John McCain warns Trump: Don't threaten North Korea unless you are ready to act

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by Travis J. Tritten | Aug 8, 2017

Sen. John McCain said Tuesday that President Trump should not threaten North Korea with "fire and fury" unless he is prepared to carry out those threats.

"The great leaders I've seen don't threaten unless they're ready to act, and I'm not sure President Trump is ready to act," McCain told the Arizona radio station KTAR. "I take exception to the president's comments because you got to be sure you can do what you say you're going to do."


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/john-mccain-warns-trump-dont-threaten-north-korea-unless-you-are-ready-to-act/article/2630962

[freedumb2003b]

mccain is badly in need of diaper changing.

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Here’s What Would Happen if North Korea Hit A U.S. City With a Nuke

According to reports, Pyongyang has developed the capability to hit the United States with nuclear weapons.

 According to missile expert David Wright, Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago are well within the range of North Korea’s latest successfully-tested missile, and Boston and New York sit on the edge of the missile’s range.

Here’s what would happen if North Korea hit these U.S. cities, using the nuclear explosion simulator NUKEMAP. We used the largest North Korean yield as a measure, and airburst all explosions, given the ICBM delivery.

Los Angeles (Range: 5,900 mi): In the immediate blast of a hit on downtown Los Angeles, approximately 70,000 people would lose their lives, and 150,000 people would find themselves injured. A total of 38 schools and seven hospitals would be inside the blast zone, originating from the center of the city.

Denver (6,100 mi): Denver would suffer around 50,000 fatalities with another 85,000 injured if North Korea was able to hit the center of the city. The blast zone would include one hospital and 32 schools.

Chicago (6,500 mi): A direct ICBM hit on Chicago would likely incur approximately 100,000 immediate fatalities with an additional 200,000 injuries. Around 30 schools and six hospitals would be inside the blast zone.

Boston (6,700 mi): If a nuclear-tipped missile could reach downtown Boston, the fatalities could reach upward of 110,000 in addition to 190,000 injuries. The massive campus of Massachusetts General Hospital would be in the blast radius as well as approximately 70 schools.

New York (6,750 mi): A nuclear explosion in Manhattan would cause about 181,000 deaths and over 500,000 injured. If the missile hit Lower Manhattan, about 25 hospitals and 150 schools would be in the blast radius.

In addition to these major cities, the North Koreans are approximately 50 miles away from hitting the seat of U.S. power in Washington, D.C. But with up to 60 nuclear warheads, the Kim regime currently has the capability to deliver untold destruction to the U.S. mainland.

http://ntknetwork.com/heres-what-would-happen-if-north-korea-hit-a-u-s-city-with-a-nuke/

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Via CNBC:

    North Korea said on Wednesday it is “carefully examining” a plan to strike the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam with missiles, just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with “fire and fury”.

    A spokesman for the Korean People’s Army, in a statement carried by the North’s state-run KCNA news agency, said the strike plan will be “put into practice in a multi-current and consecutive way any moment” once leader Kim Jong Un makes a decision.

    In another statement citing a different military spokesman, North Korea also said it could carry out a pre-emptive operation if the United States showed signs of provocation.

    Earlier Pyongyang said it was ready to give Washington a “severe lesson” with its strategic nuclear force in response to any U.S. military action.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/north-korea-seriously-considering-strike-on-guam-reports-citing-state-media.html

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Report: U.S. assesses NKorea can fit nuke inside a missile

WASHINGTON (August 8, 2017) — North Korea may have successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, passing a key threshold in becoming a full-fledged nuclear power, according to a Japanese defense paper and a U.S. media report.

Japan’s Defense Ministry concluded in an annual white paper released Tuesday that “it is possible that North Korea has achieved the miniaturization of nuclear weapons and has developed nuclear warheads.” Japan, a key U.S. ally, is also a potential target of North Korean aggression.

And The Washington Post reported Tuesday that U.S. intelligence officials assess that a decade after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion, Pyongyang has produced nuclear weapons for ballistic missile delivery, including by intercontinental missiles — the type capable of reaching the continental U.S.

The Post story, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence officials, said the confidential analysis was completed last month by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. The U.S. also calculated last month that North Korea has up to 60 nuclear weapons, the Post said, more than double most assessments by independent experts.

https://www.onenewsnow.com/ap/world/report-us-assesses-nkorea-can-fit-nuke-inside-a-missile

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by Naomi Lim | Aug 8, 2017

Sen. Dan Sullivan: Trump needs authorization from Congress for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea

Sen. Dan Sullivan said Tuesday that President Trump would require authorization from Congress before fulfilling his promise to bring "fire and fury" against North Korea if it threatens the U.S.

