[vox_mundi]

Here's America's Plan for Nuking its Enemies, Including North Korea

... If officials in Pyongyang resort to WMD attacks for any reason, OPLAN 8010 swings from “deter” to “defeat,” stressing in its text the need for American political will to employ “strategic forces if deterrence fails.” As part of a standing mission dubbed Operation Global Citadel, the Pentagon maintains a so-called “Nuclear Triad” of nuclear-armed heavy bombers, land- and sea-based ballistic missiles. Smaller fighter jets can carry the B61 thermonuclear gravity bomb, if necessary.

Whatever weapons STRATCOM employs, the goal is clear: "attack the appropriate enemy 'system' to eliminate the enemy's capability to fight and influence key decision makers to cease hostilities

Much is redacted but there are still important elements that are free to share. The most important is that the United States does not have a policy of “no first use” when it comes to thermonuclear war. Most of the specific thresholds are redacted, but the OPLAN specifically says the president can order STRATCOM to respond "in the event of a hostile act or intent."

[vox_mundi]

North Korea 'ready to sink' US aircraft carrier Vinson

North Korea threatened on Sunday to sink a US aircraft carrier cruising towards the tense Korean peninsula, and said it would strike Australia with nuclear weapons if it "blindly" followed its American ally.

The latest warnings from Pyongyang came as two Japanese navy ships joined the American supercarrier strike group for exercises in the western Pacific.

The commentary was carried on page three of the newspaper, after a two-page feature about leader Kim Jong-un inspecting a pig farm.

Speaking during a visit to Greece, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said there were already enough shows of force and confrontation at present and appealed for calm.

"We need to issue peaceful and rational sounds," Wang said, according to a statement issued by China's foreign ministry.

North Korea threatens Australia with nuclear strike over US allegiance

UN voices fears of ‘catastrophic nuclear accident’ as global tensions increase

A comprehensive report by The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) paints a pessimistic picture of the threat the world faces.

“The lack of nuclear weapons use since Hiroshima and Nagasaki cannot on its own be interpreted as evidence that the likelihood of a detonation event is minimal,” the report warns.

“Nuclear deterrence works – up until the time it will prove not to work,” it said.

“The risk is inherent and, when luck runs out, the results will be catastrophic.”

Increasing reliance on automated systems has led to misplaced confidence in their safety, the report adds.

It's Complicated: Trump's Steep Learning Curve

... "Trump thought China could fix North Korea until the Chinese president politely informed him that North Korea is in fact complicated ...

“After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy”

" That amounted to "basic facts... he could have Googled"

Unpredictable. Unhinged. Dangerous - Asian Countries Look Warily At Trump

An Associated Press dispatch from Seoul this week about how nervous South Koreans felt about Trump led with three simple words:

“Unpredictable. Unhinged. Dangerous.”

Many South Koreans are using those words to describe the president of their most important ally, rather than the leader of their archrival to the North. They worry that President Donald Trump’s tough, unorthodox talk about North Korea’s nuclear program is boosting already-high animosity between the rival Koreas.

U.S. strikes earlier this month against Syria, coupled with Trump’s dispatching of what he called an “armada” of U.S. warships to the Korean region, touched off fears that the United States was preparing for military action, though it was revealed this week that the flotilla was taking a roundabout path to Korean waters and has yet to arrive.

Former national security officials say that a large part of the problem is that Trump still has failed to make hundreds of appointments, including to many critical positions at both the State Department and Pentagon. It’s a combination of ineptitude and a resistance to doing things the way they’ve been done in the past. The Post’s Nakamura and De Young write:

“The result is that the normally meticulous care that goes into formulating and coordinating US government policy positions or even simple statements is often absent. Institutional memory is lacking, these former officials said, and mistakes and contradictions easily slip through the cracks.”

But it’s not just that; we’re also dealing with an incurious president who appears to recite what little he knows about world history phonetically and whose attention span when it comes to international relations seems minimal and based on impulse with little attention to the potential blowback from his snap judgments. Having him face off against North Korea’s willfully naïve and equally impulsive Kim Jong-un is a ghastly prospect.

