Nuke blast in N. Korea?
 

AP Story

Can't believe the N. Koreans would be stupid enough to do this

Let's see, Axis of Evil, WMD's? How long until we invade to bring democracy to them? Oh wait, they don't have oil, or anything worthwhile for that matter.

.......and they can fight back.

Not only that, but they apparently already have nuclear weaponry. That makes a hostile takeover a pretty dicey idea. Not to mention the leader is completely psycho. Good times ahead, fellow posters. North Koreans are starving, imprisoned in unspeakable labor camps, and completely isolated physically and intellectually. If anyone wants a true to life glimpse at the lives of North Koreans, check out "The Aquariums of PyonYong". (I think thats the title). Horrific tale of a man imprisoned in a labor camp for many years who escaped to China, and he didn't escape until the mid-90's. Its truly sickening.

Why would they be being stupid Chris? Bush runs around the world saying we now reserve the right to invade other countries like Hitler did Poland - a nuke is the best defense against that. You can bet your buns Iran has one or two as well, otherwise we would have invaded them by now. These are get-out-of-jail-free cards to use against the worst president this country ever had. By the time Bush gets thru, Zimbabwe and Iceland will have nukes.

...which just brings me back to the point I made on the other thread, we need to kiss up to the Russians, because they can probably get this guy from the inside.

False Alarm
 

Colin Powell issued an official statement denying it was a nuke. Some believe that if the administration says something it's by definition a lie; here's another perspective from Strategypage:

KOREA: Mushroom Clouds Over the North

September 12, 2004: The large explosion in North Korea was apparently not nuclear, as this would have registered on seismographs (earthquake detectors) throughout the region. It is common for large conventional explosions to create mushroom shaped clouds. This was the case with the U.S. Air Forces MOAB ten ton bomb. When tested in Florida last year, the explosion produced a prominent mushroom shaped cloud. MOAB's smaller predecessor, the daisy cutter, was used in Kuwait during the 1991 war, also produced a mushroom shaped cloud, and sparked rumors of nuclear weapons use. It is also common for explosions in chemical or ammunition plants, or in weapons storage facilities, to produce explosions that form mushroom shaped clouds. The area where the explosion occurred in North Korea is believed to contain ballistic missile, and other military facilities. North Korea, like Russia, stores ammunition and military explosives long after it should be disposed of. This stuff degrades with time, but the North Koreans cannot afford to replace aging ammo, so they keep it. And eventually some of it just goes off. It's happened in Russia several times. If North Korea did test a nuclear weapon, they would do it under ground, where the seismographs would pick it up, but there would not be any photo ops above ground.

1. May have nukes.
2. Militaristic totalitarian state.
3. Nutty, bad-haired leader.
4. Huge, well-trained standing army.
5. No direct strategic importance to the USA.

I wouldn't do military intervention against them unless I was willing to go nuke early and often. #5 argues against that. However, if NK gets the launch and guidance system for its 3-stage missle reliable enough to hit Anchorage, Seattle, Portland, S.F., L.A., and San Diego, I suspect senators and congressmen from those states would suddenly discover the many virtues of SDI.

In which case they may as well kiss their asses goodbye. By the time SDI becomes a reality, IF EVER, NK will have a 4 stage rocket capable of hitting us anywhere. But hey let's let Georgie Boy chase rainbows instead of doing the hard work necessary to get CurlyMoe Kim in a more conventional manner.

The real danger of Korean nukes is to Japan. We guaranteed Japan's security, and in return they maintain no offensive armed forces. If NK goes nuclear, Japan may rearm. Japan has the same problem we do, a lot right wing crazy mofos who love war, and would like nothing better to get Japan back into the game.

Japan is a functional representative democracy. They need to amend their constitutional prohibition to offensive armed forces. A gov that does not maintain its own armed forces is a vassal state of whomever has a force and is willing to use it.

Turning the other cheek works great only with people who value peace. History is full of examples of peaceful states who wouldn't hurt anybody and would do the least possible to protect themselves.

Bot

Had this been a nuke we would have known it was within moments. Chernobyl was detected within hours of the failure of the "containment" building. An explosion of the nuclear variety would be noted immediately, using 40 year old technology. Jim