"One of the options that they're looking at that would eventually materialize is a pre-emptive war on the Korean peninsula launched by the U.S. Well, that would clearly in my view require the authorization from Congress," the Alaskan Republican told Erin Burnett on CNN's "Out Front."

"Article I makes this very clear."

Sullivan sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee and represents a state that lies in reach of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities.

Effective diplomacy has to be backed up with credible military options, he said.

"To me, the administration has done a good job up until now working closely with the Congress on their broader strategy," Sullivan continued. "But we're going to play an important role here."

Sullivan, however, differentiated between a pre-emptive strike and Trump responding to an attack, in which case Trump would have more authority to react without congressional approval as commander in chief.

Alaska is also home to part of the United States' missile defense system, he said.

Sullivan said he was "confident" in America's preparedness for a possible assault but called on his colleagues on Capitol Hill to do more to create a more "robust" program, including improving space sensors.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sen-dan-sullivan-trump-needs-authorization-from-congress-for-a-pre-emptive-strike-on-north-korea/article/2630979

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Alaskan senator: We're concerned about possible North Korean missile strike

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said he is seriously concerned about a possible North Korean missile strike on his state as well as the rest of the United States.

"There's concern, but there's also pride," Sullivan said on Fox News's "The Story" Tuesday. “Alaska is the cornerstone of our nation’s missile defense."

Sullivan said that while he is concerned over the escalating tensions, the missile defense battalion stationed in Alaska “is literally protecting the country.”

“The Alaska guard unit there calls themselves the 300, protecting the 300 million,” Sullivan said. “So that’s what they’re doing now, protecting us.”

Sullivan introduced a bill in May to step up missile defense systems in Alaska in response to increased missile tests by North Korea.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/345827-alaskan-senator-theres-concern-about-a-north-korean-missile

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Bipartisan Senator McCain Takes Exception To Trump Remarks About North Korea

This isn’t North Vietnam we are dealing with.

Via The Hill:

    Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took exception to President Trump’s remarks Tuesday that further provocation by North Korea will be met “with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

    McCain argued the tough rhetoric is unlikely to help as tensions rise between the United States and North Korea over the latter’s nuclear program.

    “I don’t know what he’s saying and I’ve long ago given up trying to interpret what he says,” McCain said of Trump during an interview with a local Arizona radio station first reported by NBC.

    “That kind of rhetoric, I’m not sure how it helps.”

    McCain said the U.S. risks getting into a serious confrontation with North Korea, and invoked former President Teddy Roosevelt’s famous “big stick” policy.

    “In other words, the old walk softly but carry a big stick, Teddy Roosevelt’s saying, which I think is something that should’ve applied because all it’s going to do is bring us closer to a serious confrontation,” McCain warned. “I think this is very, very, very serious.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/345809-mccain-not-sure-trumps-rhetoric-on-north-korea-is-helpful

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Defense Secretary James Mattis Delivers Statement on North Korea

Posted on August 9, 2017   by sundance

Speaking today in Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany, Defense Secretary James Mattis gave a statement to the media before the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan at the George C. Marshall Center:

“The United States and our allies have the demonstrated capabilities and unquestionable commitment to defend ourselves from attack.

Kim Jong Un should take heed of the United Nations Security Council’s unified voice, and statements from governments the world over, who agree the DPRK poses a threat to global security and stability. The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The DPRK should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.”

“President Trump was informed of the growing threat last December and on taking office his first orders to me emphasized the readiness of our ballistic missile defense and nuclear deterrent forces.

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 posses the most precise, rehearsed, and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on earth. The DPRK regime’s actions will continue to be grossly over matched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates.”

~ U.S. Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis

[Drafe Hoblin]

Hysteria... courtesy of....  that bastion of truth...  The Postington Wash.

When was the last time they ever broke a 'nuclear story'..... ?

Decades, if ever.  Newspapers and news-networks don't break stories like this.  They find out about them when we do... through official press-statements.

Funny how WP only reports it when 'the finished product' is ready to go.

Oh btw, on topic...  The only reason McCain spouted-off is because Trump is ready to get that crummy Country and its slime-dollop leader out of the headlines forever.  The sooner, the better.  McCain's goin' short-term Sunday Show cred.  That's it. 

 

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Japan ready to protect Guam, defense minister says

In the event of a North Korean nuclear attack on Guam, Japan’s new defense minister said Thursday that his country’s military could shoot down the missiles before they reach the U.S. territory.

In such a scenario, Japan has the right to activate its Aegis destroyer missile defense system, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said during a session of the National Diet, Japan’s parliament.

Any attack against Guam would be considered an existential threat to Japan, the defense minister said, also citing a mutual defense agreement with the United States.

