Tillerson - Syria strike a message to others, including North Korea

[webfact]

Tillerson - Syria strike a message to others, including North Korea

By David Morgan

REUTERS

 

The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) transits the Pacific Ocean January 30, 2017. U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Tom Tonthat/Handout via Reuters

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military strikes against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons are a warning to other nations, including North Korea, that "a response is likely" if they pose a danger, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday.

 

As a U.S. Navy strike group headed toward the Korean Peninsula, Tillerson said China agrees that action is necessary to address North Korea's nuclear arsenal, following last week's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

 

Asked if Friday's strikes against Syria were a message to North Korea, Tillerson told ABC's This Week: "The message that any nation can take is, 'If you violate international norms, if you violate international agreements, if you fail to live up to commitments, if you become a threat to others, at some point a response is likely to be undertaken.'"

 

"In terms of North Korea," he added, "we've been very clear that our objective is a denuclearized Korea peninsula."

 

In a separate interview, Tillerson told CBS' Face the Nation: "President Xi clearly understands, and I think agrees, that the situation has intensified and has reached a certain level of threat that action has to be taken."

 

Trump will soon review options for removing the "threat" posed by North Korean missiles, White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster said on Sunday.

 

North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, have repeatedly indicated an intercontinental ballistic missile test or something similar could be coming, possibly as soon as April 15, the 105th birthday of North Korea's founding president and celebrated annually as "the Day of the Sun."

 

Reuters was first to report on Saturday that the Navy strike group Carl Vinson, whose flagship is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of that name, will make its way toward the Korean peninsula from Singapore as a show of force after Pyongyang tested a liquid-fueled Scud missile this month.

 

"It's prudent to do it, isn't it?" McMaster said of the deployment on Fox News Sunday.

 

"This is a rogue regime that is now a nuclear-capable regime, and President Xi and President Trump agreed that that is unacceptable, that what must happen is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," he said.

 

A U.S. national security review of options on North Korea include economic and military measures. But they lean more toward sanctions and increased pressure on Beijing to rein in its neighbor.

 

(Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by James Dalgleish and Sandra Maler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-10

[Andaman Al]

Once again it is very worrying that a man (Tillerson) who has gone from being a career oil professional is now the spokes person for the USA on matters of foreign policy and war. It is clear from the words he uses that he has no idea what he is doing and that both him and Trump have no idea of the dangerous situation they are creating for the  world. If the US take on Russia via Syria and China via N Korea they could soon find themselves in a slightly tricky situation and if it were to escalate the only way to avoid suffering global humiliation would be to move beyond conventional warfare. Perhaps it is time to watch some reruns of Doomsday Preppers ! -

[Langsuan Man]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Tillerson - Syria strike a message

The message kind of got lost when it took them less than a day to resume bombing  from the air field 

 

Can't help but be amused at all of Trumps refusals to answer questions during the election campaign because he didn't want to tell the enemy his plans and spoil the tactical advantage of surprise

 

So what does he do, tells the Russians that the bombing is coming,  so that they were able to tell their Syrian friends, so business as usual

 

I agree with Andaman Al that stirring the hornets nest in North Korea is a lot more serious than the proxy war being waged in Syria.

 

Remember what happened to the last guy who got involved in a two front war

[Roadman]

Easter Saturday here but also the Day of The Sun. Will be interesting if the little Korean boy decides to celebrate the Day of the Son with a rocket or two with the Carl Vinson in the area. Cant help but think there will be a missile strike back as with Assad to give Kim also a friendly reminder if he decides to push his luck. 

[Thaidream]

Trump and his minions are completly ignorant regarding just about anything and certainly their actions in syria and the Korean Peninsula are amateurish at best and incompetent at worst.

The North Koreans are not going to back down and a war in Korea will kill thousands of Koreans- both North and South and could spread to Japan. Trump can get away with a useless missile strike on Syria but he won't get away with a strike on North Korea. Seoul is 30 minutes away from the North and Mr Kim has real misles that can be launched and strike Japan and even US Bases in Okinawa.

War is not the answer and useless grandstanding eventually leads to war. Have , we as Americans, learned nothing from the wars in Vietnam; Iraq and Afghanistan?  And so many of you believed the rhetoric of candidate Trump. The man is an incompetent liar

[Grubster]

41 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

Trump and his minions are completly ignorant regarding just about anything and certainly their actions in syria and the Korean Peninsula are amateurish at best and incompetent at worst.

The North Koreans are not going to back down and a war in Korea will kill thousands of Koreans- both North and South and could spread to Japan. Trump can get away with a useless missile strike on Syria but he won't get away with a strike on North Korea. Seoul is 30 minutes away from the North and Mr Kim has real misles that can be launched and strike Japan and even US Bases in Okinawa.

War is not the answer and useless grandstanding eventually leads to war. Have , we as Americans, learned nothing from the wars in Vietnam; Iraq and Afghanistan?  And so many of you believed the rhetoric of candidate Trump. The man is an incompetent liar

I guess our other option is a long range nuclear capable North Korea, or should we draw a new line in the sand? How can we stop him from it peacefully and diplomatically? Should we deal with it before he is capable or after? I don't know, just asking.    Did you really want Trump to hit the Russians with no warning?  The mission was to eliminate the chemical weapons at the air base not to kill Syrians, Russians or to destroy the airfield or that could have and would have been done.

[ilostmypassword]

7 minutes ago, Grubster said:

I guess our other option is a long range nuclear capable North Korea, or should we draw a new line in the sand? How can we stop him from it peacefully and diplomatically? Should we deal with it before he is capable or after? I don't know, just asking.    Did you really want Trump to hit the Russians with no warning?  The mission was to eliminate the chemical weapons at the air base not to kill Syrians, Russians or to destroy the airfield or that could have and would have been done.

Well, if the mission was to destroy chemical weapons at the airfield, it seems very odd that  the Trump administration gave the Russians plenty of  advance warning.

[Grubster]

7 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Well, if the mission was to destroy chemical weapons at the airfield, it seems very odd that  the Trump administration gave the Russians plenty of  advance warning.

Really just how much time did they have to get their personnel out.  Do you think the chemical weapons are in little bug spray cans that they could just run off with?  Do you think no warning and killing many Russians would be a good idea?

[Thaidream]

Of course the warning was wise for the Syrian bombing. However, Trump could have gone directly to Putin and indicated they need to work together both strategically and militarily to stop ISIS and ensure that there would be no more chemical attacks. America is grandstanding and Trump is afraid of the Russians because he knows he is vulnerable to their blackmail. Trump went into bed with the devil to get elected and now the devil owns him.

As far as North Korea- Trump needs to sit down with the North Koreans and find out what they want to give up their long range missile goals and see if he can make them an offer they can't refuse. For a man who claims he can negotiate anything- I am not seeing much of it.

[ilostmypassword]

13 minutes ago, Grubster said:

Really just how much time did they have to get their personnel out.  Do you think the chemical weapons are in little bug spray cans that they could just run off with?  Do you think no warning and killing many Russians would be a good idea?

They had at least an hour. How long do you think it takes to load barrels of chemicals on a truck and skedaddle?  And this is assuming that they weren't being stored on trucks.

Edited April 10, 2017 by ilostmypassword

[SheungWan]

4 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

Once again it is very worrying that a man (Tillerson) who has gone from being a career oil professional is now the spokes person for the USA on matters of foreign policy and war. It is clear from the words he uses that he has no idea what he is doing and that both him and Trump have no idea of the dangerous situation they are creating for the  world. If the US take on Russia via Syria and China via N Korea they could soon find themselves in a slightly tricky situation and if it were to escalate the only way to avoid suffering global humiliation would be to move beyond conventional warfare. Perhaps it is time to watch some reruns of Doomsday Preppers ! -

Thank goodness we have a few resident professional diplomats on this thread to advise Tillerson what he shouldn't be doing.

[SheungWan]

27 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Well, if the mission was to destroy chemical weapons at the airfield, it seems very odd that  the Trump administration gave the Russians plenty of  advance warning.

Except that that wasn't the mission, but never mind, please continue with the speculation.

[Thaidream]

I would rather listen to some informed people on TV than listen to Tillerson spout nonsense. He has no skills in real negotiation and knows nothing of diplomacy or the History of the World. A complete incompetent but unfortunately he has the power to do much damage in the World. This is what happens when a desperate, uniformed electorate turns to a demagogue who sells snake oil. What you get is unusable snake oil.

