dagblog - Comments for "War and Words and Words and War"

This is remarkable.

Michael Maiello — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 20:36:41 +0000

In reply to What in God's name did you

This is remarkable.

What in God's name did you

Obey — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 12:36:27 +0000

In reply to Most tinpot dictators, like

What in God's name did you hope to achieve, Donald?

August 10, 2017

Most tinpot dictators, like

Doctor Cleveland — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 17:44:53 +0000

In reply to War and Words and Words and War

Most tinpot dictators, like Kim Jong-Un, talk in this unhinged aggressive way because they are actually deeeply aware of their weakness. The rattlesnake rattles when it's scared.

Trump, with the most powerful military in world history under his command, speaks like a scared threepenny tyrant. Because he is frightened and weak. That is the core of his nature.

Trump certainly remembers

Nonny Moose — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 15:06:57 +0000

In reply to War and Words and Words and War

Trump certainly remembers that beating the drums of war (and dropping a big bomb) garnered easy approval from the establishment media once before. Whether provoking an opponent that the establishment doesn't care about (because they have no oil) has the same salutary effect on the talking heads remains to be seen.

This particular crisis may

Obey — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 19:26:18 +0000

In reply to War and Words and Words and War

This particular crisis may not get out of hand. North Korea is easily bribed into peacefulness. Who was it that said their nuclear program is just their cash cow - it's just something they swing around to get people to give them money through China.

But how long can the most powerful country in the world run around like a headless chicken before something somewhere gets out of hand?

There is zero policy continuity with previously made commitments. The very notion of foreign policy commitment, or for that matter, even anything resembling policy tout court, is utterly absent. What is the rational course of action for a Rouhani, a Jung Un, a Putin, when the US behavior on the international stage is totally unreliable and unpredictable? Trump has made it abundantly clear to the world that he is weak-minded - as in slow-witted, impatient, insecure, vain, fickle and easily swayed. It's never at all clear who he will follow and who he will lash out at. It doesn't mean that the right calculation is to provoke the US in its present headless (or mindless) state. But it also doesn't mean that the right move is to lay low in fear of an irrationally excessive US reaction either.

Dunno, but if I were an evil dictator of a foreign power, I would seek to instigate a crisis somewhere else and then use the breathing room to consolidate power in my own region. Because whatever the US reaction, you know it won't be smart and level-headed, and any crisis will be handled terribly. That is the only sure bet here.

So Iran could for instance give North Korea missile tech to mount a warhead (like so) to heighten tensions there, and then use the resulting distraction to mess around in the Middle East. Russia and Iran are probably happy with the absurdly escalating Qatar mess as well. Putin is spreading political instability where he can, and he'll use whatever the next crisis is to make his own moves in Eastern Europe. That, in any case, is my depressing prognosis. Things WILL get out of hand. The question is when. And then the next vital question is how fast does Congress move to replace Trump.

South Koreans think the U.S.

A Guy Called LULU — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 18:19:42 +0000

In reply to The idea that General Kelly

South Koreans think the U.S. is a bigger danger.

The idea that General Kelly

rmrd0000 — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 18:16:40 +0000

In reply to This is a very complicated

The idea that General Kelly would restore sanity to this White House was always a fantasy. Kim Jong-Orange is the biggest danger facing the world today.

This is a very complicated

Danny Cardwell — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 18:03:58 +0000

In reply to War and Words and Words and War

This is a very complicated situation. I would feel better if D.T. lost his phone and found some restraint while looking for it.

If you read Book 2, Herodotus

NCD — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 05:20:37 +0000

In reply to War and Words and Words and War

If you read Book 2, Herodotus Histories, Helen voluntarily made off with a ship captain, was never in Troy as they were blown off course to Egypt, and Homer's Trojan War, that Herodotus called a 'heroic tale', was just elaborate cover for the unprovoked sack and pillage of Troy.

We still make excuses to justify too many wars.

Still, his rhetoric is a

artappraiser — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 04:16:51 +0000

In reply to War and Words and Words and War

Still, his rhetoric is a problem.

A reminder of what he said on Face The Nation April 30--

I am thinking he may see a young Trump in the little he has learned about Kim (from cartoon briefing books they prepare for him or whatevah)

President Trump, asked what he made of the North Korean leader, answered:

"People are saying: 'Is he sane?' I have no idea.... but he was a young man of 26 or 27... when his father died. He's dealing with obviously very tough people, in particular the generals and others.

"And at a very young age, he was able to assume power. A lot of people, I'm sure, tried to take that power away, whether it was his uncle or anybody else. And he was able to do it. So obviously, he's a pretty smart cookie."

In which case he is doing the return saber rattling thinking that is how you effect someone like himself.

He certainly knows all about using propaganda, populist patriotism and xenophobia just like, but not as extremely as the Kim dynasty.

I know a bit about the propaganda and saber rattling in the years of Kim Jong-Il. On the forum I participated in before moving to TPMCafe around 2005, me and a Quebec buddy were both fascinated by it and would trade anything we could find for a couple years like, links to posters, song translations, videos of stadium performances, etc. It is not the same at all as say, Soviet propaganda. And there is great similarity with some things in particular that are characteristically Trumpian, especially his love of great spectacle instilled by his mother.

Edit to add: for those who don't know it, North Korean propaganda for decades has been more than "warlike", it is about war to excess, war all the time, and in particular against the U.S.A. There are decades old posters of their bombs hitting the U.S. Capital and breaking it to smithereens. The method of control of the population is mainly fear of the outside world that has been deeply, deeply impressed. And the U.S.A. is enemy #1. There is a little bit on trying to keep the populace happy with their socialist dream country with songs about how wonderful potatoes are, but mainly it not like Mao's China trying to inspire the populace, rather, most of the propaganda is about war and how the leader is protecting them from everyone else out there by making them the most fearsome nation on the earth.