Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Sep. 24, 2026
Update	: Sep. 24, 2026
Parts	: 04

Synopsis:



Continuing our discussion from part three, last of all, let us also briefly discuss Kim Jong-un -- who is referred to as the Supreme Leader -- and the North Koreans. As you may know, during his first term in office a number of years ago, Donald Trump made a major attempt to convince Kim Jong-un to give up his nuclear ambitions, by offering to make North Korea a very prosperous nation, compared to the dark, dismal, repressive state in which it finds itself today. Many of you will recall how Trump famously crossed the DMZ -- or Demilitarized Zone -- into North Korea on June 30, 2019. It in fact made Trump the first sitting U.S. President to ever set foot on North Korean soil. It was quite a feather in the president's cap.

For some very strange reason which I personally fail to really comprehend, from that time until now, Mr. Trump has continued to view Jong-un in a positive light, even though North Korea now possesses more nuclear weapons than it had during Trump's first term in office. I know this to be true, because a while ago while I was reading the "Threat Status" newsletter from The Washington Times, I came across another section with the heading "Trump Administration Confirms Nuke Count in Lead-Up to Meeting With North Korean Leader", which if it is to be believed, confirms that North Korea is now in possession of fifty-seven nuclear weapons. Fifty-seven! Trump knows this, and yet for some odd reason, he STILL views Kim Jong-un as a nice guy. Trump's attitude seems to be, "Oh sure, he's got 57 nukes, but he is not using them on anybody." Yes, I'm shaking my head. Consider the following "Threat Status" excerpt:

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"Mr. Trump confirmed reports of North Korea's 57 nuclear weapons on Wednesday while discussing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Mr. Trump said he has a good relationship with Mr. Kim, blaming prior administrations for the stockpile.

Days after he ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, Mr. Trump said Wednesday he would meet Mr. Kim before the end of the year.

The multinational exercises with South Korea were meant to run through Aug. 27 and will now end on Friday, six days early. The move stoked discussion in South Korea of how the potential summit with Mr. Kim could impact the U.S.-South Korea relationship."

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So it comes as no surprise that last month -- August 2026 -- President Trump declared on his platform, Truth Social, that it is time to draw down U.S. military drills in South Korea, due to the fact that the leaders of South Korea have refused to demonstrate their support for America's war against Iran. Simultaneously -- and obviously to the surprise of a lot of observers -- President Trump also noted that Kim Jong-un has been behaving himself. Following is a direct quote from his Truth Social post:

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"Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea. These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful. Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises! While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, "No thanks!" Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP"

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Now, given that kind of cozy talk emanating from the mouth of the American president, and the fact that America's stockpile of offensive and defensive weapons is at an all-time low, do any of you really think that dictator Kim Jong-un is inclined or motivated to stop producing nuclear weapons? Do you think Trump's sweet talk will convince Kim Jong-un to terminate his support of Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine? Do I really need to offer my own response to these two questions? Let me remind you again that at this very moment, both North Korea and China have missiles pointed at my island home of Guam in the Western Pacific Ocean. Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

Equally worrisome is the deepening ties between North Korea and Russia. As I mentioned above, and likewise discuss in a few other Bill's Bible Basics articles, Kim Jong-un has given his full support to Putin's war against Ukraine. In fact, in the latest sign of mutual cooperation between North Korea and Russia, just over two weeks ago on September 7, 2026, Russia and North Korea opened their first dedicated road bridge across the Tumen River. Following is some information which was provided by Google's Gemini chatbot:

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Key Facts About the Bridge

Name: Officially named the Yakov Novichenko Bridge after a Soviet Red Army officer credited with saving North Korean founder Kim Il-sung's life in 1946.

Location: Spans the Tumen River, connecting Khasan in Russia to Tumangang (Rason) in North Korea, situated just about 415 meters east of the existing Korea-Russia Friendship railway bridge.

Size: Approximately 1 kilometer (1,005.7 meters) long with two lanes spanning a 7-meter-wide road deck.

Capacity: Designed to process up to 300 vehicles per day.

Timeline: Agreed upon during Vladimir Putin's visit to Pyongyang in June 2024, construction began in April 2025, and it officially opened on September 7, 2026.

Strategic and Economic Impact

First Road Link: Previously, the only way across the border by land was via the rail bridge or makeshift wooden planks laid across it.

Deepening Ties: As detailed by the BBC, the opening ceremony featured remote addresses from Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and North Korean Premier Pak Thae Song.

Transport and Trade: The Yakov Novichenko Bridge is intended to boost cargo transport, tourism, and bilateral economic cooperation while bypassing global maritime shipping restrictions.

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So while the United States continues to defend and come to the aid of its supposed "friend" and ally Israel, even going so far as to be willing to be Israel's war proxy, let us not lose focus of the fact that at the same time, Russia, China, North Korea and Iran continue to form closer ties both in a military sense, as well as economically. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in the future, North Korea is recognized as another member of the BRICS organization, the goal of which is to create a multi-polar world where the USA is no longer the only dominant superpower.

