"President Trump continued to make vague threats toward North Korea on Saturday, saying that diplomatic negotiations and agreements over the years have not worked and that “only one thing will work,” without elaborating on what that one thing would be.
“Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid . . . hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!” Trump tweeted in two messages on Saturday afternoon." washpost
————–
OK. I have no idea what he is doing. Maybe that is the idea. He has me half convinced that the intends to attack North Korea. He has me altogether convinced that he is going to withdraw from JCPOA.
The Congress will surely re-impose sanctions against Iran if given the opportunity. Why? They are blithering idiots under the thmb of the neocons and Israel.
If he attacks North Korea with anything less than nuclear weapons, the NOKOs will destroy a lot of South Korea as they fight for their existence.
As a legacy of the Cold War there is no way to stop him in advance of the attack.
We live in interesting times. pl
He is acting like a nutcase…..but there will be no attack…
Colonel Lang,
He does not have a point. He really has no idea what he is doing (with the exception of trying to attract lots of attention to himself).
Looking for some rational explanation for what he is up to is simply an exercise in futility.
I realize many of your readers would like to believe that he has embarked upon some grand scheme to shake up the government and change it for the better.
Having met the man twice oh so many years ago, I can only say that such an explanation is more than highly unlikely.
Still, I am glad the greedy Clinton and Obama teams are gone (at least for the moment).
Did anyone catch Joe Biden delivering his speech late last week.
He is another one we do not want to see as president.
Regards,
David
Col. Lang
I have no problem President Trump tweeting away and making whatever off-the-cuff remark he wants, as long as he does not order our military into another war, which will surely be another disaster for all parties involved.
I’m surprised the “mukhtar” has not yet commented on the Saudi pilgrimage to Moscow. Theater to rival his sword dancing. A 1,000 person entourage. The Ritz Carlton & the Four Seasons completely taken. Daily flights back to Saudi Arabia to fetch their finest halal. Do they also bring their harems?
75% of Americans think North Korea is a “critical threat”
40% of Americans want to bomb North Korea in “preemptive” strikes,
36% of Americans can find North Korea on a map (number is probl. too high).
https://www.alternet.org/media/media-coverage-north-korea-crisis
On the North Korea issue Trump is a typical American.
Sir;
Given your knowledge of the region, will the re-imposition of sanctions drive Iran deeper into the Russian camp? I can’t see Russia as wanting yet another nuclear armed neighbour, especially a quasi theocracy, of any creed. Also, the Iranians strike me as quite self respecting, so, becoming “clients” of any power seems to be a humiliation I wouldn’t expect them to embrace whole heartedly. Finally, I wouldn’t expect Iran to sit around on their laurels if sanctions are reimposed. Could they counter by becoming really supportive of the Yemenis?
Interesting times indeed.
Some sane analysis: Hair will be mused ….
/quote/
Ultimately, there are no free lunches in international politics. If the United States wants North Korea to constrain its nuclear program, it will need to offer North Korea something in exchange. And if the United States tries to pursue regime change or denuclearize North Korea by force, it must accept that North Korean nuclear capabilities allow it to force the United States to pay a high price for doing so.
/endquote/
https://warontherocks.com/2017/10/north-korea-benefits-from-nuclear-weapons-get-used-to-it/
The problem with Trump is that he babbles so much it’s impossible to know when he’s actually going to follow it up with some action.
The fact that he apparently knows absolutely nothing about the actual history of negotiations and things like the Clinton Agreed Framework between the US and North Korea is truly worrying. Has NO ONE in the US government provided him with at least a serious recap of the conflict? Or is he aware of all that but is just ignoring it for his own reasons?
Or is he just babbling while back channel negotiations are ongoing?
Meanwhile, latest report is that North Korea is preparing another long-range missile test.
So far, it seems NK is continuing to apply their form of pressure, while Trump continues to make more or less vague threats of war. What’s missing is any apparent ACTION on the part of Trump to actually DO something, either negotiation or war.
How long can that go on before Trump is forced to make good on his threats. Six months? Another year? At some point he either has to blink or start the war.
“We live in interesting times” is a chinese curse.
China informed that if US attack NOKO, they will intervene. China have a treaty of mutual defense with NOKO.
