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[Geoffrey de Ste. Croix]

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Pyongyang apparently blaming escalation of tension on Trump's online trolling. Who said social media wouldn't radically change the world?

"And this is how the world ends
And this is how the world ends
And this is how the world ends
Not with a bang but with a tweet"

[anton pulisov]

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Surely South Korea would never approve an attack on the North.

Seoul is literally right next to the border. They'd be toast.

[Amor de Cosmos]

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So far as Trump's concerned their approval might not be required.

[Mr Beast]

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Incandenza wrote: NBC News is reporting that the military is ready to launch a preemptive conventional weapons/cyber warfare/special forces ground troops (any and all of the above) attack on North Korea if a nuclear test seems imminent.

It's been great knowing you all.

Likewise.

It does seem time to get my affairs in order except there may be nobody left to make it worth bothering.

[caja-dglh]

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Welp, I imagine the world would have ended by now if that warmonger Hillary had won.

[Toby Gymshorts]

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[anton pulisov]

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Satchmo Distel wrote: There are "there are between 600 and 800 Isis-K fighters in the country" and this bomb killed 36 men "suspected" of being among them.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/13/us-military-drops-non-nuclear-bomb-afghanistan-islamic-state

Obviously it was purely for show and to placate some general who seems to be straight out of Dr. Strangelove.

The Onion headline is "New Bomb Capable of Creating 1,500 New Terrorists in Single Blast"

[anton pulisov]

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Amor de Cosmos wrote: So far as Trump's concerned their approval might not be required.

I wouldn't worry. Kim Il-Sung's birthday isn't until tomorrow. By then Trump will have become bored of North Korea.

edit: oh wait, it's already tomorrow in North Korea. Shit.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

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San Bernardhinault wrote: I've seen that reported elsewhere, but it appears to be wrong. The bombs cost "only" $16m each. The US has spent $314 in total on MOAB ordnance.

All hail the fiscally responsible party. Sorry, I forgot - the concept of 'fiscal responsibility' only applies when funding blackboards for 'baby thugs' and food stamps for 'welfare mamas'.

[Satchmo Distel]

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A lot seems to depend on whether the North Koreans are going to be as unhinged as Trump is, or will there be a point at which they step back from the precipice, as in the Cuban missile crisis (which seems to be the closest parallel, along with Nixon's madman concept).

What can the Chinese do? A lot less than Trump seems to think, or does he think that all Asians are one hive mind?

[Amor de Cosmos]

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Narcissistic Personality Disorder vs Favoured son who's never had anyone say "No" to him in his life.

Not Kennedy vs Khrushchev

[ursus arctos]

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The fallback assumption of US policy for some time has been that China would not allow Kim to launch a first strike (though exactly how is unclear).

If that isn't true, we are in trouble, just as we are in trouble if 45 is seriously considering a first strike anywhere.

[San Bernardhinault]

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Amor de Cosmos wrote: Narcissistic Personality Disorder vs Favoured son who's never had anyone say "No" to him in his life.

Which is which?

[MsD]

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Agree, it's not a re-run of the Bay of Pigs crisis. The Cold War stalemate/balance depended on having fairly rational leaders (or advisers) who didn't want a war, whose best interests were served by maintaining a status quo, generally, or at least, not provoking a terrible war.

Neither Trump nor KJ can be relied upon to assess the situation calmly and decide on what is best for their country, even for their own children or families. KJ has had family members killed with particular cruelty.

Powerful weapons are just too tempting for both of them.

I am genuinely uneasy, as I was during the early 80s. We're (in the UK) not in the direct firing line between the US and NK but that's not giving us much to be relaxed about. It would be good to have a united Europe at this time, trying to talk some sense into the demented fucker on the left (of the atlas), while everyone decides quietly what to do about the demented fucker on the right, like "not poke him with a stick, for now".

[Amor de Cosmos]

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San Bernardhinault wrote:

Narcissistic Personality Disorder vs Favoured son who's never had anyone say "No" to him in his life.

Which is which?

They may well be interchangeable. If there's a difference it might be that Trump desires praise, but Kim expects it.

[Amor de Cosmos]

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MsDayglo wrote: Agree, it's not a re-run of the Bay of Pigs crisis. The Cold War stalemate/balance depended on having fairly rational leaders (or advisers) who didn't want a war, whose best interests were served by maintaining a status quo, generally, or at least, not provoking a terrible war.

Neither Trump nor KJ can be relied upon to assess the situation calmly and decide on what is best for their country, even for their own children or families. KJ has had family members killed with particular cruelty.

Powerful weapons are just too tempting for both of them.

I am genuinely uneasy, as I was during the early 80s. We're (in the UK) not in the direct firing line between the US and NK but that's not giving us much to be relaxed about. It would be good to have a united Europe at this time, trying to talk some sense into the demented fucker on the left (of the atlas), while everyone decides quietly what to do about the demented fucker on the right, like "not poke him with a stick, for now".

I was in my early teens during the Cuban Missile Crisis, there was palpable widespread fear in the air then. I'm not sure it's as tense now... yet. There are of course differences. There's no ultimatum. Also the adversaries are not as equal in destructive power as was the case then. But, as you say, on the other side of the coin is the mental instability and lack of worldliness/experience of the two protagonists. There was a predictability about the CMC, that absolutely doesn't apply now. That's a very serious worry.

[gjw100]

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The Real Cuban Missile Crisis. Everything you think you know about those 13 days is wrong....

[MsD]

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Quite a good article, but who is it aimed at? Anyone who's studied the period already knows that the US had more weapons and that they circled the USSR.

Not as irritating as Trump's constant "who knew?" every time he learns that gosh, things aren't as simple as they seem.

[ursus arctos]

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Not so much if you grew up in the US and never did serious uni-level History or IR

[Amor de Cosmos]

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Yes, the article's assumptions are very USA-centric. For example it was clear even to this fourteen-year-old Brit that the USSR's Cuban missile deployment was tied to the American ones recently planted in Turkey. It was also widely interpreted in the UK press (as a delivery boy I saw every British national paper) as Kennedy's attempt to save-face over the Bay of Pigs fiasco by provoking an unnecessary confrontation.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

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Let me share a joke to diffuse the pre-apocalypse tension. Remember when some clueless twats on the Left were hailing Trump as the preferable option over Hillary because, besides being the voice of the working class, he was also supposed to be some sort of peacenik?

[Calvert]

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I can't recall anyone on 'the left' saying that.

JFK was remarkably popular in West Belfast. Quite a few people had framed photos of the war-mongering philanderer.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

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I can, Calvert.

[Calvert]

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Anyone we know?

[Amor de Cosmos]

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Calvert wrote:

JFK was remarkably popular in West Belfast. Quite a few people had framed photos of the war-mongering philanderer.

Was it that remarkable? Irish ancestors First Catholic Prez etc. Reagan later played the same tune, so — rather pathetically — did Nixon. "Nixon didn't come from anywhere." said a friend "He washed up on Hermosa Beach in a suit that needed dry-cleaning."