Tuesday, April 11, 2017

China, North Korea, and the Threat of War

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The slapdown on Syria by Trump-ordered Tomahawk missiles in response to Assad using chemical weapons (according to Putin, the rebels, a.k.a. ISIS, did it) has North Korea claiming that Trump will come for them next.  In response, rather than put their pet on a leash, China has responded by deploying 150,000 troops towards its border with North Korea.  The latest scuttlebutt on the move is that China is deploying the troops to handle possible North Korean refugees over fears Trump may strike Kim Jong-un's North Korea.  For the communists in the Far East, the strike on Syria was interpreted as a warning to North Korea.

As the Chinese moves troops to prepare for pre-emptive attacks by the United States, those fears are being partially stoked by the fact that the U.S. Navy has moved the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group from Singapore to North Korea after the country conducted more missile testing

The activity comes shortly after Trump hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a summit at which he pressed Pyongyang's key ally to do more to curb the North's nuclear ambitions.

South Korea is also currently conducting joint military drills with American forces, an annual exercise which is seen by the North as a practice for war.

Meanwhile, the media has been reporting that Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.  American officials believe North Korea is less than two years away from its goal of striking the continental United States.

U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster on Sunday criticized North Korea as a rogue nation engaged in provocative behavior and said denuclearization of the peninsula "must happen".

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

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