# What the world really needs now is "fire & fury" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 8, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136 "2017-08-08T22:14:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/321 "2017-08-14T21:23:51Z")
> [@HeweyLogan](#): > > It was in response to a reporters question. He said he wouldn’t rule out a military option. > > I suppose you wish he’d lay out the boundaries we’d stick to no matter what. No military, no sanctions, no this, that… > > Make it clear we’re not all that interested in that part of the world. > > Dumbass. Had you taken even two seconds to try and understand what you obviously don’t, you’d see that sanctions on their oil would do more to hurt us here in the US and them even more. You see, we’re a major importer of their oil today and many in the big bad oil business don’t like that kind of talk as it would make oil more expensive worldwide. It would change the norm. > So in essence, the reality is the opposite of what you’re freaking out about when you say Trumps actions are to open up oil for him and Putin. > > Not that a shred of facts matter to you. No no. You continued to support Trump after he said he’d have prisoners tortured and their families put to death. That means you are worthless. You are garbage. You are scum. Do not speak to me. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/322 "2017-08-14T22:04:21Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > So Trump makes these dire threats against North Korea and then… > > [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-north-korea-threat-20170813-story.html](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-north-korea-threat-20170813-story.html) > > TLDR version: The military is not gearing up for war. So that means Trump just made an empty threat. Some people have been saying NK needs to hear this kind of rhetoric. But if there’s nothing behind the threat it’s just bluster, sound and fury signifying nothing. And that makes future threats even weaker. Kind of like when he jabbered about carriers, but there were no carriers? His own stupidity and incompetence just may save us all. - in spite of his “best” efforts. ---
**Author:** ![HeweyLogan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heweylogan/32/547_2.png) [@HeweyLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeweyLogan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/323 "2017-08-14T23:04:59Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > No no. You continued to support Trump after he said he’d have prisoners tortured and their families put to death. That means you are worthless. You are garbage. You are scum. Do not speak to me. Wow. You’re nuts. Well, not wow, but you know… No clue what you’re talking about. And I don’t think you really do either. Which is why I commented and will continue to comment as I please to patently, provably, false comments meant to be taken as fact. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/324 "2017-08-14T23:24:23Z")
> [@HeweyLogan](#): > > Wow. You’re nuts. > > Well, not wow, but you know… > > No clue what you’re talking about. And I don’t think you really do either. Which is why I commented and will continue to comment as I please to patently, provably, false comments meant to be taken as fact. [Liar.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=806958) > [@I'll throw you in jail when I become President](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-throw-you-in-jail-when-i-become-president/768168/100): > > Excuse me? **Trump has said he will “go after their families” of terrorists and “bring back things worse than water boarding”.** Those things are war crimes and if he was to order the military to do those things it would be an illegal order. He doesn’t seem to care. > > Here’s another article with lots of examples of his disdain for rule of law. > [Trump's Open Disdain for the Rule of Law](http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/trumps-open-disdain-for-the-rule-of-law-w444093) > > No you do not have to be a “delusional paranoid” you just have to be aware of the consequences of Trump’s own words to be extremely worried. > [@I'll throw you in jail when I become President](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-throw-you-in-jail-when-i-become-president/768168/109): > > A lot like the Israelis have done to counter Palestinian terrorists and others. > > **Works for me.** > > **I like the idea of ramping it up.** Taking it to them in terms of hitting them where it hurts and making those that want to slaughter us think before they act. That it would have consequences. > > Something, anything, other than what’s been done so far. It’s ineffective. > > What you don’t get and what amazes me is you and the broader Democrats take anything he says completely literally - no other reading or incorporation of ideas allowed. What he’s said is written in stone. > > What he wants to do he couldn’t do in a vacuum. It has to get passed and agreed to by both parties, or at least with their participation in creating the rules. Rules that need to be changed in response to the actions of those against us. > > No different then any other candidates promises - no chance in Hell any of them will be passed or implemented as said. > [@I'll throw you in jail when I become President](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-throw-you-in-jail-when-i-become-president/768168/149): > > 1. **What you are suggesting is disgusting and it’s a war crime, the fact that other countries do it doesn’t make it right.