North Korea and the Risks of Miscalculation

... The regime has never much liked the annual joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises, and has made its feelings known; the exercises have tended to carry on every year without direct consequences to the personnel involved. Nor has the regime ever welcomed American aircraft carriers in its nearby waters or been shy about saying so; those, too, have come and gone unmolested.

What’s different now is Donald Trump. Whereas many of his predecessors steered sedulously clear of escalatory rhetoric, preferring to treat various North Korean leaders as recalcitrant children at worst or distasteful but nevertheless semi-rational negotiating partners at best, Trump has threatened North Korea via Twitter, declaring that the regime is “looking for trouble.” ... three successive presidents prior to Trump, since the Clinton administration considered military action against the North’s then-nascent nuclear program, have opted for trying negotiations rather than risk a strike. It’s apparent that none succeeded in halting the nuclear program’s progress. But it’s equally apparent that the kind of massive conflagration on the Korean peninsula that world leaders are now warning against has been avoided since 1953.

... uncertainty raises the risks of miscalculation on either side—and, in a tense confrontation between two nuclear powers, the potential costs. Threats of preemptive strikes, or even leaks that such strikes could be under consideration, can prompt the other side to want to strike first.

... When two leaders each habitually bluster and exaggerate, there’s a higher likelihood of making a catastrophic mistake based on a bad guess.

Panetta: Trump Is Risking Nuclear War With North Korea

... "The words from the administration are creating even higher volume in terms of the provocations that are going on. I think we have got to be careful here," Panetta told NBC News' Andrea Mitchell. "We should not engage in any precipitous action. There is a reason no U.S. president in recent history has pulled the trigger on North Korea." He added:

"We have the potential for a nuclear war that would take millions of lives. So I think we have got to exercise some care here."

In other developments in the region, Japan's National Security Council has discussed how to evacuate its nearly 60,000 citizens from South Korea in the event of a crisis, a government official said Friday amid rising concern over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, according to Reuters.

Besides commercial ships and planes, Japan would want to send military aircraft and ships to assist in the evacuation if the South Korean government agreed, the official, familiar with the discussion, said.

North Korea 'ready for nuclear attack' amid show of force

North Korea has warned the US not to take provocative action in the region, saying it is "ready to hit back with nuclear attacks".

"We're prepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-out war," said Choe Ryong-hae, believed to be the country's second most powerful official.

"We are ready to hit back with nuclear attacks of our own style against any nuclear attacks," he added.

North Korea's hidden submarine threat is another worry as regime warns it's 'ready' for war

The thought of North Korea's fully submersible submarines firing a nuclear ballistic missile isn't as far-fetched as some might think. Pyongyang has made major advances in weapons in recent years and shown a willingness to use its submarines for offensive military actions.

Indeed, last month was the seventh anniversary of the sinking of South Korea's Cheonan navy ship by a North Korean submarine torpedo attack. That aggression killed 46 sailors and wasn't the first time the reclusive North had made incursions into South Korean waters.

... "The problem with a SLBM is that it exposes South Korea's flanks to attack," said Bruce Klingner, an Asia and national security specialist at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based conservative think tank.

Klingner, a former CIA deputy division chief for Korea, explained that the THAAD anti-missile system deployed last month by the U.S. in South Korea is focused on identifying missile threats from the North. As a result, a submarine missile from the North Korean navy could be launched behind radar and evade defense systems.

Similarly, missiles fired by North Korean submarines off the east coast of Japan might be able to dodge detection from Japan's Patriot anti-missile system by launching from behind radar.

Klingner said some people have been dismissive of the Pyongyang submarine threat by maintaining that the North's vessels are "old and noisy." The noise comes from the submarine's diesel-powered engines.

Yet in 2015 South Korean defense officials reported a sudden disappearance of around 50 of the North's submarines.

"We didn't know where they were at the time," said Klingner. "One would hope that we would keep very close tabs on those that could launch the SLBM."

“Picking up the quiet hum of a battery-powered, diesel-electric submarine in busy coastal waters is like trying to identify the sound of a single car engine in the din of a major city,” US Rear Admiral Frank Drennan warned in March 2015.