I don’ t think a US nuclear attack will stop NOKO of destroy Seoul and maybe Tokyo.
I am TOTALLY conviced that Trump will attack North Korea. Trump needs “wag the dog”, he is plummeting in polls.
Third World War will be an intersting time.
IMO, this represents nothing of significance.
Some of the things Trump (and powers that be) can try are :
– issue wild threats, which are immediately answered by even wilder counter threats
– create this atmosphere of imminent action (calm before the storm) hoping this will succeed where more direct threats failed
– stage a false flag attack so it doesn’t appear the US attacked first
– somehow get NK to make the first move
Not sure how any of this can work. Despite the popular opinion, I don’t think the NoKos are crazy.
They are acting as most people would, were they born and raised in such a system.
Trying to preserve it and their lives.
All of the above goes for Iran and the nuclear deal.
It would not be in US interest to act unilaterally. Even if it means the US (and Israel) have to live with a nuclear NK and independent and strong Iran.
May I yet again annoy the readers of this blog with the theory that Trump wants to scare SoKo and JP so much that they will ask him to leave, and they will take matters into their own hands. After all, during the election it was his declared goal to make them pay for their own security and enable him to leave. If they ask him to leave, he can say, without loss of face, and without being vulnerable to neo-con attacks, that you cant defend people against their will. Then again, of course, I might be wrong.
He’s getting thrills from all the attention. Like a three yr old running with knives.
America’s strategic positioning doesn’t suggest War, it suggests Pressure and principally on China. DJT has a Presidential visit to China next month DRNK has to be high on the Agenda, it is even theoretically possible for a meeting with Little Rocket Man in Beijing, DJT has said he is quite prepared to meet with him once an accep5able deal is in the offing. November will be an interesting month.
Whatever it is, Japan appears to back it: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/08/japan-fully-backs-trump-on-north-korea-abe-says.html
Apparently the NoKo situation is a top issue in the Japanese election.
b
Perhaps the “one thing” is that DJT must meet him personally. pl
ambrit
In the absence of evidence to the contrary I continue to think that Iran has not had a nuclear WEAPONS program since 2003. That is the opinion expressed in the NIE of 2007 and nothing to the contrary has been said even by Clapper. The resumption of sanctions may well cause Iran to re-start a nuke weapons program and they would not look for Russian permission. pl
b
Most people are ignorant, anywhere. pl
Sam Peralts
you notice that they stayed in US run hotels? The bigger fish probably bring a woman or two with them. The Saudis are just signalling the possibility that they could divert money to Russian arms purchases if displeased. They have no real ability to use fancy military equipment. Jet aircraft are a good example. They can fly them but that is all they can do – no planning, no targeting, no maintenance. Their purchases are a means of spreading kickbacks around. pl
And the people that voted for him think he’s not level headed, not that honest but is a strong leader.
Can’t wait for the winning to start.
http://www.apnorc.org/projects/Pages/Americans-Evaluations-of-President-Trump.aspx
Well, it appears that Saudi Arabia is kicking the U.S. to the curb. The Saudi king visiting Moscow, will no longer deal in Petro Dollars, and is changing their arms buying from the U.S. to Russia. Saudi attempts to steal the oil fields of Yemen (their whole reason for their war against Yemen), have failed, the Saudis have run out of their own oil.
Let the Russians have the Saudis.
The only problem is their are now more and more nations around the world dumping the U.S. Dollar in favor of gold and the Yuan for their daily trading and purchases, which means that good and services IN the U.S. will now go up and up and up on domestic U.S. store shelves.
Given that the world monetary system is controlled by the U.K. Rothschild banking family, and that Jacob Rothschild has recently been pulling his assets out of the U.S., it appears that this might, just might be the ‘calm before the storm’ that POTUS Trump was cryptically referring to.
We in the U.S. are fast headed for the day when a loaf of bread will be a days wages. Wait, haven’t we heard such a warning before? Wasn’t it in a scripture someplace, a scripture called the Holy Bible?
Why the world has not taken out the Rothschild banking cartel, as they have been involved in every war playing both ends against the middle since before Napoleon, still alludes me. When you have an evil banking cartel, and you know that it is evil in its actions,and you allow it to flourish knowing full well it will hurt you (spelled mankind} more and more the longer its allowed to continue, makes no sense does it?
