Trump warns N Korea that US military is 'locked and loaded'

[Nadiru]

I like this version of Trump better

I've never quite understood people hating Trump's words but liking them if spoken by...well, not Trump. The NYU genderswap experiment, flamboyantly gay Trump, etc.

[NYC17]

I've never quite understood people hating Trump's words but liking them if spoken by...well, not Trump. The NYU genderswap experiment, flamboyantly gay Trump, etc.

They still sound like they were uttered by a complete fucking moron.

[Breccia]

Chinese leader asks Trump for ‘restraint’ on North Korea

President Trump discussed North Korea’s nuclear threat with China’s President Xi Jinping late on Friday night, according to the White House.

During the call, Xi urged Trump to show “restraint” in his rhetoric about the crisis, according to the Associated Press.

The “relevant parties must maintain restraint and avoid words and deeds that would exacerbate the tension on the Korean Peninsula,” he told Trump, as quoted by state-run Chinese media.

According to the White House, the two leaders agreed on North Korea, “reiterated their mutual commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” and hoped for “a peaceful resolution.”

Trump has previously said he is "disappointed" China does nothing but "talk" on North Korea and urged the country to do more to halt North Korea's rapidly advancing nuclear program.

The White House also said the two leaders reaffirmed the United Nations’ recent adoption of new sanctions against North Korea as “an important and necessary step toward achieving peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”

North Korea has responded to those sanctions with increased aggression, escalating Wednesday to a threat to attack waters near the U.S. territory of Guam.

Over the last week, Trump has issued stern warnings about the U.S. response to North Korea, saying the United States will respond with “fire, fury and frankly power” to such threats. Lawmakers in both parties have raised concerns that Trump's rhetoric is exacerbating an already delicate situation.

Trump tweeted Friday that the military is “locked and loaded” and that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un would “truly regret it” if he attacks the U.S. territory of Guam.

“Hopefully it will all work out,” he said later in the day. “Nobody loves a peaceful solution more than President Trump, that I can tell you … But we will see what happens. We think that lots of good things could happen, and we could also have a bad solution.”

Again: I would love to see a peaceful solution to this, and most, problems. But nothing would make me happier than NK and China working out a deal behind closed doors that does not involve Trump in any way, then announcing it to the world, publicly castrating him.

- - - Updated - - -

North Korea warns Trump to 'talk and act properly,' says conflict is 'tragicomedy' created by US

The war of words between the U.S. and North Korea continued on Saturday.

"If the Trump administration does not want the American empire to meet its tragic doom in its tenure, they had better talk and act properly," North Korea said in a statement distributed through state-run media.

Continuing to take aim at President Donald Trump's remarks, the statement says, "Of late, the president and other riffraff of the U.S. are trumpeting about 'military option' against the DPRK, claiming that they 'will not rule out a war.' Meanwhile, they introduce huge strategic nuclear assets into the Korean peninsula, staging reckless nuclear war games and rendering the regional situation extremely tense."

"The U.S. has done all sorts of wrongs to the DPRK, styling itself the 'only superpower' in the eyes of the world," the statement continues. "But now it finds itself in an ever worsening dilemma, being thrown into the grip of extreme security unrest by the DPRK. This is tragicomedy of its own making."

The North Korean military is "capable of fighting any war the U.S. wants is now on the standby to launch fire into its mainland, waiting for an order of final attack," the rogue nation contends in its statement.

North Korea's statement follows the president's warning Friday to North Korea about its threats against the United States, saying of that country's leader Kim Jong Un, he "will not get away with what he's doing."

"If he utters one threat in the form of an overt threat -- which, by the way, he has been uttering for years, and his family has been uttering for years -- or if he does anything with respect to Guam or any place else that's an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret it, and he will regret it fast," said Trump.

Speaking later on Friday, Trump reassured residents of the U.S. territory in the western Pacific. "I feel they will be very safe," he said. "Believe me, they will be very safe. And if anything happens to Guam, there's going to be big, big trouble in North Korea."

