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[Rolan7]

Amen.

[Baffler]

Ooh boy.....

NK is threatening a pre-emptive attack on Guam..... *shakes head*

RedKing's analogy of two drunks arguing seems pretty apt here, neither wants to back down rhetorically.

http://thehill.com/policy/international/asia-pacific/345820-north-korea-threatens-guam-after-trump-remarks

TheHill sourced it to Reuters, but linked to CNBC anyway: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/north-korea-seriously-considering-strike-on-guam-reports-citing-state-media.html

I feel the US is closer to war with North Korea than it ever has been in the past decades.

Trump brings a level of unpredictability to the situation which makes predicting where this will go almost impossible.

I don't think they're gonna do it. The Norks won't start it, there's no upside. Even with their handful of nukes they're still horribly outmatched, and if they nuke Guam (or try and fail) we're going to invade them. There's no question about that. They don't have a hope of winning a straight up war, and I think it's unlikely China would intercede on their behalf in a scenario like that.

We aren't likely to start it either. We can win, but the cost will be terrible. Probably the worst since World War 2. And as nice as it would be to finally end it the current status quo is working okay for everyone, except maybe the average North Korean.

[smjjames]

I'm sure he's having some sort of emergency meeting with relevant staff right now. And Trump's attempt to bully NK evidently didn't work.

His golf buddies are working out a measured response over wine as we speak.

Which does remind me - isn't a good chunk of the White House, Trump included, out at the moment on vacation and such while they fix the heating? This could quite literally be a geopolitical crisis unfolding at least partly in a Trump-branded golf retreat.

Yep, Trump is on vacation at his golf retreat while the staffers are in the Eisenhower building next door. Fixing the HVAC system is one of the bigger things, yeah, there are a whole bunch of other renovations, repairs, etc as well.

Ooh boy.....

NK is threatening a pre-emptive attack on Guam..... *shakes head*

RedKing's analogy of two drunks arguing seems pretty apt here, neither wants to back down rhetorically.

http://thehill.com/policy/international/asia-pacific/345820-north-korea-threatens-guam-after-trump-remarks

TheHill sourced it to Reuters, but linked to CNBC anyway: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/north-korea-seriously-considering-strike-on-guam-reports-citing-state-media.html

I feel the US is closer to war with North Korea than it ever has been in the past decades.

Trump brings a level of unpredictability to the situation which makes predicting where this will go almost impossible.

I don't think they're gonna do it. The Norks won't start it, there's no upside. Even with their handful of nukes they're still horribly outmatched, and if they nuke Guam (or try and fail) we're going to invade them. There's no question about that. They don't have a hope of winning a straight up war, and I think it's unlikely China would intercede on their behalf in a scenario like that.

We aren't likely to start it either. We can win, but the cost will be terrible. Probably the worst since World War 2. And as nice as it would be to finally end it the current status quo is working okay for everyone, except maybe the average North Korean.

Yeah, if they do a pre-emptive strike, China might not back them since they obviously attacked first. The thing is that this is the kind of (mostly) non-inflicted major crisis that every President faces, and we're starting to see how he acts under pressure when there is a crisis not of his own making.

[misko27]

But then again, I don't think anyone actually cares about the well-being of the average North Korean.

I don't think anyone would ever intentionally restart the Korean War; or at least, none of the parties involved would. All risk and almost no gain. But unintentionally... if we can imagine a situation that escalates rapidly, where would the cooler heads be? Imagine if something like the Axe Murder incident recurred; would Trump have the patience to respond with an Operation Paul Bunyan, or a provocation of his own?

Oy, here's something I only just thought of: Is his team even prepared to respond without retaliating? State Department and military seem confused and underprepared, and I'm not convinced they could handle this...

[sluissa]

I'm fairly sure the magma plume is way too deep for a borehole to relieve that pressure from the earth above and trigger an eruption, it would close up nearly instantly. Thermonuclear excavation is the only rational option.

