海角大神

Heads swiveled today when the US dropped the 鈥渕other of all bombs鈥� in Afghanistan, targeting an ISIS tunnel and cave complex.聽Officially known as the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, the MOAB is America鈥檚 biggest non-nuclear bomb. This is was its first-ever use. 聽

Here in the newsroom, we talked about whether the bomb鈥檚 deployment might have sent a message to North Korea, a master military tunnel builder. Pyongyang certainly is getting other military messages as its provocative acts rattle East Asia:聽A US aircraft carrier strike group is steaming toward the Korean peninsula, and Japan appears ready to join it.

But words matter in preventing a crisis as well. Are the US and China cooperating in that arena? China鈥檚 language toward its ally Kim Jong-un has toughened since President Trump and President Xi met last week. Its Global Times newspaper warned Kim yesterday that Washington meant business 鈥撀燼nd foreshadowed tougher sanctions from Beijing if things get worse.聽

Those kinds of communications are crucial 鈥� and can be equally powerful in keeping tensions from escalating to the battlefield. 聽