Before concluding this series, there are a few other topics which I would like to cover. As we have seen, the U.S.A. has reached a very dangerous point in that the American military has become so stretched out and so thin due to being engaged in so many different situations around the world, and having so many military bases around the world which it is forced to defend, that quite frankly, it has made the country more vulnerable to outside attack from enemy nations. Now, some of my readers may confidently mention the U.S.'s soon-coming Golden Dome missile defense system.

However, there are two things which we all need to understand, both of which I have also mentioned before. First is the fact that no defensive dome is or ever will be 100% impermeable. If you don't believe it, just ask Israel how they fared when Iran was lobbing missiles at them. The second point is that such a defensive dome is NOT an overnight wonder. It takes literally years to plan, construct and complete such complex military projects. How will the United States protect itself while the dome is being built, should some rogue nation decide to fire its missiles at America? Even some American military leaders candidly admit that currently, the United States doesn't have adequate protection from such a threat. We on Guam face the very same issue. Do you see my point?

Next, let us momentarily return to our discussion concerning America and Israel's ongoing war against the IRGC in Iran. While the American mainstream media is quick to report how much damage U.S. military forces have inflicted on Iranian targets since Operation Epic Fury began on February 28 of this same year, it has been less forthcoming with regard to how much Iran has reciprocated by inflicting damage on U.S. military bases and aircraft in the Middle East as well.

In the September 16, 2026 edition of "Threat Status" -- you can receive it via email -- The Washington Times includes a section with the headline "IG Report: Iran Has Hit Hundreds of Buildings, Dozens of Aircraft and Drained U.S. Munitions". It includes a summary of the full The Washington Times news article and states the following:

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"Iranian missile and drone attacks on U.S. outposts in the Middle East have damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and dozens of American combat aircraft since the start of the war against Tehran, according to a mandatory report from the Pentagon's inspector general delivered to Congress this week.

The Defense Department watchdog estimated that Operation Epic Fury -- the official name of the war that began in late February -- has cost $33.4 billion as of June 29. Of that amount, $22.3 billion went to procuring critical munitions, such as missile interceptors, as stockpiles have been steadily depleted by the conflict. Another $3.7 billion has gone to replace lost U.S. military equipment.

Those numbers have likely soared even higher since. For example, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it shot down an advanced MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. The IG report detailed other U.S. military aircraft that have been destroyed or heavily damaged in the conflict, including F-15E and F-35 fighters, KC-135 refueling aircraft, combat helicopters such as the AH-64 and the MH-60, and drones such as the MQ-4C Triton."

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Assuming you have a The Washington Times subscription, you can read the full article at the following URL. Please note that the newspaper does allow a small number of its articles to be read for free before they will block you if you don't have a TWT subscription:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/sep/15/iran-hit-hundreds-buildings-dozens-aircraft-mideast-war-drains-us/

Upon reading the full news article, what I discovered is that over 50,000 U.S. service members were deployed to the region in order to engage in Operation Epic Fury. That is almost as many American soldiers who died during the Vietnam War, so clearly, this is my means a small operation. According to the aforementioned mandatory Pentagon inspector general's report which was delivered to the American Congress, and made public barely a week ago, despite being severely incapacitated, the Iranian IRGC has still been able to destroy as many as thirty MQ-9 Reaper drones throughout the conflict. According to the Pentagon's actual 44-page Inspector General report -- which I briefly scanned through -- as of now, at least fifty-seven aircraft have been damaged or destroyed in all.

My dear friends, that amounts to billions of dollars down the tubes! Just think how much that money could have been used to help struggling American citizens instead. What a total waste of financial resources! But folks, that is what war is really all about: destruction and waste, with very little to show for it in the end! Right?

Furthermore, according to that same Pentagon IG report, we're told that destruction occurred at U.S. military bases located in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan. While President Donald Trump, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and other military figures have continued to insist that Iranian military forces have been significantly diminished and neutralized, oddly enough, those Iranians have nevertheless still been able to inflict rather serious damage on American military bases in the region.

I honestly don't know how true it is, and I don't wish to be a conveyor of false rumors, but I have also read some online information which claims that many -- if not most -- of the American bases in those nations have been utterly destroyed. Whether or not this particular claim is merely a war rumor which is intentionally designed and meant to confuse and deceive, I cannot say with any degree of certainty. However, if we consider that the IG report names eight Middle Eastern countries where U.S. military bases are located, and states that hundreds of buildings and other structures were either destroyed or at least partially damaged, that does seem like a lot of destruction to me. So perhaps the rumor is true. If that is the case -- again, I honestly do not know -- could that explain why the USA is relying on aircraft carriers to take out Iranian targets?

