THE GUNS OF AUGUST

      Yesterday, we spoke of attempts by fringe elements to incite a Second US Civil War. Now there's been a lot of tocsin-beating---mostly from the same group---who want to fight the Korean War all over again. The difference is that in this case, they want to fight with atomic weapons.

       Another difference is that RINO James Mattis and his Pentagon merry-men seem to be itching for such a conflict too. Mattis---who hasn't replaced a single Obama appointee or changed even one Obama-era policy---hopes to justify his value to the Deep State by sacrificing a few million Koreans. Soros and Podesta, etc. have long had their eyes on North Korea. They need a base of operations in East Asia for their criminal activities and there will be lucrative contracts involved in rebuilding after a nuclear war.

      But for rank-and-file provocateurs the prospect of obliterating a country the size of Pennsylvania is thrilling enough in its own right. It's not even a question with such people whether the war is morally justified or not. What justifies it in their minds is that might makes right. We've been living for too long in a culture where bullies are regarded as supermen. And they resent the fact that a small nation would dare defend itself against an international bully like Obama was, and Mattis is.

      Let's cut through the bloodthirsty rhetoric and look scientifically at just what these people are advocating.

      To "turn North Korea into glass" as these pundits gleeful fantasize about would require probably a dozen or so atom-bombs. So one dropped on Pyongyang---because after all we want regime change---would target about 3 million people. Within one mile of Ground Zero, nothing would survive. A 1-megaton bomb exploding in the atmosphere would generate a shockwave and a nearly 500 MPH hurricane with temperatures not unlike those produced by a microwave oven. Structures would be leveled. In city the size of Pyongyang, this would occasion about a million casualties. Men, women, and children. Nor would that be the end.

      Three miles from the blast radius, the flaming winds hit at about 300 MPH. At this range, wind does more damage than the blast; collapsing structures and blowing debris (including human bodies) into other objects. Men, women and children again: bombs don't discriminate. At 5 miles, the winds are reduced to 180 MPH---the size of a Category 5 hurricane. Military and other reinforced buildings would be severely damaged; most houses would be destroyed and people in the open probably killed. The damage gradually decreases out to a range of 12 miles. Probable loss of life in Pyongyang, about 2 million from the initial blast alone.

       Many more however will die from fires spread by the explosion and within 10 days about 1/3 of those survivors will have died from radiation poisoning. Many others will die of starvation, untreated injuries, exposure, and other problems related to the aftermath of the blast. Multiply these scenarios by about 12 and you get an idea of what these hawks actually hope to accomplish.

        Atomic weapons have their place in modern military strategy, but they obviously are not things to be thrown at anybody simply to show off. Unwillingness by nuclear powers to use these weapons are not signs of weakness; there has always been a tacit understanding that a country launching the 'First Strike' is automatically going to be considered a rogue regime that will be opposed by whatever means necessary. This is not where we want to go as a people.