Trump has spent much of the first week of his 17-day-long working vacation sparring with the hostile Asian nation. His comment warning Kim against making further threats comes as North Korea claims to be preparing plans to attack the U.S. territory of Guam. One of its military leaders also called Trump "bereft of reason" and said he was "extremely getting on the nerves" of its armed forces.

"Only absolute force can work on him," said General Kim Rak Gyom, the commander of the North Korean military's Strategic Rocket Forces, of Trump, on Wednesday.

Trump has said America will respond to North Korean threats with "fire and fury," and, later, that the "fire and fury" rhetoric "wasn't tough enough."

But he refused to say Thursday whether he was considering any preemptive measures against North Korea.

On Friday, Trump indicated that he believed he was sending a clear message to North Korea.

"I hope that they are going to fully understand the gravity of what I said, and what I said is what I mean," said Trump, adding, "Those words are very, very easy to understand."

Also on Friday, Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and "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," according to a readout of the conversation provided by the White House.

"President Trump and President Xi agreed North Korea must stop its provocative and escalatory behavior," the readout continued. "The Presidents also reiterated their mutual commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

And according to China Central Television, Xi said of the call, "At present, the relevant parties must maintain restraint and avoid words and deeds that would exacerbate the tension on the Korean Peninsula."

Trump additionally responded Friday to an Associated Press report that a U.S. official has been involved in back-channel diplomatic efforts with North Korea lasting several months.

"We don't want to talk about back channels," said Trump. "We want to talk about a country that has misbehaved for many, many years, decades, actually … we'll either be very, very successful, quickly, or we're going to be very, very successful in a different way, quickly."

Give NK some credit: this is a tragicomedy, which oddly enough is a real word.

I particularly like the bolded text. "NK better not do that thing they've been doing for years."

[Deleted]

I particularly like the bolded text. "NK better not do that thing they've been doing for years."

Kim and the North Koreans are the adults in the room.

[Orby]

So easy for leaders to talk about war when they don't have to fight in them... After all it's only those expendable soldiers that get to die. Trump got golf to go to.

and this isnt just a Trump thing, this is general world leader mentality. See if these leaders are so willing to go to war if they get to fight on the front lines themselves...

[Breccia]

So easy for leaders to talk about war when they don't have to fight in them... After all it's only those expendable soldiers that get to die. Trump got golf to go to

To be fair, nobody's talked about soldiers yet. As @Skroe has posted (amongst others) there's been nearly no movement of troops, or planes, or boats. If something is going to happen soon, it's probably not going to be expendable soldiers.

[Mormolyce]

I find it difficult to give a shit about this NK situation since I don't believe a word Trump or NK says.

[Breccia]

I find it difficult to give a shit about this NK situation since I don't believe a word Trump or NK says.

Assuming @Skroe and co. are right, that the lack of troops or vehicles moving is proof this is blowhard, it's just Trump trying to be a bully to whip up his crowd.

In other words, Mueller found something.

[Orby]

To be fair, nobody's talked about soldiers yet. As @Skroe has posted (amongst others) there's been nearly no movement of troops, or planes, or boats. If something is going to happen soon, it's probably not going to be expendable soldiers.

I hope you're right

[Breccia]

I hope you're right

So do I. Unlike some people, I'm pretty certain China will back their ally if we strike first. And they have a lot of options -- nuclear and conventional military responses being the most blatant, but "dumping all their saved-up dollars on the open market all at once" would be a pretty effective weapon as well. Yes, it will hurt them, but it will hurt us more.

[tylenol]

So do I. Unlike some people, I'm pretty certain China will back their ally if we strike first. And they have a lot of options -- nuclear and conventional military responses being the most blatant, but "dumping all their saved-up dollars on the open market all at once" would be a pretty effective weapon as well. Yes, it will hurt them, but it will hurt us more.

Has Trump (I don't like the guy) said anything about attacking them first? I keep hearing this striking first thing but I haven't heard anything about the US striking first, none of this "locked and loaded" bullshit was being uttered until NK said they were going to launch some missiles at or near Guam, which is a US territory so China really has no say.

