Posted on 04/30/2017 6:32:07 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sen John McCain said Sunday that the Trump Administration should consider a preemptive strike on North Korea but should only see it as a last resort.
"I think that we have to consider that option as the very last option," the Arizona Republican told CNN on Sunday.
McCain asserted that he doesn’t think the president is currently considering a strike on North Korea but that recent rising tension between the two countries could be a Cuban Missile Crisis in slow motion.
The senator said that the Chinese could have a key role and “put the breaks on this” but says that the US must not allow the situation to escalate any further.
“If they get the weapon and they have the missile we cannot afford to have that threat,” McCain said.
North Korea slammed comments made by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Saturday, amid rising tension between the US and North Korea.
A statement released by the North Korean Foreign Ministry said Israel was the "only illegal possessor of nukes in the Middle East under the patronage of the US."
The statement also affirmed that North Korea is committed to "fully supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people… establishing of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."
North Korea warned Israel not to speak out against its regime.
"Israel would be well advised to think twice about the consequences [of] its smear campaign against the DPRK," the statement said, and warned that those who dare "hurt the dignity of its supreme leadership," could face "merciless, thousand-fold punishment."
The statement comes just days after Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called North Korea’s leadership a "crazy and radical group," in an interview with the Hebrew media outlet Walla.
"Kim Jong-un is an ally of Assad. From North Korea, through Iran, to Syria and Hezbollah," Lieberman told Hebrew media last week. Lieberman also asserted that North Korea was "undermining global stability."
Rising Tension
Russia on Friday warned that mounting rhetoric and "reckless muscle-flexing" over North Korea could lead to missteps that would have "frightening consequences."
In comments apparently directed at the United States and Pyongyang, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the UN Security Council the "rhetoric coupled with reckless muscle-flexing has led to a situation where the whole world is seriously wondering whether there is going to be a war or not."
Prior to the meeting, Tillerson said Washington intended to push for a tougher global response to North Korea.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in New York for the meeting that follows weeks of warnings from the US administration that it will no longer tolerate North Korea's missile launches and nuclear tests.
President Donald Trump has said he would prefer a diplomatic solution, but acknowledged the stand-off is highly dangerous.
"There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely," he told Reuters. "We'd love to solve things diplomatically, but it's very difficult."
Forget about it. This guy’s a loon.
Sometimes I wonder which dems and repubs picked him behind closed doors.
Just kidding, I think
John, when we want your opinion we’ll ask ISIS.
McCain would rather we have a full out ground war with them.
“put the breaks on this”?!
LOL! “brakes”, perhaps?
McCain is insane but he is also a contrarian. Whatever Trump wants to do, he’s against it. He’s also an a$$hole
‘Arizona Republican’
Either or both of these descriptors is false.
Bloodthirsty cuss, ain't he?...
Any way you slice it, preparing for a preemptive strike would be no farther down than the second-to-last resort, not the last. Preparing to retaliate after they struck first would be the last resort.
I’d vote for Trump a hundred times over vs. McCain.
I see McCain slipped past his handlers, and escaped from the Alzheimer’s home again.
I guess McInsane wants us to send them Milk and Cookies? Maybe tell them a bedtime story, so that they’ll stop causing a fuss?
John should consider his nursing home options.
Shut the F... up John. You have become a cartoon character of your former self.
I thought John McCain never saw a war he didn’t like.
I wish we could consider it for him!
Heck if you’re sharp and 90, I dont care if you’re a senator.
But it’s obvious he’s lost it years ago.
That picture with the horrific terrorists in Syria was the icing on the cake.
If a douchbag that has never meet Trump up until recently McCain sure has a lot to say about what Trump should do and not do....
Is it too much to ask for someone to duct tape his mouth...?
He doesn't get any money from his Saudi and Israeli bosses for demanding war in Korea so he'd rather we don't lift a finger there.
With McCain, it's not a matter of "American blood for our oil" like it is for those who pay him, it's a matter of "blood for cash".
JMHo
Maybe he felt he had to say something different to get media coverage. Whatever, he appears to have some serious problems.
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