Here is how the New York Times begins its coverage of Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to China:
Secretary of State John Kerry flew to China on Saturday and sought to elicit China’s help in dealing with an increasingly recalcitrant nuclear armed North Korea by saying that American missile defenses could be cut back if the North abandoned its nuclear program.
Really? The USA will cut back on missile defense to please China if North Korea ends its nuclear program? What an idiot. Maybe Kerry has forgotten that in the 1990's the NK's formally abandoned their nuclear program in exchange for aid promised by Bill Clinton. Of course, the North Koreans just moved their program to hidden locations and continued right on building those pesky nukes. The North also abandoned its missile program at other times, only later to disclose that it was just lying. So now Kerry is going to give up the missile defense in exchange for another likely lie.
We need to remember something important about missile defense: it does not work against a nation like China or Russia that have a great many nuclear delivery systems. The American systems can shoot down something like half to nine-tenths of the missiles it tracks. That means that the other ten percent to one half get through. If 100 missiles are launched that means that at least ten nukes hit their targets. It is better than getting hit by 100, but since you can only die once, it is not that much better. In dealing with a nation like North Korea or Iran which has only a few nuclear weapons and just rudimentary missile technology, however, the missile defenses are much more important. Were the NK's to launch a missile towards Honolulu or some other point in the USA, the American anti-missile defenses have a pretty good chance of shooting it down. It is only as more and more missiles get launched that some are almost certain to get through. What that means is that removal of the missile defense is not of any real benefit to China. All that removing missile defenses will do is to embolden the crackpot nations like Iran and North Korea.
Put all this together and it means that Kerry is making an offer to weaken American defenses in the face of threats from Iran and North Korea in exchange for a promise from a nation that never tells the truth about its nuclear weapons programs.
Kerry is an idiot.
By the way, I know that I previously said that I would try to be upbeat today, but Kerry ruined it, not me.
Secretary of State John Kerry flew to China on Saturday and sought to elicit China’s help in dealing with an increasingly recalcitrant nuclear armed North Korea by saying that American missile defenses could be cut back if the North abandoned its nuclear program.
Really? The USA will cut back on missile defense to please China if North Korea ends its nuclear program? What an idiot. Maybe Kerry has forgotten that in the 1990's the NK's formally abandoned their nuclear program in exchange for aid promised by Bill Clinton. Of course, the North Koreans just moved their program to hidden locations and continued right on building those pesky nukes. The North also abandoned its missile program at other times, only later to disclose that it was just lying. So now Kerry is going to give up the missile defense in exchange for another likely lie.
We need to remember something important about missile defense: it does not work against a nation like China or Russia that have a great many nuclear delivery systems. The American systems can shoot down something like half to nine-tenths of the missiles it tracks. That means that the other ten percent to one half get through. If 100 missiles are launched that means that at least ten nukes hit their targets. It is better than getting hit by 100, but since you can only die once, it is not that much better. In dealing with a nation like North Korea or Iran which has only a few nuclear weapons and just rudimentary missile technology, however, the missile defenses are much more important. Were the NK's to launch a missile towards Honolulu or some other point in the USA, the American anti-missile defenses have a pretty good chance of shooting it down. It is only as more and more missiles get launched that some are almost certain to get through. What that means is that removal of the missile defense is not of any real benefit to China. All that removing missile defenses will do is to embolden the crackpot nations like Iran and North Korea.
Put all this together and it means that Kerry is making an offer to weaken American defenses in the face of threats from Iran and North Korea in exchange for a promise from a nation that never tells the truth about its nuclear weapons programs.
Kerry is an idiot.
By the way, I know that I previously said that I would try to be upbeat today, but Kerry ruined it, not me.
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