Be Excellent To Each Other

Is this really what they said? If so, that's brilliant.

North Korea is quickly becoming my favourite country.

Are you auditioning for a presenter spot on Trump TV?

"State media said Hwasong-12 rockets would pass over Japan and land in the sea about 30km (17 miles) from Guam, if the plan was approved by Kim Jong-un."

Knowing our luck, the rockets will veer off course, accidentally hit Guam and all hell will break loose.

Are you implying that seeing issues with North Korea is the same as supporting Trump? Because that would be stretching logic to breaking point.

As Trump has learned in recent months, the man in the Oval Office cannot simply issue a decree changing, say, the US healthcare system. He has to build majorities in the House and Senate, which is harder than it looks. If he wants to change immigration policy, a mere order is not enough. He can be stopped by the courts, as Trump saw with his travel ban. But if he wants to rain fire and fury on a distant enemy, bringing more fire and fury down on his own citizens and many hundreds of millions of others, there is no one standing in his way. Not for nothing does the geopolitical literature refer to the US president as the “nuclear monarch.”

The more you hear of the simplicity of the system, the more frightening it becomes. If Trump decides he has had enough of Kim Jong-un’s verbal threats, he merely has to turn to the low-level military aide at his side and ask them to open up the black briefcase that officer keeps permanently in their grasp. The bag is known as the nuclear “football”. (It gets its name from the code word for the very first set of nuclear war plans: dropkick.) Inside the bag is a menu of options, explained in detail in a “black book,” but also set out in a single, cartoon-like page for speedy comprehension. Trump has only to make his choice, pick up the phone to the Pentagon war room, utter the code words that identify him as the president and give the order. That’s it.

There is a young man, probably a Navy officer, who accompanies the President. This young man has a black attaché case which contains the codes that are needed to fire nuclear weapons. I could see the President at a staff meeting considering nuclear war as an abstract question. He might conclude: “On SIOP Plan One, the decision is affirmative, Communicate the Alpha line XYZ.” Such jargon holds what is involved at a distance.

My suggestion was quite simple: Put that needed code number in a little capsule, and then implant that capsule right next to the heart of a volunteer. The volunteer would carry with him a big, heavy butcher knife as he accompanied the President. If ever the President wanted to fire nuclear weapons, the only way he could do so would be for him first, with his own hands, to kill one human being. The President says, “George, I’m sorry but tens of millions must die.” He has to look at someone and realize what death is—what an innocent death is. Blood on the White House carpet. It’s reality brought home.

When I suggested this to friends in the Pentagon they said, “My God, that’s terrible. Having to kill someone would distort the President’s judgment. He might never push the button.“

US President Donald Trump has tweeted that Russia should "get ready" for missiles to be fired at its ally Syria, in response to an alleged chemical attack near Damascus on Saturday.
"Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'" Mr Trump said in his tweet.

What a great strategist Mr Trump is:

We've done absolutely fuck all for years now while Assad's been doing this sort of thing, so what's this new red line that's been crossed? Someone's definitely itching for it.

We should intervene and Do The Right Thing. I think it is amoral requirement of nation states to step up and stop things like this.

Which is what the UN is trying but failing to do.

Check out @MarkDiStef’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/1 ... 8424913920

Omfg https://t.co/WMtcgsc4Z1

— Mark Di Stefano 🤙🏻 (@MarkDiStef) May 30, 2018

The Scottish government has warned Irish vessels could be boarded if caught fishing inside a 12-mile radius.

The Irish and Scottish governments are locked in talks to try and resolve the dispute

To try TO resolve the dispute, FFS. The Beeb is really going down hill.

Ah, Mr Trump wants a distraction. That, or he's taken onboard the advice of seasoned experts and has a clear strategy for the region and .... hang on, it's Mr Trump, isn't it?

I didn't realise he could just push the button whenever he fancied, I always assumed there'd be military types and suchlike who'd refuse to enter their launch codes on the grounds that Trump is clearly fucking psychotic.

If this is accurate then it's really quite scary.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... orth-korea

Yes, I fully believe that the US military is packed full of principled conscientious objectors, willing to disobey direct orders and probably go to jail for doing so. You can tell that's the case because of all the warmongering.

Yes, I fully believe that the US military is packed full of principled conscientious objectors, willing to disobey direct orders and probably go to jail for doing so. You can tell that's the case because of all the warmongering.

Just as long as James Blunt still is around to singlehandedly stop WWIII, we'll all be OK!

James Blunt could write an opinion piece for a newspaper and call it something like " To The Point with James Blunt - cutting remarks from Britain's sharpest columnist"