Free Republic

New Years is a time for fresh starts, optimistic attitudes and positive thinking, so what say we kick off the year with some good news out of North Korea? Naw… I’m just kidding. Things are still a mess over there. But during his annual address to welcome in 2018 (given from some undisclosed, bunker location), Kim Jong-un began striking a new tone. And while it’s not precisely conciliatory in nature, he at least sounds like he’s pretending to be interested in normalizing relations with the international community. In fact, he’s even talking about sending a delegation to the Olympic Games,...

Introduction: On Deterrence Carl von Clausewitz writes that the nature of war has enduring continuities, but its characteristics change with different circumstances.[1] Similarly, the fundamental nature of deterrence has endured for millennia: a threatened response to an adversary’s prospective provocation causes that adversary to decide against the provocation i.e., the adversary is deterred from attack because it decides that the prospective costs outweigh the gains. The character of deterrence, however, must adapt to different circumstances. In one case, the necessary deterrent threat may be to punish the adversary; in another, to deny the adversary its objectives; in yet another, a...

Incredible. Almost 20 years ago, Trump predicted the exact situation we have are in now with North Korea, and his own position is still consistent! I wish he would retweet this clip! Please share so it goes viral.

North Korea suggested Wednesday it may be open to giving up its nuclear weapons, but only if the U.S. did so first. Ruling Korean Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun published a commentary Wednesday in which the country's authoritarian leadership challenged President Donald Trump to reverse his support for a bigger, stronger U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal and adopt a non-proliferation policy. North Korea has argued its weapons of mass destruction stockpile was necessary only to prevent the U.S. from overthrowing the government of Kim Jong Un, which the U.S. has threatened to do by force if he did not abandon his...

North Korea and its nuclear weapons program have plagued the U.S. for years. What to do with all of these missile tests? How do we negotiate? It’s all documented. With President Donald Trump, some people do think that his Twitter and overall personality could make a nuclear exchange more likely. So, as the president finishes the last leg of his Asia trip, he decided to take to Twitter and bash North Korean Kim Jong-un “short and fat.” This came after the Asian dictator called Trump “old.”“Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’" tweeted the president. “When...

No one really knows all that much about North Korea's nuclear or conventional military capability or its strategic agenda. Are its nuclear missiles reliably lethal, are they as long-ranged and accurate as hyped, and are they under secure command and control? Conventional wisdom states that Seoul would be destroyed in minutes by at least 10,000 North Korean artillery and rocket batteries that are now aimed from right across the Demilitarized Zone. Such guns are said to be capable of firing 500,000 rounds within a few minutes. As a result, South Korea and its allies are supposed to be veritable hostages,...

The nuclear confrontation between the US and North Korea entered a critical phase Sunday with North Korea’s conduct of an underground test of a thermonuclear bomb. If the previous round of this confrontation earlier this summer revolved around Pyongyang’s threat to attack the US territory of Guam, Sunday’s test, together with North Korea’s recent tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the continental US, was a direct threat to US cities. In other words, the current confrontation isn’t about US superpower status in Asia, and the credibility of US deterrence or the capabilities of US military forces in the...

An open military conflict in Northern Asia would disrupt more than a third of global seaborne crude oil trade, Wood Mackenzie warned last week amid yet another escalation between North Korea, its neighbors, and the U.S. Such a conflict would cripple North Asia’s production and refining capacity, the consultancy said. Some 65 percent of Asia’s crude oil refining capacity is located in China, Japan, and South Korea, so the effects of an open war would be far-reaching and potentially long-lasting. The most pressing question, then, is how likely such an open conflict is.

While most of the US press was totally fixated on attaching the labels of racist, bigot, and white supremacist to the President, it totally missed one of the biggest stories in a generation—a nuclear war with North Korea was averted.The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred during the 13 days from October 16th to the 28th of 1962. President Kennedy had recently gained solid evidence that the Soviet Union had placed both nuclear-armed bombers as well as nuclear-armed ballistic missiles in Cuba. And even though the US had deployed many more nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey, capable of annihilating Moscow and...

Nothing happens in a vacuum Of course the current North Korean brouhaha is all Trump’s fault at least according to the propaganda megaphone and prime time indoctrination machine that is the ABCCBSNBCPBSCNNMSNBCNPR Cartel. But then again according to these Alt-Left AntiFa stenographers what isn’t? To be effective all current events must happen in a vacuum. That way the spinmeisters can work their editorial magic and make everything fit their narrative.