[ilostmypassword]

1 minute ago, Thaidream said:

I would rather listen to some informed people on TV than listen to Tillerson spout nonsense. He has no skills in real negotiation and knows nothing of diplomacy or the History of the World. A complete incompetent but unfortunately he has the power to do much damage in the World. This is what happens when a desperate, uniformed electorate turns to a demagogue who sells snake oil. What you get is unusable snake oil.

I don't like Tillerson at all but he was head of Exxon. Presumably he must have some skills in negotiation.

[Grubster]

3 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

Of course the warning was wise for the Syrian bombing. However, Trump could have gone directly to Putin and indicated they need to work together both strategically and militarily to stop ISIS and ensure that there would be no more chemical attacks. America is grandstanding and Trump is afraid of the Russians because he knows he is vulnerable to their blackmail. Trump went into bed with the devil to get elected and now the devil owns him.

As far as North Korea- Trump needs to sit down with the North Koreans and find out what they want to give up their long range missile goals and see if he can make them an offer they can't refuse. For a man who claims he can negotiate anything- I am not seeing much of it.

The USA has been talking with Putin for many years about a strategic stop to chemical weapons there, and the bombing has nothing to do with ISSIS, it is Assad using them on his own people. Talk becomes useless without action.  I guess all these years of talks with North Korea have proved worthless also, they have come a long way on their nuclear ambitions during all these talks. What offer would you give them? more humanitarry aid while they spend most of their own money on arms? You have to have and be willing to use tools to negotiate, Obama talked the talk but would not walk the walk.

[Grubster]

15 minutes ago, SheungWan said:

Except that that wasn't the mission, but never mind, please continue with the speculation.

What was the mission?

[Thaidream]

My poin is that Trump claims to be the master negotiator and yet instead of doing any negotiating he turns to a military strike. The goal should be ending the war not making a grandstand play that means nothing in an attempt to try and turn the media away from his alleged collaboration with Russia prior to becoming President.

Trump and his minions cannot be trusted by the American people because he is a liar over and over again. People need to wake up before America is dragged into another costly war that destroys peoples and cities.

[Grubster]

20 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

They had at least an hour. How long do you think it takes to load barrels of chemicals on a truck and skedaddle?  And this is assuming that they weren't being stored on trucks.

And being that we can see a single person from our intelligence drones and satellites. Don't you think we would have known this. Also we have not accused Russia of being responsible for the gas anyway. I ask you again do you think it would be a good idea to attack the Russians there.  I also very much suspect that the chemical weapons are not just in 55 gallon drums either.  Can you just imagine the postings on here had he just killed the Russians there.

[Grubster]

5 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

My poin is that Trump claims to be the master negotiator and yet instead of doing any negotiating he turns to a military strike. The goal should be ending the war not making a grandstand play that means nothing in an attempt to try and turn the media away from his alleged collaboration with Russia prior to becoming President.

Trump and his minions cannot be trusted by the American people because he is a liar over and over again. People need to wake up before America is dragged into another costly war that destroys peoples and cities.

So I guess the negotiating the last POTUS did was a waste of time no? More lines in the sand and blank threats? OK then I agree just let them use the gas and we can negotiate, sounds good.

[SheungWan]

12 minutes ago, Grubster said:

What was the mission?

It was to attack the airfield responsible for the chemical weapons delivery. Too unsafe to attack the chemical weapon munitions due to release risks. The operation was a warning shot.

[Thaidream]

Their using gas was against international law and against the norms of society. However, the US missed an opportunity to go to the Russians and lay it on the line- America and Russia can end this war- and the Syrian people can decide who they want to lead,. Instead Trump sent a useless message and the war continues with no end in sight. I could care less what Obama did or didn't do- he is not the President. Trump is a failure. He grandstanded simply to show his opponents he is not beholden to Russia where we all know he is indeed 'owned' by the Russians. And the right leaning media flexing their muscles by declaring ' America is back'. What utter nonsense. Trump just spent over $50 million'  sending a worthless message that is not going to save one life and end the war.

[elgordo38]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Tillerson said China agrees that action is necessary to address North Korea's nuclear arsenal,

I have huge doubts about this claim. Down Rex down. 

[elgordo38]

4 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

Their using gas was against international law and against the norms of society. However, the US missed an opportunity to go to the Russians and lay it on the line- America and Russia can end this war- and the Syrian people can decide who they want to lead,. Instead Trump sent a useless message and the war continues with no end in sight. I could care less what Obama did or didn't do- he is not the President. Trump is a failure. He grandstanded simply to show his opponents he is not beholden to Russia where we all know he is indeed 'owned' by the Russians. And the right leaning media flexing their muscles by declaring ' America is back'. What utter nonsense. Trump just spent over $50 million'  sending a worthless message that is not going to save one life and end the war.

