What happened to “America First” in his defiant Inaugural Speech. In reaity his slogan had been adepted to “America Alone” scenario as Trump has quarreled with most allies except with Poland. Trump has defined his warmongering strategy eliminate three evila states: North Korea, Iran and Russia. China is a bad actor in economic competition and needs to be cut down to size by the superpower America!  

Considering Preemptive War | Hoover Institute | by Kori Schake Thursday, August 10, 2017

President Trump set off a rhetorical hand grenade this week, threatening North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.” The Secretary of State rushed to reassure Americans that there was no imminent threat and they could “sleep safe at night.” The Secretary of Defense issued a statement bristling with resolve to win any war that North Korea initiates–with the interesting subtext that the U.S. would not initiate a war with a preemptive attack on North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

President Trump is by no means the first American president to publicly threaten the government of North Korea. Much of the over-heated coverage of President Trump’s admittedly unhelpful statement overlooks that Nobel Peace Prize-winner President Barack Obama publicly said “We could, obviously, destroy North Korea with our arsenals.”

In the hive of social media, suggestions abound that Secretary Mattis ought to reprise Secretary Schlesinger’s instruction to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1973 during President Nixon’s impeachment not to execute any order from the president without consulting him (something Secretary Mattis nipped in the bud by emphasizing his subordination to the only elected national security official). There are even suggestions the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense conspired to ensure one or the other would be in Washington at all times for similar purpose. The enervation is enough to make one long for the careful procedural deliberation of the Eisenhower Administration.

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A North Korean missile bursts out of the sea, supposedly after being test-fired from a submarine on 23 April 2016 (Credit: Reuters/Kona)

Debates among the Eisenhower Administration’s national security cabinet are some of the most serious-minded explorations of strategy ever conducted by Americans. Students of strategy revere the Solarium project, an exercise to design competing strategies for consideration and around which to build administration consensus. But even in the biennial updates of the Basic National Security Policy (as the National Security Strategy was then called–and properly, because the policy provides the ends that strategy must connect to means), the seriousness of the President’s engagement is extraordinary.  

Continued below the fold …

South Dakota Airmen arrive ready to ‘Fight Tonight’ from Guam

Two U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers assigned to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, flew from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, for a 10-hour mission, flying in the vicinity of Kyushu, Japan, the East China Sea, and the Korean peninsula, Aug. 7, 2017 (HST). During the mission, the B-1s were joined by Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2s as well as Republic of Korea Air Force KF-16 fighter jets, performing two sequential bilateral missions. These flights with Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) demonstrate solidarity between Japan, ROK and the U.S. to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater.

After taking off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, the B-1s assigned to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, flew to Japanese airspace, where they were joined by Koku Jieitai (Japan Air Self Defense Force) F-2 fighter jets. The B-1s then flew over the Korean Peninsula where they were joined by Republic of Korea Air Force KF-16 fighter jets. The B-1s then performed a pass over the Pilsung Range before leaving South Korean airspace and returning to Guam.

Throughout the approximately 10-hour mission, the aircrews practiced intercept and formation training, enabling them to enhance their combined capabilities and tactical skills, while also strengthening the long standing military-to-military relationships in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

Ellsworth B-1s were last deployed to Guam in August 2016 when they took over CBP operations from the B-52 Stratofortress bomber squadrons from Minot AFB, North Dakota, and Barksdale AFB, Louisiana.

Continue …

North Korea: Angela Merkel sees no military solution

Chancellor Angela Merkel swiftly condemned the escalating rhetoric between North Korea and the United States on Friday, saying Germany’s government was of the opinion that the conflict could not be solved by military means.
“Germany will very intensively take part in the options for resolution that are not military but I consider a verbal escalation to be the wrong response,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin.

Merkel instead advocated an international diplomatic response.

“I don’t see a military solution to this conflict,” she said. “I see the need for enduring work at the UN Security Council… as well as tight cooperation between the countries involved, especially the US and China.”

North Korea may have ability for miniaturised nuclear warhead, Japan says | The Guardian |

Japan has warned that the threat from North Korean nuclear weapons has reached a “new stage” now that it appears to have developed an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland.

In its defence white paper, Japan’s government said Pyongyang’s weapons programme had “advanced considerably,” adding that it was possible that the regime had acquired the ability to miniaturise nuclear warheads.

“North Korea’s development of ballistic missiles and its nuclear programme are becoming increasingly real and imminent problems for the Asia-Pacific region including Japan, as well as the rest of the world,” said the report, which ran to more than 500 pages.

Japan’s defence ministry said that security threats had reached a new stage after the North conducted two nuclear tests and more than 20 ballistic missile launches last year.

The report went on to speculate that North Korea had improved its technological expertise to the point where it could theoretically marry a nuclear warhead with a missile.

“It is conceivable that North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme has already considerably advanced and it is possible that North Korea has already achieved the miniaturisation of nuclear weapons into warheads and has acquired nuclear warheads,” the ministry said.

Some experts believe the North has already miniaturised its nuclear capability, while others believe the regime is still several years away from being able to do so. The Japanese defence ministry report was vague.

Guam and Marshall Islands Outside of NATO’s Article 5

Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty

Article 2

For the purpose of Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack:

  1. on the territory of any of the Parties in Europe or North America, on the Algerian Departments of France, on the territory of Turkey or on the islands under the jurisdiction of any of the Parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer;
  2. on the forces, vessels, or aircraft of any of the Parties, when in or over these territories or any other area in Europe in whicH occupation forces of any of the Parties were stationed on the date when the Treaty entered into force or the Mediterranean Sea or the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer.

A technicality, but still …

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