For this reason alone, North Korea's submarine fleet remains a major threat — however decrepit it may be.

"Their conventional forces maybe not be very capable at the moment, but they have a lot of weapons of mass destruction," said Nicholas Eberstadt, a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank based in Washington. "Even if they would end up losing a war, … they could kill an awful lot of people on our side."

This Is How America Keeps Watch Over North Korea From The Sky

DHS head: North Korea more of a cyber threat

“In the case of North Korea, you know, a kinetic threat against the United States right now I don’t think is likely, but certainly a cyber threat,” he said in an interview set to air Sunday with NBC's "Meet the Press."

“So we would raise various threat levels in the event that something happened and we felt as though there were a possible threat. You always want to come down on the side of caution.”

[Newfie]

Back in the 1970's there was a weird group in Philadeloia called move. The local government dicked around with them and had a confrontation but then backed off. As years went by this rather pathetic group got weirder and weirder and was making their surrounding community unlivable.

Eventually the mayor decided to move on Move. It was a botched job that burned out a few blocks of houses and killed a bunch of unarmed people, many children.

Of course the root of the issue was that the previous administrations had taken a hands off attitude hoping hey would go away.

Trump, like or hate, has been left a mess to deal with. It's not his fault we are here and he may eventually have no good options.

But it doses seem clear that NK needs to be dealt with.

I wish Trump well. (Even though he is basically an AH).

[Newfie]

http://zeenews.india.com/world/china-ur ... 98685.html

Athens: China's foreign minister called today for the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula amid rising tension over North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes.

"China is firmly supporting the denuclearisation of the area in the name of stability and peace", Wang Yi told reporters in Athens after meeting Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias.

"China may not have the key to this solution ... But we are happy that more sides are accepting our point of view", he added.

US President Donald Trump has urged China to take stronger steps to press the North to curb its nuclear and missile programmes.

During a regional tour last week, Vice-President Mike Pence warned that "all options are on the table" to curb the North's nuclear ambitions, as fears grow it may be planning another atomic test.

Pyongyang has ramped up its rhetoric in recent weeks, threatening to hit back against any provocation.

It has also renewed threats against regional US allies, including Japan and South Korea, which both host large American military contingents.

Even Australia has received a warning from Pyongyang.

"If Australia persists in following the US's moves to isolate and stifle North Korea... This will be a suicidal act," a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said after Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop called the nation a "serious threat".

Today, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that a US citizen had been arrested as he tried to fly out of North Korea, becoming the third American to be detained there.

"It is important for them to hold a US citizen hostage at this point to prevent Washington from carrying out a decapitation of Kim Jong-Un," Ahn Chan-il, a former defector, told AFP, referring to the North's fears that the US plans a secret military strike to topple its leader.

"It's also a resolve to point a double-action revolver against the US and China because he is a US citizen who worked in China."

[Plantagenet]

Pyongyang has ramped up its rhetoric in recent weeks, threatening to hit back against any provocation.

This brings to mind a question...... NK is reportedly threatening to destroy the US Aircraft Carrier SS Carl Vinson Trump has directed to steam towards North Korea. But the MSM in the US keeps telling us the SS Carl Vinson is going the other way.

Who is right here....the North Koreans or the US MSM?

[sparky]

.
this is all a bit of a misunderstanding ,
the CVN Carl Vinson was due to go from Central command area deployment ( middle East )
for joint naval maneuvers with Australia in the Indian ocean
it left singapore and the White house was misled to think it was going straight to Korea
in fact it would go there after a bit of rest and recreation ,
the South Koreans are furious to have been misled to think they had some sort of priority
when in fact , spreading semen in Aussie bars came first

[vox_mundi]

Mockery, Anger in South Korea over Trump's USS Carl Vinson 'bluffing'

- US officials said last week a Navy carrier strike group had been deployed
- Rather than steaming toward the Korean Peninsula, it went the other way for drills

(CNN)US President Donald Trump said he was sending "an armada" to Korean waters to potentially deal with threats from Pyongyang.

But its no-show has caused some South Koreans to question his leadership and strategy regarding their unpredictable neighbor in the north.

