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Putin said, “Russia has ‘unstoppable’ supersonic nuclear missile that cannot be traced by western defense systems.” That the country is also trialling new underwater drones that can carry nuclear bombs, as we well as developing atomic warheads small enough to be delivered on a cruise missile.
A war of catastrophic proportions would be devastating to all those involuntarily involved.
Are American military leaders preparing for armed conflict with North Korea in case Washington’s diplomatic efforts fail? But there is a clear realization among defense officials that a war would be absolutely devastating.
Announced today, Russia is developing a series of nuclear weapon systems, including a new supersonic cruise missile capable of overcoming NATO defense systems, Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed.
If we go to war, waiting in the backdrop and on center stage, is the reaction from Russia, an ally of North Korea, where all regimes are striving for world dominance to continue to control people’s lives without freedom, peace and democracy. These are bad actors on the world stage trying to show off their grit, guts and dangerous foolishness. This is no joke whether we can positively confirm Russia’s Prime Minister Putin’s nuclear threat, who fully intends to go there, to create catastrophic destruction now or in the near future, in any case he is well on his way through Uranium One.
The next missile launch from North Korea’s side will throw caution to the wind and will invite inevitable consequences that will permeate, not withstanding the blow from the US response, to finally maybe rid itself from a constant nuclear threat. Talk is cheap when actions will speak louder than words.
Bruce Klingner, the former chief of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Korea branch and now a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, previously told The Daily Caller News Foundation, “When I was in government, when we ran war games, the estimates were hundreds of thousands of casualties, and that was before we thought North Korea had nuclear weapons.” Secretary of Defense James Mattis has previously warned that war with North Korea would be “catastrophic” and “tragic on an unbelievable scale.” Speaking before Congress, he stressed that, “It would be a war that fundamentally we don’t want.”
“Only by telling everyone how Putin would destroy the world did the old man Putin come alive,” he said Kremlin advisor Gleb Pavlovsky.
It’s hard to fathom what would initially take place once passed the initial strikes from North Korea and now Russia with the US simultaneously reacting to a war, that once started could never return to what life was like before the catastrophic events.
This time, for the first time, nuclear missiles on both sides would be launched to do damage never seen before.
Putin confirmed tests of a new intercontinental ballistic missile complex (ICBM) code named Sarmat. Weighing more than 200 tons, the system has an increased range over its predecessor, and is able to fly at minimal altitude.
Putin said, “No anti-missile system, even in the future, has a hope of getting in its way.”
Russia, no doubt had planned the announcement, the timing of the remarks appears to be a message to Washington in the wake of the Trump administration’s recently announced plans to develop new nuclear arms and questions about the future of arms-control agreements between Washington and Moscow.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed Putin’s comments. “President Putin has confirmed what the United States government has known all along, which Russia has denied. Russia has been developing destabilizing weapons systems for over a decade in direct violations of its treaty obligations”.
Several major announcements were part of the speech. Russia was developing new underwater drones capable of carrying nuclear bombs. Code named Status-6, the drones can travel in deep water “at speeds many times that of current submarines, the most modern torpedoes and even the speediest of surface boats.”
There was more. “Heroic” military developers had delivered a new class of supersonic nuclear cruise missiles. The new missiles had a range “dozens” of times above current models and were capable of flying at unpredictable trajectories and low-altitudes.
Putin said, “Their ability to move around missile shield intercepts makes them invincible for all current and projected anti-missile and anti-aircraft systems.”
“In the lead up to Mr Putin’s 14th state of the nation address, few commentators anticipated such a dramatic speech. Traditionally, the event has been used to outline domestic policy priorities to his regional henchmen. This year, of course, there was another dimension. With the speech delayed for three months, it had become a central event of the presidential election campaign.”
With no major opponent standing against him, Mr Putin is said to be looking at turnout instead. To project the strength of his position to the outside world, he is looking for a significant number of people to head to the polls on March 18. In the run-up to the address, presidential aides promised it would offer a vision of the future to ordinary Russians. (A vision of the future being the operative word.) While Mr Putin remains popular among core constituencies, most Russians are now experiencing their fourth year of shrinking real-term incomes.
“True to the promise, Mr Putin spent much of the first hour of his speech focusing on matters of domestic peace. He touched on many of Russia’s acupuncture spots. He made striking promises. He’d halve poverty. He’d double health spending. He’d increase support to parents by 40 per cent. He’d improve ecological conditions. And he’d extend life expectancy by 10 years. Even more remarkable for a president in his 18th year of power were his promises to “increase freedom and democracy” and curtail regulatory pressure on business.”
“But it was in the second hour, with an abrupt turn to war, that the sparks flew. The simple animations that accompanied Mr Putin’s military presentation, showing east-west trajectories for his new weapons, left little to the imagination. This speech was a bellicose challenge to Russia’s rediscovered geopolitical foe, the United States. It was the sort of gesture that wearied Russian voters tend to enjoy.”
Mr Putin said Russia had stepped up military development in response to the 2002 US withdrawal from the treaty on anti-ballistic weapons systems.
“They thought we would never be able to recover economically, militarily, so ignored our complaints,” he said. “They didn’t listen, but perhaps they will listen now.”
Meanwhile with North Korea, “If the sanctions don’t work, we’ll have to go phase two,” President Donald Trump said recently. “Phase two may be a very rough thing, may be very, very unfortunate for the world.” The Trump administration asserts it desires a peaceful solution, yet the president and other senior officials have repeatedly stressed that all options remain on the table, including the application of military force.
“A tabletop exercise was recently held in Hawaii, and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Commander of Special Operations Command Gen. Tony Thomas were both in attendance, according to The New York Times.”
Evaluating the potential casualties, Milley reportedly remarked that the “brutality” of such a conflict “will be beyond the experience of any living soldier.”
“An estimated 10,000 American troops could be killed or wounded in the opening days of the conflict, and civilian deaths could be in the hundreds of thousands, even higher if the North utilizes its arsenal of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. The Pentagon reportedly estimates that as many as 20,000 South Koreans would die each day.”
“The nearly two dozen artillery battalions threatening Seoul have the ability to wreak havoc on the local population.”
“The recent exercise addressed various combat concerns, such as logistical issues like the evacuation of the wounded and the deployment of additional troops, tunnels and critical strike targets.”
North Korea has insisted that it is open to talks with the U.S. but demanded that talks take place without preconditions. The U.S. is willing to talk but only “under the right conditions,” Trump says.
“Despite rumors in the media that the president is considering a preemptive, preventative “bloody nose” strike on North Korea, the administration has repeatedly denied these claims and put an emphasis on the need for diplomacy. The unexpected retirement of senior Department of State official Joseph Yun, America’s top North Korea negotiator, may, however, complicate the Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts.”
