North Korea

They don't need a missile programme to wreak havoc on the World. Their warheads may not be that powerful in comparison to modern nuclear weapons, but imagine the financial damage a single North Korean device could do if it was secreted in a cargo ship and detonated midway through the Panama Canal.
 
Problem is do you take them seriously - is it yet more rhetoric they can't possibly hope to back up or can they finally do something dramatic.
 
Trump has apparently sent b1-b bombers to Guam for military exercises.

He has been made to look silly today.
 
I think they were on the way anyhow. They've been sending out a load of those B series bombers over the last 2-3 months to stations/exercises in EU and Asia.
 
PACAF‏Verified account @PACAF 57m57 minutes ago
S. Dakota #Airmen arrive on Guam; conduct #bilateral missions w/Japan & ROK--U.S. ready to #fighttonight http://bit.ly/2unh8YI
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http://www.pacaf.af.mil/News/Articl...rmen-arrive-ready-to-fight-tonight-from-guam/

Two U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers assigned to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, flew from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, for a 10-hour mission, flying in the vicinity of Kyushu, Japan, the East China Sea, and the Korean peninsula, Aug. 7, 2017 (HST). During the mission, the B-1s were joined by Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-15s as well as Republic of Korea Air Force F-15s, performing two sequential bilateral missions. These flights with Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) demonstrate solidarity between Japan, ROK and the U.S. to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater.
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It's funny over the years, myself and many people in here have been saying things like "It's all just sabre rattling, nothing will happen"

I'm thinking it still probably won't... but I don't feel as confident as I did holding that thought. There's a lot of firepower and rhetoric in play, where neither one will want to back down or appear weak, I think there could be some potential for conflict..
 
LeMson said:
I think something will happen very quickly now, China needs to move or support US led action
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I dunno I think people still think this is a situation they can talk their way out of and/or the US knows that it won't be as simple as rolling over Iraq, etc. if it wasn't for the potential for the suffering and death of millions of innocent people I'd find it almost perversely amusing.

Eventually though something has to give or it will lead to war one way or another.
 
Interesting to comparing Trump's rhetoric with Harry S. Truman's statement on the Hiroshima bomb, the anniversary of which was Aug 6th 72 years ago.

Statement by the President Announcing the Use of the A-Bomb at Hiroshima
August 6, 1945

It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.
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And an interview from 1999, discussing what he would do with NK. From 8.19m in.


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Also reading a piece by wapo.

North Korea now making missile-ready nuclear weapons, U.S. analysts say

A confidential assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency says that North Korea has already developed a miniaturized nuclear weapon that can fit on top of an ICBM.
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NK is always making threats, to bad I am on the east side of the country now, I would be just fine if I die... I miss home & want to move back... I know it won't happen, so I am not happy & life sucks...
 
Edward78 said:
NK is always making threats, to bad I am on the east side of the country now, I would be just fine if I die... I miss home & want to move back... I know it won't happen, so I am not happy & life sucks...
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They like to make bombastic threats with flowery language, but the Guam thing is oddly specific and a little unsettling. Everybody knows NK won't actually go through with it, but they have been slowly and inexorably advancing on the nuclear front. How long before NK becomes more than just a running joke I wonder.

We had the Cuban missile crisis which was between reasonable world leaders, this time we have Trump and Kim Jong Un. God help us.
 
platinum87 said:
Trump sounds pretty decent in that video lol..

What happened?
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Dementia....there's been a lot of analysis of how his speech and vocabulary has deteriorated over the last 10-20 years and it seems pretty obvious there's something degenerative going on.

You'd think after Reagan they'd have something in place to safeguard against this...
 
NK aren't going to attack anyone because they know it will mean their own destruction. They just want to exist in their little bubble and the nukes are a means to that end. The rhetoric we hear from KJU is them just telling the world that they are ready and willing to use force if attacked.

The real danger at the moment is Donald Trump. He won't back down and has the kind of temperament that could lead to military action if NK wind him up enough. He would push the button just to prove a point and without thinking of the ultimate consequences. I just hope that his generals are sensible enough to refuse any order to start throwing nukes about.
 
This latest round of rhetoric does seem to be upping the ante a bit. Am I right in thinking any pre-emptive strike on NK nuclear sites wouldn't necessarily be via nukes - presumably MOAB's or other heavy ordnance. That would (presumably) limit any fallout to the immediate vicinity where the atomic material is exposed. Of course to even contemplate that you need to know exactly where every single nuke and launch site is located and co-ordinate a simultaneous strike with guaranteed success. It just needs one or two to miss the target or a live site they missed for NK to put something up in retaliation.

Rilot said:
The real danger at the moment is Donald Trump
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Agree, I speculated a few months ago he is akin to Martin Sheen's president in the movie Dead Zone, "Alleluia, alleluia - the missiles are flying."
 
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