[The Immortal Goon]

So Trump made a bunch of saber-rattling, saw that people had more important things to do, and then put his tail between his legs and went to go sob like a bitch on Twitter.

Donald Trump has indicated he will scrap plans to find cash for his border wall in this week's spending bill.

The president's close adviser, Kellyanne Conway, said funding for the wall would be left out of a budget measure that must pass by Friday.
Building the wall, paid for by Mexico, was a key campaign promise.

Oh, and he did the same thing with North Korea too.

This is the absolute lamest 100 days since Bill Clinton, who was also reduced to doing a couple of pointless rallies to make himself feel better about not doing anything else. But he was a two-termer, so it's always possible that Trump pulls it out. Trump got a big thumbs up by liberals on both sides of the aisle when he blew up some brown people in Syria. But it's having diminishing returns already. There's not really a lot he can do here.

Especially since it took ten minutes for the Chinese to make him their foreign-policy bitch:

After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy. I felt pretty strongly that they had a tremendous power [over] North Korea...But it’s not what you would think.

Which, honestly, is probably better than if Trump had tried to figure something out by himself.

[Zagadka]

That may be so, but there will not be any major action unless China agrees.

[mikema63]

Invading north korea for...well it wouldn't be fun or profitable so who the hell knows?

[Oxymoron]

Invading north korea for...well it wouldn't be fun or profitable so who the hell knows?

It would make us more secure.

[Zagadka]

It would? From what? What has North Korea done to us?

If your argument is for potential attacks, there are a dozen countries we should thus invade to keep us safe.

[anarchist23]

North Korea has test-fired another ballistic missile (medium-range type known as KN-17), South Korean and US military officials say.

The missile exploded shortly after take-off, they said - the second failed launch in the past fortnight.
US President Donald Trump accused North Korea of showing "disrespect" towards China and its president.
The missile was fired from a site in South Pyeongan province, north of Pyongyang, in the early hours of Saturday local time, South Korea said.
Mr Trump tweeted: "North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its highly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today. Bad!"
Mr Trump recently hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping and praised his Chinese counterpart for "trying very hard" on North Korea.
The failed launch came just hours after the United Nations Security Council discussed North Korea's missile programme.
Mr Trump's Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for a tougher international approach to the isolated communist state - but also signalled that the US might be prepared to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Tensions in the region have increased lately, with both North and South Korea conducting military exercises.
North Korea is believed to be continuing efforts to miniaturise nuclear warheads and fit them on long-range missiles capable of reaching the US.
■ Trump fears 'major major' conflict with North Korea
■ North Korea crisis: Why now?
■ How mixed signals could spell disaster
■ North Korea's missile programme
After Saturday's failed launch, the Japanese government condemned the test and said it had lodged a strong protest with North Korea through its diplomatic channels.
Tillerson's warning
"North Korea fired an unidentified missile from a site in the vicinity of Bukchang in Pyeongannam-do (South Pyeongan Province) early this morning," the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) said in a statement, Yonhap reports.
It added that the missile apparently exploded, just seconds after the launch.
Meanwhile, Commander Dave Benham, a spokesman for US Pacific Command, said the "launch occurred near the Pukchang airfield (north of Pyongyang)".
He added that the missile did not leave North Korean territory.
US officials told Reuters that they believed the missile was a medium-range type known as KN-17.
The launch occurred a matter of hours after Mr Tillerson called on the rest of the world to help force North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.
Mr Tillerson warned of "catastrophic consequences" if the Council did not act, saying it was "likely only a matter of time before North Korea develops the capability to strike the US mainland".
The US would use military force if necessary, he said.
Mr Tillerson accused Council members of not fully enforcing existing sanctions against the North, and called on China in particular to leverage its trade links as influence.
But the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, said the key to solving the problem did not lie with his country.
What are the sanctions on North Korea?
UN sanctions include a ban on selling arms and fuel to North Korea, as well as a host of items that could be used for weapons-making.
Also on the list are luxury goods including pearl jewellery and snowmobiles worth $2,000 (£1,540) or more.
Since last year, all cargo entering or leaving North Korea must also be inspected.
But a recent UN study found that fragments from a North Korean missile test included electronics that had been obtained either from or via Chinese enterprises.
The US has separate, stricter sanctions including a blanket ban on trade and a blacklist of anyone dealing with North Korea.
How else has tension risen?
Among other developments in recent weeks:
■ North Korea carried out an earlier failed missile launch and held a massive military parade in an apparent show of strength
■ The US deployed a group of warships and a submarine to the region
■ Pyongyang reacted angrily, threatening a "super-mighty pre-emptive strike"
■ The US began installing a controversial $1bn (£775m) anti-missile system system called Thaad in South Korea - which Mr Trump said South Korea should pay for. Seoul said on Friday there was "no change" in its position that the US pays for it
■ Mr Tillerson and US Vice President Mike Pence visited South Korea, reiterating that "all options were on the table" in dealing with the North

