Is mutually assured nuclear annihilation is everything that we can expect from the “peace loving” Mr. Trump?
American foreign policy has now entered its Vaudeville stage. The latest far out act being convincing the dumbest Americans that North Korea is a threat to the US at all. President Donald Trump’s madman assertions and swagger recently are made even more horrific by mainstream media’s apparent shift into his corner. By the time you’re done reading this, fallout shelters may be back in vogue.
For those too young to recollect, Vaudeville entertainment was the fad in the US in the early 20th century famous for a mixture of burlesque comedy and song and dance. The presidency of Donald Trump, so far, has been a marque extravaganza of all three. His song has changed with regard to reconciliation with Russia, but rabid rhetoric on North Korea seems about to go ballistic – literally. A little more than a week ago Trump rubber stamped a sanctions bill that rolled Russia and Iran into the same rogue state ball as North Korea. Today North Korea is in the nuclear crosshairs! Please excuse, but is it just me, or does this darkening situation resemble impossible coincidence? Wow! The term we use in social media so often is the only one that fits here. But wait, the new Trump war drums are drummed by formerly hostile tribes.
If my thought process here seems disjointed it’s only because I am reeling alongside my colleagues at all the news from former Trump haters. It’s almost as if “The Donald” made a deal with Bibi and AIPAC to roll out some Israel hate in exchange for turning the heat down on the billionaire dealmaker. More on possible Trump wheeling and dealing for himself in a minute, but get this from Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post first.
“Why we fear a North Korean nuclear attack”, by the former Fort Worth Star – Telegram city government reporter, Lindsey Bever reveals two things about America right now. First and foremost, we are out to lunch and completely out of control of our government. Secondly, a large segment of our society is just dumb enough to believe a prissy tail eager “Bever” professing to know nuclear armaments. Trump is about to call DEFCON 1 (nuclear war imminent) and the Washington Post puts up a girl’s strike assessment alongside a psychological profile of Americans’ fear quotient! Good God, read the lead where she quotes The Atlantic tabloid:
“Thirty minutes, that’s about how long it would take a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile launched from North Korea to reach Los Angeles.”
The WP reporter tweaks her readers talking about miniaturized warheads the North Koreans could stick in their ACME rockets. Then she inserts the propaganda that is perilously close to becoming a nuclear armed power. Finally, she cites a biased pole (conducted by the new Nazis) and leveraged by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (corporate and individually funded think tank) that said Americans are horrified Kim Jong-un will blow America to bits.
On July 28, 2017, North Korea successfully tested its second intercontinental ballistic missile, and the Pentagon (plus Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu) have Donald Trump in Dr. Strangelove mode (see Stanley Kubrick classic films). Yes, “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”, had all the elements of good Vaudeville entertainment. And now the Washington Swamp Trump promised to drain is dancing like “Singing in the Rain” (see Gene Kelly, great American dancer). The narrative, the strangely idiotic rhetoric and hysteria, it all puts me in mind of a charade. And then there’s the allegations most of Kim Jong-un’s missiles are fake, Paper Mache toys used in big military parades (see The Independent). What are we to make of the disparity? One-minute US defense experts say Pyongyang is playing charades with superpowers, and the next instant nuclear Armageddon is upon St. Louis, Missouri! Okay America, which is it – Wile E. Coyote ACME rockets, or deadly hypersonic doomsday weapons? Trump, the US Congress, Jeff Bezos and the western oligarchs, and the Israel lobby say we’re doomed. I say North Korea could not hit Guam with a FedEx package if Kim Jong-un’s life depended on it. They blast some rocket fuel and jettison some scrap metal into the Sea of Japan and America’s military industrial complex begins developing countermeasure named “Roadrunner”.
Returning to President Trump and the AIPAC lobbyist who recently twisted Washington into knots over Russia sanctions. I cannot be the only one on Earth who smells “deal” all over the billionaire known for his brokering the fantastical. Here’s what I think about the sanctions, Trump, and how Israel ultimately sees a win.
Netanyahu and his bunch want Iran – dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. In fact, the only way these Zionists can get a nation of “Greater Israel” is for the whole Middle East to be either dead, dying, or begging. Ergo we have Arab Spring, Syria, refugee central in Europe, and ISIL etc. Israel is an asbestos building standing in the middle of a town burning down – and nobody but me notices? Trump and Bibi, Trump and the Saudis, Trump harping on Iran and North Korea even before he took office – you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure who is who. Fast forward to the Russia, Iran, North Korea sanctions and the plan seems cemented. Russia cannot be totally marginalized unless certified as a rogue state. Now sleepy Americans allow “the swamp” to meld a superpower with marginal states. For the Israel play, first North Korea becomes the “target” – perhaps even for a limited war. Then Iran and/or Russia get looped in, they become a new “Axis of Evil”, and World War III is a tenuous Cold War with a real Armageddon on the horizon. In the meantime Netanyahu has already destroyed Syria for the foreseeable future, and a war with Iran adds the potential for greater Israeli land grabs. Trust me, it’s not inconceivable.
Finally, whether or not my ranting theories are true, it’s a certainty a shift into another gear has taken place in Washington. Maybe Trump was onboard all along. Or maybe the “deal” was something about saving his hide? Only the globalists bent on these endless wars will know for certain. All I know, is that I’m taking my family to Crete and I’ll consider the wind patterns and remote caves there – just in case. If war does not come, we’ll enjoy the hospitality, sunshine, and beaches.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