** > > 2. You’re wrong, the US and Iraq have gained a huge amount of territory back from ISIS and are going to recapture Mosul shortly > [http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/13/world/iraq-mosul-after-isis/](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/13/world/iraq-mosul-after-isis/) > [Iraq battle for Mosul with ISIS looms as US Army trains and equips Iraqis at Qayyarah airbase - CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/iraq-mosul-isis-us-army-american-troops-train-equip-iraqis-qayyarah-airbase/) > > Your chance of being killed in a terror attack is minuscule, more US citizens were killed by lightning than by terror attacks in 2015 > [http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-terrorism-statistics-every-american-needs-to-hear/5382818](http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-terrorism-statistics-every-american-needs-to-hear/5382818) > > The entire idea that the war against ISIS is in-effective is a blatant lie from the Trump camp, it is being won, and it’s being won without having to resort to war crimes. Sorry if that doesn’t satisfy your warped sense of revenge. > [@I'll throw you in jail when I become President](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-throw-you-in-jail-when-i-become-president/768168/162): > > **The fact that it works makes it right. Sorry if that’s too blunt.** I may not have avoided trigger words. > > They wouldn’t be there to begin with if it weren’t for Obama (his voters) and the policy to get us all out. > > Was it a mistake to do that? I don’t hear many saying it wasn’t. > > If that’s your side’s selling point, awesome and good luck! ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/325 "2017-08-14T23:28:27Z")
Cool. I guess it’s true that the Interwebz is forever. Nice work, _running coach_ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/326 "2017-08-14T23:34:19Z")
[A bridge in Louisiana](https://www.google.com/maps/@29.9486629,-90.1728524,3a,75y,219.6h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s9TWgAzwI947U8BXyKFmjog!2e0!7i13312!8i6656) must be missing its troll. ---
**Author:** ![HeweyLogan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heweylogan/32/547_2.png) [@HeweyLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeweyLogan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/327 "2017-08-15T00:07:15Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Liar.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=806958) Yeah, that. It kind of surprises me reading that now. I remember posting the gist of that sentiment but I didn’t remember the context. And taken in context it makes much better sense and sounds less bizarre. To me at least. The thread is talking about Hillary being imprisoned after Trump was elected because Trump said she should be. More than one person thought he’d literally pursue that, as if by decree he could just toss her in jail and be done with it. I said it was ridiculous, he’s bound by laws, procedures, the constitution etc… and it’s not going to happen. You and I went back and forth on that for a while. You saying it would happen, me saying it wouldn’t. Re-read it. Continuing down the lines of paranoid thought of what Trump would do coremelt brought up Trump wanting to “go after families of terrorists” and do things worse than waterboarding. Like my argument or position with you, there was and is no chance in hell of that happening, for the same reasons as tossing Hillary in jail - as much as a person might like to, you can’t because this isn’t a dictatorship. Checks, balances, the constitution, and all that. And that’s absolutely fine with me, even though my gut for a fleeting second wishes it were true. See the difference? It’s one thing to imagine it, for fun, because you know it’s not possible. It’s another to advocate it wishing it were not only true, but the reality we live in. I don’t wish that. I like what we have now and don’t seek change. That is, the checks and balances, a constitution, that forbids it. ---
**Author:** ![HeweyLogan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heweylogan/32/547_2.png) [@HeweyLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeweyLogan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/328 "2017-08-15T15:32:02Z")
North Korea backs off threat to hit Guam. Seems like good news. > [@](#): > > John Delury, a China historian and North Korea expert at Yonsei University in Seoul, said Mr. Kim’s decision was likely a response to more tempered language from the Trump administration over the weekend, including from Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo, national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster and Secretaries of State and Defense Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis. > > “The signaling from the Trump administration dialed it down a notch—we have to give them credit,” Mr. Delury said. MSN [MSN](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/north-korea-backs-off-threat-to-hit-guam/ar-AAq3obu?OCID=ansmsnnews11) As an addendum I think we should limit (if not completely cancel) the upcoming planned war games/exercises with South Korea. It isn’t necessary and overly provocative at a time it isn’t needed. IMO. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/329 "2017-08-15T15:42:47Z")
