Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Government, North Korea, Politics, Society, United Nations, United States

UN General Assembly – Trump: I’ll destroy North Korea and its Rocket Man

UNITED NATIONS

President Donald Trump delivers tough-talking at the UN General Assembly. Mr Trump gave warnings on North Korea, the Iran nuclear deal, Venezuela and on Socialism.

IN a blistering address to the UN General Assembly in New York earlier this week, Donald Trump vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea if it targets the United States or its allies with nuclear weapons. The US President labelled North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un a “Rocket Man on a suicide mission”.

Mr Trump accused the “depraved” regime in Pyongyang of starving millions of its own people to fund its nuclear programme, and of torturing and killing “countless others” in its efforts to retain power.

Kim has shocked the world with a series of nuclear and ballistic missile tests in recent months and has vowed he will not rest until he has a nuclear arsenal to rival America’s.

Mr Trump vowed merciless reprisals if North Korea acts on its threats.

“No nation on Earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons and missiles,” he said. “The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.”

The uncompromising language at the world’s leading diplomatic forum will dismay those hoping to avoid war on the Korean peninsula.

Downing Street has said the Government remains committed to finding a “peaceful resolution” to the crisis.

A spokesperson for Number 10 described Pyongyang’s recent actions as “provocative and destabilising”, but added: “No-one wants to see military action, but as we progress with efforts to secure a peaceful diplomatic resolution it would be wrong to rule anything out.”

In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Trump also took aim at a string of other countries on collision course with the US, including Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.

And he issued a veiled warning to China and Russia over their expansionist ambitions and their willingness to trade with North Korea.

The President savaged the Iran nuclear deal signed by his predecessor Barack Obama – and suggested the US could pull out of it.

The deal lifts sanctions against the Tehran regime in return for assurances it will drop its dream of building a nuclear bomb.

Mr Trump described the Iranian regime as a “corrupt dictatorship… which has turned a wealthy country, with a rich history and culture, into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos”.

He added: “The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don’t think you’ve heard the last of it. Believe me.”

Israel welcomed the intervention, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he had “never heard a bolder or more courageous speech” at the UN. But veteran Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein said: “The goals of the United Nations are to foster peace and promote global co-operation.

“Today, the President used it as a stage to threaten war.”

“He aims to unify the world through tactics of intimidation, but in reality he only further isolates the United States.”

In an ominous warning, Mr Trump also warned the US “cannot stand by and watch” while the socialist regime in Venezuela “destroys a prosperous regime”.

Rounding on dictator Nicolas Maduro, he said: “The situation is completely unacceptable.”

He added: “The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented. From the Soviet Union to Cuba to Venezuela, wherever true socialism or communism has been adopted, it has delivered anguish and devastation and failure.

“Those who preach the tenets of these discredited ideologies only contribute to the continued suffering of the people who live under these cruel systems.”

Mr Trump also issued a warning to world leaders on the need to tighten borders to stem the flow of migrants around the world. He said mass migration was “deeply unfair to both the sending and the receiving countries”.

And he warned that “substantial costs of uncontrolled migration” were “borne overwhelmingly by low-income citizens whose concerns are often ignored by both media and government”.

Mr Trump said he would not back away from his “America First” agenda – and urged other nations to follow suit.

“As President of the United States, I will always put America first,” he said. “Just like you, as the leaders of your countries, will always and should always put your countries first.”

Mr Trump also served notice on the UN that, like NATO, it could not expect the US to continue to pay an “unfair burden” towards its running costs.

The packed General Assembly hall greeted Mr Trump’s tough rhetoric with periods of silence punctuated by polite applause during his 42-minute speech.

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Asia, Government, North Korea, United Nations, United States

America threatens ‘annihilation’ following North Korea’s detonation of H-bomb

NORTH KOREA

Intro: President Trump opens door to an attack after Korea’s most powerful nuclear test.

US officials have said that threats from North Korea will be met with a “massive military response”, after the rogue state announced it had carried out its most powerful nuclear test yet.

America had “many options” which could lead to the “annihilation” of North Korea, Defence Secretary General Jim Mattis said.

“Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam, or our allies will be met with a massive military response, both effective and overwhelming,” Mr Mattis said.

“Kim Jon-un should take heed of the UN Security Council’s unified voice. We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but as I said, we have many options to do so.”

Earlier, when asked if he planned to attack Pyongyang, President Trump replied, “We’ll see”, and said he was holding meetings with his military leaders.

Mr Trump also said that talk of appeasement was pointless because North Korea “only understands one thing”, as the state promised further tests.

His hard-line rhetoric was prompted by Pyongyang’s announcement that it had successfully tested a weapon seven times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.

The regime described its testing of the hydrogen bomb as a “perfect success”. Kim Jong-un was pictured inspecting the peanut-shaped device – the design and scale of which indicated it had a powerful thermonuclear warhead. State media said it was a bomb intended for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In July, North Korea tested two ICBMs that are believed to be capable of reaching the US mainland.

Analysts say the claims should be treated with caution, but the state’s nuclear capability is clearly advancing. The UN Security Council has been meeting in session to discuss North Korea’s latest test.

The announcement that North Korea had carried out an H-bomb test prompted international condemnation. Prime Minister Theresa May criticised the “reckless” act and is urging a speeding-up of sanctions. Mrs May said North Korea’s actions posed an “unacceptable further threat to the international community” and is calling for “tougher action”.