BBC

[unbalanced zealot]

Just to note that there is a Presidential Election in SK on May 9. The front runner Moon Jae-in, is likely to re-calibrate relations with NK perhaps along similar lines to the Kim Dae-jung/Roh Moo-hyun era Sunshine Policy.

In reality, the US is probably going to need to negotiate a deal where NK keeps what it has, but produces no more, doesn't test further thus making it harder for them to attain hydrogen capacity (which would also allow them to shrink their warheads down for IBMs), stops testing missiles and also some kind of not exporting weapons/technology promise. Have the US play bad cop while SK under a new government plays good cop by offering to re-opening Kaesong etc.

Another thing is that there have been reports of petrol shortages in Pyongyang which at least indicates people are concerned about China tightening the oil supply.

With any luck people like McMaster are guiding Trump into a more sensible pragmatic approach to NK, rather than the 'make it up as you go along' approach that he's been inclined to use on most things to date.

[Frollein]

Damn, I live East of that red line. But if I relocated to the Western parts, I'd live in homeland NRW and probably have to wear a burka. I guess I'll stick to nuclear devastation instead.

[skinster]

Trump got a big thumbs up by liberals on both sides of the aisle when he blew up some brown people in Syria.

US liberals really are the worst people. I think I prefer the alt-reich over them.

[The Immortal Goon]

At least the alt-Reich, the religious morons, and other assorted hay-seeds are honest. A lot of the Democrats know they're doing wrong, but go ahead and support killing and imperialism anyway.

[Beren]

Trump's strategy to intimidate Comrade Kim seems to be working.

It may have been a good idea honouring the 'One China' policy and not to call China a currency manipulator as president. It's amazing how Trump does the exact opposite of what he blatantly said/promised/implied he was going to do, and it seems to work in this case.

[skinster]

At least the alt-Reich, the religious morons, and other assorted hay-seeds are honest. A lot of the Democrats know they're doing wrong, but go ahead and support killing and imperialism anyway.

Exactly.

[anarchist23]

North Korea stand-off like 'Cuban missile crisis in slow motion'

Japanese citizens have 10 minutes warning before a nuclear attack..