Woa to Mom and Pop America who have put their trust in U.S. politicians who have sold them down the river with unnecessary wars and the theft of their American blood sweat and tears.
You are serious? Obama and Clinton teams “greedy”. Incredible.
I guess we have to wait and see what Tillerson’s direct negotiations with NoKo bring. I still maintain Trump is bringing his own brand of wrestling theatre to the madman approach. I expect a deal to be struck.
Iran has always been a blind spot, lets see but I still don’t expect much to happen there.
In reply to turcopolier 08 October 2017 at 08:04 AM
“They have no real ability to use fancy military equipment. Jet aircraft are a good example. They can fly them but that is all they can do – no planning, no targeting, no maintenance.”
Colonel can they even do that much? I’ve never met a Saudi pilot but have met lots of Pakistani ones.
From what I can make out your comment also applies to their ground forces . Maintenance and logistic are conspicuous by their absence.
Unfortunately he is a typical American on all issues.
b, it feels you were a bit unfair to Tritan Parsi. Never mind his “doctorfather/Doktor Vater” Francis Fukuyama or the larger academic context he had to fit in as expat.
I may ask, since I wondered about his disappearance from Daily Beast at one point:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/trita-parsi
Col. Lang
Yes, they stayed in US run hotels maybe because they were the best in Moscow. What was amusing is that they brought their own kitchen and wait staff. Even guests who had long term residences were asked to move out as they took over both hotels completely.
I wonder why the Saudis spend all this money on high-tech weapons. They are I believe in the Top 5 spenders on defense expenditures. The failure of their Yemen adventure speaks volumes. If they can’t defeat the blockaded Yemeni tribals how will they fight the Iranians?
I think Chas Freeman said that we actually made money on the first gulf war and put SA in so much debt that they were essentially BK
Thank you. I’m wondering if the Iranian processing facilities have progressed beyond the centrifuge stage of technology. If so, a bomb would be possible a lot sooner than anyone presently suspects.
If that scenario happens, the Israelis will be “in a quandary.”
Dubhatac
I HAVE met Saudi pilots. They were Saudi. pl
Sir,
I have two questions:
The Saudi government’s primary thrust may well be to “reimburse” friendly nations with the air defence business. But is their overt need for AD hardware a nebulous defence against any foe or do they specifically fear Iranian air attacks?
I offer the premise that the NK nuclear expertise as well as actual devices are as dangerous as an export as well as a domestic deterrence.
The US along with South Korea could easily flatten NK given a reasonable provocation. Short of a direct attack on US soil or a prominent ally’s, would evidence of NK sales to an Al Qaeda-scaled actor be sufficient to claim self-defence in the face of China’s MDA with Kim?
Colonel can they even do that much? I’ve never met a Saudi pilot but have met lots of Pakistani ones.
They have and they also exercise and train in the west. France, UK, US, Spain
Richardstevenhack — Having just watched a dear friend (chemical engineer and professional musician) descend into the fog of dementia at age 71, I keep seeing flashes of dementia in Trump’s tweets and talking points and responses. Does anyone else see flashes of this?
His ability to process information that is new to him is very impaired and that is very troublesome.
That certainly is what NK wants and has for some time. I sort of wish DT were not the President to be in the chair, however. Meeting and negotiating seriously usually does not automatically lead to war.
I simply cannot understand how anyone could believe that a shooting war with North
Korea is an improvement over the flawed peace we have today. Once again, our government propaganda, amplified by our uncritical media, has transformed a relatively harmless country into an imminent, dangerous threat we must destroy with another unnecessary preemptive war. We are a stupid country.
US Government propaganda, especially when amplified by our uncritical media, really works.
Tommy B
It only works on us. pl
Okay, Yes I am serious. Obama pocketed in excess of ten million by the end of the first or second month.
And the Clinton camp live off their supposed non-profit (which enriches them and their daughter).
Obama had a real chance to get things done, but he chose not to risk any political capital.
The leadership of the DPRK are at war with the USA.
They are not at war with Japan.
They see the people of the ROK as captives of the USA, and mis-guided brethren.
They are assiduously working on the ability to kill millions of US citizens and
destroy US cities.
