ARE WE AGAIN ENTERING A STATE OF NUCLEAR INSANITY?

But first some good news.  Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met this morning in Busan and came to a workable understanding.  Said Trump:

“I guess, on the scale from zero to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after the meeting. “You know, just the whole relationship is very, very important. I think it was very good.”

No details were released, but you can read that article for more.

An hour before his meeting with Xi, Trump fired off the following social media missive:

After Russia Conducts Nuclear Weapons Tests, Trump Announces U.S. Will Restart Its Own

A tariff is one thing, but to re-enter a state of cold war where one incident can cause Armageddon, or the end of Humanity, is just another in a string of Trump's intentions regarding dictatorship and retrogression in dealing with global warming that have never before been voiced by past U.S. presidents.  Of course, he was in his mind just retorting a response to President Vladimir Putin bragging about super nuclear weapons.  What exactly did Trump say?

• 
  Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.  That process will begin immediately.
• And, by the way, in case you missed it, Putin hinted about an underwater drone designed to evade interception and to create a potentially devastating tsunami at its target, plus tests of nuclear superweapons.
• Trump falsely claimed that the U.S. has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country.  Why he says these kinds of things and lose face is inexcusable, for Russia has more.  The Atlantic has a more serious concern.

• 
  The U.S. ended nuclear testing in 1992 AFTER our 1,054th test.
• There is the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty, signed by 187 countries.  However, China (#3) and the U.S. (#2) have not.  Russia did in 2000, but withdrew its ratification in 2023.

• 
  Only North Korea has conducted nuclear tests in the 21st century.
• And, by the way, Congress has to first approve testing before Trump can do it.  Of course, he can, he will say.  And do it. And no one will be able to do anything about that.
• However, this article ends with this:

He (Trump) also said that his ultimate goal is to slow the arms race. “I think deescalation—they would call it denuclearization—would be a tremendous thing,” Trump said. “We are actually talking to Russia about that, and China would be added to that if we do something.”

Coincidentally, I last night watched the #1 film on Netflix, A House of Dynamite.  Only got 78/77 ratings from Rotten Tomatoes.  I would rate it lower and will explain why.

The movie is a just-released apocalyptic political thriller directed by Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow (for The Hurt Locker in 2009, and scored 96/84 on Rotten Tomatoes).

I will start with my personal experience, for on Saturday, 18January2018, Hawaii was placed in this same predicament.  My posting that day was titled:

BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL

I had only 20 minutes left to live.  This was frightening.

So my take on this film, and I do give away details, so skip this portion if you don't wish to read too much.

• First, I was confused.
• I thought I was seeing a rerun after 20 minutes or so, but what was happening was that the same scenes are being shown three times from different perspectives.  Sort of like Rashomon.
• 
  So anyway, a normal day becomes chaotic, then potentially cataclysmic.  Potentially because the end does not occur.  What?  This will come.
• What happened was that the SBX-1 golf ball in the Pacific suddenly detects a missile in the air heading from the general direction of North Korea to the USA.  

• 
  Except there is uncertainty about exactly where was the origin.
• Was this just Kim Jung-Un losing his mind and deciding to attack the U.S.?

• 
  Or was this a coordinated attack from the evil axis (Russia, China, Iran and North Korea) starting World War III?  A  quick call to Russia got feedback that it wasn't them, but that person had to check with his superiors.  In other words, more uncertainty.
• But the story is less about the origin, and more to test out human reactions and decision-making under extreme pressure.  Everything exaggerated because of the suddenness with limited information.
• 
  Then, it is determined that this missile is headed for Chicago, and would destroy the city in 20 minutes.  Remember my story above?
• Timing is a problem, because quick decisions need to be made.

• 
  The three segments are the White House Situation Room, where this all started, then the site in Nebraska where there are defense missiles to stop incoming ballistics, and finally from view of the president of the U.S., played by Idris Alba as what appears to be Barack Obama, for his wife surely looks like Michelle.

• 
  Two interception missiles are sent out, but they both miss.  As is mention, this is like hitting a bullet with a bullet, and the chances of success are not that good.  However, I asked Google AI:

The 

Minuteman III missile is highly accurate, with an updated guidance system providing a Circular Error Probable (CEP) of about 120 meters. This means that, on average, the missile is expected to land within 120 meters of its target. Older versions of the missile had lower accuracy, such as the Minuteman I which had an accuracy of about 2.4 kilometers. 

• 
  At the end, the attacking ICBM has not quite destroyed Chicago yet, and the President is mulling over about what to do, for allowing our B2-bombers to drop bombs over those countries and send out our own ICBMs would only surely start a World War III.
• That's the film.  Your guess as to what will happen, except that Chicago will be destroyed.

• 
  Reminded me of Dr. Strangelove, which was a much better film with 98/94 scores from Rotten Tomatoes.  However, in this one, we do drop the bomb over the Soviet Union and they have a Doomsday Machine to totally wipe out the USA, destroying the entire planet.

• 
  Nowhere close to the impact of Threads, the best movie I've ever seen on the apocalypse caused by nuclear warfare.  Click on this to watch the entire movie.  Got 100/92 scores from Rotten Tomatoes.  Hint:  Humanity survives.
• Why was this move called A House of Dynamite?  Because we are surrounded by 12,000 nuclear weapons, in a combustible environment, awaiting World War III, or an accident.  Watch what happens if they are all detonated.