Blast, Mushroom cloud...N. Korea!

[tunaplanet 0]

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The marines would have to kill about 400:1 to have even numbers

Not sure if you heard but battles no longer consist of one army lining up on one side, the other army on the other and then both armies rush each other.

Forty-two

[Gravitymaster 0]

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>Which is why we have China involved in negotiations. If we really wanted to
>bring NK down, we would simply blockade them and cut off their source of
> income such as exporting weapons and drugs. Then we could claim we
> hadn't attacked them.

So you're saying we're allowing them to sell weapons to other countries now? Interesting, given one of the rationales behind attacking Iraq was to prevent them from doing that very thing. (And NK actually _has_ WMD's.)

We can't stop every rogue state in the world from selling weapons anymore than we can stop the sale of illegal drugs, weapons etc. Surely you know Pakistan most likely got their nuclear technology from NK.

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A blockade would likely make them that much more desperate, and then we'd have a desperate madman with nuclear weapons and nothing to lose. And if he does use his weapons, our ability to "claim" that we didn't attack them will be cold comfort.

Don't get too excited. As I have said, NK isn't going to launch anything without Chinas approval.

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It's a dangerous situation. We should be devoting a lot more energy to dealing with it before it gets worse.

There is likely a lot more attention being devoted to it than you are probably aware. Why isn't Kerry making a bigger deal of it? Could it be he is privvy to classified intel and doesn't want to make it an issue?

[rhino 0]

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your a fool if you think the US would win that one. The only winners would be the cockroaches.

I am a fool?

No I am not.. within the first 24 hours our cruise missiles and gps guided bombs from stealth planes would immobilize their entire defense structure.. Air, Radar, Missile Defense, EVERYTHING...

After the planes and missiles do their job the troops go in to clean up..

If you don't think we can do it you are a fool as we have already demonstrated that ability...

Size of the army means NOTHING... The US is the most Modern and Lethal fighting force in the world. Not an army on this earth could even come close to winning against our armed forces..

I know how well trained they are... I have been through the training.. You?

Rhino

[Frenchy68 0]

within the first 24 hours our cruise missiles and gps guided bombs from stealth planes would immobilize their entire defense structure.. Air, Radar, Missile Defense, EVERYTHING...
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Agreed. the air campaign would be the (fairly) easy part. The ground campaign though would make it an un-winnable war. Maybe not losable, but un-winnable.

Nick

"For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

[skydiver30960 0]

BUMP!

This morning, the South Korean gov't is saying there was no explosion at all, just a "peculiar" cloud that was probably natural in origin. They blame an "intelligence breakdown".

If you believe that one... wanna buy some Florida wetlands?

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...

Elvisio "sheesh" Rodriguez

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"They blame an "intelligence breakdown". "

Difficult to challenge in the light of recent events.

"wanna buy some Florida wetlands?"

Why? Did you buy some?

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He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[Guest]

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There is very little doubt in my mind.. That explosion was a low-grade nuclear blast.

My guess is low grade nuke...

Rhino

Nope...

KOREA: Mushroom Clouds Over the North

September 13, 2004: A North Korean official, visiting Britain, was asked about the large explosion in his country, and said it was the demolition of a mountain for a hydroelectric project. Asked why the North Korean government had not just said so, the official replied that his government considered all journalists as liars. The U.S. has already said the explosion was not nuclear, and America has space satellites that can examine any point on the planet for radiation and the tell tale signs of a nuclear explosion. South Korean media has been speculating that the explosion was the result of an accident in one of the many underground munitions plants known to be in that area.

September 12, 2004: The large explosion in North Korea early on September 9th 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 Force's "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 [editor's note - a HUGE explosion in the Soviet Far East took place on the Kamchatka Peninsula - it was old munitons going up]. If North Korea did test a nuclear weapon, they would do it underground, where the seismographs would pick it up, but there would not be any photo ops above ground.

mh

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