They see this capability as the only way to deter the USA from it’s hegemonic
ambitions.
Note that the UK has been vocal in their support for the USA’s position, virtually alone.
Once the DPRK launches a missile with range shown to be sufficient to reach CONUS, their next move will be an atmospheric nuclear test in the estern Pacific sufficiently close to the US and most probably in the Gulf of tehuantepec or Gulf of Panama, so there is absolutely no question they have the range and the accuracy to choose and destroy targets anywhere in CONUS, with Washington DC, #1 on their list.
I’m sure the Col. will disagree.. but my hypothesis is consistent with their
force posture, history, and policies.
INDY
Dr. Oprisko
IF NK does that they will then be destroyed as a country. pl
My father worked in Saudi back in WW2. He got the Armaco magazine and while visiting him years ago I picked up a copy and read a story about a Navy destroyer that was sent to bring the king to Cairo for one of the post WW2 conferences. Yes some of the harem were taken with the king as fell as a flock of sheep. In it was also a description of the Saudi treasury. It was a footlocker with various forms of money in it. When required the locker was opened to pay for what ever the king needed.
I have read that he does not read or listen to briefings. He gets his briefings from Fox News.
DD
I once was escort for a Saudi Prince around the USA. A slave carried a velvet bag for him filled with $100 bills. The slave would open the bag so that mere American peasants could be given baksheesh. His highness was surprised and angered when I would not tak his money. pl
I somewhat agree. Could be quite true that there is no method at all to his madness, just random “babbling” with no thought behind it.
Colonel,
Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) “White House has become an Adult Day Care Center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.” Tillerson, Mattis, Mnuchin forge ‘suicide pact’ in the event Trump wants one of them gone.
If the past is a guide, there was “Madman Diplomacy” that negotiated a “peace with honor” or James R. Schlesinger urging General George S. Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, not to take military orders directly from the President. The military chain-of-command took the extra-constitutional step of removing the President from the loop. There couldn’t be two more different personalities than Dick Nixon and Donald Trump but there sure are similarities between their Presidencies.
We are still here for now. How can a mad man negotiate a peaceful settlement if the threatened first strike against North Korea will result in the destruction of Seoul and the restart of the Korean War with China on the opposite side.
One missile or a suicide run with a hydrogen bomb takes out Tokyo. Washington DC is in range of Chinese ICBMs.
Iran has no interest in acquiring nuclear weapons as they recognize that they have no “use case” for them and no reason to risk a US/Israel attack on them in attempting to acquire them. They’ve said this repeatedly and it’s entirely logical.
There is ZERO evidence that Iran ever had a nuclear weapons development and deployment program and ALMOST ZERO evidence that Iran had a nuclear weapons feasibility study – although it’s quite likely, as the DIA estimated in 2007, that they had a feasibility study back when they were afraid Saddam had one.
Therefore Russia has nothing to fear from improving relations with Iran.
Wartime President. It worked for Bush. Trump believes it will work for him. History, if there is any history, will lament that there was no easier target than NK for him to attack. Reagan had Granada. Thatcher the Faulklands. Bush Iraq. Trump has talked up Venezuela. May God convince him to send in troops to save the Venezuelan people. Or Burma. Or Yemen. Anywhere but North Korea.
The U.S. launches a military attack on NK. How can China possibly sit on its hands? Ignore the armistice? Can’t be done.
Let me offer an opinion on your two points.
In most cases, nuclear nations don’t export their weapons and rarely weapons technology. The oft-floated notion that Iran would export nuclear weapons to, say, Hizballah in Lebanon, is a total fantasy, even if Iran actually intended to develop nukes which they don’t.
North Korea might be an exception, although I doubt even they would export fully manufactured weapons. Selling the technology would be in line with their desire for external financing, however.
The US might declare such sales to be justification for regime change. That’s pretty much the way the Iraq war was justified. But none of that is likely to happen any time soon, since NK doesn’t yet have sufficient expertise – or a likely buyer outside of Saudi Arabia.
