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Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Flashback To 1999: Donald Trump And North Korea

(with a hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

Transcript below the fold.
TIM RUSSERT[:..] “One is North Korea. And you say that you, as president, would be willing to launch a pre-emptive strike against North Korea’s nuclear capability.”

DONALD TRUMP: “First, I’d negotiate. I would negotiate like crazy. And I’d make sure that we tried to get the best deal possible. Look, Tim, if a man walks up to you on a street in Washington because this doesn’t happen, of course, in New York. But if a man walks up and puts a gun to your head and says, “Give me your money,” wouldn’t you rather know where he’s coming from before he had the gun in his hand? And these people in three or four years are going to be having nuclear weapons.”

“They’re going to have those weapons pointed all over the world and specifically at the United States. And wouldn’t you be better off solving this really potentially, unbelievable and the biggest problem. I mean, we can talk about the economy, we can talk about Social Security. The biggest problem this world has is nuclear proliferation.”

“And we have a country out there, North Korea, which is sort of wacko, which is not a bunch of dummies. And they are going out and they are developing nuclear weapons. And they’re not doing it because they’re having fun doing it. They’re doing it for a reason. And wouldn’t it be good to sit down and really negotiate something and ideally negotiate. Now, if that negotiation doesn’t work, you’d better solve the problem now than solve it later, Tim. And you know it and every politician knows it, and nobody wants to talk about it. Jimmy Carter, who I really like, he went over there. It was so soft. These people are laughing at us.”

TIM RUSSERT: “The former general of the Air Force, Meryl McPeek, the former secretary of defense, Les Aspin, said you could not launch a pre-emptive strike against North Korea because the nuclear fallout could be devastating to the Asian peninsula.”

DONALD TRUMP: “I’m not talking about us using nuclear weapons. I’m saying that they have areas where they’re developing missiles.”

TIM RUSSERT: “No, but taking out their nuclear potential…”

DONALD TRUMP: “Do you know that this country, Tim…”

TIM RUSSERT: “…would create a fallout.”

DONALD TRUMP: “Tim, do you know that this country went out and gave them nuclear reactors, free fuel for 10 years? We we virtually tried to bribe them into stopping, and they’re continuing to do what they’re doing and they’re laughing at us. They think we’re a bunch of dummies. I’m saying that we have to do something to stop. Ideally…”

TIM RUSSERT: “But if the military told you, ‘Mr. Trump, we can’t do this’…”

DONALD TRUMP: “You give me two names you’re giving me two names. I don’t know. Do you want to do it in five years when they have warheads all over the place, every one of them pointing to New York City, to Washington and everyone of our is that when you want to do it, or do you want to do something now?”

58 comments:

  1. China has provided technical assistance to the nuclear programs of North Korea, Pakistan and Iran.

    Clinton uber-donor Bernie Schwartz gained waivers from the Clinton administration to transfer advanced missile technology to China--with supposed protections in place, of course.

    The Clinton Administration also had a chance to take out the NORK Pot Bellied Pig regime, but appeased them with free food and fuel oil instead.

    Going all the way back to George Bush the Elder, this is the end result of appeasement, since Bush in many ways was the author of appeasing China and helping them get up to speed on the world stage.

    Look at how much money global corps and Silicon Valley is making off of China--while kowtowing to China's demands they modify their products to help the regime keep the people under control.

    It's all about the money.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SF,
      Going all the way back to George Bush the Elder, this is the end result of appeasement, since Bush in many ways was the author of appeasing China and helping them get up to speed on the world stage.

      Indeed.

      Now we have that little fat boy in NK. In my view, he's liable to do anything. Psychotic, IMO.

      Delete
    2. The senior Bush was always half-baked, half-hearted, and frankly half-assed in everything he did. So was his fatuous son "Dubya" who showed his true character the day he mewled "Islam is a Religion of Peace" into the microphones for all the world to hear not long after 911.

