Posted on August 9, 2017
[ Ed. note – If you’re looking for a leader of enlightened wisdom, or even one who simply manages to display prudence and sanity on a somewhat regular basis, Donald Trump doesn’t seem to fit the bill. For all the foolhardy, misguided decisions he made in choosing his cabinet and staff, Trump’s threat to unleash “fire and fury” upon North Korea may be the stupidest move we’ve seen from him yet. In addition to Trump, Mattis, the Secretary of Defense, is threatening the “destruction” of the North Korean people, and if all that isn’t bad enough, the North Korean government is threatening to attack Guam. ]
***
Relations Between US and North Korea Deteriorate to New Low
A meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation on the Korean peninsula has taken place in New York. A new cause for concern – the words of Donald Trump: they say, the US will respond to the dangers of the North Korea “by force, fury and fire,” which “the world has not yet seen.” In response, on North Korea’s Central Television, it was said: Pyongyang is ready to strike a missile at the US military base on Guam. How will this clattering with weapons end?
Angry rhetoric between the North Korea and the US has reached a new level. Now Pyongyang has announced to the States not just new missile tests, but a blow, the goal of which is quite specific.
“North Korea is developing a plan for a preemptive missile strike against US military facilities on the Pacific island of Guam, including the Andersen airbase, where strategic bombers are deployed,” Korean television reported.
The North Korean military said that they would use medium-range ballistic missiles Hwasong-12 for their purposes. Theoretically, the rocket can reach the island of Guam.
“The missile, Hwasong-12, is theoretically capable of flying to the island of Guam,” said military expert Ivan Konovalov. “It was already tested in May of this year, it flew only 700 kilometers. But it had a very steep trajectory. Experts say that the missile can “strike” at 4,500 kilometers. This missile – if it will be launched – will still be intercepted by the US missile defense THAAD, which is in South Korea. But this complex is precisely designed to intercept such missiles.”
However, even if the missile is intercepted, the consequences can be disastrous for both sides. The crisis will shift to a new level – from rhetoric to concrete actions.
Perhaps, it is precisely the continuation of a verbal skirmish, and not the development of the conflict, that is expected in Washington. Governor of Guam Edward Calvo said “I want to reassure people that there is currently no threat to our island. I remind you that there are several levels of protection that are strategically located to protect our island and our nation. An attack or threat on Guam is a threat or an attack on the United States. ”
The Secretary of State of the United States, Rex Tillerson, was quick to introduce clarity in the dialogue. His statement sounded much more gentle than the emotional statement of Trump. “The harsh statements by US President Donald Trump about North Korea do not mean that Washington will abandon attempts to settle the problem peacefully,” the US Secretary of State explained. “What the president is doing is a message to North Korea in a language that Kim Jong-un can understand, because he does not seem to understand the diplomatic language. ”
The possible development of the conflict on the Korean peninsula has already affected the Asian market. The Korean stock index, which includes more than 700 companies, fell by 0.8 percent. Outside military threat, the deterioration of the situation in the region can affect the profits of companies and reduce business activity in the region.
***
Breaking: North Korea Developing Final Plan to Hit Guam in Mid-August
North Korean media has announced that the leadership is finalising plans for hitting Guam with intermediate range missiles which are apparently to be launched in mid-August.
Sputnik quotes General Kim Rak Gyom who said the following to North Korean media,
“The Hwasong-12 rockets to be launched by the KPA (Korean People’s Army) will cross the sky above Shimane, Hiroshima and Koichi Prefectures of Japan.They will fly 3,356.7 km (2,085.8 miles) for 1,065 seconds and hit the waters 30 to 40 km away from Guam”.
Several things are curious about this statement.
First of all, by stating that the preparations for the attack to apparently take place in mid-August are being made now, North Korea seems to be validating the Russian statement that it takes a significant amount of time for North Korea to launch missiles that countries like Russia, China and the US can generally launch in a matter of seconds or at the very most, a matter of hours, depending on the kind of warhead payload attacked to the missile in question.
Secondly, by telling the United States that it plans to launch an attack in the direction of Guam, the crucial element of surprise is totally lost.
North Korea further stated that Trump’s remarks threatening to hit north Korea with “fire and fury” the likes the world “has never seen before”, amount to “A load of nonsense”.
North Korea further stated that Donald Trump is only capable of understanding force, because he is “bereft of reason”. Such statements far from being classic North Korean rhetoric soudn a great deal like commentators on CNN and op-ed pieces in the Washington Post, New York Times and Guardian.
Sputnik reports,
“Pyongyang also said that America’s “frantic moves” on the Korean Peninsula will be reined by the action the North’s military “is about to take.”First the communist nation will develop a plan for the historic “enveloping fire at Guam,” communicate the nuclear force of the attack to Kim, then, “wait for is order.”
The DPRK has said it will “keep closely watching the speech and behavior of the US.”Earlier today, US Secretary of State James Mattis warned the North in a statement that they should “cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.”He added, “While our State Department is making every effort to resolve this global threat through diplomatic means, it must be noted that the combined allied militaries now possess the most precise, rehearsed and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on Earth. The DPRK regime’s actions will continue to be grossly overmatched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates.”
Either this is the ultimate test of brinkmanship on both sides, or the world’s most dangerous game of chicken. This comes as Russia, China and Philippines repeat calls for dialogue as the only safe and sensible way forward.
Uprooted Palestinian 
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment