North Korea

[heckofajobbrownie]

I don't think you've written anything that would get you fired. But best to be sure,

[MLD Woody]

Yeah, as another damn college kid, I'm interested too

[VaporTrail]

lol, stop appealing to my vanity. I'm tempted to post my accomplishments... Another reason I need to be careful because I'm also the figurehead for this student org I run that's been in the national media a few times...

[heckofajobbrownie]

I'm interested...

[gftChris]

N. Korea would be stupid to actually launch anything against the US. It'd be like Japan attacking Pearl Harbour. You guys would basically obliterate them (and there'd probably be the usual amount of UK aid). The real problem is that N. Korea (I presume) have a pact with China - nobody has an interest in going to war with China, and I sincerely doubt China has any interest in going to war with the US or Russia - who would inevitably get involved, although who the hell knows which side, if either.

[Westside Steve]

I would imagine that North Korea's troubles are going to come mainly from the inside, rather than from the US or S K.

I would be very surprised if China has much of an appetite for war with the United States, given our business relationship.

Un, reportedly, has less support in his own country then did his predecessors.

Might be time for a coup.

WSS

[The Cysko Kid]

Frankly I think Kim Jung un is just throwing his weight around trying to get the military behind him, and prove he's as hardcore as his dad. Think about it, its got to be difficult to be a second or third generation dictator. You'd have to fight for the respect if the military command because, really, what are your qualifications? The kims are not royalty, there's honestly nothing in place to protect him if the military feels he's gone soft.

[heckofajobbrownie]

Frankly I think Kim Jung un is just throwing his weight around trying to get the military behind him, and prove he's as hardcore as his dad. Think about it, its got to be difficult to be a second or third generation dictator. You'd have to fight for the respect if the military command because, really, what are your qualifications? The kims are not royalty, there's honestly nothing in place to protect him if the military feels he's gone soft.

 

This may be true.

 

It may also be him making noise because in the past that's how they've always drawn people to the negotiating table and gotten things. Word is that Obama said he's not going to play that game anymore and instead of diplomats he sent F-22s and a few warships.

 

Now everyone is trying to ratchet it down. We'll see.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

This may be true.

 

It may also be him making noise because in the past that's how they've always drawn people to the negotiating table and gotten things. Word is that Obama said he's not going to play that game anymore and instead of diplomats he sent F-22s and a few warships.

 

Now everyone is trying to ratchet it down. We'll see.

 

The USN has a large Naval base in Yokosuka, Japan. So I'm sure they are all deployed near Korea now. I was there in 1976 on the USS Midway when the American Officer was killed by North Korean guards with axes because of chopping down some trees for better view. We spent about 45 days in the Sea of Japan sailing up and down waiting for something to happen.

[VaporTrail]

Frankly I think Kim Jung un is just throwing his weight around trying to get the military behind him, and prove he's as hardcore as his dad. Think about it, its got to be difficult to be a second or third generation dictator. You'd have to fight for the respect if the military command because, really, what are your qualifications? The kims are not royalty, there's honestly nothing in place to protect him if the military feels he's gone soft.

 

That's part of it, if he looks weak, someone close to him will probably kill him and usurp his seat. But I think another major reason this is all happening is because the Korean people are still starving, and they're educated. There is serious fear of a revolution. In order to prevent that revolution, he spins this bullshit narrative about US and SK to the people. It's a desperation move.

[heckofajobbrownie]

That's part of it, if he looks weak, someone close to him will probably kill him and usurp his seat. But I think another major reason this is all happening is because the Korean people are still starving, and they're educated. There is serious fear of a revolution. In order to prevent that revolution, he spins this bullshit narrative about US and SK to the people. It's a desperation move.

 

I've never read much about the North Korean people being poised for revolution. It'd be nice if it were true, but is it? Guess it's tough to know. We simply don't have a very good sense of what's going on in there.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

I've never read much about the North Korean people being poised for revolution. It'd be nice if it were true, but is it? Guess it's tough to know. We simply don't have a very good sense of what's going on in there.

 

I highly doubt that North Koreans are poised for revolution. They are completely in the dark about everything except what the Government wants them to know.

[The Cysko Kid]

I highly doubt that North Koreans are poised for revolution. They are completely in the dark about everything except what the Government wants them to know.

