First, let me say the Adminstration is basically half rich CEOs and the other half military war hawks. The latter make me nervous.
Putting all of his bullshit aside for a minute, there is plenty of historical content that shows listening too much to the military advisor's can and will end up in disaster. JFK for example narrowly avoided thermonuclear warfare by not listening to the military advisor's who told him to nuke Cuba, immediately, in the early days of the Cuban missile crisis. In fact, they were openly belittling Kennedy, in the Whitehouse, insulting him for being "weak". Which we now know, if Kennedy did listen to them, the USSR would have immediately nuked the US. WWIII and perhaps we nuke ourselves to the stone age.
Similarly, when JFK first got into office, he did listen to the generals who told him of the brilliant plan, recently planned under Eisenhower, to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. It was a quick and easy plan they insisted which of course the Bay of Pigs ended in disaster and embarrassment, and worst of all escalated the cold war which only 15 months later led to the Cuban missile crisis and near thermonuclear war. Ironically, Chairman Nikita Khrushchev was a big fan of Kennedy and even helped Kennedy win the election, as the Russians much preferred Kennedy to defeat Nixon, Khrushchev was so excited that someone like Kennedy was to become president and replace the old minds and thought would work hard for peace between the two super powers.
What makes me nervous is how obviously susceptible Trump is, who seems to be easily influenced by strong personality type people and people he respects. He's constantly going back on his word, the most recent is supposedly changing his mind on NAFTA, which he called the worst deal ever, solely because Mexico and Canada called him and convinced him. Now imagine if Trump was being belittled by his military advisor's like Kennedy was. Would anyone doubt for a second that Trump would cave and "prove" how man he is to them?
The current, and very large military buildup near North Korea is being played out almost exclusively by the military. No doubt the bombing of Syria took little convincing to the man who said he wouldn't bomb Syria and heavily criticised Obama for military action. This is the man who has access to nukes.
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With that said, there's lots of money in war and the military is going to always want to military. And North Korea is such an easy target. So was Syria for that matter. But there are two major factors at play - one, in part there is a "PR strategy" after all those fuck ups by his Adminstration, and himself of course, including the nonstop daily disasters with the Russia controversies, it's a good "PR" move to take this hard-nosed stance on Syria and North Korea. Already worked in the sense that even his "enemies" and "fake media" like CNN were praising him after the Syria strikes and praising his speech as a strong leader. For fuck sake it's disgusting watching these corporate media talking heads. It's almost comical how they are hand fed information by the Adminstration and "report" it without hesitation.
The second part is what's behind the bigger picture.
North Korea is still many years away from developing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States, so I'm often surprised to find people who think they already have this technology. Prof Siegfried Hecker former head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory who visited North Korea's nuclear facilities frequently, over 100 times, says they are about 10+15 years away at the absolute best scenario for NK.
And sure, Kim Jong-un is crazy but Kim Jong-un enjoys being a dictator. He enjoys living a lavish lifestyle (while the rest of his country suffers) and telling his countrymen he is a god. He wants to hold onto that power as long as possible. If he had ICBMs capable of reaching the US, in his mind it ensures he will continue to stay in power. He's not going to want to attack other countries unprovoked, essentially committing suicide. So I never get that propaganda.
But anyways, General H. R. McMaster, said a couple weeks ago, “This is a rogue regime that is now a nuclear-capable regime. The president has asked [us] to be prepared to give him a full range of options to remove that threat to the American people and to our allies and partners in the region.”
It's a direct lie to say North Korea is a threat to Americans. As mentioned, they simply do not have the technology, they do not have ICBMs capable of reaching the US. It's reminiscent of the Weapons of Mass Destruction mantra during the Bush Administration, which of course we later learned (the ones that didn't already know) was a complete lie. It is true however to assume NK has short range capabilities and medium range (although the latter we simply do not know how well or "accurate" I guess you could say).
Further though, the Navy Times reported that “the Pentagon and US Pacific Command have been sharpening plans for military strikes on the North as an option should the administration want to pursue that action.”
The Navy Times also suggested that “an all-out regional conflict” would bring “the US and its allies head-to-head with not only North Korea, but perhaps with China”—that is, a conflict between the world’s two largest economies, both nuclear armed.
How's that for fear mongering? That is a little scary to think about, provoking all out war with China.
The bigger picture of course isn't North Korea. It isn't about their "advanced weapon technology". In fact, and in reality, North Korea's limited nuclear arsenal and limited weapon technology is the reason we do have a massive military forces in the region, which are not primarily directed against North Korea, but China. Trump is continuing and expanding the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia” in a bid to ensure continued US dominance of the Asia Pacific region. If North Korea had half of the technology we claim they do, the build up wouldn't exist right now. This is about China much more than it is with NK. And now Russia as well.
There are reports of tend of thousands, even as high as 150,000 Chinese military moved to the border to prepare for "unforseen circumstances".
Whether or not that's totally accurate, the Chinese government is nervous about the prospect of US military action against NK triggering an all out war, in their own backyard. Now remember, in talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump, NK was one of the key topics. Trump delivered an ultimatum to Xi to force North Kore to accept US demands or face the prospect of US strikes on North Korea. And the fact that Trump authorised US strikes on Syria in the middle of his meetings with Xi underscored the threat.
China is put into a big dilemma. On one hand, they have opposed North Korean missile and nuclear tests, which provide the US with a pretext for its military build-up in North East Asia. On the other hand, it does not want a collapse of the Pyongyang regime that could lead to a pro US ally or puppet regime on its doorstep.
It's a very dangerous game that's being played be the super powers, a lot of pressure is being put on China and we have a susceptible, unpredictable president who has surrounded himself with military war hawks and people who only want to make money. Dangerous combination when the stakes are this high.