And as the country prepares to vote for a new president on May 9, the claim could have far-reaching implications for the two countries' relations.

"What Mr. Trump said was very important for the national security of South Korea," Presidential candidate Hong Joon-pyo told the Wall Street Journal.

"If that was a lie, then during Trump's term, South Korea will not trust whatever Trump says"

South Korean media also seized on the conflicting reports on Trump's "armada" -- led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

One newspaper headline called it Trump's "Carl Vinson Lie," and speculated that the Russian and Chinese leaders must have had a good laugh at its absence.

Meant to present a robust defense against a potential nuclear test by Pyongyang, the report likened the bluff to North Korea's shows of force, where "fake missiles" are paraded through the streets of the North Korean capital.

"Like North Korea, which is often accused of displaying fake missiles during military parades, is the United States, too, now employing 'bluffing' as its North Korea policy?" it asked.

In the face of antagonism from North Korea last week, Trump had said the USS Carl Vinson carrier group was being deployed to waters off the Korean Peninsula.

"We are sending an armada. Very powerful," Trump told Fox Business Channel's Maria Bartiromo. "We have submarines. Very powerful. Far more powerful than the aircraft carrier. That, I can tell you."

It turns out the carrier group was never actually steaming towards the peninsula, but rather heading to joint exercises with the Australian navy. US officials insist it's now on its way to the Sea of Japan, known in South Korea as the East Sea. It still hasn't arrived.

A senior administration official later said a miscommunication between the Pentagon and the White House was to blame for the mixed reports.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer, however, compounded the confusion, by doubling down on the President's assertions.

"We have an armada going toward the peninsula. That's a fact," he told a skeptical press corps during his daily briefing on Wednesday

"Trump, (Vice President Mike) Pence and (Secretary of Defense James) Mattis all used this to raise tension and pressure North Korea. Strong nations' power comes from transparency, not the opposite.

"How does the US expect South Koreans to trust the US when its leader bluffs and exaggerates?

Some of Trump's comments have also rankled in South Korea. He told the Wall Street Journal -- after getting a primer on regional geopolitics from Chinese President Xi Jinping -- that the Korean peninsula "actually used to be part of China."

South Korea's Foreign Affairs Ministry, in a daily briefing Thursday, announced the government's response to the comments:

"The international community unequivocally acknowledges that Korea was never a part of China in its thousands of years of history that no one can deny the fact".

'Trump's lie over the Carl Vinson': South Korean anger over US carrier confusion

Reuters ... South Koreans felt bewildered, cheated and manipulated by the United States, their country's most important ally.

"Trump's lie over the Carl Vinson," read a headline on the website of the newspaper JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday. "Xi Jinping and Putin must have had a good jeer over this one."

Sean Spicer's explanation on the Carl Vinson makes no sense

(CNN)On April 12, in an interview with Fox Business Channel's Maria Bartiromo, President Trump made clear that North Korea's ongoing testing of missiles would not go without a response from the US.

"We are sending an armada. Very powerful," Trump told Bartiromo. "We have submarines. Very powerful. Far more powerful than the aircraft carrier. That, I can tell you."

Read those words carefully: "We are sending an armada."

That's called a lie.

Fast-forward to a report Tuesday in the New York Times headlined: "Aircraft Carrier Wasn't Sailing to Deter North Korea, as U.S. Suggested." What the Times reported is that the Carl Vinson and three other ships in its group were, at the moment Trump and his administration were touting them, headed "to take part in joint exercises with the Australian Navy in the Indian Ocean, 3,500 miles southwest of the Korean Peninsula."

Experts Warn That Trump's Lies About North Korea Hurt America's Credibility

“We are sending an armada, very powerful,” President Donald Trump said over a week ago when asked about the tensions in North Korea. As it turns out, that “armada” wasn’t heading anywhere near North Korea. And sadly, some very important allies are now nervously laughing at Trump’s lies..

We know this because the US Navy posted a photo of the USS Carl Vinson fleet in Indonesia just a few days ago. It’s not expected to arrive near North Korea until later this month or maybe even next month. Who knows? We certainly don’t, after the Trump regime made Americans look like chimps.