Japan lies only about 620 miles to the east of North Korea, which has conducted numerous missile tests this year. Most of the weapons have landed in the Sea of Japan, which lies between Japan and the eastern coast of the massive Asian continent.

Guam lies about 1,600 miles south of Japan.

Onodera’s comments reflected what observers have viewed as Japan’s growing interest in reviving its military and taking a more aggressive stance in the affairs of the Asia-Pacific region than it has since the end of World War II.

Onodera returned to the defense minister’s position just last week following a Cabinet reshuffling by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzu Abe. Onodera had previously served in the job from 2012 to 2014.

In March, Onodera led a study that resulted in recommendations for boosting Japan’s missile response capability, the Australian reported. His department also recently issued a 532-page report on proposed defense initiatives, the news site said.

According to the Australian, Japan is looking to add upgraded ship-to-air interceptors to double its current defense capabilities.

Meanwhile, Japanese cities have started to stage evacuation drills in preparation for a missile attack, and private sales of nuclear shelters have been booming, the Australian reported.

Previously, Japan has said it would shoot down North Korean missiles only if they were directed toward Japan. But last year, Japan enacted a new defense policy, allowing its military to defend U.S. territories and other allies against attack.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/08/10/japan-ready-to-protect-guam-defense-minister-says.html

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Guam’s Governor Praises Trump Response: I Want President Who Will Respond With ‘Fury’ If We’re Bombed

Attack on Guam is an attack on the United States. But apparently not to Lindsey Graham.

Via Daily Caller:

    The governor of Guam, facing threats from North Korea, said Wednesday that he wants a president who will respond with “fury” if U.S. territories are attacked.

    Many have criticized Trump for promising “fire and fury” if North Korea continues to threaten the United States, especially with nuclear weapons, but Gov. Eddie Calvo seemed unbothered by Trump’s approach.

    “As far as I’m concerned, as an American citizen, I want a president that says that if any nation such as North Korea attacks Guam…that they will be met with hell and fury,” Calvo declared.

    In fact, Calvo said he was more disturbed by Sen. Lindsey Graham’s statement that “if there was going to be a war, it would be in the region, not in America.”

    “This is American sovereign soil…there are over 200,000 American citizens,” Calvo said, noting his island’s geographic proximity to North Korea.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/09/guam-governor-i-want-a-president-who-will-retaliate-video/

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FLASHBACK: Trump warned about NKorea nukes — in 1999!

As tensions escalate between the United States and North Korea over Kim Jong-Un’s continued treats to obliterate the United States, some are reflecting on President Trump’s comments about the situation from a 1999 interview with “Meet the Press.”

In the exchange with the late Tim Russert, Trump explained that he’d “negotiate like crazy,” but refused to rule out a swift preemptive military strike, if necessary.

    Trump on North Korea in 1999. pic.twitter.com/x4FlnNfJv6

    — Based Monitored (@BasedMonitored) August 8, 2017

https://twitter.com/BasedMonitored/status/895060370376839172/video/1

http://www.theamericanmirror.com/flashback-trump-warned-nkorea-nukes-1999/

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U.S. and Guam Shielded From North Korean Missiles by High-Tech Defenses

BY: Bill Gertz   Follow @BillGertz
August 10, 2017 5:00 am

Amid growing missile threats from North Korea, American missile defenses based in Alaska, California, and Guam, as well as on Navy ships, are capable of knocking out North Korean nuclear missiles, according to military leaders and experts.

Missile Defense Agency Director Air Force Lt. General Samuel Greaves said Wednesday he is confident current defenses would be effective against Pyongyang's missiles.

"Yes, we believe that the currently deployed ballistic missile defense system can meet today's threat, and we've demonstrated that capability through testing," Greaves told a conference in Alabama.

Contrary to critics who say ground-based interceptors and naval anti-missile systems are unreliable, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, a former MDA director, says the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) provides the best protection from a long-range North Korean strike.

Yet other shorter-range defenses such as the land-based Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, and the Navy's ship-based Aegis SM-3 missiles can knock out medium and intermediate-range North Korean missiles, and if given enough satellite warning could attack North Korea's ICBM warheads, he said.

"Any interceptor can intercept any missile, given the right parameters," Obering said in an interview.

"I have high confidence that if we were attacked by North Korea we would be able to defend ourselves."

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/u-s-guam-shielded-north-korean-missiles-high-tech-defenses/

[DumbAss Tanker]

Coming from the same brain-damaged bitter old man who wanted to destabilize Syria and leave us with no choice but to dive in headlong afterward or watch ISIS own the place lock, stock, and barrel.

