Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
i hope nobody brings us into it. for the next few weeks instead of having foreign office briefings we should hold punch and judy shows in the same time slot.
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
^ us??
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
If its OK for Nuclear Countries to have nuclear weapons then why not North Korea? After all, USA And Britian waged aggressive unneccessary war against Iraq, and they have nukes, so how can they expect other countries not to wish to defend themselves accordingly?
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
We all knew they had nuclear weapons....this explosion does not really add anything new.
The Western nations will make a big deal out it for a little while and then forget about it. Remember that North Korea does not pose any danger to Israel.
Iran is a country that they really are worried about as it does pose danger to Israel.
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
Good on them. Now theres no chance of the US ever attacking them since they can fight back.
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
:biggthumb
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
There was no chance of the U.S attacking them beforehand. North Korea is a heavilly militarised country. It could give the U.S a run for its money.
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
It can't stop a US air assault.
Now with nukes the US wouldn't take the risk knowing how unpredictable NK is and what it would do.
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
I’m surprised it was successful!
Watched a clip of the official news broadcast from North Korea. The anchor was a scary looking lady, and she made the announcement as if they just successful sent the first man into Mars.
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
What would a US air assault have done? U.S would have needed to pour at least half a million troops possibly a lot more into N.Korea to achieve anything meaningful. N.Korea did not develop nucleat weapons overnight it had them for years now....possibly even before Pakistan. It had missiles for a long time as well.
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
Last year North Korea began to refuse aid shipments of food. At rice planting time they took every office worker and drove them out to the country and for weeks they planted rice. The countryside is so defoliated from people scavenging for wood for heat, that rain created landslides, and despite the maximum planting effort, there was barely enough food.
They have tried market based reforms to get farmers to produce more, but the price of rice skyrocketed, and only the rich got fed.
By far the best piece on North Korea wasdone by Jonathan Watts of the Guardian, his video report from North Korea is absolutely chilling. Play, “Ready for War”, http://www.guardian.co.uk/korea/0,,331519,00.html
Winter is coming, a cold and desperate people choose to explode a bomb, futher isolating starving people from the world. Brilliant.
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
Someone is still focussing on the other side. Had NK not pursued the "WMD" do you still believe all of its poor would've been eating steak/rice/McDonald's etc?
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
Every country have a right to defend themselves at their level best.. North Koreans take a very good step .... as US pose threat everyday ... now they have to think twice before taking any offensive move against North Korea..
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
No, they'd probably carpet bombed by the "Allies" or end being tortured, raped and killed in "Allied" custody...
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
Great, now lets bomb Iran and Syria.
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
hahahahahaha,
Drudge Report:
** GERTZ: U.S. doubts Korean test was nuclear; Readings fall short of atomic explosion... MORE...
U.S. intelligence agencies say, based on preliminary indications, that North Korea did not produce its first nuclear blast yesterday, WASHINGTON TIMES star reporter Bill Gertz is set to report in Tuesday editions.
U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that seismic readings show that the conventional high explosives used to create a chain reaction in a plutonium-based device went off, but that the blast's readings were shy of a typical nuclear detonation.
'There was a seismic event that registered about 4 on the Richter scale, but it still isn't clear if it was a nuclear test. You can get that kind of seismic reading from high explosives.'
The underground explosion, which Pyongyang dubbed a historic nuclear test, is thought to have been the equivalent of several hundred tons of TNT, far short of the several thousand tons of TNT, or kilotons, that are signs of a nuclear blast, the official said. Developing...
**
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
^ Actually the Director Emiritus of Los Alamos National Labs did say that NK infact tested a nuclear device on News Hour with Jim Lehrer.
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
hahahahaha clutching at straws, Russkies have already confirmed it was noooclear test…
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
He can't possibly have all of the data. There are at least three data sets, the seismic data, the satellite data, and the data from the recon plane which samples the air, and collects emp data. The satellite data should show huge release data, gamma, emp, xray, heat etc. Unless he has all of this infront of him, he could not possibly make a truely informed decision.
And, Emeritus = "Retired"
From the US standpoint, a true nuclear blast would induce more sanctions, and would mean harsher treatment at the UN. A "Dud" would serve up a second large embarrassment this year however. Dinging the North Korean national pride would certainly tickle John Bolton. Of course if the US claims it was a dud, the North Koreans might invite the IAEA in to inspect the blast site, and that would mean better intel on the nature of the blast.
Nuclear materials frequently have a signature of chemicals and contaminents. getting a sample of the material directly from the blast site would allow any agency to later identify a bomb sold by the North if it ended up in someone elses hands. This could be a sophisticated game.
Similarly if there is some doubt as to whether the thing really works, it may scare off potential buyers.
Re: North Korea appears to have conducted nuclear test
it takes approx: 72 hours to verify if it was a nuke blast.