Face Off Hair Club Members: One Nuclear Power; One Wannabe
(Don’t Cross the
Yellow Line or the Yalu River, either)
So, That's VP Pence Looking this Way, um???
(He's taller than me, right)
From
Mar-a-Lago (Easter Weekend w/ the Trumps) and this headlines – eye-catching from CNN:
As North Korea brews, Trump again in Mar-a-Lago
This story is timely considering
the hype now between us and North Korea, or like the big bomb drop in
Afghanistan and Tomahawk strikes in Syria – the drums of war of surely beating
and hyped to the umpteenth degree, or so it seems?
West Palm Beach, FL (from CNN)
– President Donald J. Trump arrived for another weekend at his languid Florida
resort on Thursday (for the Easter weekend), [but] this time without the usual
retinue of top aides who have accompanied him before even
as global tensions flare like now again with North Korea.
This jaunt there is his 7th
since taking office in January 20th and it coincides with a closely
watched anniversary in North Korea (founder Kim, Il-Sung’s birthday – current “leader”
Kim, Jung-un’s grandfather). The place analysts are saying that rogue regime
may be preparing for a 6th nuclear test.
(My Insert related
to that aspect: Trump implies he is ready
to strike North Korea if they conduct another nuclear test. This report from NBC. Folks, this is getting to be damn serious now)
Trump recent remarks from the W/H said: He wasn't sure if his administration's decision to
drop a MOAB – “Mother of all Bombs” on an ISIS enclave in Afghanistan (Updated: Reports
are that 36 ISIS fighters were killed) was meant as a display of American
resolve to North Korea, then concluding:
“I don't know if this sends a message. It doesn't make any difference if it
does or not. North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of. I will say this, I think China has really
been working very hard and I have really gotten to like and respect, as you
know, President Xi. He's a terrific person. We spent a lot of time together
in Florida and he's a very special man so we'll see how it goes.”
Directly related to those
words: “China is boosting North Korea’s
missile program w/some illegal and unlawful transfers” Washington Post reports here)
My Insert: So,
does Mr. Trump know President Xi as well as he thinks he does – oops might fit
here right about now depending on the validity of that missile transfer report –
more on that later).
This Mar-a-Lago trip: Administration officials maintain that Trump will be
kept well informed of activity in North Korea by his team, should the need
arise, and will continue to be updated through the weekend.
Note:
It was standard practice in the Bush and Obama administrations for a senior
national security aide (often at the
deputy national security adviser level or higher) to always travel with the president, including on vacations. One
former senior administration official said this was key advice that the Bush
team offered the Obama team during that transition.
I Note: Physical
proximity to the President during a national security event was seen as
critical for decision-making and keeping the president informed. Trump apparently
does not subscribe to that point of view? Um, one wonders why not?
A
senior White House foreign policy aide told reporters Thursday that, broadly,
military options were already being assessed with regard to North Korea, and
those options would arise during Vice President Mike Pence's trip to Asia this
week starting in Seoul on Easter Sunday – whom I am sure will visit the DMZ and
peer across “no man’s land” with those high-powered ship-to-shore binoculars
and then back in DC harp how much he now knows about North Korea – don’t they
all?
Maybe
word of advice for the VeePee Pence: Duck!! What duck and this reminder:
Kim, Jung-un and previous “Dear and
Great Leader’s” points of view expressed on a daily basis since 1953 – extreme
hype is their middle name BTW:
North Korea denounced the U.S. deployment of a naval strike group to
the region as always, warning in an official statement: “We are ready for war” and adding:
“The DPRK (their own official name) is ready to react to any mode of war desired by
the US. This goes to prove that the U.S. reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase. We will take the
toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in
order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms.
We will hold the U.S. wholly
accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions,” from the official statement
from the foreign ministry spokesman to the North’s national news agency: KCNA.
That was followed by this from Hwang Pyong-So, director of the political bureau
of the North's army:
“If they (the U.S. and the South) try to ignite the spark of
war, we will wipe out all of the invaders without a trace with our strong
preemptive nuclear strike.”
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