The White House let the world believe that the USS Carl Vinson was heading to South Korea when it wasn’t. And yet the Trump administration refuses to own up to the lie.

“The president said that we have an armada going towards the peninsula. That’s a fact. It happened. It is happening, rather,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told the press yesterday.

But it’s not a fact. It’s a lie. A lie that’s incredibly embarrassing to watch:

And it’s a lie that has hurt credibility overseas. South Korea’s conservative party, which is staunchly pro-US and hopes to win during the upcoming elections on May 9th, even chimed in to say that, “If that was a lie, then during Trump’s term, South Korea will not trust whatever Trump says.”

Again, this is coming from one of America’s best allies, not some fringe anti-American group.

“This seeming misrepresentation of the Carl Vinson strike group’s intended purpose in Asia really hurts US credibility on this issue and will make implementation of any sort of policy toward North Korea harder in the long run,” said Jenny Town, Assistant Director of the US-Korea Institute at John Hopkins University.

The part that confounds experts is that this was completely unnecessary. If your goal is to promote peace, this isn’t how to do it.

“It was also unnecessarily inflammatory at a time when tensions were already high and counterproductive for trying to reassure our allies,” ... “The Trump administration needs to better understand that consistency in messaging is extremely important when dealing with sensitive geopolitical matters.”

The South Korean papers are also having a field day with the lie, bolstering anti-American sentiment.

...“Whatever the case, whether it was deliberate misinformation or a miscommunication between the Pentagon and the White House, it’s quite serious,” said Narushige Michishita, a international security expert at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo told the New York Times. “It undermines the credibility of US leadership.”

The world stands on the brink of war, and it seems like the only thing saving us is the gross incompetence of both Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. Let’s just hope that their idiocy doesn’t also trip us into Nuclear War.

[Plantagenet]

Mockery, Anger in South Korea over Trump's USS Carl Vinson 'bluffing'

- US officials said last week a Navy carrier strike group had been deployed
- Rather than steaming toward the Korean Peninsula, it went the other way for drills

(CNN)US President Donald Trump said he was sending "an armada" to Korean waters to potentially deal with threats from Pyongyang.

But its no-show has caused some South Koreans to question his leadership and strategy regarding their unpredictable neighbor in the north.

Thanks.

Well that settles that. Hahahahah! Trump didn't send actually send the ships to North Korea. What a buffoon!

The world stands on the brink of war, and it seems like the only thing saving us is the gross incompetence of both Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. Let’s just hope that their idiocy doesn’t also trip us into Nuclear War.

No worries.

The US MSM has exposed this farce. Since Trump didn't actually send the aircraft carrier etc. to Korea there is actually no crisis!


You can't fool us, Donald. The MSM has exposed the fact that you didn't actually send any ships to North Korea!!! haahhaahahah!



Cheers!

[Newfie]

Some details.

http://gcaptain.com/north-korea-threate ... rl-vinson/

[Plantagenet]

Some details.

http://gcaptain.com/north-korea-threate ... rl-vinson/

Very interesting.

This news report from Reuters says USS Carl Vinson is en route to North Korea, while the rest of the MSM claims he is not en route to North Korea but is going in the opposite direction, with many yuks over Trump's stupidity.

Who to believe?

I'm calling out CNN, NYT, WaPo etc. on another example of Fake News. Trump said the USS Carl Vinson is headed for North Korea and by gosh according to Reuters it really is headed for North Korea. Reuters even reports that Japanese naval vessels have joined the Vinson. Unless the Japanese are also going the wrong way ----which seems unlikely---they actually are headed for North Korea.

IMHO the NY Times, WaPo, CNN etc should now issue retractions. Their repeated claims that the Vinson is going the other way has been shown to be Fake News.


CNN has been caught pushing fake news again--- according to Reuters the USS Carl Vinson the USS Carl Vinson is heading for North Korea.

[Cog]

Ok this is a bit unusual. The entire US Senate has been invited to the White House for a briefing on North Korea. Not sure if this is signaling something but I've never heard of a briefing like this before. They usually just bring in the party leadership from both parties. We will see pretty soon what is shaking because 100 senators can't keep a secret very long.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-enti ... rea-2017-4

Top Trump administration officials will hold a rare briefing on Wednesday at the White House for the entire U.S. Senate on the situation in North Korea, senior Senate aides said on Monday.