[HAPPY2BME]

North Korea missiles can reach Guam in 14 minutes, local official says

If North Korea fires missiles toward Guam, they would take about 14 minutes to reach the island, said Guam Homeland Security spokeswoman Jenna Gaminde.

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/08/10/north-korea-considers-mid-august-attack-plan-against-guam/554932001/

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BEIJING (Reuters) - If North Korea launches an attack that threatens the United States then China should stay neutral, but if the United States attacks first and tries to overthrow North Korea's government China will stop them, a Chinese state-run newspaper said on Friday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-china-media-idUSKBN1AR005

[Boudicca]

Coming from the same brain-damaged bitter old man who wanted to destabilize Syria and leave us with no choice but to dive in headlong afterward or watch ISIS own the place lock, stock, and barrel.

DAT, as an Arizonan, I assure you that I had no part in getting that sob re-elected.  Unfortunately, he's more apt to be carted off the Senate floor toes up than to eke out his final months with his family.
He's like the turd in the Demonrat effluvium punch bow(e)l.
Thank GOD President Trump is in charge of the dump that is World Affairs Resident Obuttwipe left hanging.  Can you imagine Cankles in Charge?  It'd result in more than four dead patriots.
Why isn't that bitch tried and convicted yet? 

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Trump and Xi discuss a nuke-less Korean Peninsula

A Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons is a goal both Washington and Beijing are interested in pursuing, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed during a phone conversation Friday.

That portion of their phone call was confirmed early Saturday in a White House statement and in a report on Chinese state television.

“The leaders affirmed that the recent adoption of a new United Nations Security Council resolution regarding North Korea was an important and necessary step toward achieving peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” the White House statement said. “President Trump and President Xi agreed North Korea must stop its provocative and escalatory behavior.

“The Presidents also reiterated their mutual commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

The statement added that Trump was looking forward to meeting with Xi in China later this year.

The trip, announced in April, was recently confirmed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who met in Manila with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/08/12/in-phone-call-trump-and-xi-discuss-nuke-less-korean-peninsula.html

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Ellison: Kim Jong-un Acting More Responsibly Than Trump

August 11, 2017 5:54 pm

Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.) said on Friday that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was acting "more responsible than" President Donald Trump.

Speaking at the left-wing Netroots Nation conference in Atlanta, Ellison, who serves as Vice-Chair of the Democratic National Committee, spoke briefly on the latest tensions between North Korea and the United States.

"North Korea is a serious thing. You have this guy [Trump] making bellicose threats against somebody else who has very little to lose over there," Ellison said. "Kim Jong-un, the world always thought he was not a responsible leader. Well, he's acting more responsible than this guy is."

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0MsV8I1Hwg[/youtube]

http://freebeacon.com/politics/ellison-kim-jong-un-acting-responsibly-trump/

[DumbAss Tanker]

DAT, as an Arizonan, I assure you that I had no part in getting that sob re-elected.  Unfortunately, he's more apt to be carted off the Senate floor toes up than to eke out his final months with his family.
He's like the turd in the Demonrat effluvium punch bow(e)l.
Thank GOD President Trump is in charge of the dump that is World Affairs Resident Obuttwipe left hanging.  Can you imagine Cankles in Charge?  It'd result in more than four dead patriots.
Why isn't that bitch tried and convicted yet?

H5 to ya for all that, ma'am!

 

[HAPPY2BME]

What Does War With North Korea Look Like? A Tragedy

Most seem to agree, with a few exceptions, that following an outbreak of hostilities, North Korea would pummel the South Korean capital of Seoul with the 8,000 artillery pieces they have stationed along the DMZ.

There also seems to be consensus that a pre-emptive strike to take out Pyongyang’s nuclear, missile, and artillery forces would not successfully eradicate their long-range capabilities.

Commentators also seem to assume that war with North Korea would end in a quick, but bloody, U.S. victory.

“Nasty, brutish, and short,” Quartz predicts, invoking the Hobbesian cliché:

    As long as China didn’t get involved to help the North, says Robert E. Kelly, a professor at Pusan National University in South Korea, the Kim-controlled Korean People’s Army (KPA) would lose in a conventional ground war to the US and its allies within “six weeks, a month, two months max.”

Newsweek imagined a particularly undesirable scenario, based on the accounts of North Korean defectors, in which Pyongyang would use its chemical weapons stockpile on critical South Korean infrastructure. But still, military leaders remain confident that the United States would crush North Korea:

    Even if that artillery barrage and push into the South gave the North the initiative, there is no question, military planners all say, who would ultimately prevail in a second Korean War. The U.S. and South Korea have far too much firepower, and if Kim Jong Un decided to go to war, that would be end of his regime, whether he knows it or not.

http://ntknetwork.com/what-does-war-with-north-korea-look-like-a-tragedy/

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