A NUCLEAR WORLD
Kissinger: Nuclear North Korea ‘immediate challenge’ of our time
January 26, 2018 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “North Korea poses the most immediate threat to global security, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger told Congress Thursday, stressing that denuclearization of the regime must be a ‘fundamental’ American foreign policy goal.
Kissinger also pointed to Iran as a primary challenge, and said that opposing the Islamic republic’s ‘hegemonic expansion’ and pursuit of nuclear weapons should remain high Washington priorities.
Kissinger, who at age 94 continues to advise on foreign policy matters, joined two other foreign policy heavyweights — former secretary of state George Shultz, 97, and ex-deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage, 72 — in testifying before a Senate panel about global security challenges.
The elder statesmen presented a picture of mounting international threats, including nuclear proliferation, Chinese authoritarianism, and Russia’s interference in US elections and its interventions in Eastern Europe.
‘The most immediate challenge to international security is posed by the evolution of the North Korea nuclear program,’ Kissinger told the Senate Armed Services Committee, describing an ‘unprecedented’ scenario.
North Korea, like Iran, has advanced its nuclear capability at the very time an international effort sought to prevent a ‘radical regime’ from developing such capacity.
‘For the second time in a decade, an outcome that was widely considered unacceptable is now on the verge of becoming irreversible,’ he said…” (Kissinger is right. Ezekiel 38:5 predicts that Russia, the Orient, and Persia [which changed its name to Iran in 1932] will see millions destroyed through atomic warfare in the Latter Years and Latter Days – Ezekiel 38:8, 16. Prepare to meet thy God Israel – Amos 4:12. This battle is described in Revelation 9:14 – 18: “Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.” See the next two reports.)
Pence: U.S. ‘ready for any eventuality’ on North Korea
February 9, 2018 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday the United States was ‘ready for any eventuality’ with regard to North Korea and warned that ‘all options were on the table’ to deal with Pyongyang’s threats.
Speaking to US and Japanese troops at the Yokota Air Base outside Tokyo, Pence vowed to continue the ‘maximum pressure campaign’ on North Korea in a bid to force Pyongyang to give up its nuclear missile programme.
Pence’s trip to Asia comes amid an apparent thaw on the Korean peninsula, spurred by North Korea’s participation in what is being hailed the ‘peace’ Olympics in Pyeongchang in the South.
But he struck a tough tone, citing a string of rights abuses and stressing: ‘Those who dare threaten us would do well not to underestimate the capabilities of the armed forces of the United States.
‘Let the world know, from here in Yokota Air Base and beyond, we are ready for any eventuality.
‘Let our adversaries know: All options are on the table and the American armed forces and self-defence forces of Japan will be ready to defend our people and our way of life.’
Any provocation, including any use of nuclear weapons, would result in a ‘response that is rapid, overwhelming and effective’, he vowed…”
Pentagon pushes nuclear weapons expansion, modernization
February 5, 2018 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “The Pentagon called for the United States to develop two new types of weapons in an update of its nuclear policy Friday.
The new policy — the first update of the Nuclear Posture Review since 2010 — pushes modernization of U.S. nuclear weapons, infrastructure and delivery systems. It overturns years of Obama-era policy that sought to reduce the size and power of the United States’ nuclear arsenal.
It calls for a ‘lower-yield’ options for ballistic and cruise missiles launched at sea.
‘Expanding flexible U.S. nuclear options now, to include low-yield options, is important for the preservation of credible deterrence against regional aggression,’ the report says.
President Donald Trump ordered Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to conduct the Nuclear Posture Review one year ago.
In an introductory statement, Mattis said, ‘We must look reality in the eye and see the world as it is, not as we wish it to be … in no way does this approach lower the nuclear threshold.’
In his own statement, Trump said the updated strategy develops capabilities so that use of a nuclear weapon is less likely…”