In just five minutes an American president could put all of humanity in jeopardy. Most nuclear security experts believe that's how long it would take for as many as 400 land-based nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal to be loosed on enemy targets after an initial “go” order. Ten minutes later a battalion of underwater nukes could join them. That unbridled power is a frightening prospect no matter who is president. Donald Trump, the current occupant of the Oval Office, highlights this point. He said he aspires to be “unpredictable” in how he might use nuclear weapons. There is no...

Deposed Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif called Saturday for “a change and revolution” in the country to ensure the sanctity of the vote as he addressed a large gathering of his supporters in his home town of Lahore. Concluding his four-day journey, which began in Islamabad and culminated in a rally in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, Sharif was clearly delighted to address the tens of thousands who gathered near the famous shrine of Data Darbar. After a Supreme Court decision disqualified him last month for concealing assets, Sharif traveled with a long cavalcade from Islamabad Wednesday. He stayed...

The world has watched, seemingly without recourse, as North Korea continues to rapidly develop intercontinental nuclear missile capabilities. After two recent tests, experts now believe North Korea could strike as far as Chicago or London. Those favoring diplomacy above all else—which has utterly failed over the past 25 years—must realize that North Korea is on the cusp of being able to threaten every US citizen on a whim. Now, according to a report released by the Defense Intelligence Agency, North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that will fit its ballistic missiles. While North Korea may not yet...

President Trump on Tuesday threatened to meet North Korean threats with "fire and fury" a day after Pyongyang said it was ready with "ultimate measures" in response to new U.N. sanctions pushed by Washington. "North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States," the president warned at a meeting on the opioid crisis held at Bedminster, N.J., where he is on an extended working vacation....

The United States is preparing for all options to counter the growing threat from North Korea, including launching a “preventive war,” national security adviser H.R. McMaster said in an interview with MSNBC that aired Saturday. The comments come following North Korea carrying out two tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) last month. “What you’re asking is are we preparing plans for a preventive war, right?” he said in response to a question from MSNBC’s Hugh Hewitt. “A war that would prevent North Korea from threatening the United States with a nuclear weapon. And the president’s been very clear about it....

Former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has weighed in on North Korea’s ballistic missile tests and has a message for dictator Kim Jong-Un – It’s not you, it’s us. In a series of media appearances, Stein has come to the defense of the rogue nation insisting they are victims of American propaganda and have been “cornered” into pursuing a nuclear weapons program. “The demonization of North Korea is part of the run-up to regime change. It’s part of demonizing a government that we then want to exercise regime change on,” Stein said Sunday in an interview on MSNBC. Taken...

I don’t ordinarily do this, but I want to clear up what I said yesterday about North Korea and nukes. This time, I’ll say it in the plainest language possible. Fifteen years ago, it’s possible that diplomacy could have stopped North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. That’s certainly what I thought. It’s also possible that heavy sanctions could have done it. It’s even possible that military action could have done it, though that would have been very risky for reasons that everyone knows about—though here’s a map in case you don’t: None of this is true anymore. North Korea already...

Expecting a different outcome this time falls under the definition of insanity generally attributed to Albert Einstein: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results With every passing day, the United Nations is becoming more useless in helping to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. Tough rhetoric and a series of resolutions from the UN Security Council ramping up economic sanctions on the North Korean regime have failed to slow down North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. This was evidenced again last Friday by North Korea’s second ICBM launch, following its first on July...

The case for Trident – disposing of common arguments against renewing Britain’s nuclear weapons capability and the Royal Navy’s Successor submarines. In 2016 Parliament approved the construction of 4 replacement of ‘Successor’ ballistic missile submarines for the Royal Navy. Despite majority public support, a very vocal minority opposes British nuclear weapons and the subject continues to be hotly debated. The current Vanguard class submarines, built during the 1990s needs to be replaced in order to safely and reliably maintain deterrent patrols. This project does not involve procurement of any new warheads or an upgrade in nuclear capability. The US-made Trident...

On Joy Reid’s MSNBC show today, analyst Malcolm Nance floated a scenario in which President Trump decided to use a nuclear weapon to stop the North Korean missile-testing program. Reid asked whether Kelly would be “the guy who’s going to say, ‘yes, sir, or the guy who’s going to say, ‘don’t do it?'” Replied Nance: “He may have to be the guy that tackles him.” View the video here.