The British Prime Minister added that she had discussed the “serious and grave threat these dangerous and illegal actions present” with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during her visit to the country last week.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the announcement represented “a new order of threat” before stating that “all options are on the table”. Yet he cautioned there were no easy military solutions, saying North Korea could “basically vaporise large sections of the South Korean population” if the West attacks.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in said claims of North Korea’s sixth nuclear test should be met with the “strongest possible” response, including new sanctions. Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said measures should include restrictions on the trade of oil products.

Meanwhile, China, North Korea’s only major ally, declared its “resolute opposition and strong condemnation” of the announcement, saying the state had “ignored” widespread opposition.

Russia, which has also backed the state, said the test defied international law and urged all sides involved to hold talks.

Mr Trump originally responded to the news by firing off a series of tweets hinting at military action.

“Appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing,” he said. He also branded the country a “rogue nation” whose “words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States”. Mr Trump later announced that he would consider suspending trade with countries that “do business” with North Korea – which includes China.

Last month, he resolved to respond to North Korea’s nuclear threats with “fire and fury like the world has never seen”.

The White House said Mr Trump’s national security team was “monitoring [the situation] closely”. But any military action will be opposed by China and Russia, who share a border with the state and will not accept US-backed neighbours.

News of the state’s sixth nuclear test emerged after South Korea reported a magnitude 5.7 earthquake, which the North said was triggered by the detonation of the thermonuclear device. The earthquake was several times stronger than from previous blasts and reportedly shook buildings in China and Russia.

It came a decade after North Korea’s first nuclear test and represents a significant escalation of its programme. North Korea last carried out a nuclear test in September 2016. A week ago, Pyongyang fired a missile over Japanese territory in its most provocative test before the latest announcement.

Although the earthquake and release of photographs of Kim suggest the device was real, there has been no independent verification. North Korea said there would be no radioactive materials to prove the hydrogen bomb’s existence because it was detonated underground.

But intelligence experts have said there is no reason to doubt that the state tested “an advanced nuclear device”.

A spokesperson for the James Martin Centre for Non-proliferation Studies, said: “There is no way of telling if this is the actual device that was exploded in the tunnel – it could even be a model – but the messaging is clear.

“They want to demonstrate that they know what makes a credible nuclear warhead.”

  • Appendage:

The blast from a primary fission component triggers a secondary fusion explosion in a thermonuclear bomb.

How its explosive power is harnessed:

. An ordinary high explosive trigger compresses plutonium into a critical state, causing initial reaction known as “nuclear fission” as atoms are split.

. This “primary” explosion detonates the second device within the warhead. A secondary core is ignited by more plutonium. It also includes hydrogen isotopes – atoms which have a different number of neutrons – which begin a “fusion” reaction. At the same time, a uranium core begins a second “fission” reaction.

. With a split second the resulting explosion releases huge amounts of energy – leading to a devastating blast.

– Also known as a thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb [H-bomb] is so called because it uses the common element in a process called “nuclear fusion”, in which atoms fuse together.

– H-bombs are far more powerful and complex than ordinary atomic bombs, which rely on atom-splitting – known as “fission”.

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Government, North Korea, Politics, United Nations, United States

A world dangerously close to the brink

NORTH KOREA

North-Korea-missile-663759

North Korea launched a ballistic missile in the Sea of Japan. This may have been from a submarine or from a new land based launch site.

THE world has looked on in horror this week as North Korea fired a missile over Japan. That has spread panic among the 6million population of Hokkaido island and is cranking-up tension to snapping-point.

Not since the Cuban missile crisis has the world seemed as close to the brink of a genocidal nuclear exchange.

The difference is that in that terrifying stand-off of 1962, both John F Kennedy and Russia’s Nikita Khrushchev remained open to reason. For all their bluster, they saw full-scale war as unthinkable, and each was prepared to compromise.

But how confidently can the same be said of the arch protagonists in the Korean crisis?

We should all hope and believe that Donald Trump, though hugely unpredictable, is less reckless than he likes to appear. As leader of the world’s greatest democracy, he is also restrained by the US Constitution and independent-minded advisers.

But this is hardly true of the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un. Surrounded by sycophants too terrified or brainwashed to rein him in, he seems as deranged as he is ruthless.

Indeed, his countless victims include his half-brother, poisoned at Kuala Lumpur airport, and an uncle he blew to shreds with heavy artillery at point-blank range. The fear is that anyone capable of such barbarity may be capable of anything.

But are threats of ‘exterminating’ his regime, and demonstrations of military might, the best way to deal with a madman who seems only to fear losing face?

Or will South Korea’s menaces and bombing exercises, and President Trump’s muscle-flexing, merely heighten Kim’s paranoia and sense of isolation, spurring him to ever wilder acts of lunacy?

One thing seems sure. If the North Korean dictator will listen to anyone, it will be to his neighbours the Chinese, who have everything to fear from war in Korea. The West should be using all its energy and efforts by encouraging Beijing to bring him to reason.

Certainly, Mr Trump should leave him in no doubt that the US will support South Korea to the hilt. But if he wants to be remembered as a statesman, he will tone down the language – and, like Kennedy, work tirelessly to broker peace behind the scenes.

Goading this tyrant with threats of ‘fire and fury’ is surely not the answer. Such language is adding fuel to a fire that could become dangerously out of control. It could even provoke the unthinkable: nuclear war.

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