As for the US “flattening” NK easily, that isn’t going to happen. It’s going to be a LOT harder than Trump thinks it will be. The North has been preparing for a repeat of the first Korean War for sixty-four years and they’re determined to avoid the degree of destruction they incurred in that war. Short of broadly deploying nukes against NK, the US and SK are going to have to do it the hard way, with a distinct possibility that they will lose or at least end up with a very bad insurgency for the next decade. A loss is almost guaranteed if China enters the war, as it is likely they will if NK looks to be losing badly.
First or second month of what? Peddle that bullshit in some Olongapo City boom boom joint.
In “The Black Swan” Taleb cites numerous examples from the past of how badly “experts” failed in their predictions, while at the same time all manner of unexpected things happened and appeared as complete surprises at the time then, afterwards, seemed to make sense and the pundits got busy explaining how they saw it all coming…
I see Trump as unfiltered and much of what he says is reactive, “man in the street” blather, but talk, while being cheap and all that, can be dangerous and that’s the rub.
I still think NoKo’s actions appear rational, even if their utterances don’t. They don’t want to be an easy target, but they surely understand that not being an easy target doesn’t mean they could get away with initiating a nuclear war. The juvenile exchanges of lurid threats by both parties do increase the odds of an accidental development though.
Oh well, the world’s a stage, life’s a play; you come you see you go.
A. Pols
I see, i am one of the a—-e experts. pl
bill Herschel
China? They will sit on their hands. The alternative is to be incinerated like NoKo. They can occupy what was North Korea afterward. The Chinese are entirely self serving. pl
We have yet to see his wall!!! the beautiful wall paid by Mexico!!! Lets see when we see his wars.
Rd
He does not need Congress to pass anything to make war with everything we have. You don’t know that? pl
Bill Herschel,
Thatcher had the Falklands? I suppose FDR attacked Pearl Harbor, too? Trump may be a bit crazy, but the present crisis is being ginned up mostly by Pyongyang. Whoever might be the US leader, if the NoKo’s try their hands at missiles that can attack CONUS, I’ll bet you that no US leader can leave them untouched.
At 400k per speech I suspect Mr. Solomon is roughly correct. Ignoring the amount both the first lady and her husband made in terms of very large book advances from a publisher which benefited from the impressive flexibility of their anti-trust policy. You might not be surprised that merger was allowed to go through but I was.
My politics are very Left. From my point of view it is very unfortunate that neither Obama nor Clinton could bear to focus on the true screw up in this country.
We have an on-going and incredible failure in public education at the grammar school, high school and university level – except if you live in a major [now financially inaccessible city and if you are very wealthy].
Also, we have a complete disrespect for the working (i.e. laboring individuals in this country).
These days you have to spend a small fortune and take out loans to go to a community college to learn to be a bartender or casino employee. Since when, did these jobs require post high school diplomas. Of course the answer is since we chose to forget that real labor requires intelligence, and respect that requirement.
Lest you think otherwise, I am a 1970 graduate of a private liberal arts school. Nevertheless, I learned at an early age to appreciate the importance of manual labor and the skill set it requires.
It might help if valued the working woman or man and paid less attention to the pseudo liberals of the Clinton / Obama / Biden stripe.
“how will they fight the Iranians?”
Like the Israelis they will not want to fight Iran directly, they want the Americans to fight Iran for them.
Sir;
My Dad was a plumbing contractor at one point in his life, and had a member of the Saudi Royal Family, (which seemed to be a large group,) as a client. Once, when seeing a particularly extravagant item being installed, (solid gold taps aren’t really solid gold, gold being too soft for many uses, I being the installer,) asked the Factotum where the client got the nerve to display such wealth, the Factotum replied; “If you made over a million dollars a day, how would you spend it?”
Dad shut up, and I learned a lesson. (The Saudi kept Dad on as a service provider.)
richardstevenhack
If there is a second Korean War it will be nothing like the first one. The North Koreans have been preparing for the wrong war. pl
And I’m a 1967 GED graduate who graduated from high school by taking the test in Korea. After that tour served in Vietnam for 11 months so you can skip the “working class” lecture. Your complaint is about Obama making money AFTER he left office?
Herschel,
Should the U.S. attack N.K., the armistice is, by definition, over.
WPFIII
In the first place I hope you’re right.
But I just want to add…
If Trump attacks NK, I think it’s accepted that NK will attack the South and everything else it can reach with whatever it’s got left. Googling SK’s biggest companies gives one an idea of the potential “economic” consequences of that attack.
