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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNavy Carrier Strike Force Steams Toward Korea
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/09/us-navy-strike-group-north-korea-peninsula-syria-missile-strikeAs the US navy deployed a strike group towards the western Pacific Ocean, to provide a presence near the Korean peninsula, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said China agrees with the Trump administration that action has to be taken regarding North Korea.
Tillerson told CBSs Face the Nation, in an interview broadcast on Sunday, that when Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping met at Mar-a-Lago this week, they had extensive discussions around the dangerous situation in North Korea.
President Xi clearly understands, and I think agrees, that the situation has intensified and has reached a certain level of threat that action has to be taken, Tillerson said.
Tillerson described a shared view and no disagreement as to how dangerous the situation has become.
More at link...
This is more than a little alarming. Apparently the Trump administration believes that they can act against North Korea without alarming China.
FDRsGhost
(470 posts)While most everyone is concentrated on Russian hacking and all that jazz, THIS is where my focus is because this is a bigger threat IMHO for now.
I've said for awhile that Idiot In Chief is going to get us in a war with N Korea and when he does, millions are going to die. Do you like your smart phone? Most are made in Korea. LCD screens? TV sets? Korean as well. South Koread could be wiped out and a city the size of Seoul would see catastrophic damage.
You're looking at how WW3 starts. The middle east doesn't have anything on this.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)One incompetent, narcissistic world leader attacking an absolutely insane national leader. North Korea would happily carry out a suicide mission if attacked. Kim Jong Un doesn't care. If, as in Syria, Trump does some sort of ineffectual attack on NK, it could trigger an all-out assault on South Korea by Kim.
Unless the US has planned a devastating first strike that takes out the border armaments that could attack Seoul, the response could be devastating to the South Korean people near the border, including in Seoul.
I also doubt that the Trumpers have a clear idea of what China would do. They might think they do, but they're incompetent, so it seems unlikely that they have a good understanding of the situation.
Worrisome, at the very least.
And I drive a KIA Soul. Fortunately, it doesn't need any parts at this time.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,097 posts)Probably NK, many will die so trump can take the focus off of his foreign espionage.
I predict dour outcomes in hopes people will take heed and change the future, like not vote 3rd party.
But people insisted on doing that and now millions will die.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)Syria isn't a likely place for much of a war involving the US. Russia is already there, and we don't want to get involved with causing Russian casualties, I'm sure. Even Trump knows better than that.
North Korea, on the other hand is an unpopular country pretty much with everyone. Even China is troubled by it. However, the quarters are very close between the North and South, and that makes doing anything there, militarily, very risky. That's made worse by Kim Jong Un being a complete wacko. He's much less stable that even our very unstable current occupant of the White House.
Trump appears ready to flex his military muscles, though, and North Korea looks like an attractive place to do that to him. He's wrong, of course, and the reaction to any sort of attack on that country will be something that should be carefully avoided.
South Korea is a fairly major trading partner with the US. From electronics to automobiles, Americans use a lot of South Korean products. Disruption of that business connection would have fairly large effects on the economy.
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)to destroy...and if that means using nukes than god damn it, they will use nukes. These people live in a comic book reality......and the the chaos of trump and his admin may force North Korea or China to strike first...as US demonstrated in 2nd Iraq war...the justification of a pre-emptive strike. North Korea doesn't have to hit america...they can hit South Korea and Japan and so the dominoes start falling.....trump is too stupid to understand and the dark forces around him don't care
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)"glassing" the Middle East.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)They somehow believe that we can use nukes without destroying ourselves and the world.
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)after Iraq and now Syria. For a culture so fond of sports metaphors, consider this: The beat defense is a good offense.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)bigtree
(85,919 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)He rarely does anything else.
Brother Buzz
(36,217 posts)or did did the orange anus wait until Xi left the US. I suspect the latter, and I'm guessing the meetings did not go swimmingly.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)According to the article at the link, the Trump administration is saying that China understands the situation. Whatever that might mean. I suspect that Xi was holding his cards very close to his chest during those meetings. I'm sure NK came up, though, in the conversation.
Calculating
(2,954 posts)If I want a new LG OLED tv I should probably buy one soon before Trump attacks NK and gets SK bombed to shit.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)However, you should do what you think is best. There may be fewer flat-screen TVs available this Christmas, for sure.
mahina
(17,506 posts)They even have a facebook page.