Written by James Holbrooks; Originally appeared at TheAntiMedia.com
A day after President Donald Trump warned that the military would unleash “fire and fury” on North Korea if it continued to threaten the United States, two top Trump administration officials delivered conflicting messages regarding the Hermit Kingdom on Wednesday.
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Trump said Tuesday, responding to a reporter’s question while vacationing at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey. “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
In response, Pyongyang did exactly what the president warned against. Calling the island territory of Guam “the United States’ outpost and starting base for invasion,” North Korea’s state media reported late on Tuesday that the country’s military is “carefully examining the operational plan for making an enveloping fire at the areas around Guam.”
While tiny at only 30 miles long and four miles wide at its narrowest, Guam is a highly strategic territory for the U.S. in the Pacific. With hundreds of thousands of troops stationed there at Andersen Air Force and naval bases, Guam serves as the westernmost tip of the United States’ military might.
Trump’s — quite literally — fiery rhetoric on Tuesday, combined with North Korea’s threat against Guam, meant top U.S. officials would have their work cut out for them on Wednesday. And two of those officials, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, sent mixed messages to the media, as reported by the New York Times:
“Mr. Tillerson and Mr. Mattis were left with the task of ratcheting down some of the heat of the moment without undercutting the president. In the process, each emphasized different elements.”
Tillerson, the United States’ chief diplomat, who was returning from a trip to Asia, told reporters during a refueling stopover in — ironically enough — Guam, that despite the apparent spike in tensions, little had changed on the North Korea issue.
“I think Americans should sleep well at night, have no concerns about this particular rhetoric of the last few days,” the secretary of state said Wednesday. “Nothing I have seen and nothing I know of would indicate that the situation has dramatically changed in the last 24 hours.”
“I think what the President was doing was sending a strong message to North Korea in language that Kim Jong Un would understand, because he doesn’t seem to understand diplomatic language.”
Tillerson did, however, hint that the most powerful military in the world is still ready, willing and able to handle anything Kim can throw at it:
“I think the president just wanted to be clear to the North Korean regime that the U.S. has unquestionable ability to defend itself, will defend itself and its allies, and I think it was important that he deliver that message to avoid any miscalculation on their part.”
This “unquestionable ability” barely touched on by Tillerson was the focus of comments from Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday, however. In a statement in which he referred to the Hermit Kingdom by its official name — the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) — Mattis asked Kim to think about his people before doing anything rash.
“The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons,” he said. “The DPRK should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.”
Saying diplomacy is still the preferred option, Mattis nevertheless talked up the U.S. military’s prowess and noted that North Korea will never be able to equal it:
“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 possess the most precise, rehearsed and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on Earth. The DPRK regime’s actions will continue to be grossly overmatched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates.”
Additionally, Mattis reminded Kim that it’s not just the United States that takes issue with North Korea’s missile program:
“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.”
Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump himself couldn’t remain silent as his top officials responded to the heightened tensions. On Twitter on Wednesday — in a move CNN described as “potentially further escalating the standoff with Pyongyang” — the president stated the U.S. would forever be the planet’s most dominating force:
“Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!”
Long overdue for the war racketeers of Murder Inc. to exit completely and totally the Korean peninsula in its entirety.
Yes, the USA will be forever the most powerful forgetting gold fish of our planet, I have no doubt about that. The lilliput NK will be given a lesson, exactly the same lesson like Vietnam.
Where the US lost thousands of lives and had came out the worse for wear and a bruised reputation. Kissinger was a madman who ordered the assassination of Vietnam’s Vice president , they have enough madmen in the US who will cause the escalation. They thought they could get a rise by killing his brother but that failed, what will they try fake an attack on their own ship with aerial attacks like the USS Liberty back then.
Throw around a lot of medals, that should silence it so people can still believe in liberty … oh wait! =)
While tiny at only 30 miles long and four miles wide at its narrowest, Guam is a highly strategic territory for the U.S. in the Pacific …… and 3000+ km away from a nation whose ICBM’s can travel only 750 km!
WAKE UP ASS HOLES
GULF OF TONKIN II in the making. US is looking to plop a miz at Guam and say NK diddit. ————- Seriously, if NK was going to bomb something US they’d pick something they could REACH: Like US bases in Japan or South Korea.
The Gulf of Tonkin never Happened as it was made up , they may try to fake something but very unlikely good chance they can be exposed.
The US is the #1 threat to world peace and its them who desperately need “regime change” and to give up their nukes, seeing as how rash they seem to be with them
haha
We need to normalize relations with the DPRK with a peace treaty based on mutual respect not Master/Vassal which is what we have with Japan and S. Korea. Then, end of story.
Mattis: “The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons,” he said. “The DPRK should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.”
Let’s see now… If North Korea does nothing, it will eventually be regime-changed by the U.S. and its people destroyed. If North Korea defends itself from the US, it will be regime-changed and its people destroyed. If North Korea reacts to the endless stream of US provocations, it will be regime-changed and its people destroyed. If North Korea… oh, I get it now. Mattis is giving them a choice.
The US screwed the non-proliferation pooch when it killed Gaddafi. No nation will voluntarily give up its nukes or give up the pursuit of nukes if the US doesn’t like its leaders. What doesn’t Mattis get about that? The US is not trustworthy – there is no downside to defying the US because you’re going to get whacked either way.
There won’t be a war in Korea unless folks in Washington DC all of a sudden decide to become suicidal. North Korea has kept peace in Korea for a long time now and North Korea nukes and missiles kept the US at bay. US already knows what North Korea has. Here is an example. North Korea is among the few countries in the world that developed and possesses SLBMs other than China, Russia, US and France. Here is a video of North Korean SLBM launch and they have been operational for some time now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOBU0QwZtE0
There are about 200,000 US citizens including 28,000 US troops living in South Korea. Where would they go if war broke out there? The first thing North Korea will do is to destroy air and sea ports along with US bases in South Korea.
North Korea is well endowed with natural resources such as Uranium, Lithium, Iron, Magnesium, Rare earth minerals, oil etc. Here is an example of natural resources in North Korea. North Korea has two-thirds of world’s rare earth minerals http://thediplomat.com/2014/01/north-korea-may-have-two-thirds-of-worlds-rare-earths/ http://www.businessinsider.com/rare-earth-mineral-reserves-were-discovered-in-north-korea–and-it-could-be-a-game-changer-2015-4 With high quality Uranium reserves and Lithium, North Korea can literally produce nukes at will and it is anyone’s guess how many nukes North Korea already has.
hundreds to thousands of fusion devices. The fission of core is merely to ignite the fusion reaction….the fusion core is ignited by U 235 then wrapped in U238 as neutron fast fission fuel…..yield in the hundreds of KT
I don’t care how many nukes they have or want. THEY don’t threaten anyone who doesn’t threaten them first.
In fact, I’m FAR more concerned by the likelihood of being pre-emptively nuked by the Americans than the North Koreans – or ANYONE else.
To Trump, Tillerson, the Rabid Dog beside and the millions of Americunts behind them, I have one word.
TALIBAN
What follows isn’t a word, it’s a gesture. The middle finger in your face banging your nose. Now F–K OFF, GO HOME and bloody STAY inside your own Godforsaken country. NOBODY wants you. NOBODY likes you. NO-ONE respects you and NO-ONE is impressed by your tantrums any more. Just go home, find a cactus and occupy yourselves.
“The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons,” the Rabid frothing at the bit dog said. ——————– Why? So can get your CIA DOGS inside the country to destabilise them and then bomb them to obliteration like you did to Libya?
Just how stupid do you think we, and they, are?