If you are interested in reading the full 44-page Pentagon inspector general's report, you can currently download it in PDF format at the following URL:

https://media.defense.gov/2026/Sep/09/2003993626/-1/-1/1/OEF_Q3_JUN2026_FINAL_508%20SECURE.PDF

Before concluding this series, allow me share a final personal observation which some of my older readers have probably also come to recognize. That is the fact that for decades now, most American presidents just never seem to learn their lesson when it comes to fighting wars in foreign lands, particularly when it concerns the Far East, Asia, and the Middle East. Such wars are similar to a hidden bear trap which they simply are unable to escape. These men hatch these rather foolish and dangerous plans -- along with their war hawks -- which in their pride they all erroneously assume will eventually result in some type of big military, economic or political advantage for the United States. They assume that it will be a quick and easy in and out. However, then what ultimately happens?

We all know, or at least we should know. They end up getting trapped in said places for literally years, and often times eventually leave in disgrace, after thousands or millions of people have died on both sides, a country's economy has been destroyed, their government has been wiped out, their national infrastructure has been obliterated, and there is very little to show for it in the end. We've seen this very same scenario repeat itself in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, etc. And yet U.S. administration after administration never seems to learn its lesson. They take the gamble and they roll the war dice anyway.

Of course, Donald Trump is just the latest American president to play this dangerous game and learn this bitter lesson, as he desperately tries to pull out of Iran before the American midterms arrive a number of weeks from now. Will the current USA-Israel-Iran War end in the very same fashion, after the U.S.'s munitions supplies have been depleted? All I can say is, time will surely tell. But in the meantime, how many more lives will be lost, and how many more billions of US dollars will be wasted?

Now I am going to get a bit silly and conspiratorial for those of you who can handle it. I tell myself, "Well, I must simply be missing something here. Maybe this talk of U.S. munitions shortages is all a ruse. Perhaps it is a planned, intentional deception which has been concocted by and perpetrated by the American government, by the U.S. military and the collective mainstream media. Maybe these reports about the United States being so low on munitions is just a ploy to confuse America's enemies, to throw them off-guard, and to give them a false sense of security." Going by some online comments I've read, there are some people who truly believe this to be the case, while President Trump and his cohorts rather adamantly deny that such weapons shortages even exist.

Seriously folks. I don't know what else to think. The American news media, and all of these other individuals can't really be so stupid as to reveal America's vulnerabilities to the world, can they? What do you think? If you personally found yourself in some kind of vulnerable and dangerous situation, would you broadcast such information to the world, particularly to your enemies? It wouldn't make much sense, right? If anything, you would strive to hide your cards, just like a gambler who is sitting at the table. Thanks Kenny Rogers!

Oh wait! I know! It must be the ETs who are manipulating this entire situation. Perhaps they are secretly saying to all of the warring parties of Earth, "Look, you all need to draw down now, because if you fail to do so, you will end up destroying yourselves and your entire planet through a nuclear holocaust, just as we did to our home world long ago. Now we are forced to wander Outer Space looking for a suitable new home." This is actually what some people really believe. Wow! Maybe those extraterrestrials are similar to the crew of the Battlestar Galactica who were likewise forced to search for a new home after the Cylons destroyed the Twelve Colonies. If you happen to be a Battlestar Galactica fan, then you will know what I am talking about. Again, excuse my sarcasm.

While I have concluded this series with a bit of my customary sarcasm and humor, please make no mistake. What I have shared with you in this series is a very serious issue which needs to be addressed, and I hope that you see it that way as well. Lastly, let me again emphasize that while we have discussed matters of war and violence in this series, please understand that personally, I am strongly opposed to both, as I have been for many decades now. Likewise, as a born-again child of God who belongs to the Kingdom of God, and who pledges his loyalty only to God's Kingdom, I do NOT take a political side in any terrestrial war. While I obviously talk about some of them in my articles, I do NOT support any of them, and I remain firmly convinced that all war -- regardless of the motivation behind it -- is evil, horrible, ugly and destructive. Let me be very clear regarding this point.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

America vs. Iran: This Was an Act of War

Communism: Is the Dead Beast Really Dead?

Communism: The Raging Bear Out of Control!

If You Play With Fire: Did Trump Light a Match?

If You Poke a Bear Long Enough

Iran War and the Mind of the President

Killing and the Phinehas Priesthood

Killing, Murder, War and Military Duty

Nuclear States and the Israel-Iran War

Nuclear States: What Have We Wrought?

Obama, McCain and the Bush Legacy

Owning Guns: What Saith the Scriptures?

Psalm 83 War False Doctrine Exposed!

Saddam Hussein's Execution and the Euro Dollar War

School Shootings: The Second Amendment Controversy

Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, on Guam

The Plight of the Children: School Gun Violence!

Who is the Real Terrorist?

Why I Hate War: An Exposé on Human Violence

World at War: What About Guam?

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Please avail yourself of other areas of the Bill's Bible Basics website. There are many treasures for you to discover.