Living with the Trump presidency

Well, it is still day-time in the US.

Would a Trump joke be inappropriate?
Someone sent one to DH

Shall I or shan't I go out with my grandchildren, just in case?
I had a lovely day with some of mine today. I hope there will be many more.

A huge bomb was pushed out of cargo to the ISIS caves. I hope no innocent people were harmed.

Just to cheer everyone up this lovely Good Friday!

So, the thinking on the massive bomb dropped on Afghanistan -

Trump is sending out a message to Syria and North Korea. The problem with that apparently is that North Korea is very unlikely to curtail its military activities and is expected to carry out a nuclear test in the near future.

Indeed the real problem is that the regime will feel under too much pressure. There is a real danger that it would strike Hanoi with thousands of chemical tipped missiles if pushed. The nightmare scenario is that it would, as a last ditch suicidal
action give a nuclear weapon to an outfit like IS.

This dreadful potential is being played out as we speak.

Now let's look at Trump and this sudden and extraordinarily worrying u-turn and ask ourselves why.

Well my theory is that his domestics politics have been a disaster since he took office, with nothing he seems to have tried to do successful. What better way to take his supporters attention then to begin to show his muscles in foreign policy?
No troublesome judges or senators to stop him there!!! And he can look powerful and in command, which is something, someone with his personality craves.

I've just been watching a report from Karbul Re the dropping of the bomb.
This was co-ordinated a week ago at the request of the Afghan government.
The Afgans knew that Isis were hiding in these caves but couldn't go in because of the amount of IED's in the area. No innocent people were harmed.

There has just been someone on Radio 4 who contradicted the fact that no civilians were killed or injured. He said it would have been inevitable.

That is bad enough but the implication of the message is what is so worrying. We've gone from a Presient who said "America First" to this u-turn. With a personality so unpredictable, no one can say what he may next do.

No innocent people were harmed.

So they say. Yet the BBC report says there was a village there.

Just read that a schoolteacher and his son were killed.

"When asked if the use of the MOAB in Afghanistan might send a message to North Korea amid increased tensions with the isolated country, Trump replied: "I don't know if it sends a message, I don't care if it does or not."

A peace conference on Afghanistan is scheduled to begin on Friday in Moscow, involving the Afghan government and representatives of twelve other nations. The US was invited to the conference, but reportedly declined to participate. "

Trump doesn't care if it sends a message to North Korea, anyway.

Would North Korea hit Hanoi though whitewave? Would that be to destablise that area? Or would they hit Seoul or even Alaska?

What could be unleashed is very frightening.

jalima well just like Trump Kim whatshisname is totally unpredictable. The opinion by a few bods this morning is that it is quite possible. Not sure how far he can reach with his existing missiles.

He can reach the US.

And the whole of Europe, so I think we should stay out of it and let trump get on with his own style of diplomacy.

Blimey!

www.express.co.uk/news/world/791399/north-korea-nuclear-test-site-pungyye-ri-map-where-location

www.express.co.uk/news/world/791856/World-War-North-Korea-imminent-China-warns-US-intervention-nuclear-test

BBC News is worrying but not so extreme!

On the BBC news, local Afghans seem pleased that Deash had a bomb dropped on their caves and tunnels.As well they might.

Assuming that this was carried out with the intention of moving to a conclusion in Afghanistan, I doubt that it will make a remote difference to the outcome of the war. IS and the Taliban are once again making inroads and the killing of a couple of dozen of them plus unspecified civilians won't make an iota of difference. Although it has probably brought attention to the new resurgence.

Between 700 and 1500 ISIS in that area of Afghanistan. The biggest non-nuclear bomb ever dropped kills 36 of them.
What next?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/14/donald-trump-afghanistan-bomb-syria-wild-card

It might make them wonder when the next ones coming, and the US have a bigger bomb than that one.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/13/british-spies-first-to-spot-trump-team-links-russia

That must be a first: a Gaudian journalist writing a piece praising how good we are at something. That must have been hard to swallow for some GN posters.

Not at all, petra. I am always pleased to find that we are good at something, particularly when written in a liberal paper like the Guardian. Note the spelling. Although I do appreciate Gaudi's style of architecture.