All 100 senators have been asked to the White House for the briefing by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the aides said.

[vox_mundi]

US official: With eye on North Korea, China puts bombers on 'high alert'

(CNN) China temporarily put cruise missile-capable bombers "on high alert" this week as the United States sees evidence the Chinese military was preparing to respond to a potential situation in North Korea, a US defense official told CNN.

The official said the United States has also seen an extraordinary number of Chinese military aircraft being brought up to full readiness as part of a military posture adjustment to increase its ability to respond.

These recent steps have been assessed as part of China's effort to temporarily "reduce the time to react to a North Korea contingency," the official said. Such a contingency could include the risk of an armed conflict breaking out as tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in the wake of North Korean missile tests.



Reports on April 14 suggested China had put all five military regions on alert and instructed units to be ready to move in the event of a conflict. There were also reports that China moved 150,000 troops to the border in preparation for problems, however, there was no evidence to support those claims.

China reportedly hacked South Korea over that THAAD anti-missile system, security firm FireEye told The Wall Street Journal this weekend. “One of the two hacker groups, which FireEye dubbed Tonto Team, is tied to China’s military and based out of the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, where North Korean hackers are also known to be active, said Mr. Hultquist, a former senior U.S. intelligence analyst. FireEye believes the other, known as APT10, may be linked to other Chinese military or intelligence units.”

Russia ‘Moves Troops and Equipment’ to North Korea Border, as Kim Jong-un warns of 'Super-Mighty Pre-Emptive Strike'

Russia has moved heavy military equipment towards its border with North Korea amid mounting fears of a military clash between Pyongyang and the United States over the North’s nuclear program. - Video - The video has been authenticated by the Associated Press based on the opinions of regional experts and the news agency’s own reporting.

A flurry of military activity in Russia's far east came as the UN Security Council strongly condemned North Korea's latest missile test and threatened to impose new sanctions against Pyongyang for its "highly destabilizing behavior."

A Russian military spokesman said the flurry of military activity was part of “routine” exercises.

"Mass troop movements can be seen in various regions of the district at the moment: we are inspecting bases in the whole military district from Baikal to Chukotka: units are leaving their bases for field exercises in unfamiliar areas,” Colonel Alexander Gordeev, a spokesman for the Eastern Military District, told the site.

Col Gordeev said the Tor missiles filmed in Khabarovsk region were likely returning from exercises in neighbouring Buryatia last month.

Alexander Gordeyev, spokesperson for Russia's Far Eastern Military district, told Moscow's Interfax News Agency that the movements were "absolutely scheduled maneuvers of combat readiness" and were returning from seasonal military drills that had no relation to the political crisis in the Korean Peninsula, according to the Associated Press.

"All movements of equipment and troops are carried out in accordance with the combat training plan," Gordeyev told Russia's RIA Novosti Friday.

Japanese Prepare for War With North Korea With Nuclear Shelters and Air Purifiers to Thwart Radiation

As tensions and fears over a possible nuclear attack or devastating war rise in Southeast Asia, the Japanese are reportedly taking no chances and preparing for the worst as sales and orders of nuclear shelters and air purifiers capable of blocking radiation have jumped over the last several weeks, Reuters reported Monday.

Oribe Seiki Seisakusho, a small company based in Kobe, Japan, said it had already taken eight orders to build nuclear shelters this month, compared to six such orders for any given year. It has also sold out of 50 Swiss-made air purifiers designed to thwart radiation and poisonous gas and the company is still attempting to find more to fill orders, its director told Reuters.

"It takes time and money to build a shelter. But all we hear these days, in this tense atmosphere, is that they want one now," director Nobuko Oribe said. "They ask us to come right away and give them an estimate."

The cost of such equipment and improved infrastructure does not run cheap. One air purifier to protect six people costs $5,630 and one for as many as 13 people in a single shelter goes for $15,440. Some shelters able to house very large groups can run $227,210 and require four months of construction.