      Delete
    3. The Bushes are committed INTERNATIONALISTS. They've been in the Enemy Camp all along. So, of course, are ALL the RINO'S in congress and almost every D'Rat..

      Why else do you think they've always been so sickening cordial to

      A) The Saudi Arabs?

      B) The Clintons?

      C) The Obamas?

      THEY'RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER!

      Why else do you think we have accomplished NOTHING of VALUE since Ronald Reagan left office?

      Unless I am very sadly mistaken, President Trump ran for office in order to STOP this usurpation of OUR national SOVEREIGNTY..

      Why ELSE do you think they hate him with such intensely focused ferocity?

      Delete
  2. I don't like the President's bellicose bombast on this topic.

    We need more Teddy Roosevelt and less Saddam Hussein right now.

    What next? President Trump promises The Mother of all Battles?

    President Trump isn't beating this drum on his own. There are a chorus of war drummers behind him, feeding him.

    Who wants this war with North Korea? That is the question.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SF,
      Who wants this war with North Korea? That is the question.

      Care to speculate?

      Delete
    2. I have no idea. It's clear The Establishment wants--if not war-- then a drastically ramped-up hostile standoff with Russia. Lots of money to be made there, even from activities short of war such as deployments and mass mobility of people, munitions and materiel.

      I don't know who or what is driving the North Korea issue. I get the feeling this may have grown organically from inside Team Trump, and is aided by DoD elements that are rightly alarmed at NK's rapidly advancing nuke program.

      The Establishment and global corps do not want hostilities with Korea--it would upset all their profit-making.

      As I have already said, the state of the world today is a result of decades of very poor US diplomacy and foreign policy, destructive military interventions, low-IQ bullying, and serial criminal bungling by the CIA.

      JFK has the right idea. The US and the world would have greatly benefitted from less US military intervention and more Peace Corps.

      Delete
    3. Well Silverfiddle, if you follow the money you probably won't go far wrong.
      Why just recently Eric Prince, brother of "Sweet" Betsy DeVos the Secretary of Education Privatization and an Iraq war profiteer himself suggested he could take over in Afghanistan with enough mercenaries to contain the Taliban.
      Good luck getting that past Maddis but remember, President Happy Hands has the last word.

      Easy money to be made but President Happy Hands can't just declare a bankruptcy when it screws up, inevitably.

      Delete
    4. Easy money is being made in Afghanistan right now.

      Prince's plan would keep Uncle Sucker's money flowing, but without US troops dying.

      The only right choice is for us to get the hell out, and it looks like that is what the President wants to do, but he's meeting a lot of resistance.

      Delete
    5. SF,
      The only right choice is for us to get the hell out [of Afghanistan], and it looks like that is what the President wants to do, but he's meeting a lot of resistance.

      We're going to see more Americans die in Afghanistan if the United States military continues to be an occupying force.

      The likes of John McCain and his buddies and acolytes do not intend for Trump to withdraw our military. Sheesh.

      Delete
    6. We have no business moving men and war material anywhere beyond our borders, UNLESS we have a full intent to CONQUER and POSSESS the land.

      What we've done since WWII ended has been worse than ASININE. It has profited NO ONE except the makers of war material.

      If that isn't EVIL, I can't magne what would be.

      Is it any wonder we are so deeply resented and regarded with cintempt all over the world?

      Delete
  3. SF,
    There are 2 U.S. military bases on Guam. IMO, we have to take this latest NK threat seriously.

    I'm very concerned that NK has become a viable threat. I've heard that something like 20 minutes for a missile to reach Los Angeles. With a nuclear warhead aboard? YE, GODS!

    I can't see that diplomacy will now work with NK. With China? Maybe, maybe not.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The NORKs are China's Junkyard dog, but how much control China has over them is uncertain. They are not a pliant puppet regime.

      President Trump has bigly broken the "go along to get along" go with the flow with regards to China and North Korea. He has broken with three decades of appeasement.

      This action is a shock to all involved, so it will take awhile for all parties to adjust to the new reality.