Residents living near U.S. military bases in Japan are facing a fresh reality: Their neighborhoods are on the frontline of North Korea's dispute with America and if Pyongyang were to attack they would have just minutes to shelter from incoming missiles.
"It's impossible. There is no way we can run away from it," said Seijiro Kurosawa, a 58-year-old taxi driver in Fussa, near Yokota Air Base. "We don't have bunkers, shelters or anything like that."
His company recently instructed drivers to park their cabs and take immediate refuge in the event of an attack, but he isn't sure where he could go. "All we can do is run into a department store perhaps," he said.
A possible missile strike and what to do about it have dominated TV talk shows and other media in Japan in recent weeks as regional tension has spiked, with the North Korean regime continuing to test-fire rockets and President Donald Trump sending an aircraft carrier to nearby waters in a show of force.
North Korea has yet to reach its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile that can reach the U.S. mainland, but its current arsenal is capable of striking the 50,000 U.S. troops stationed across Japan. The government raised caution levels in March after Pyongyang said four ballistic missiles that landed a few hundred kilometers (miles) off Japan's coast were meant to simulate a nuclear strike on U.S. bases there.
While Japanese tabloids and television programs have reported on nuclear shelters ordered by a handful of rich people or touted gas masks as a more affordable option, it's largely business as usual in Fussa, a town of 58,000 people in Tokyo's western suburbs.
"Whatever will be, will be," said 34-year-old Jumpei Takemiya, who runs a shoe repair shop across from Yokota Air Base. "Just think calmly about it. Is Yokota really going to be the first one to be hit? I doubt it, and frankly I'm not so nervous," he said.
Looking out his shop window, he added: "As you can see, there is no heightened security or any other unusual development around here."
For 75-year-old Yoshio Takagi, the talk of North Korean missiles brings back memories of World War II, when he had to temporarily relocate to a rural village to avoid American bombs falling in and around Tokyo that killed his two older brothers. He remains opposed to the use of weapons, but is also realistic about current circumstances.
"Tension has escalated and the situation has become more unpredictable under Trump," he said. "But Japan relies on the U.S. military and there is a base here. I think we just have to accept the consequences."
Visits to a government crisis management website surged to the millions in April from a previous record of tens of thousands in March, as the government tweeted and put out fresh instructions for what to do in the event of a missile attack.
The instructions are simple: If you are outdoors, take refuge in strong buildings or underground shopping arcades and if no such facilities are nearby, drop to the ground and cover your head. A chemical weapon is possible, so the instructions advise covering your nose and mouth with a cloth and shutting doors and windows.
A first-ever missile attack drill was held in March in Akita prefecture in northern Japan, and the government recently instructed all 47 prefectures to draw up plans quickly for similar drills. So far, only two others -- Yamagata in the north and Nagasaki, home to Sasebo naval base, in the south -- have started to make concrete plans for drills in the coming months.
"We need to plan carefully in order to raise awareness, not to scare off the public," said Keiko Nakajima, a Tokyo crisis response official.
Some think the risk is overblown.
North Korea is "mostly bluffing its military capability, and the missile scare is further hyped up largely by TV," said Hiroki Fujii, a 40-year-old utility employee who lives near Yokota.
Akinori Otani worries more about a U.S. military plane crashing in the area. At bases around Japan, residents have raised concern about the safety of the tilt-rotor MV-22 "Osprey" aircraft.
"Ospreys are actually flying around," said Otani, a 42-year-old resident of Hamura, another town near Yokota. "I'm more concerned about them than a missile that I think is unlikely to hit us."
In the southwestern town of Iwakuni, home to a U.S. Marine Corps air station, residents began asking about attack response plans after the area was mentioned on TV among possible targets, said Yuji Yamaguchi, an emergency response official there.
He questioned whether it is possible to predict a missile's course and issue an alert before it reaches Japan and said that without such information, drawing up an evacuation scenario is difficult. It is believed that it would take about 10 minutes for a North Korean missile to reach Japan, yet when the four missiles landed off the coast in March, it wasn't until 20 minutes after that the government notified local fishermen.
For Reiko Naya, who runs a gift shop just outside the Yokota base, she is concerned that the tension may be used by the government as a justification to bolster Japan's military capability.
"Japan has renounced war, but it seems we are gradually getting embroiled into a conflict," she said. "We thought North Korean missiles would never reach Japan, but after all these tests, they now seem routine. Eventually, one of them might come flying."

Independent

[anarchist23]

North Korea has just had another test firing of a long rage missile. It seems that Kim Jong-un won't be cowed by Trump's bullying tactics.