Putting all of his bullshit aside for a minute, there is plenty of historical content that shows listening too much to the military advisor's can and will end up in disaster. JFK for example narrowly avoided thermonuclear warfare by not listening to the military advisor's who told him to nuke Cuba, immediately, in the early days of the Cuban missile crisis. In fact, they were openly belittling Kennedy, in the Whitehouse, insulting him for being "weak". Which we now know, if Kennedy did listen to them, the USSR would have immediately nuked the US. WWIII and perhaps we nuke ourselves to the stone age.
Similarly, when JFK first got into office, he did listen to the generals who told him of the brilliant plan, recently planned under Eisenhower, to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. It was a quick and easy plan they insisted which of course the Bay of Pigs ended in disaster and embarrassment, and worst of all escalated the cold war which only 15 months later led to the Cuban missile crisis and near thermonuclear war. Ironically, Chairman Nikita Khrushchev was a big fan of Kennedy and even helped Kennedy win the election, as the Russians much preferred Kennedy to defeat Nixon, Khrushchev was so excited that someone like Kennedy was to become president and replace the old minds and thought would work hard for peace between the two super powers.
What makes me nervous is how obviously susceptible Trump is, who seems to be easily influenced by strong personality type people and people he respects. He's constantly going back on his word, the most recent is supposedly changing his mind on NAFTA, which he called the worst deal ever, solely because Mexico and Canada called him and convinced him. Now imagine if Trump was being belittled by his military advisor's like Kennedy was. Would anyone doubt for a second that Trump would cave and "prove" how man he is to them?
The current, and very large military buildup near North Korea is being played out almost exclusively by the military. No doubt the bombing of Syria took little convincing to the man who said he wouldn't bomb Syria and heavily criticised Obama for military action. This is the man who has access to nukes.
::::::::::::
::::::::::::
With that said, there's lots of money in war and the military is going to always want to military. And North Korea is such an easy target. So was Syria for that matter. But there are two major factors at play - one, in part there is a "PR strategy" after all those fuck ups by his Adminstration, and himself of course, including the nonstop daily disasters with the Russia controversies, it's a good "PR" move to take this hard-nosed stance on Syria and North Korea. Already worked in the sense that even his "enemies" and "fake media" like CNN were praising him after the Syria strikes and praising his speech as a strong leader. For fuck sake it's disgusting watching these corporate media talking heads. It's almost comical how they are hand fed information by the Adminstration and "report" it without hesitation.
The second part is what's behind the bigger picture.
North Korea is still many years away from developing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States, so I'm often surprised to find people who think they already have this technology. Prof Siegfried Hecker former head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory who visited North Korea's nuclear facilities frequently, over 100 times, says they are about 10+15 years away at the absolute best scenario for NK.
And sure, Kim Jong-un is crazy but Kim Jong-un enjoys being a dictator. He enjoys living a lavish lifestyle (while the rest of his country suffers) and telling his countrymen he is a god. He wants to hold onto that power as long as possible. If he had ICBMs capable of reaching the US, in his mind it ensures he will continue to stay in power. He's not going to want to attack other countries unprovoked, essentially committing suicide. So I never get that propaganda.
But anyways, General H. R. McMaster, said a couple weeks ago, “This is a rogue regime that is now a nuclear-capable regime. The president has asked [us] to be prepared to give him a full range of options to remove that threat to the American people and to our allies and partners in the region.”
It's a direct lie to say North Korea is a threat to Americans. As mentioned, they simply do not have the technology, they do not have ICBMs capable of reaching the US. It's reminiscent of the Weapons of Mass Destruction mantra during the Bush Administration, which of course we later learned (the ones that didn't already know) was a complete lie. It is true however to assume NK has short range capabilities and medium range (although the latter we simply do not know how well or "accurate" I guess you could say).
Further though, the Navy Times reported that “the Pentagon and US Pacific Command have been sharpening plans for military strikes on the North as an option should the administration want to pursue that action.”
The Navy Times also suggested that “an all-out regional conflict” would bring “the US and its allies head-to-head with not only North Korea, but perhaps with China”—that is, a conflict between the world’s two largest economies, both nuclear armed.
How's that for fear mongering? That is a little scary to think about, provoking all out war with China.
The bigger picture of course isn't North Korea. It isn't about their "advanced weapon technology". In fact, and in reality, North Korea's limited nuclear arsenal and limited weapon technology is the reason we do have a massive military forces in the region, which are not primarily directed against North Korea, but China. Trump is continuing and expanding the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia” in a bid to ensure continued US dominance of the Asia Pacific region. If North Korea had half of the technology we claim they do, the build up wouldn't exist right now. This is about China much more than it is with NK. And now Russia as well.
There are reports of tend of thousands, even as high as 150,000 Chinese military moved to the border to prepare for "unforseen circumstances".
Whether or not that's totally accurate, the Chinese government is nervous about the prospect of US military action against NK triggering an all out war, in their own backyard. Now remember, in talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump, NK was one of the key topics. Trump delivered an ultimatum to Xi to force North Kore to accept US demands or face the prospect of US strikes on North Korea. And the fact that Trump authorised US strikes on Syria in the middle of his meetings with Xi underscored the threat.
China is put into a big dilemma. On one hand, they have opposed North Korean missile and nuclear tests, which provide the US with a pretext for its military build-up in North East Asia. On the other hand, it does not want a collapse of the Pyongyang regime that could lead to a pro US ally or puppet regime on its doorstep.
It's a very dangerous game that's being played be the super powers, a lot of pressure is being put on China and we have a susceptible, unpredictable president who has surrounded himself with military war hawks and people who only want to make money. Dangerous combination when the stakes are this high.