> [@HeweyLogan](#): > > Dumbass. Had you taken even two seconds to try and understand what you obviously don’t, you’d see that sanctions on their oil would do more to hurt us here in the US and them even more. You see, we’re a major importer of their oil today and many in the big bad oil business don’t like that kind of talk as it would make oil more expensive worldwide. It would change the norm. > > So in essence, the reality is the opposite of what you’re freaking out about when you say Trumps actions are to open up oil for him and Putin. > > Not that a shred of facts matter to you. I just skimmed this thread a tiny bit randomly, and came across this. Is there any reason to believe **HeweyLogan** isn’t completely off-base here? Putin and his puppet are _trying to sell Putin’s oil_, at a price _as high as possible_. To the extent Putin’s puppet thinks for himself he wants to appease his base with _Frack, Baby, Frack!_ Expensive oil is their dream. You were barely on my radar screen before, **HeweyLogan**. What am I overlooking here? Is it time to add you to the list of Doper Dopes? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/330 "2017-08-15T15:45:06Z")
> [@HeweyLogan](#): > > Yeah, that. It kind of surprises me reading that now. I remember posting the gist of that sentiment but I didn’t remember the context. And taken in context it makes much better sense and sounds less bizarre. To me at least. > > The thread is talking about Hillary being imprisoned after Trump was elected because Trump said she should be. More than one person thought he’d literally pursue that, as if by decree he could just toss her in jail and be done with it. > > I said it was ridiculous, he’s bound by laws, procedures, the constitution etc… and it’s not going to happen. > > You and I went back and forth on that for a while. You saying it would happen, me saying it wouldn’t. > > Re-read it. > > Continuing down the lines of paranoid thought of what Trump would do coremelt brought up Trump wanting to “go after families of terrorists” and do things worse than waterboarding. > > Like my argument or position with you, there was and is no chance in hell of that happening, for the same reasons as tossing Hillary in jail - as much as a person might like to, you can’t because this isn’t a dictatorship. Checks, balances, the constitution, and all that. And that’s absolutely fine with me, even though my gut for a fleeting second wishes it were true. > > See the difference? It’s one thing to imagine it, for fun, because you know it’s not possible. It’s another to advocate it wishing it were not only true, but the reality we live in. I don’t wish that. I like what we have now and don’t seek change. That is, the checks and balances, a constitution, that forbids it. The “I was just joking” defense. Pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![HeweyLogan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heweylogan/32/547_2.png) [@HeweyLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeweyLogan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/331 "2017-08-15T17:06:24Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > The “I was just joking” defense. Pathetic. That’s not what I said at all, you re-interpreting posts to suit your own needs and narratives asshole. I argued throughout that thread and reiterated above in this one that even if he said lock her up or go after terrorist families, as much as my gut might agree with it, it’s not a possibility that will ever happen. Here. Plenty of others said that simply because he said it, it means it will become a reality. THAT part is a joke. What isn’t a joke is that Clinton should have been held responsible for what she did and punished as anyone else who isn’t a Clinton should and would be. Within reason. What also isn’t a joke is what might happen if we really did go after families of terrorists. > [@](#): > > But the ominous threat against one of the holy cities of Shiism was only one prong in the Soviet strategy (in response to Russian diplomats being kidnapped by terrorists). According to Benny Morris, who was Jerusalem Post’s diplomatic correspondent at that time and later became famous as a brilliant historian, in tandem with the threats, the Soviets took sharper action: > > [T]he KGB kidnapped a man they knew to be a close relative of a prominent Hezbollah leader. They then castrated him and sent the severed organs