North Korea has carried out another ballistic missile test, days after a new president took office in the South.
Japanese officials say the missile, which launched from north-western Kusong, reached an altitude of 2,000km.
South Korea's newly elected President Moon Jae-in, who is seeking deeper engagement with the North, said it was a "reckless provocation".
US President Donald Trump has called for "stronger sanctions" against North Korea, while China is urging restraint.
A series of North Korean missile tests this year - which are banned by the UN - has sparked international alarm and raised tensions with the US.
Two missile launches last month both failed, with the rockets exploding just minutes into flight.
Is it a new type of missile?
The nature of the launch is still being determined, but analysts have said the test could suggest a longer range than previously tested devices.
The Japanese defence minister said it flew for about 30 minutes before falling in the Sea of Japan and could be a new type of missile.
Tomomi Inada said it covered a distance of about 700km (435 miles), reaching an altitude of more than 2,000km (1,245 miles) - higher than that reached by an intermediate-range missile North Korea fired in February.
Experts quoted by Reuters say the altitude meant the missile was launched at a high trajectory, limiting the lateral distance it travelled. They say if it had been fired at a standard trajectory, it would have had a range of at least 4,000km.
The US Pacific Command said in a statement the type was being assessed but that its flight was not consistent with that of an intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM], which would have the range to reach the US mainland (more than 6,000km).
North Korea is believed to be developing two types of ICBM, but neither has so far been flight tested.
How close is the North to an ICBM? BBC's Korea correspondent Stephen Evans
If the Japanese analysis of the trajectory is right (that the missile reached an altitude of 2,000km), North Korea appears to have advanced its technology markedly.
The previous two tests failed, so reliability is not there yet. But last month some experts reckoned that a seemingly new missile on parade in Pyongyang may have been an ICBM (the type President Trump said "won't happen").
Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California thought at the time that the new missiles on show might be ICBMs. Is this that missile?
One thing is certain: North Korea will certainly trumpet its success if it does now have the capability to strike the US military bases on Guam, 3,400km from Pyongyang in the Western Pacific. Mr Trump would ponder what to do with even greater urgency.
What has been the reaction?
Mr Moon hosted an emergency meeting of his security council in the wake of the launch.
"The president said while South Korea remains open to the possibility of dialogue with North Korea, it is only possible when the North shows a change in attitude," his spokesman said.
Meanwhile, a member of South Korea's ruling party attending a major summit in China reportedly told the North Korean delegation directly that they "strongly condemned" the launch.
The White House said President Donald Trump "cannot imagine Russia is pleased" because the missile did not land far from Russian territory.
It added that the new launch should serve as a call for stronger sanctions against North Korea.
A Kremlin spokesperson later said Russian President Vladimir Putin was concerned by the test.
China, North Korea's only major ally, called for restraint by "all relevant parties" in the wake of the latest test.
The North has conducted five nuclear tests despite UN sanctions and is also developing long-range missiles.
It is reported to be continuing efforts to miniaturise nuclear warheads and fit them on missiles capable of reaching the US.
Washington has accused other UN Security Council members of not fully enforcing existing sanctions against the North, and has urged China in particular to use its trade links as influence.
But despite poor relations, North Korea recently said it would hold talks with the US "if the conditions were right".
The comments, by a senior North Korean diplomat, came after US President Donald Trump said he would be "honoured" to meet the North's leader, Kim Jong-un

BBC

[anarchist23]

Nearly a year later and the China/US Cold War is still rumbling on.

China's air force and navy have announced drills in the South China Sea to help develop preparedness for war, military leaders said, after the British defence secretary indicated the UK would sail a warship through the disputed region.
The Chinese military's latest fighters and bombers were involved in the exercises over the disputed region, as China continues to flex its muscles on the world stage.
The drills come after Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, gave a nationalist speech last week when he warned of Beijing's willingness to fight a "bloody battle" against its enemies.
They also come after Gavin Williamson, British Defence Secretary, said last month that the HMS Sutherland, an anti-submarine frigate, would sail through the South China Sea to assert freedom of navigation rights.
The warship was expected to make the patrol during March. However, Chinese military officials said its recently announced drills were not aimed towards any country.
China's airforce carried out a "high-sea training mission" in the West Pacific and a joint combat patrol mission in the South China Sea, according to the airforce's social media account, which did not say when the drills took place.
The exercises tested China's latest military hardware, such as its H-6K bombers and Su-30 and Su-35 fighters.
Meanwhile, the PLA Navy also said last Friday it was planning to hold drills in the South China Sea to test the navy's "combat readiness".
The Air Force said on its social media account that the exercises were "rehearsals for future wars and are the most direct preparation for combat."
Meanwhile, Chen Liang, commander of a naval air force, said: "Pilots will all march ahead without fear, no matter how complicated the drill environments are and how unfamiliar the drill regions are.
"They always maintain mentally prepared for wars," he told the Chinese language website of the Global Times newspaper.
China claims nearly all of the strategic South China Sea, despite partial counter-claims from Taiwan and several south-east Asian nations including the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
Observers say China is developing its military capabilities by fortifying and building infrastructure on what were previously reefs and partially-submerged islets in the sea, where more than $5 trillion (£3.8 trillion) of trade passes every year.
The US Navy has conducted a series of freedom of navigation patrols in the region.
The latest, last Friday, saw a US Navy destroyer come within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island China has built in the South China Sea, sparking anger from Beijing.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/0 ... a-british/