North Korea says it has authorized plans for nuclear strikes against the United States.
Bad: North Korea says it has authorized plans for a nuclear strike against the United States.
But, while Pyongyang has successfully carried out test nuclear detonations, most experts think it is not yet capable of mounting a device on a ballistic missile capable of striking US bases or territory. Mounting tension in the region could however trigger incidents on the tense and heavily-militarised border between North and South Korea. There was no immediate American reaction to the North’s latest statement, but US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Pyongyang represented a “real and clear danger” to the United States and to its allies South Korea and Japan. [emphasis mine]
Right now North Korea almost certainly cannot hit the U.S. with an ICBM. However, South Korea and Japan are very very very exposed.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Bad: North Korea says it has authorized plans for a nuclear strike against the United States.
But, while Pyongyang has successfully carried out test nuclear detonations, most experts think it is not yet capable of mounting a device on a ballistic missile capable of striking US bases or territory. Mounting tension in the region could however trigger incidents on the tense and heavily-militarised border between North and South Korea. There was no immediate American reaction to the North’s latest statement, but US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Pyongyang represented a “real and clear danger” to the United States and to its allies South Korea and Japan. [emphasis mine]
Right now North Korea almost certainly cannot hit the U.S. with an ICBM. However, South Korea and Japan are very very very exposed.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Good thing Democrats have been trying to kill all the missile defense programs.
It doesn’t take a very large boat to float an explosive over this way…..
Where is the CIA assassin squad now that we need them?
This is about as probable as the new movie Red Dawn.
NK invading the US, successfully.
They haven’t even proved they have a portable nuclear weapon yet. Let a way to get it here except by freighter.
And even as bad as it is, a ground based nuclear detonation is the least dangerous. They are best set off a few hundred feet off the ground.
Setting even one weapon anyplace outside their own nation off will bring the wrath of even China down on their head. Their entire leadership will be hunted down and executed by any number of nations in that area.
Unless China is secretly on their side and would take the opportunity to start a war. But are they even ready for that?
The best China could do is invade and take over NK using a NK nuclear attack as a valid reason. But I don’t think they even want to do that. If they let the North and South Koreans reunite they stand to have a far better trading partner and a far more stable neighbor on that boarder.
Nk’s only hope of a successful attach is to attack and take SK real fast and in that way hold all those people in effect hostage against a US counter invasion. China might then stand back and watch it happen just to get the US out of the area.
How do you know they are not working with them?How do you know what is being reported is factual?I take much of what is reported with a grain of salt.
I am pretty sure that N.K. is being strained by the sanctions and they must also understand that if they were to actually deploy a nuke and detonate it anywhere other then there own territory that all hell will rain from the sky and they would not survive. That would serve a manifold of lessons, mainly to be learned by Iran and anyone else with nuclear weapon aspirations.
I can’t tell if Obama would participate in such a defensive, punitive counter attack. If you look at the Bengazi situation he was all hands off and I assume it was because it was a CIA operation which he wanted no part of, he might have no choice though and would be dragged to take action. Obama as a rule does not like the messiness of running the world where real people die as a direct result of real decisions he made. He likes to ideologically monkey with the transformation of the country into his socialist dreamland which entails the destruction and hollowing out of the Constitution.
In the end J.K. UN’s goal must be to push it to the edge and emerge as a war hero and that is his transformation moment, from boy to leader to a tested under pressure leader of men, he must realize that he has no where to go.
“which he wanted no part of”
Oh he very much wanted a part of it. He ordered whatever was going on there. What he didn’t want was to be tied to its failure. So, he threw a bad film maker in jail and lied about what happened.
This is all theatre especially the scary stories from our press. The population in the USA is not the audience.
I disagree, it looks like the CIA was in charge and it went wrong, people died. The president wanted none of that and that goes for Hillary, they both are hands off this one. The film maker was just an attempt to obfuscate and misdirect. The president is not a world level player, he’s faking it.
Thats what it looks like to me, the president in general is not that focused on the world, his big coup is all about the “rebuilding” of America based on his Marxist idealogy. You know “because its the right thing to do”.
When you step back, theater and increase in status is the only net gain for K.J. UN, he can not wring any more out of his situation. Not until he decides to stand down on the nuke issue and that can not happen its the only thing of substance he has. Stalemate and or net loss.
If intelligence detects said boat, it is boarded and the explosive (i.e. nuclear weapon) were found, it would be a cause for war. North Korea would have landed no blow and yet would suffer regime change. But if the US had no missile defense, North Korea would always be able to land a major blow which would give the US serious pause before responding to any North Korean provocation.
Maybe they think we’re soft and they’re testing our resolve?
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/05/opinion/rothkopf-north-korea/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7
The powers that be in the world will be very interested in how America deals with this situation, especially China. (who may well be behind this situation for just this reason).
I heard an interesting hypothesis the other day that the military industrial complex may be driving this whole thing in order to better ensure the cash flow in the face of the sequester cuts.
Like I sad earlier, I don’t have a problem believing such scenarios, I take the information disseminated to the public with a grain of salt. I don’t apply my personal morality to such things, these things happen in a reality where morality is an option and that option is based more on strategy and the application of power and influence.
Red China’s leadership is a collective one with factions that shift from time to time, so its actions are not always consistent with respect to NK. It’s likely they tolerate a certain level of craziness from their ‘little brother’ as it keeps the US and its allies off-balance to some degree. The military faction in Peking (I refuse to call it Beijing.) seems to be gaining the upper hand at present. After all, they permitted and likely encouraged the development of nukes and missile technology in NK, as well as nuclear proliferation to Iran. Trade appears to be a secondary issue. If you are Japanese, Vietnamese, or even Australian, you cannot help but be worried by Red Chinese bullying. And I didn’t bother to mention Taiwan or Singapore, which the Reds will absorb at some point.
I don’t think anyone should be too surprised by Kim Jong Un’s war rhetoric. The NK leaders have a history of throwing temper tantrums to test the mettle of American leaders whenever they sense weakness. They were handsomely rewarded for doing so with Bill Clinton and are likely testing Obama. They might find Obama to be a different breed of cat. Above all else, he hates being embarrassed. Give BC a hard time and he might have you over for a drink to work it out. Even to question BO will produce a strong rebuke, sometimes through Jay Carney, sometimes by the Narcissist-in-Chief himself. I very much doubt that NK will get a payoff from the US under BO. However, there is grave danger that NK will miscalculate and start a shooting war with SK. The latter did nothing when one of their subs was sunk by NK. They will have to retaliate next time.
This pretty much spells the end for my summer home on the peninsula…..
CNN) — North Korea said Monday that it would pull out all its workers and temporarily suspend operations at the industrial complex it jointly operates with the South, the latest sign of deteriorating relations on the Korean Peninsula.
The North said it would also consider permanently closing down the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a shared manufacturing zone that is the last major symbol of cooperation between the two countries.