 

 

But they have to be scared and on edge and id bet a whole lot of the general populace would rather reconcile with south korea

[VaporTrail]

These people are starving, not stupid. The government broadcast the 7-0 rout in the World Cup a few summers ago after they played a tough game against Brazil. They had to have seen the people in the stands. They send people across the border every now and then to speak with their family members. You think their families don't tell them the difference in the quality of life? From 2007-2010, 20,000 people fled the North for the South

[DieHardBrownsFan]

These people are starving, not stupid. The government broadcast the 7-0 rout in the World Cup a few summers ago after they played a tough game against Brazil. They had to have seen the people in the stands. They send people across the border every now and then to speak with their family members. You think their families don't tell them the difference in the quality of life? From 2007-2010, 20,000 people fled the North for the South

 

Out of how many millions. You're dreaming if you think there will be a revolution. How many mexicans flee north?

[heckofajobbrownie]

These people are starving, not stupid. The government broadcast the 7-0 rout in the World Cup a few summers ago after they played a tough game against Brazil. They had to have seen the people in the stands. They send people across the border every now and then to speak with their family members. You think their families don't tell them the difference in the quality of life? From 2007-2010, 20,000 people fled the North for the South

 

You'd have to think that even if this isn't the case now, it will be in the near future. Governments simply can't control information the way they used to. North Korea may be the most successful at cutting its people off, but with all of the new information technologies it's an uphill battle that can't be won. Eventually even the North Koreans will realize that they're living in a oppressive backwater. I'm just not sure it's in 2013.

 

PS:

 

"North Korea had arranged to broadcast the game live on television - an unprecedented move for the communist nation and a drastic change from the usual state propaganda programs - proud of the achievements of its national squad.

 

But its timing could not have been worse, and moments after the final whistle, the Korean Central Broadcasting's commentator said: "The Portuguese won the game and now have four points. We are ending our live broadcast now."

 

The channel then cut back to factory workers and engineers praising Kim Jong-il, the Associated Press reported."

[blowe]

This annoying bleeding heart lib actually told me that the reason the Koreans are suffering is because of the the U.S. Because of the sanctions we put on poor little North Korea. As if it is our fault they are led by a dictator. She should join Obama's apology tour.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

Defense Expert: NKorea Has Ability to Attack US

Friday, 05 Apr 2013 04:29 PM

 

By Jim Meyers and Kathleen Walter

 

Leading defense and national security expert Dr. James Carafano tells Newsmax that the Obama administration has spent four years ignoring North Korea and we now run the risk of an "accidental escalation" of tensions in the region.

He also warns that North Korea does in fact have the technical capability of attacking the west coast of the United States.

 

Story continues below.

 

 

Dr. Carafano is the Heritage Foundation's vice president for foreign and defense policy studies and director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies. He is a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and has taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. His books include "Private Sector, Public Wars: Contractors in Combat - Afghanistan, Iraq, and Future Conflicts."

 

North Korea has now moved missiles onto launchers and there has been talk that they could technically strike the west coast of the U.S. Asked if that is accurate, Carafano tells Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview: "Absolutely. They haven't done it but we know they have the technical capability that allows them to do that and they don't have to reach that far.

 

"They can reach Guam, which is a major U.S. military base, and we certainly know they can reach Japan, which is an ally and has bases. More importantly: I was in the Army for 25 years, I was stationed in Korea. Much of the South Korean population and the capital is in easy range of North Korean artillery, let alone North Korean missiles."

 

North Korea moved those missiles with full knowledge that the United States would observe the actions because "we have satellite imagery overhead covering the entire country" and "they know we're watching." But as for what these developments mean, Carafano admits: "I can absolutely tell you with 100 percent confidence that I have no idea what this means. We've seen the North Koreans bluster and do nothing, we've seen them bluster and do something. We've seen them say nothing and do something.

 

"So we've seen every possible combination and we really don't have good intelligence on how the decision-making inside North Korea works, so we're all just guessing as to what might possibly happen."

 

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Thursday night that President Barack Obama was "pretty correct" in his response to North Korea. Carafano agrees.

 

"It's absolutely right that we send a very strong message to North Korea that we would protect ourselves and our allies. So deploying the B-2 bomber was absolutely the right thing to do. The F-22 aircraft allows us to get anywhere in North Korean air space. Missile defense systems, missile direct radars, these are all exactly the right things to do to demonstrate that we will defend ourselves.