But, to be more on point, China had the opportunity to sit on its hands in the first Korean war and also knew that there were atomic bombs aimed at it. It still intervened. There is this question as to whether China felt that the U.S. would cross the Yalu–or had already crossed the Yalu–but I believe the reality is that the Chinese offensive was very carefully planned before the U.S. got very far North. Their decision was made in advance.
But on the other hand f I were China, I would encourage the U.S. to attack NK. And I would pray that it quickly turned into a quagmire. I don’t know how hard I’d have to pray. Does anyone in their right mind think that the conquest and occupation of NK would be easier than Iraq? Or that SK can pull it off on their own without destroying their economy?
Nonsense. If what you say makes any sense at all, then Russia should immediately attack the United States. It is difficult for me to imagine a country “ginning up” a “crisis” more consistently and antagonistically than the United Stated versus Russia. We have ringed their country with nuclear weapons all capable of striking any square meter of their territory at any time, supported and assisted jihadi insurgents attempting to overthrouw their government, devoted the most expensive and comprehensive propaganda campaign in the history of the world to demonize their elected leader, imposed the most stringent economic sanctions we are capable of against them, and yet for some incomprehensible reason, to you, Russia has not attacked us.
Your premise is that “touching” NK will be sanitary and cost-free. But I suspect you don’t believe that premise.
Colonel:
you are implying that the Chinese President is willing to lose face as at the same time the President of Russia is to lose face by non-intervention to US madness in NK.
Either of these two countries can incinerate the US and the whole world- it is not a sane notion to count them out of military attacks on their borders when they strongly noted that such steps are impermissible.
In an NYTimes op-ed Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations writes:
“… the deal establishes that some six years from now — assuming all participants have fulfilled their obligations — Iran should ratify the Additional Protocol on Nuclear Safeguards, part of the Nonproliferation Treaty.”
It seems to me that the additional protocol is a big deal and the neocons will really want Iran to sign it. If Trump pulls the US out of JCPOA then Iran isn’t required to sign the additonal protocol. Perhaps this is why the neocons (in my view) seem strangely content with the JCPOA.
Colonel
I take it that when you use the term ‘slave’ you are not using it metaphorically. That is instructive … and indicates, yet again, that you have seen much more of the world than most people have.
If the U.S. uses nukes to “decapitate” the North Koreans, that will be the end of any further *willing* cooperation with the U.S. military.
From that point forward, every state that is tied to the U.S. military hegemony will be looking to find allies to protect themselves against it.
Colonel;
My remarks were general and not directed at you personally.
I, too, think you are playing the devil’s advocate, here.
And I thank you for it.
Nope. You have made accurate predictions and analysis. That’s why we are all reading here, instead of at FP or some other.
Bill Herschel – A while ago the Colonel permitted me an “off topic” comment on the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands. I hope I may be permitted another here.
It may well be the case that retaking the Falklands helped, perhaps saved, Mrs Thatcher’s political fortunes.
So much so that there were suggestions made at the time and later that the Argentinians had been lured into the invasion for the specific purpose of providing Mrs Thatcher with a Roman triumph. These suggestions have been so often repeated that that incessant repetition alone has for many elevated them to the status of truth.
It would have had to have been one hell of a conspiracy. One unknown to the chief conspirators as well. If there’s any evidence for that scenario it’d be nice to see it. None’s been sighted yet.
I agree with you that politicians are always on the look-out for a “Falklands Factor” to improve their ratings. It is perhaps ironic that the one time in post-war England that that Falklands factor really had such an effect, it was arrived at unintentionally.
While we’re waiting for the evidence to arrive I think we can put this suggestion into the same category as the International Anglo-Zionist Conspiracy or the thesis that we’re ruled by evil lizards from outer space. Though I am beginning to wonder about that last one …
Colonel,
You might find this of interest. It’s another Point of View (POV). By Justin Raimondo of antiwar.com.
Trump: Rhetoric vs. Reality. Don’t mistake the bluster for policy
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2017/10/08/trump-rhetoric-vs-reality/
raven,
Perhaps the complaint is about Obama pursuing policies and actions while IN office deSIGNED to earn huge payoffs and rewards for himself from the social upper class beneficiaries of his actions AFter he LEFT office.