China seldom bites the hand that feeds so there is no chance that they back North Korea as in assisting them fighting the US if war breaks out, the best they could do is stop the flood of brainwashed refugees somehow then work out a deal with the US and South Korea later about the land (I'm sure China wants all the lithium NK is sitting on, not to mention slaves or is that Russia?) because even though China is literally surrounded by US bases and allies they clearly like having a buffer zone.

Or China could back NK and fight along side of them and lose but no sane leader would do that, especially if the person they are fighting is their biggest trading partner while the other has a triple digit economy.

[Breccia]

Has Trump (I don't like the guy) said anything about attacking them first?

It's mostly the B-1 story, the one some people find suspect. Trump has said plenty suggesting he could attack NK just for making threats -- which he's doing himself -- and has been intentionally vague, possibly because he has neither knowledge of how such things are handled nor desire to do so (he's outsourced most of his Commander In Chief duties already).

The real issue is, Trump is impulsive, unpredictable, and quite frankly, immature. Look how he's handling this. He's engaged in a flame war. Remember the Pentagon was holding their breath for 9 minutes between Trump's tweets, not sure if he was going to kick transgenders out of the military or attack North Korea. So when he makes all these threats, there is the valid risk he'll actually order something. Remember, most of his followers are attracted to shiny objects, like those cruise missiles in Syria that shut down an air base for about 24 hours (before he ceded Syria personally and directly to Putin behind closed doors), or the MOAB he dropped on a tunnel complex. There is plenty of reason to expect the same could happen here, and immediately spiral out of control.

[Dead Moose Fandango]

The real issue is, Trump is impulsive, unpredictable, and quite frankly, immature.

This, basically. He could try to attack NK first simply by being angered by their insults.

[Deleted]

Everybody just needs to chill, NK has been nuts for decades, just ignore them..

[Breccia]

And here's good ol' McMaster, reminding the world he knows what he's doing and that Trump's tweets don't mean shit.

[GennGreymane]

War is good for Trump

[Breccia]

The CIA had a somewhat confusing message about "red lines" and the like, but sides with McMaster that we are not actually any closer to war.

"It's not something that is imminent and the American people should know that this administration is doing everything within its power, the president has enabled the intelligence community, the Department of Defense, to be sure that we're protecting America from this threat." -- CIA Director Mike Pompeo

I, for one, am glad there are still adults in Washington truing to get things done by methods other than twitter and outsourcing.

[Deleted]

War is good for Trump

No need to spare Nevada.

[Demolitia]

Has Trump (I don't like the guy) said anything about attacking them first? I keep hearing this striking first thing but I haven't heard anything about the US striking first, none of this "locked and loaded" bullshit was being uttered until NK said they were going to launch some missiles at or near Guam, which is a US territory so China really has no say.

China seldom bites the hand that feeds so there is no chance that they back North Korea as in assisting them fighting the US if war breaks out, the best they could do is stop the flood of brainwashed refugees somehow then work out a deal with the US and South Korea later about the land (I'm sure China wants all the lithium NK is sitting on, not to mention slaves or is that Russia?) because even though China is literally surrounded by US bases and allies they clearly like having a buffer zone.

Or China could back NK and fight along side of them and lose but no sane leader would do that, especially if the person they are fighting is their biggest trading partner while the other has a triple digit economy.

China doesn't want a war, and will not back NK if they attack first, or even play nuke-darts around Guam. On the other hand China has sacrificed 400k soldiers (China had the most casualties of all countries involved) during the Korea war just to keep the buffer zone.
Kim and his Generals lead a way too comfortable life to actually start a war and risk anything, so the only real risk is Donald getting annoyed, losing it and starting it just because Kim stopped following him on twitter. In that case China could side with Korea and risk sanctions for a few years until Donald is out and the US get a sane leader again. They might even get a pardon, a hug and a tip.
The only 2 places that will suffer are North and South Korea. Especially the South. If Trump tips the balance and gets Seoul bombed he deserves to be opposed.

[Wyrt]

War is good for Trump

As much as the alt-reich would masturbate to this idea, it would devastate the US economy in a way never seen before.