      I wouldn't overly-worry about the Hermit Kingdon's supposed ability to accurately deliver a viable nuclear warhead.

      Its one thing to shoot popguns into the sea, quite another to send on thousands of miles a way and deliver on-target.

      The US has technology to detect launches in the boost phase and shoot down missiles, so the probability of the NORKs raining down hellfire on El Lay is remote.

      I said months ago we should:

      1) Pull out of the Korean Peninsula and stop tugging at the South and preventing them from taking their own course of action.

      2) Move our Korean forces and capabilities to Japan, who shares our values, goals and strategic vision, and is a serious military ally. Some could be moved to Australia for the same reasons.

      3) Simply issue a matter-of-fact statement to the NORKs that we will respond to any attack against us or our allies with overwhelming force that ends in the destruction of their regime and their nation.

      4) Get on with Making America Great Again.

      Delete
    2. But Guam is not LA.
      As to #3, Isn't that what Trump did?
      But your earlier comment decried it.
      Is it just the tone?

      Delete
    3. Ed,

      Same applies to Guam. Whether they have a reliable nuke on a reliable delivery system that is accurate is still up in the air.

      The CIA, for all the billions we waste on them have been serially and notoriously wrong on such issues. Also, we have demonstrated the ability to intercept missiles.

      As to #3: Timing and tone. I don't like the turd world dictator apocalyptic rodomontades spilling forth from a US President.

      A sub-underling State Department spokesperson issuing a simple, blandly-worded restatement of US policy would be sufficient.

      Delete
    4. Ed,

      Same applies to Guam. Whether the NORKs have a reliable nuke on a reliable delivery system that is accurate is still up in the air.

      The CIA, for all the billions we waste on them have been serially and notoriously wrong on such issues.

      Also, we have demonstrated the ability to intercept missiles.

      As to #3: Timing and tone. I don't like turd world dictator apocalyptic rodomontades spilling forth from a US President. It's not dignified and it lowers the prestige of the United States.

      A sub-underling State Department spokesperson issuing a simple, blandly-worded restatement of US policy would be sufficient.

      Delete
    5. It's not dignified and it lowers the prestige of the United States.

      Spot on. We can be determined and resolute without the bluster and bombast befitting of bemedelled tyrants and low self esteem dictators.

      Delete
    6. SF: Whether it can hit the target or not, the spoken threat is enough incentive to remove the threat before it can be acted on. and we know they are working to follow up on that threat.
      In Diplomatic terms, words have consequences.

      Delete
    7. Timing and tone may have been designed to mask the fact that the FBI served a no-knock search warrant on Paul Manafort.

      Delete
    8. Duck,
      Well, that is one way to make an off-topic comment. Not a clever way, though.

      FYI...The story of Manafort's home being raided the day after he appeared before an investigative Congressional committee is all over the place including -- Gasp! -- on Fox.

      Delete
    9. Ducky, You think they're tearing a page from the old Clinton playbook, eh?

      Well, it didn't work.

      Delete
  4. From the Clarion Project today...

    What the Crisis Means: North Korea, Nukes and Islamists. A few paragraphs therefrom:

    North Korea is officially a communist, Stalinist dictatorship, but that hasn’t stopped it from crossing the ideological divide to embrace Islamist regimes and, reportedly, even jihadist groups. The latest crisis between North Korea and the U.S. appears separate from the war with Islamism, but there are 10 ways it overlaps.

    [...]

    North Korea threatened to attack Guam in 2013 and its bombastic rhetoric is practically a daily occurrence, but North Korea’s aggressive attacks have increased in recent years including sinking a South Korean ship in 2010, an artillery barrage on a South Korean island that same year, a cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014 and a bold assassination of a political rival in a Malaysian airport using the VX biological weapon earlier this year....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Trump gets his intel from Fox and Friends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What trenchant commentary! What wit!

      Bravo! A child prodigy working in the medium of Crayon.

      Delete
  6. Once again, Trump almost seems Churchillian.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kaddafi-esque is what came to my mind...

