[siberianheat]

To believe that S Korea has not taken all this into account in their war planning is to assume they are stupid. They are, in fact, genius.

Everything points to some sort of military action that depends on the south getting involved. Wouldn't it be crazy if the attack came over the Yalu river? Everyone thinks it will be the US because we're rattling cages, but the Chinese could do right and liberate the Norks and re-unify the peninsula and have a new ally in new Korea. That seems like the kind of crazy 4D chess move Trump would create.

[xzins]

A kinetic operation implies that our forces will be on the offensive, initiating and attacking.

The range can be all the way from covert to full scale shock and awe.

It would be wise of China to take out their problem on their own.

[DoodleBob]

Mattis and Trump are not man-children like in the previous administration. They don't signal their next move to the enemy. But Mattis is not a war-monger.

I think a lot of this is psyops, which was very effective in the Cold War.

"Sometimes we would send bombers over the North Pole and their radars would click on," recalls Gen. Jack Chain, [a] former Strategic Air Command commander. "Other times fighter-bombers would probe their Asian or European periphery." During peak times, the operation would include several maneuvers in a week. They would come at irregular intervals to make the effect all the more unsettling. Then, as quickly as the unannounced flights began, they would stop, only to begin again a few weeks later...."It really got to them," recalls Dr. William Schneider, [former] undersecretary of state for military assistance and technology, who saw classified "after-action reports" that indicated U.S. flight activity. "They didn't know what it all meant. A squadron would fly straight at Soviet airspace, and other radars would light up and units would go on alert. Then at the last minute the squadron would peel off and return home."

So, given all this and the latest utterance from Mattis, it's not hard to envision Rocket Man eating with his generals and then one of them drops dead in his kimchi. Next dinner, and other fatality. After KJU gets back word that they were poisoned, he awakens from a bad night's sleep to this

Give psyops a chance. Maybe the poor people of NK will rise up after KJU has a few sleep-deprived missteps and they do a Ceaușescu on him.