
A stand-off at a the G20 finance minister’s meeting in China last week is reflected in public calls by China to replace the US dollar and threats by the US military to start a nuclear war. The US military also say they stand ready to enforce any decisions by the international court of justice at The Hague over territorial disputes in the South China sea.
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, who witnessed the launch, said the U.S. tests, conducted at least 15 times since January 2011, send a message to strategic rivals like Russia, China and North Korea that Washington has an effective nuclear arsenal. “That’s exactly why we do this,” Work told reporters before the launch.
Of course, the #1 unspoken rule when launching ICBMs is to never explicitly say why you are doing it. By breaking said rule, it marks a much greater escalation in international diplomacy than merely test firing the nuclear-capable ballistic missile.
That, however, was not an issue and Work piled on, with the following stunner
“We and the Russians and the Chinese routinely do test shots to prove that the operational missiles that we have are reliable. And that is a signal … that we are prepared to use nuclear weapons in defense of our country if necessary.”
Well that’s good to know.