Obamacare . . . most specifically the Forced Mandate.
“I’m the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”
“Look forward, not backward.”
The leftish wingish site Naked Capitalism goes into Obama’s corruption and upper class favoritism in some detail over the last 8 years.
The harder-left harder-wing site Counterpunch has also had some articles about Obama’s pro-UpperClass policy orientation.
b,
I am beginning to agree with our host in that you seem to be an anti-americanitic culture-racist anti-americanite and have been one all along.
Here is an article by the Firm-Left Firm-Wing Canadian blog-author namedIan Welsh. It is about the deadliest danger, threat and menace facing Europe today. Enjoy.
http://www.ianwelsh.net/the-real-threat-to-europe-is-neither-america-nor-russia/
So you’re assuming the US is simply going to nuke NK into submission?
I doubt that. I don’t think the US will use nukes (other than possibly the odd tactical nuke) even if the war goes rather badly (as I think it will.)
If NK uses nukes and uses them effectively on the battlefield (I dismiss any attack on the US mainland or Japan categorically), then of course all bets are off.
And in that case, China might very sit the war out since they don’t want WWIII over NK any more than the US does.
Fist or second month post presidency.
He also moved into a very large mansion in DC at no cost.
None of it is bullshit.
Part of the point is that the Falklands was a very near thing. Argentina came close to pulling it off. That’s Argentina. North Korea, to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, is no Argentina. These things always look great going in, but they have a way of turning out not so great. At least, that’s what I believe I have witnessed over the years. I believe that Granada was not a cakewalk.
And just to reiterate a previous point. If I were China or Russia and the United States attacked North Korea, I would immediately go to the Security Council, and pray that the United States entered the battle in force. The only way the U.S. manages to look halfway decent is through a false flag and the use of exclusively conventional weapons. But even that won’t work in reality. And if the U.S. uses nuclear weapons: “fire ond fury and, frankly, power”, then we become a pariah. There’s zero constituency for nuclear war.
Bill Herschel
That all very nice, “pariah state” and all but sometimes you have no choice. this would not be a war of choice if the little fat guy puts one in the water anywhere near the US. pl
Norbert E. Solomon
Incineration works both ways or maybe three ways. It is my considered judgment that neither China nor Russia will opt for incineration on behalf of North Korea. But, it is the responsibility of the Commander in Chief to decide if my judgement is correct. pl
richardstevenhack
I do not assume. I know that if the US decides to do so North Korea will be total wrecked and then the Chinese can have it. pl
“He does not need Congress to pass anything to make war with everything we have. You don’t know that? pl”
Don’t think it is a question of making war. rather making the water muddy and see what kinda fish he can catch. He tried the Iran not holding upto to the ‘Spirit’ of the agreement, but that didn’t get much traction. Now he is claiming Iran is helping N. Korea!. He is just looking for an opportunity to hit the jackpot. obviously not a statesman, may be a very cheap businessman.
MRW
I told you. I don’t understand what Trump is doing and neither does Raimondo. pl
James T
The prince was quite specific. He said this Black man was an “abd habeshi_ (Ethiopian slave.) I was later alone with the man and he confirmed this to me. the Saudis claim they have given up slavery. They lie. pl
The only things Russia would be worried about will be:
1. Refugees;
2. Something flying in which is not supposed to fly in.
I can not see any scenario (nor justification) for Russia choosing any posture other than an observer.
FWIW, I agree on both counts.
We have an on-going and incredible failure in public education at the grammar school, high school and university level – except if you live in a major [now financially inaccessible city and if you are very wealthy].
The size of the city doesn’t really matter anymore. Public education has a systemic flaw which can not be fixed in present political, cultural and ideological climate. Things are getting worse. There is a problem with a teachers’ corps too and a lot of it is exactly of “left” origins. In fact, what passes today as “left” in US has very little relation, let say, with such really left country as USSR/Russia. Somehow those stupid Russkies started to concentrate again on STEM (always excellent) education, not to mention an impressive humanities courses, which leave no time for debates on transgenderism, bathrooms or any other bread and butter issues of the current American “left”. Newtonian Mechanics, Math Analysis or Electrodynamics are much harder things to learn than some PC BS peddled as a crucial knowledge.