to the Hezbollah official, before dispatching the unfortunate kinsman with a bullet in the brain. > > In addition to presenting him with this grisly proof of their seriousness, the KGB operatives also advised the Hezbollah leader that they knew the indentities of other close relatives of his, and that he could expect more such packages if the three Soviet diplomats were not freed immediately. > > Soon thereafter, the surviving three hostages were dropped off by the Soviet embassy “from a late-model BMW that couldn’t drive away fast enough” and never again was a Soviet (diplomat or otherwise) kidnapped in Lebanon. As Benny Morris put it: “This is the way the Soviets operate. They do things - they don’t talk. And this is the language the Hezbollah understand.” Not only Hezbollah, but ISIS and every other Muslim terror group. Chronicles - [How to Deal With Hostage Takers: Soviet Lessons - Chronicles](https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/how-to-deal-with-hostage-takers-soviet-lessons/) As a tactic it’s hard to argue the hurt the Soviets. It can be easily argued it helped them, back then. Neither of these arguments - lock her up, kill members of terrorists families, are completely off the wall or without merit. What IS off the wall is the idea that we the United States would do either - lock her up simply because Trump thinks she should be, or that we would go after terrorist families like the Soviets did back in the day. Because we have rules, checks and balances, and principles we follow at all costs. I’m more than happy with that even if I PERSONALLY sometimes wished it weren’t. You want to argue that issue more, revive the other thread and I’ll be more than pleased to discuss it further. Jerk. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/332 "2017-08-15T17:18:58Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > this isn’t occupying anyone’s mind at all here in Hawaii, and war does not really seem to be imminent. People in Hawaii said that same thing on December 6, 1941. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HeweyLogan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heweylogan/32/547_2.png) [@HeweyLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeweyLogan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/333 "2017-08-15T17:19:51Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Putin and his puppet (Trump?) are _trying to sell Putin’s oil_, at a price _as high as possible_. To the extent Putin’s puppet thinks for himself he wants to appease his base with _Frack, Baby, Frack!_ Expensive oil is their dream.\*\* Really? What’s that based on, your own, paranoid delusions? Or any kind of cite. In the unlikely case you actually have one. My cite? > [@](#): > > From New Jersey down to Texas, oil companies have come to depend on crude-soaked Venezuela to feed their massive refineries. Last year alone, more than 270 million barrels worth about $10 billion reached American shores – enough to produce about 5 billion gallons of gasoline. > > Now that vital flow could be stanched if, as industry leaders fear, President Donald Trump’s administration embargoes imports to pressure his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro. The socialist autocrat’s allies on Thursday will begin rewriting the constitution, pushing aside Venezuela’s democratic institutions. The prospect of a U.S. response that cuts off crude has been particularly unsettling for the likes of Chevron, Phillips 66 and Valero Energy Corp. which have spent billions calibrating their plants to handle Venezuela’s sludgy-but-abundant oil. > > “The reason why Trump has not hit back immediately is because there are lots of constituencies," foremost among them U.S. refiners and anyone who drives, said Sandy Fielden, commodities research director at Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. “A lot of different parties will be impacted." Bloomberg Business - [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-03/as-venezuela-spirals-u-s-oil-confronts-a-10-billion-threat](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-03/as-venezuela-spirals-u-s-oil-confronts-a-10-billion-threat) Kind of smashes any ideas you have on the matter, doesn’t it. > [@septimus](#): > > You were barely on my radar screen before, **HeweyLogan**. What am I overlooking here? Is it time to add you to the list of Doper Dopes? I’m quaking in my boots at the thought. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/334 "2017-08-15T17:26:37Z")
