freeman3
I still think military force will be justified if NK gets close to being able to hit us with nukes with ICBMs.
What form would that force be?
And what do you think the cost of that military force will be?
Before this weekend most experts estimated that the loss of life on the Korean Peninsula would be in the millions. Including many Americans by the way. There are currently between 200,000 and 250,000 Americans in South Korea. Plus 30,000 American military.
Another 200,000 troops would need to be committed in order to eradicate all the North Korean facilities. (Especially nuclear facilities which are spread out, well hidden and well defended.)
"You strike North Korea, they are going to strike back and they have a devastating conventional arsenal built up on the border that could lay waste to Seoul," he said. "Estimates are that hundreds of thousands of South Koreans would die in the first few hours of combat -- from artillery, from rockets, from short range missiles -- and if this war would escalate to the nuclear level, then you are looking at tens of millions of casualties and the destruction of the eleventh largest economy in the world."
"That's what you are going to roll the dice on," Cirincione added.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/11/politics/ ... index.htmlHowever the notion that an American pre-preemptive strike is possible, if someone was willing to accept the losses detailed above, just took a beat down.
China has warned that they would not accept a US preemptive strike and would weigh in on North Korea's side should this happen... And China could destroy most of the US with the capabilities...
At the same time they've said a North Korea aggression, would have China leaving North Korea to their own devices...
Which means the US should trust North Korea not to do anything stupid even if they have the capability. Since the concept of an intervention would mean WWIII.
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017 ... he-us.html freeman3
But sanctions causing NK to come to the table for some sort of deal is the much preferred option, obviously.
And this largely is in the hands of the Chinese... Who keep telling Trump to tone down the rhetoric.
rayjay
Having a lunatic in the White House isn't all bad.
Do you know how easy it is for the President to launch a nuclear strike?
What really weird is that most of the US government, that is the people who run things, seem to be ignoring Trumps words. There's been no ratcheting up of a military presence near the Korean peninsula. No additional forces sent in, no advisory to Americans to leave the region... No change in force status at all. (Never mind the contradictory rhetoric of Tillerson and Mattis)
Its following a pattern. They also ignore him on the transgender ban, and on his dopey statement on Venezuela.
So they seem to agree with you that he's a lunatic.
I think he's merely an ignoramus with personality disorders and impulse control. And I still worry about the nuclear codes. Perhaps Kelly, Mattis and McMaster have made some changes in protocol regarding them...