Wait, we were talking about magma? I was debating the pros and cons of sending Bruce Willis to reduce the pressure on the NK/US exchange... preferably by drilling holes in something. I don't think it'd work, and would probably cause more problems than it would solve, but I'd watch that for about 2 hours with a side of Buscemi.

[Rolan7]

But then again, I don't think anyone actually cares about the well-being of the average North Korean.

Is there a party that *primarily* cares about worldwide human rights?  (Democrats care more than Republicans, but there are so many issues...)

Coalition systems don't solve this problem of lumping everything into two MOSTLY unrelated groups, but they sure do make single-issue voters *AT ALL RELEVANT* by comparison.

[smjjames]

But then again, I don't think anyone actually cares about the well-being of the average North Korean.

I don't think anyone would ever intentionally restart the Korean War; or at least, none of the parties involved would. All risk and almost no gain. But unintentionally... if we can imagine a situation that escalates rapidly, where would the cooler heads be? Imagine if something like the Axe Murder incident recurred; would Trump have the patience to respond with an Operation Paul Bunyan, or a provocation of his own?

Oy, here's something I only just thought of: Is his team even prepared to respond without retaliating? State Department and military seem confused and underprepared, and I'm not convinced they could handle this...

I'm not surprised that the State Department seems confused and underprepared, given the fact that statements like what Trump gave are usually carefully crafted and there are a whole bunch of ambassador and other State Department positions relevant to the region that are unfilled.

As for the military, more like 'not actually trying to threaten NK'. They can mobilize pretty quck if they have to.

But then again, I don't think anyone actually cares about the well-being of the average North Korean.

Is there a party that *primarily* cares about worldwide human rights?  (Democrats care more than Republicans, but there are so many issues...)

Coalition systems don't solve this problem of lumping everything into two MOSTLY unrelated groups, but they sure do make single-issue voters *AT ALL RELEVANT* by comparison.

In the US? I guess there could be some local groups here and there which are single issue on that, none that I know of which are actual parties.

[Frumple]

Yeah... there's interest groups and charities and whatnot, I think, but no organized political parties. Which makes sense, considering it's both single issue and something most americans really, really do not care about save after everything else is considered.

[Antioch]

I don't think they're gonna do it. The Norks won't start it, there's no upside. Even with their handful of nukes they're still horribly outmatched, and if they nuke Guam (or try and fail) we're going to invade them. There's no question about that. They don't have a hope of winning a straight up war, and I think it's unlikely China would intercede on their behalf in a scenario like that.

We aren't likely to start it either. We can win, but the cost will be terrible. Probably the worst since World War 2. And as nice as it would be to finally end it the current status quo is working okay for everyone, except maybe the average North Korean.

Assumption: rational actors.

[Loud Whispers]

Assumption: rational actors.

That and states can be forced to take actions which even their leaders attempt to stop but cannot stop. The Chinese may not want to intercede on their behalf, whether they feel it necessary however to avoid having the American military on their border is another question

[redwallzyl]

I just saw an advertisement for joining the secret service. Are they that desperate?

[Neonivek]

I just saw an advertisement for joining the secret service. Are they that desperate?

Would you join the secret service right now?

[Loud Whispers]

Inb4 Korean diplomacy

*EDIT
AHAHAHA
Taiwanese couple bought a street full of mansions for $90,000, millionaire residents just realized their homes are now owned by someone else. Ironically the neighbourhood was restricted to whites only in 1948. Tfw ur gated community is bought by immigrants but you oppose border control except in your gate community and then they took yer mansion

“We could charge a reasonable rent on it,” Cheng said.

my sides

[Neonivek]

Tfw ur gated community is bought by immigrants but you oppose border control except in your gate community and then they took yer mansion

Well I am not sure I would be antagonistic towards a gated community. It isn't like there isn't a gated community for every race, sex, and denomination.

It is when the gated community mindset that extends further than those gates that get me peeved (Luckily that trend has been SOMEWHAT curved)

[Strife26]

They bought the public rights to the street, so they could hypothetically charge for parking. Far cry from the houses or lots they sit on.