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Well this might qualify as one rather “consequential” Misunderstanding.
Perhaps the president should stop threatening “fire and fury” and “total destruction” — “the likes of which the world has never seen” — if he doesn’t want his ‘rhetorical bluster’ to be misconstrued?
from fortune.com:
Early Monday, North Korea's foreign minister said that Donald Trump had declared war on the Asian country. Later, when asked if the White house viewed President Trump's words as a declaration of war, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders replied, "Not at all. We have not declared war on North Korea, and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd."
As a part of North Korea's assertion that the U.S. had ratcheted up tensions to a militaristic level, foreign minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters outside the United Nations in New York on Monday morning, “The whole world should clearly remember it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country,” according to reporting by multiple news outlets.
The North Korean official also said that the country now has the right to shoot down American military aircraft in its defense—even if they are outside the country's air space.
[...]
It kind of seems like the North Koreans may have not picked up on the finer nuances of “their total destruction” — declared by Trump, on the World stage.
It kind of seems like they might have taken it in a direct way. Instead of in jest.
No worries though, as CNBC puts it — it’s more likely to end up a Conventional War, instead of all-out annihilation.
A retired U.S. general said a Pentagon war scenario showed a conventional war with North Korea could result in about 20,000 deaths per day in South Korea, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Meanwhile, a retired U.S. Navy admiral sees a 50/50 chance of a conventional conflict with North Korea although much less likelihood of a nuclear war.
[...]
Yet, the nuclear conflagration is still in the mix. They didn’t say Zero chance of that.
Beside, Trump — the great deal-maker — has already fore-shadowed his “blame card” should the juvenile-dictator with Nukes, decide to shoot down one of our planes …
In case the other juvenile with Nukes forgot — Clinton is not in charge of Diplomacy now. He is.
God help us all, if calmer minds don’t prevail, in this “war of misunderstood words.”
from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists:
The Los Angeles Times quoted James Stavridis, a retired Navy admiral and dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, as putting “the chances of conventional conflict with North Korea at 50-50 and the chances of nuclear war at 10 percent.”
Hey that’s better than playing the Lottery, by a long shot … but not nearly as rewarding.