Chances of war with north korea

The tiny island of Tinian was the launch point for American planes carrying atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Now a new runway is being carved from the jungle, just south of World War II ruins inked with mildew. And on a blustery February morning a few hundred yards away at Tinian’s civilian airport, American airmen refueled Japanese fighter jets during a military exercise using more airstrips, islands and Japanese planes than the two enemies-turned-allies have ever mustered for drills in the North Pacific. “We’re not concerned with the past, we are concerned with the future,” said Col. Inadome Satoru, commander of Japan’s 9th Air Wing Flight Group. “We can ensure stability by showing strength.” Asia and the Pacific are steering into an anxious, well-armed moment with echoes of old conflicts and immediate risks. Rattled by China’s military buildup and territorial threats — along with Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and doubts about U.S. resolve — nations … [Read more...] about An Anxious Asia Arms for a War It Hopes to Prevent

See the article in its original context from October 27, 1972 Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. WASHINGTON, Oct. 26—Henry A. Kissinger said today that “peace is at hand” in Indochina and that a final agreement on a cease‐fire and political arrangement could be reached in one more negotiating session with the North Vietnamese “lasting not more than three or four days.” The remaining details, he said, would not halt the rapid movement toward an end to the war. “We must remember that, having … [Read more...] about NEW TALK NEEDED

Secretive talks in the waning days of a campaign. Furtive phone calls. Ardent public denials. American history is full of October surprises — late revelations, sometimes engineered by an opponent, that shock the trajectory of a presidential election and that candidates dread. In 1880, a forged letter ostensibly written by James A. Garfield claimed he wanted more immigration from China, a position so unpopular it nearly cost him the election. Weeks before the 1940 election, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s press secretary kneed a Black police officer in the groin, just as the president was trying to woo skeptical Black voters. (Roosevelt’s response made history: He appointed the first Black general and created the Tuskegee Airmen.) But the scandal that has ensnared Donald J. Trump, the paying of hush money to a pornographic film star in 2016 , is in a rare class: an attempt not to bring to light an election-altering event, but to suppress one. The payoff to Stormy Daniels that has a … [Read more...] about Donald Trump, and the Sordid Tradition of Suppressing October Surprises

In a breathless month with a decade’s worth of political bombshells, the phrase “October surprise” has become a regular part of the news lexicon. By the strictest definition, an October surprise is news specifically (and cynically) timed by one side or another to sway an election, with evidence that it changed voters’ minds and moved the polls. More loosely, the term is applied to any big, late development, deliberate or not, perhaps even ones that show no sign of altering the outcome. Some reference sources say the phrase was first used in the 1972 presidential election, while others trace it to the 1980 campaign (the first time it was used by The New York Times). The concept, of course, predates the wording. Here are some examples of what could be considered October surprises. OCT. 31, 1968 President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced a halt to bombing of North Vietnam, based on his claim that peace talks had “entered a new and a very much more hopeful phase,” and he invited … [Read more...] about October Surprises Don’t Necessarily Sway Elections, or Occur in October

A defrocked New York priest “credibly accused” of sexually abusing a minor runs a charity that provides scholarships to Catholic schools for underprivileged children, according to public records . John J. Voglio, 65, is president of Mary F. Clancy Charities, which was founded in 2000 by another former priest, John Harrington, who was also accused of sexually abusing a minor, according to the Archdiocese of New York . Voglio frequently mingles with children and teenagers who attend charity events, a member of the organization’s board of directors told NBC News. “He’s very good with the kids,” Madelaine Cavegn said. “They like him very much.” Voglio does not mention on the charity’s website that he is a former priest, and he did not return several phone calls seeking comment about his activities. Voglio has never been charged with a crime so was never required to register as a sex offender in Massachusetts, New York or New Hampshire, all places where he once … [Read more...] about Defrocked Catholic priest accused of molesting a boy still runs charity for kids

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Pack away the sidewalk tables and flip-flops; break out the boots and shovels. Nature was showing its fickle side on Wednesday, with blizzard conditions, heavy snow and frigid air pounding parts of the Rockies and the Plains, just a day after the weather was sunny and idyllic. Schools and highways were shut down, hundreds of flights were canceled, and some communities braced for floods. The storm, caused by a low-pressure system moving east from the Pacific Ocean, dropped temperatures by up to 50 degrees in places like Denver, where it was sunny and in the mid-70s on Tuesday but reached the mid-20s by Wednesday night. The low-pressure system was affecting areas from Colorado to Michigan, with heavy snow and thunderstorms, and even down into Texas, where dry conditions and high winds led to wildfire warnings. While the whipsawing forecasts drew groans, they did not come as much of a surprise to those familiar with springtime in the Plains and the Rockies. … [Read more...] about Blizzard Hits Central U.S. a Day After States Bask in Spring Sunshine

MITCHELL, Neb. — For farmers battered by floods and blizzards and one of the rainiest springs on record, this has been a year tainted by too much water. But suddenly, across more than 100,000 acres of Nebraska and Wyoming, there is no water to be found. The dirt is cracking. The beans are turning a sickly yellow. And the corn, which looked so promising just two weeks ago, is straining for fluid through long, scorching days. The countryside is suddenly parched because a century-old tunnel that carries irrigation water across more than 100 miles, from Wyoming to Nebraska, collapsed this month. The cause of the collapse was not yet clear but the effect has been immediate: A large expanse of farmland is parched. And hundreds of farmers, already reeling from years of low grain prices, are without water at the most critical point of the growing cycle. “Could you survive working with no salary for a year?” said Kendall Busch, who grows sugar beets, beans and corn near … [Read more...] about America’s Farmers, Reeling From Floods, Face a New Problem: No Water