 

"I find a great irony here. These are often the systems that progressives want to cut and say we don't need and are relics of the Cold War, and yet what is the first thing we send out of the box to demonstrate that we're really serious about defending ourselves? The very systems they don't like.

 

"The other great irony here is the president's getting ready to put out his defense budget and if you run that defense budget out 10 years, I doubt that we'll be able to do these kinds of things 10 years from now to demonstrate our resolve.

 

"But the United States has done the right thing by demonstrating that they take these threats seriously. We've seen the North Koreans in the past do some pretty unforgivable things, including sinking a South Korean ship and artillery shelling South Korean territory.

 

"South Koreans have sent some pretty strong signals that they will respond. But again you don't know what the North Koreans are going to do. You can't' discount that there might be some kind of accidental escalation. We've done all the right things to prevent a conflict from breaking out but there's an old saying that in war, the enemy gets a vote."

 

Asked if this could end up becoming an accidental war, Carafano responds: "If there was no such thing as accidental wars we wouldn't have them but we actually have them quite frequently. So it would be irresponsible to say don't worry, nothing's going to happen, or to predict World War III. The responsible thing to do is to take North Korea seriously because they have the weapons to do serious damage.

 

"What really bothers me is that we've spent four years ignoring North Korea and letting our defense atrophy and underselling and underinvesting in things like missile defense. And now, all of a sudden, we jump up and say, gee, we really need these things.

 

"This is what we typically do. We take these massive peace dividends and then when an enemy rears his head, we sit there and say why weren't we better prepared? Sometimes it's a 9/11 but sometimes it's a wakeup call like this.

 

"We don't have to invade every country. We don't have to be the world's policemen. But if we don't demonstrate the resolve to defend ourselves and have responsible defense budgets, someday the cupboard's going to be bare when the bad guys come knocking."

 

As for what role China might play in the crisis, Carafano tells Newsmax: "There's a myth that the Chinese control North Korea or they can just tell the North Koreans what to do. But the Chinese know they don't and we know they don't.

 

"China has influence over North Korea but they cannot drive North Korean behavior. They have a limited capacity to defuse this crisis and it's dumb and stupid for the United States to go kind of begging China to help us because the Chinese can't really do much for us."

 

Commenting on the U.S. foreign policy pivot away from the Middle East and onto Asia, Carafano says: "The declaration of the Asian pivot was stupid. It was just stupid. The United States needs to be able to defend all of its vital interests and we need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

 

"We have big interests in the Middle East that are under threat. We have to protect them. And we have interests in Asia that we have to protect. And where does Asia get its energy from? It gets it from the Middle East. So Asia's pivoting to the Middle East because they're worried about that.

 

"We can't ignore that, as we can't ignore our responsibilities in partnering with Europeans. And we have responsibilities in the Western Hemisphere. This notion that somehow we can leave things undefended is great because it allows you to gut the defense budget, but the reality is when you compromise your interests like that, you make war more, not less likely."

 

 

© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

 

[VaporTrail]

The Musudan, also known as the Nodong-B or the Taepodong-X, is an intermediate-range ballistic missile. Its likely targets are Okinawa, Japan, and US bases in the Pacific

 

From BBC

 

Shit, these fucking Koreans better not ruin my trip. I'm just extremely skeptical of the missile shields after the fiasco with the Patriots in the Gulf War.

[heckofajobbrownie]

This is just the DIA's assessment right now. Not everyone agrees.

[VaporTrail]

This is just the DIA's assessment right now. Not everyone agrees.

 

I'm just more concerned that Okinawa is going to be a primary target of theirs. What do you think about the report of small nuclear warhead capable of being launched on a missile that was slipped by a politician and subsequently denied?

[heckofajobbrownie]

I'm just more concerned that Okinawa is going to be a primary target of theirs. What do you think about the report of small nuclear warhead capable of being launched on a missile that was slipped by a politician and subsequently denied?

 

I think it's time to get Dennis Rodman back on this, and stat.

 

Beats the hell out of me. I don't know anything more than what I read. I'm not sure I see the calculus on their part. They could fire a missile at Okinawa, or Guam, and probably not hit it, and then we'd turn the whole country into a parking lot. Unless they're insane and have a death wish I'm not sure I'm going to live in constant fear on the North Koreans.

 

But they are somewhat unpredictable, which makes it a little scary. It's such a strange place, and we don't know much about what's going on in there.

[VaporTrail]

I think it's time to get Dennis Rodman back on this, and stat.

 

Beats the hell out of me. I don't know anything more than what I read. I'm not sure I see the calculus on their part. They could fire a missile at Okinawa, or Guam, and probably not hit it, and then we'd turn the whole country into a parking lot. Unless they're insane and have a death wish I'm not sure I'm going to live in constant fear on the North Koreans.

 

But they are somewhat unpredictable, which makes it a little scary. It's such a strange place, and we don't know much about what's going on in there.

 

I know that the odds of a missile hitting Okinawa are slim, but damn, what a shit way to go. Now they're threatening a strike against Tokyo.

 

SEOUL, April 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea warned Japan Friday that Tokyo would be the first target in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula if it continues to maintain its hostile posture.

 

In a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the communist country lashed out at Tokyo's standing orders to destroy any missile heading toward Japan, threatening such actions will result in a nuclear attack against the island nation.

Source: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2013/04/12/0200000000AEN20130412009100315.HTML

[The Cysko Kid]

I know that the odds of a missile hitting Okinawa are slim, but damn, what a shit way to go. Now they're threatening a strike against Tokyo.

 

 

Source: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2013/04/12/0200000000AEN20130412009100315.HTML

 

 

If you had to die there'd be a lot less interesting ways than a nuclear bomb. I'd pick that over a lot of things, honestly.

[VaporTrail]

If you had to die there'd be a lot less interesting ways than a nuclear bomb. I'd pick that over a lot of things, honestly.

 

If I die instantaneously in a nuclear explosion, at least I might catch the fireworks before I go. Seeing as it's probably a shitty nuclear bomb, I'd be more likely to get caught in the fallout. Eff everything about that. More people died from radiation poisoning than from the blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[heckofajobbrownie]

What a world.

 

Have you guys ever heard cosmologists theorize that one of the reasons we have such trouble finding life on other planets is that even if you find a planet with the right ingredients for life to evolve it only takes a few thousand years for man to evolve from pre-historic to smart enough to be able to destroy all life on their planet, and therefore looking for life in places that are billions of years older than earth is unlikely to yield anything because whatever life you might find would have already long since extinguished itself?

 

A fun thought.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

What a world.

 

Have you guys ever heard cosmologists theorize that one of the reasons we have such trouble finding life on other planets is that even if you find a planet with the right ingredients for life to evolve it only takes a few thousand years for man to evolve from pre-historic to smart enough to be able to destroy all life on their planet, and therefore looking for life in places that are billions of years older than earth is unlikely to yield anything because whatever life you might find would have already long since extinguished itself?

 

A fun thought.

 

Whether you believe in god or not, I think you would have to agree that that is probably the truth. Man has fought amongst themselves since they found out you could kill someone with a rock or stick. Jealousy, greed, whatever reason there will always be war and killing.

[nunboy]

What a world.

 

Have you guys ever heard cosmologists theorize that one of the reasons we have such trouble finding life on other planets is that even if you find a planet with the right ingredients for life to evolve it only takes a few thousand years for man to evolve from pre-historic to smart enough to be able to destroy all life on their planet, and therefore looking for life in places that are billions of years older than earth is unlikely to yield anything because whatever life you might find would have already long since extinguished itself?

 

A fun thought.

Nature is competition and competition is conflict. It is a very fun thought. I always thought that when/if we find sentient extraterrestrials they would most likely be insect analogs of some sort because of the tendency towards colony forming and communism in a pure sense.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

Nature is competition and competition is conflict. It is a very fun thought. I always thought that when/if we find sentient extraterrestrials they would most likely be insect analogs of some sort because of the tendency towards colony forming and communism in a pure sense.

 

Far out.

[VaporTrail]

What a world.

 

Have you guys ever heard cosmologists theorize that one of the reasons we have such trouble finding life on other planets is that even if you find a planet with the right ingredients for life to evolve it only takes a few thousand years for man to evolve from pre-historic to smart enough to be able to destroy all life on their planet, and therefore looking for life in places that are billions of years older than earth is unlikely to yield anything because whatever life you might find would have already long since extinguished itself?

 

A fun thought.

 

Stephen Hawking recently suggested that human civilization will not persist if we do not get off of this planet in the next 1000 years.