Depending on the device used, it wouldn’t be unheard of to expect up to 300,000 dead if North Korea fired a nuke into the heart of Seoul.

Hawaii’s Renewed Jitters About Nukes

The state is asking the Department of Defense to help it prepare for a nuclear attack, amid escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea.

State lawmakers in Hawaii have formally asked the Department of Defense to help with nuclear disaster preparedness in the state. Such plans haven’t been updated at the local level in decades, since 1985, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. In the early 1980s, Hawaii’s fallout shelters were still stocked with medical kits and food. But those supplies have long since been thrown out, and funding for such shelters evaporated.

[Cog]

The best possible scenario is to goad Fat Kim into attacking South Korea and/or US military assets. At that point, the USA is the aggrieved party and we can go all in without the criticism a first strike would bring.

[Cog]

This is the boomer we know about. I wonder how many other ones are in the vicinity, not counting attack subs guarding the Carl Vinson. Best lay in some popcorn for the main event.

http://www.businessinsider.com/uss-mich ... rea-2017-4


The USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered submarine armed with guided Tomahawk cruise missiles, will join the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier off the Korean peninsula, UPI reports.

The Michigan, which is armed with more than 150 Tomahawks, should arrive in the area on Tuesday, the same day that North Korea will commemorate the 85th anniversary of the founding of its army. The Vinson is also expected to be in the area sometime this week.

Some North Korea watchers speculate that the Kim regime may use this occasion to test a nuclear device, which experts say they could do at any time.

[Plantagenet]

The best possible scenario is to goad Fat Kim into attacking South Korea and/or US military assets. At that point, the USA is the aggrieved party and we can go all in without the criticism a first strike would bring.

Wouldn't it be simpler to send in a super secret US spy team to take out Kim and decapitate the evil dictatorship in North Korea. Then, when they hear the dictator is dead, the North Korean people will rise as one and overthrow their socialist overlords.


Do we really need an all-out war? Can't we do something more limited and "strategic"….?

[Cog]

An American Delta or Seal Team is going to stand out quite a bit in a country of Asians. And how are you going to get them out? You might be able to target him with a missile if you knew exactly where he was and at what time. And I do believe it is against US policy to directly target a foreign leader and has been for quite some time. They can be killed if the target is a command bunker and he just happens to be there.

[Plantagenet]

This is the boomer we know about. I wonder how many other ones are in the vicinity, not counting attack subs guarding the Carl Vinson. Best lay in some popcorn for the main event.

http://www.businessinsider.com/uss-mich ... rea-2017-4


The USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered submarine armed with guided Tomahawk cruise missiles, will join the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier off the Korean peninsula, UPI reports.

The Michigan, which is armed with more than 150 Tomahawks, should arrive in the area on Tuesday, the same day that North Korea will commemorate the 85th anniversary of the founding of its army. The Vinson is also expected to be in the area sometime this week.

Now that the "Fake News" reported by the frauds at CNN, NYT, WaPo, PBS, etc. that Trump wasn't actually sending a US Navy strike group to North Korea is thoroughly debunked, its time to wonder just what in heck Trump intends to do with the naval forces he's sent to Korea.

I find the fact that he is meeting with all 100 Senators about North Korea very interesting. Obama had a policy of doing nothing about North Korea and avoiding meetings with Congress people. Trump is on a different road. We'll have to see if this is all a big bluff, but after Trump bombed Syria over its use of chemical WMDs I wouldn't be surprised if he bombed North Korea over its tests of nuclear WMDs.


This Korea thing could be HUGE!

[Plantagenet]

the New York Times is now reporting that North Korea can make a nuclear bomb every 6 weeks or so and they are also making progress on their ICBM program.

The NYTimes says that this is why Trump is worried about North Korea.

[url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/24/world/asia/north-korea-nuclear-missile-program.html?_r=0]north-korea-nuclear-missile-program[url]

This is pretty shocking news. All of a sudden the NY Times has stopped their ridiculous claims that the naval strike group wasn't really going to OceaniaNorth Korea and is treating this whole thing more seriously.


How many more weeks until I have my next bomb?