Hmm these missiles must be replaced at a few million a pop. Raytheon comes out the big winner but then that is the whole idea wars. 

[SheungWan]

6 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

Their using gas was against international law and against the norms of society. However, the US missed an opportunity to go to the Russians and lay it on the line- America and Russia can end this war- and the Syrian people can decide who they want to lead,. Instead Trump sent a useless message and the war continues with no end in sight. I could care less what Obama did or didn't do- he is not the President. Trump is a failure. He grandstanded simply to show his opponents he is not beholden to Russia where we all know he is indeed 'owned' by the Russians. And the right leaning media flexing their muscles by declaring ' America is back'. What utter nonsense. Trump just spent over $50 million'  sending a worthless message that is not going to save one life and end the war.

The US under Obama cut a deal with the Russians re Syria's use of chemical weapons. Russia did not and has not delivered. Missed an opportunity for more of the same? Do  not underestimate the significance of the strike. Unless of course one's primary mission is anti--Trump, in which case please do continue with more of the same blather.

[Thaidream]

If America has proof that Russia was complicit in allowing the Syrians to possess and use chemical weapons- take it to the United Nation and show the proof to the World. If you can't or won't do this- anything else is pure speculation. I don't like Trump but my irritation with his actions are simply that they are a sideshow that will not save a life or end the war.

[Gulfsailor]

53 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

They had at least an hour. How long do you think it takes to load barrels of chemicals on a truck and skedaddle?  And this is assuming that they weren't being stored on trucks.

Sarin is not stored in a simple barrel. It is stored in two parts, so that it lasts longer and is (a little) safer to store. One part is methylphosphonyl difluoride. This is very corrosive and eats through steel and even glass. You definitely do not want it to come into contact with oxygen or water. 

Thats also why the claims that Syria bombed a rebel storage facility of chemical agent is not credible. You can't just store this shit anywhere or anyway.   

[SheungWan]

9 minutes ago, SheungWan said:

The US under Obama cut a deal with the Russians re Syria's use of chemical weapons. Russia did not and has not delivered. Missed an opportunity for more of the same? Do  not underestimate the significance of the strike. Unless of course one's primary mission is anti--Trump, in which case please do continue with more of the same blather.

 

2 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

If America has proof that Russia was complicit in allowing the Syrians to possess and use chemical weapons- take it to the United Nation and show the proof to the World. If you can't or won't do this- anything else is pure speculation. I don't like Trump but my irritation with his actions are simply that they are a sideshow that will not save a life or end the war.

Yes. Let's kick it into the long grass one way or another.

[Thaidream]

I remember the days when the US went to the Security Council of the United Nations with actual proof in the Ambassador's hand that the Russians were 'bugging' the US Embassy and the American Ambassador asked the Russian rep point blank to deny it. The evidence was presented to the whole World to see and the Russians lost face big time. No bombs were dropped and no threats of military action.

If Trump has the proof- show it- better yet bring it to the Un and confront the Russian and Syrian delegates face to face and let the World see what is going on. Don;t tell me Trump- the so called master negotiator and manipulator is afraid of the Russians- or is he?

[dunroaming]

6 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

So what does he do, tells the Russians that the bombing is coming,  so that they were able to tell their Syrian friends, so business as usual

 

It has been said already but obviously Trump had to inform Russia otherwise it would have been seen as an attack on them as well as Assad.  The stated objective was to take out the source of the chemical weapons.  Whether the attack failed to take out the runways or it was intentional not to do so remains a mystery.

 

Hopefully this is going to end up an exercise in sabre rattling from the USA and Russia and will not escalate beyond that.

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, Gulfsailor said:

Sarin is not stored in a simple barrel. It is stored in two parts, so that it lasts longer and is (a little) safer to store. One part is methylphosphonyl difluoride. This is very corrosive and eats through steel and even glass. You definitely do not want it to come into contact with oxygen or water. 

Thats also why the claims that Syria bombed a rebel storage facility of chemical agent is not credible. You can't just store this shit anywhere or anyway.   

Interesting. Still, how does that affect the feasibility of it being trucked away?