B-2

Authored by Dave Majumdar via The National Interest,

"It is time to think about the unthinkable..."

The standoff between the United States and North Korea continues to escalate with neither side willing to back down.

With each passing day, the possibility of open warfare breaking out seems to increase as each side ups the ante. Indeed, President Donald Trump has ratcheted up his rhetoric in recent days—seemingly threatening to launch a nuclear first strike against North Korea.

In apparent response to Trump's promise of "fire and fury" in the event of any threat to the United States from North Korea, Pyongyang has said it is "carefully examining" a plan to attack the U.S. Territory of Guam, saying they will engulf the island with an "enveloping fire".

As well as being home to over 162 thousand people, Statista's Martin Armstrong notes that Guam is of key strategic importance to the U.S. military.

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Less than a month after the US Air Force successfully test fired two Minuteman ICBM missiles from California's Vanderberg Air Force base, which hit a target approximately 4,200 miles away at Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, today Pentagon officials said that the US will try to shoot down an intercontinental-range missile for the first time in a test next week, in "preparation for North Korea's growing threat." According to AP, the stated goal is "to more closely simulate a North Korean ICBM aimed at the U.S. homeland."

Earlier this morning Vice President Pence offered up one of the Trump administration's most stern warnings yet to North Korea saying that the U.S. would "defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response."  Per The Hill:

"The United States of America will always seek peace but under President Trump, the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready."