PLAYING WITH FIRE
Fresh from ‘successes’ in Syria and Afghanistan, Trump could turn guns on nuclear North Korea
Missiles in Syria last Friday. ‘The mother of all bombs’ on suspected Daesh hideouts in Afghanistan this Thursday. US President Donald Trump is showing his tough side even if it means policy flip-flops. Where will this adventurism lead to? Will it be North Korea next for the trigger-happy president who has found his mojo after ‘successful missions’ in Syria and Afghanistan? Domestic politics and low ratings may be driving the administration to take risks abroad, but for now, he appears to be on a winning streak.
North Korea, however, could be a different bomb game. The regime is nuclear, has gone rogue and China, its only ally, is throw- ing up its arms in despair.
But Trump is signalling his intent to strike. It’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ (on North Korea), says a senior White House official. And that ‘when’ could be when North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un gives the green light for another nuclear test.
Washington has already moved its naval assets to the Korean Peninsula. A carrier strike force led by the USS Carl Vinson is in position to show the regime that it is not afraid to strike at the right time.
China says there can be no winners in an armed conflict between the US and North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programme. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi offered to mediate between the two sides, Associated Press reported.
Beijing provides food and fuel aid to impoverished North Korea and if fighting breaks out, a wave a refugees could flood into its territory from the North.
“Once a war really happens, the result will be nothing but multiple losses. No one can become a winner,” Wang told reporters at the news conference with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault,” AP reported.
“Lately, tensions have risen... and one has the feeling that a conflict could break out at any moment,” Wang said. “Whichever side provokes a conflict “must assume the historic responsibility and pay the corresponding price,” he said.
The Trump administration believes Pyongyang is developing a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland United States, and is determined to stop it.
moscow — Russia, Syria and Iran strongly warned the United States on Friday against launching new strikes on Syria and called for an international probe into last week’s chemical attack there.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who hosted his Iranian and Syrian counterparts at a trilateral meeting in Moscow, denounced last week’s US attack on Syria as a “flagrant violation” of international law and warned that any further such action would entail “grave consequences not only for regional but global security”.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said the meeting sent a “strong message” to Washington. Iran’s Javad Zarif emphasised that the participants warned that any unilateral action by the US is unacceptable.
The US has blamed the Syrian government for launching a deadly chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun that killed over 80 people on April 4, and responded by striking a Syrian air base. Russia has said that the victims were killed by toxic agents released from a rebel chemical arsenal and warned against putting the blame on Damascus until an independent inquiry has been conducted.
Moscow vetoed a Western draft UN resolution on Wednesday, saying it failed to mention the need to inspect the area of the attack.
Lavrov on Friday accused the US and its allies of what he described as attempts to stymie an interna- tional probe into the attack. He expressed strong scepticism about a preliminary investigation conducted by the UN chemical weapons watchdog, saying that its experts have failed to visit the site and it has remained unclear to Russia where the samples have been taken and how they have been analyzed.
In Russia’s view, the probe conducted by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons should be widened to include experts from many nations, he said.
“If our US colleagues and some European nations believe that their version is right, they have no reason to fear the creation of such an independent group,” Lavrov added. “The investigation into this high-profile incident must be transparent and leave no doubt that someone is trying to hide something.”
Lavrov said the US strike on the Syrian base has undermined peace efforts in Syria and reflected Washington’s focus on ousting Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government. “Such attempts won’t succeed,” Lavrov said.
The three ministers also discussed the beefing up of US forces on Jordan’s border with Syria. Moallem said. He added that Russia, Iran and Syria have “common procedures against any aggression”, but wouldn’t offer any specifics.
Lavrov that Moscow has asked Washington about the purpose of the buildup and received assurances they were there to cut supply lines between the Daesh group factions in Syria and Iraq.
“We will keep monitoring the issue, since the only possible reason for using military force on the territory of Syria is to fight terrorism,” Lavrov said. — AP
We just left now — around 2,200 people in around 65 buses. Most of the passengers are women and children who started gathering yesterday evening and spent the night in the cold waiting Amjad Al Maleh, Madaya resident