are deliberately raised as children in the hands of the loving Kims. No one wants the Koreas separated forever. No one is going to throw the first nuke.
It has to be war. Or “war.” I’m betting on the latter.