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Dead Drop: August 11

<p>dead drop</p>

FULL OF SOUND AND FURY: Like you – and the rest of the world – we have been trying to figure out the significance of Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un tossing verbal nuclear hand grenades at each other. As one seasoned hand told us, “It can become real sporty any time you have a face-off between a crazy man with nukes on one side and the leader of North Korea on the other.” There are many odd things about this week’s spitball fight.  Here are a couple that caught our attention.  The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that a DIA report last month concluded that the North Koreans have been able to miniaturize nuclear warheads so that they will fit on their ICBMs.  When asked about it at an opioid conference in New Jersey that afternoon, President Trump went off on a rant about how Pyongyang best not make any more threats or they will be met with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.” Our question is – if this was sparked by the DIA report (which presumably the President was briefed on sometime last month), why did it take a story in the Washington Post to get him riled up?  And, while we are at it – what was up with that body language?  Trump delivered his remarks with his arms so firmly and fully crossed that some observers likened it to a straight jacket look. And then there is Kim.  Right after the U.S. reveals that it thinks he may have achieved the capability of mounting nuclear warheads on ICBMs that can hit the U.S. mainland – he threatens to strike Guam.  Way to undercut your talking points, Kim.  Since this is all just rhetoric anyway – if you are going to strike fear into the hearts of most Americans - why not threaten to nuke some place most of them can find on a map?

THE FRESH PRINCE OF MIL AIR: Blackwater founder and professional controversy progenitor Erik Prince stirred up quite a hornet’s nest recently with suggestions that the U.S. is wasting money and missing opportunities in its support to the Afghan Air Force.  Prince has suggested augmenting the Afghan aviators with his own private air force.  The notion has been met with little enthusiasm within the Pentagon, where some experts suggest that Prince’s “turn-key composite air wing” could be a legal turkey. The Military Times quoted former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann as saying, “Using a contracted force to conduct U.S. war operations is a bad idea that wants to die.” Prince has been on a media blitz lately, writing Op-Eds for the Wall Street Journal and USA Today and appearing on Erin Burnett’s CNN program to tout a proposal which calls for consolidating authority in Afghanistan under one person who he dubbed, “an American viceroy who would lead all U.S. government and coalition efforts—including command, budget, policy, promotion, and contracting—and report directly to the president.”

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