Bravo…..
Sounds to me like it is all but certain that DJT is going to fulfill his pre-election promise that NoKo would not be allowed to put the U.S. under threat of nuclear attack from it.
If, as I expect, the “storm” happens there,
four things I will be watching for:
1. The human reliability of the U.S. military. Will there be a problem there?
2. The cyber situation. NoKo has demonstrated considerable skills in the cyber arena. Can they use that to damage the U.S., either affecting the C&C controlling the U.S. strategic forces, other aspects of the U.S. military, or damaging attacks against civilian targets (we’ve all read accounts of vulnerabilities there)?
3. What will Putin and Xi do? They certainly have the ability to assist the NoKos in any number of ways, of varying degrees of traceability. What will they do?
Some past history comes to mind: The assistance the U.S. gave to the Afghan mujahedeen in the 1980s, as an effort to weaken the Soviet bear. I have no doubt that some Russians would like to repay the U.S. for the damage and deaths that thereby occurred.
Will Russia decide that “what goes around comes around” when or if the U.S. engages with NoKo?
4. There are various other nonsymmetric possibilities that have been discussed in the media. I am not going to go into them, but they certainly are worrying.
I’m guessing NOKO’s next more is to detonate a hydrogen or nuclear warhead in the ocean without a care for marine life & the further toxifying of the ocean just because
they can. What POTUS’s response will be is anyone’s guess.
Why the sheep? Backup in case there was a problem with the harem?
Ethiopians are generally not “Black” – they are like Somalis. Did this person resemble people from sub-Saharan Africa?
At least HRC was capable of listening, not a skill Trump is noted for.
babak
Surely you don’t believe the BS about “no racism in Islam.” In SA many people are considered “black.” Habashi descent means that you are thought Black. Prince Bandar bin Sultan’s mother was a Jariya Habashia concubine. He will never be king because of that. The man in question was about the color of Obama and was considered Black but he was also enslaved. pl
So “Habashi” is colloquial for Negor among Saudis. It was Zengi in Persian.
Babak
Habashiyin are Blacks from Ethiopia or Eritrea. Zanji more generally means Blacks as in Zanjibar (Zanzibar), a land of the Blacks. and then there is Sudd, the plural of Aswad (black) as in Sudan, more Blackness. pl
It is Kooshi for Israelies
There were rumors that NK build a factory in Birma
What happened in Israel before the wise men from the Hill got their approval to go along with the JCPOA:
https://twitter.com/DanielBShapiro/status/918117673917132800
We know that the social worker was the rapporteur to Bibi after every meeting in Geneva but I guess that comment at the end of the twitter thread said it all:
Another interesting takeaway is that Republicans trusted a foreign intelligence agency over their own because we elected a black democrat.
A little update on the Korean situation:
“North Korean official: Take hydrogen bomb threat ‘literally’ “
CNN, 2017-10-25
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/25/politics/north-korea-us-hydrogen-bomb-threat/index.html
Two articles, one of opinion and one of news, have been published recently that are worth noting:
“How to Realistically Solve the North Korea Crisis”
by Doug Bandow, The National Interest, 2017-11-08
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/how-realistically-solve-the-north-korea-crisis-23109
While I whole-heatedly agree that
America’s misguided decapitations of the regimes of Iraq and Libya
set a terrible example,
when I read some of the statements coming from North Korea,
and read accounts of how the U.S. is demonized by their propaganda efforts over their population,
I can’t help but wonder if there is not a sizable movement within NoKo
to obtain revenge on the U.S. for what they perceive as its inhumane treatment of their ancestors during the 1950-1953 Korean War,
at whatever cost to the current North Korean state.
Might they be driven by the desire for revenge, at any cost?
As to a precedent for sacrificial acts in East Asia,
there is the example of the Japanese kamikaze pilots in WWII.
The other article is:
“Officials see weapons threat as North Korea gains biotech expertise”
by Joby Warrick, Washington Post, 2017-12-10
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/microbes-by-the-ton-officials-see-weapons-threat-as-north-korea-gains-biotech-expertise/2017/12/10/9b9d5f9e-d5f0-11e7-95bf-df7c19270879_story.html