I issued a prediction on August 10: > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Prediction: Kim will turn out to be (or appear to be) the grown-up in the room and unceremoniously drop this blustering, either on his own or because his handlers have locked him in the Executive Bathroom. … Today’s Washington Post: [North Korea’s Kim Jong Un appears to ease rhetoric in standoff over nuclear weapons](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/joint-chiefs-chairman-stresses-north-korea-diplomacy-but-notes-full-range-of-military-options-at-ready/2017/08/14/de8f91ac-80da-11e7-82a4-920da1aeb507_story.html?utm_term=.ec26ace5f3b9) > [@](#): > > TOKYO — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared to take a step back from the brink of nuclear war Tuesday, when state media reported that he would “watch a little more the foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees.” … Now Trump just needs to drop the other shoe and issue a scathing denunciation of the great yellow pussy-wimp coward and start the front-page cycle all over again: > [@](#): > > …But will Trump take the opportunity to quietly back off and let the issue deflate on its own? No, he will double-down and call Kim a pussy, a titty-baby, and a coward, while beating his chest and declaring himself the bestest and winningest President the USA has ever had. :rolleyes: The only certainty is that Trump cannot bear to be out of the front page (metaphorically speaking) headlines for one minute. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/335 "2017-08-15T17:43:46Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > You were barely on my radar screen before, **HeweyLogan**. What am I overlooking here? Is it time to add you to the list of Doper Dopes? I did, early on. Had a feeling about him. I’m like a talent scout, but for idiots. **Hewey** baby, you’re star material. ---
**Author:** ![HeweyLogan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heweylogan/32/547_2.png) [@HeweyLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeweyLogan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/336 "2017-08-15T19:53:49Z")
You’re the more advanced, funnier version of elucidator I keep reading about? I’m not seeing it. You’re as content-less and unfunny as he is. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/337 "2017-08-15T21:59:18Z")
> [@HeweyLogan](#): > > You’re the more advanced, funnier version of elucidator I keep reading about? > > I’m not seeing it. You’re as content-less and unfunny as he is. Of course you don’t like him. He makes fun of you. You should ask what other people think. Or maybe not, depending on your epidermal thickness. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/338 "2017-08-29T11:49:52Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > **It would be interesting to see what happens if NK stopped threatening the United States and instead just started threatening Japan and South Korea on a weekly basis.** Would Trump allow Kim to continue threats, just not those aimed at the United States? I’m not predicting that this is what’ll happen, but it crossed my mind as a temporary face-saving strategy for Kim now that Trump might have called his bluff a little. I’m no expert on NK but it struck me as a possibility that Kim might be wary of threats from within his regime and that projecting toughness is how he survives, so any sort of appearance of backing down could cost him. He might view his ability to threaten someone as a means for ensuring his own survival. [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-29/balance-of-power-this-north-korean-missile-launch-was-different](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-29/balance-of-power-this-north-korean-missile-launch-was-different) It might not be happening on a weekly basis, but it does appear that North Korea will probably redirect some of its saber rattling. As I said in another post, a concern that Japan and South Korea have is that the US “umbrella” of protection isn’t a real one, and Trump’s unstable diplomacy makes things even worse. So while Trump might have succeeded in getting Kim to back away from threatening Guam, that’s only going to be a temporary halt to provocation. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/339 "2017-08-29T21:58:09Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > [Balance of Power: This North Korean Missile Launch Was Different - Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-29/balance-of-power-this-north-korean-missile-launch-was-different) > > It might not be happening on a weekly basis, but it does appear that North Korea will probably redirect some of its saber rattling. As I said in another post, a concern that Japan and South Korea have is that the US “umbrella” of protection isn’t a real one, and Trump’s unstable diplomacy makes things even worse. So while Trump might have succeeded in getting Kim to back away from threatening Guam, that’s only going to be a temporary halt to provocation. NK did just launch a missile that flew over Hokkaido. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136/340 "2017-08-30T02:33:59Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > NK did just launch a missile that flew over Hokkaido. And on CNN, it’s reported that NK is saying “**[Guam is next](http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/29/asia/north-korea-missile-launch-guam-threat/index.html)**” > [@](#): > > North Korea’s missile launch on Tuesday was a prelude to more military operations directed at the US territory of Guam, North Korean state media said Wednesday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-world-really-needs-now-is-fire-fury/793136.md?page=16)