      Delete
    2. Yes, Ed. He does. Churchill was not one to mjnce words either.

      Neither was Harry Truman come to think of it.

      He promised Japan "a rain of death and destruction the like of which the world has never seen."

      Japan refused to surrender on the strength of Truman's fair warning, so the God-damned JAPS –– barbarians all at the time –– got exactl what they deserved thanks to Truman's being a man of his word.

      Of course, Truman later fumbled badly when he fired MacArthur instead of letting MacArthur wipe out the Red Menace while it still would have been quick and easy.

      As my father often said, "An ounce or Prevention is worth a ton of Cure."

      Not for nothing do they call my father's generation The Greatest Generation.

      We are PATHETIC by comparison today.

      Delete
  7. Given our demonstrated inability to win a war, subdue an enemy or take out a terrorist threat, what is North Korea's calculus?

    Given our demonstrated willingness to lavish trillions on the nations of Afghanistan and Iraq--despite their hatred for us--is it possible the North Koreans are employing the "Mouse that Roared" gambit?

    The Dems have gone retro with the whole "The Russians are Coming!" hysteria, so maybe fatso over there thought, why not?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The "Mouse that Roared" gambit?

      Probably!

      I hadn't thought of that possibility until you mentioned it.

      Delete
  8. Replies
    1. Gang Bang Dong said

      I'm putting in an order for Roast Duck!

      Delete
    2. st 5, 2017 at 7:59 AM
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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bravo!

      FreeThinke does a wonderful service in breathing new life into the old classics!

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ward orderly! Call the doctor and bring a straight jacket! He's doing it again.

      Settle down, old timer, we're going to up your dosage.

      Delete
    2. The world is filled wth bitterness and woe
      By witless jerks who like THINK they know!


      ~ Old Anhedonian proverb

      Delete
  11. As I recall, there was an "almost" launch by a mis-read around 1981 on Russia's side. That is the problem with all of this. A single Russian guy refused to launch because he couldn't believe it.Lucky us. Somebody with a fat finger that doesn't blow up the stock market, but the world. That is what I worry about.

    ReplyDelete
  12. There are a number of South Korean industries that manufacture in both Korea and the US and market in competition with US manufacturers.
    Large scale disruption in Korean would probably benefit many American concerns.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you suggesting that South Korea might be expendable, Ed?

      If protecting THEM means we render ourrselves incapable of protecting OUR territory adequately, then I'd have to say South Korea AND of course that barbaric wasteland to its immedate north should be turned to smoking rubble.

      "What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

      ~ Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)


      Delete
    2. No I'm not, but the question was "Who stands to gain?"

      Delete
  13. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Madmen have held our fate long before Trump. Some chose to look the other way. Just snag the nearest history book.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    3. We need to wait until late October, early November for the seasonal northeastern wind shifts before nuking Pyongyang to maximize the amount of fallout that will blow into China's industrial sectors in Manchuria.

      Delete
  14. Replies
    1. Our response should be "If you don't want your people to die in nuclear fire, you should start lining them up against the wall and shooting them now." - Beamish

      Delete
  15. The American people have shown no hesitation in electing buffoons in the past, so I’m not sure why this should be an issue now. The most recent rendition of our age-old tomfoolery does nothing but elevate Kim Jerk-off to the status of a world power broker. We should not do that whenever dealing with someone who is fourteen bubbles to the left of Idi Amin; they can’t take the pressure. You can’t deal effectively with a psychotic by making him an ever more dangerous one. Besides, the American people will never sit still for a war in Korea, not if it places in jeopardy all their cell phones, two-way wrist-radios, spare parts for their Korean-made automobiles, and smart-TVs (and definitely not during playoff season).

    ReplyDelete
  16. FreeThinke, Kim Jong-Un or President Happy Hands, which has the better hair?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nostradumbass, while we're asking questions here's one for you.

    Depends or adult sized Pampers?

    ReplyDelete
  18. st 5, 2017 at 7:59 AM
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    ReplyDelete

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