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Saturday, April 15, 2017

Does NK Stand For No Knowledge?

The nonsense that is floating around in the media regarding North Korea is astounding.  The truth is that most reporters and pundits do not know what is happening or what those events mean.  Instead, they seem to be trying to make the situation more inflamed and to stoke fear in the minds of most Americans.

Here are just a few examples:

1.  Self proclaimed North Korea "expert" Gordon Chang told CBS News that the missiles paraded through the North Korean capital today looked like they were ICBMs with MIRVs.  A MIRV is a missile with multiple warheads each of which hits a different target.  That would mean, according to Chang, that the NKs could threaten major nuclear destruction in the USA.  There are a few problems with that statement, however.  1) That NKs have never successfully fired an intercontinental ballistic missile.  If the missile in the parade looked like an ICBM, there is no reason to think it works.  2) The NKs have never tested any MIRV system.  MIRVs are not easy to build.  Since the NKs have never even tested such a system, there is no reason to believe that they have it.  3) It is relatively difficult for someone watching a missile roll by on a truck to tell what is inside that missile.  Observations of "experts" may be more informative, but even they don't have x-ray vision.  4) Chang's track record is less than stellar.  He used to be an "expert" on the Chinese economy.  He has been announcing for the last 15 years that China would imminently suffer a major economic downturn.  He's been wrong for the last 15 years.  Why should anyone believe him now?

2.  The MOAB which was dropped in Afghanistan on ISIS was actually meant to be a signal to the North Korean leader.  Really?   President Trump said that sort of "signal" was not considered.   Personally, I thought it was an attack on an ISIS complex located in a remote area that was perfect for that weapon.  There were no civilians nearby and the blast was strong enough to penetrate the caves.  As Freud supposedly said, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

3.  The USA is about to launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea.  That nonsense started with NBC and then CBS jumped on the bandwagon.  As a result, the White House had to announce that the report was nonsense and no such attack was planned even if the NKs test a nuclear weapon underground or launch a missile.  Of course, that announcement by the White House also severely undermined the deterrent effect of the uncertainty of US intentions.

There's other examples, but these are sufficient to illustrate the point.  Is it impossible for the media and "experts" to say we really don't know?

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