Not sure if many here are following the developments in North Korea but day by day the reality of what could happen is unfolding.  There are any amount of links to post up but Monday's "New York Times" podcast paints a fairly clear picture of how dangerous this rogue state could become ... you can listen to the podcast here (the North Korea exposé starts at about the 5' 30")

And here's the latest from CNN ... Missile launch: Was North Korea practicing to strike US bases in Japan?

Whilst diplomatic measures might curtail developments it should be pointed out that apart from China, none of the other major players have previously wanted to engage with North Korea and it's leadership.

Macca I am expecting the worst out of this North Korea Shyte. Kim Dumb Dill is a very dangerous delinquent to be in charge of a country full of yes people. There is no one to council this delinquent. I don't blame the yes people because otherwise your dead. 

The US response has China on edge so I am expecting the worst outcome here. Trump vs Kim Dumb Dill, no winners here. 

Before listening to that podcast (posted in the OP) I had no real inkling of the extent of how North Korea had armed themselves (nuclear) ... many of the ex-Russian nuclear scientists & rocket builders have obtained gainful employment in North Korea since the Soviet Union was dissolved (and they've been hard at work) 

If we take Obama at his word, he sees North Korea as the greatest threat to the World's order and one of America's biggest headaches going forward.  Of course, it's now Trump's headache. 

The latest estimates has North Korea having somewhere between 14 & 48 nuclear weapons.  

It should also be noted that the Americans have up to 50,000 soldiers & civilians based in South Korea and up to 90,000 soldiers & civilians based in Japan.  And then there's the spectre of China who are watching developments with an eager eye.

That whole area which includes Taiwan could get very dicey very quickly.

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Macca said:

Before listening to that podcast (posted in the OP) I had no real inkling of the extent of how North Korea had armed themselves (nuclear) ... many of the ex-Russian nuclear scientists & rocket builders have obtained gainful employment in North Korea since the Soviet Union was dissolved (and they've been hard at work) 

If we take Obama at his word, he sees North Korea as the greatest threat to the World's order and one of America's biggest headaches going forward.  Of course, it's now Trump's headache. 

The latest estimates has North Korea having somewhere between 14 & 48 nuclear weapons.  

It should also be noted that the Americans have up to 50,000 soldiers & civilians based in South Korea and up to 90,000 soldiers & civilians based in Japan.  And then there's the spectre of China who are watching developments with an eager eye.

That whole area which includes Taiwan could get very dicey very quickly.  Would we be at all surprised at seeing some sort of first strike in the not too distant future? 

 

 

 

 

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And we are depending on the adult in this conflict, in this case it is Trump to diplomatically work his way through this mess for a safe outcome; he who depends on his son in law and wife for advice. God help us all! 

10 hours ago, Earl Hood said:

And we are depending on the adult in this conflict, in this case it is Trump to diplomatically work his way through this mess for a safe outcome; he who depends on his son in law and wife for advice. God help us all! 

don't forget the other "adult", earl,  kim jong-un. maybe they are equally matched. dumb and dumber. might be a master stroke.

On 09/03/2017 at 7:30 AM, daisycutter said:

don't forget the other "adult", earl,  kim jong-un. maybe they are equally matched. dumb and dumber. might be a master stroke.

He missed the grand final but isn't he back with the Bulldogs again?

5 hours ago, monoccular said:

He missed the grand final but isn't he back with the Bulldogs again?

You are mixing them up. The one you are thinking of killed 22 Casey players. This thread is about the one who has killed 22 family members.

Tillerson on North Korea: Military action is 'an option'

Quote

Tillerson said Washington's policy of "strategic patience" had ended.

"Certainly, we do not want things to get to a military conflict... but obviously if North Korea takes actions that threatens the South Korean forces or our own forces, then that would be met with an appropriate response,"

Quote

"America has provided $1.3 billion in assistance (to North Korea) since 1995. In return, North Korea has detonated nuclear weapons and launched ballistic missiles."

 

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/04/could_north_korea_destroy_the_us.html#ixzz4egDndG5c

The usual suspects in the mainstream media have been warning that Trump is provoking Pyongyang into war on the Korean peninsula. The counter is that the administration isn’t willing to wait till North Korea has the operational capability to nuke an American city like Seattle or Honolulu.

What is not being discussed is a much bigger and more imminent threat which makes action imperative, an existential one for the United States. 

The nightmare scenario of an America sent back centuries in time before electricity, refrigeration, and smart phones has grown unnervingly closer with the presence of two North Korean satellites with orbits over a blissfully unaware American populace and an Obama administration that was indifferent to the apocalyptic threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.

On Feb. 7, 2016, North Korea launched a second satellite, the KMS-4, to join their KMS-3 satellite launched in December of 2012. In an article in the Washington Times on April 24, 2016, R. James Woolsey,  former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Peter Vincent Fry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security as well as director of the Nuclear Strategy Forum, both congressional advisory boards, warned of the dangers of an apocalyptic EMP attack that these and similar satellites pose:

Both satellites now are in south polar orbits, evading many U.S. missile defense radars and flying over the United States from the south, where our defenses are limited. Both satellites -- if nuclear armed -- could make an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack that could blackout the U.S. electric grid for months or years, thereby killing millions.

Technologically, such an EMP attack is easy -- since the weapon detonates at high-altitude, in space, no shock absorbers, heat shield, or vehicle for atmospheric re-entry is necessary. Since the radius of the EMP is enormous, thousands of kilometers, accuracy matters little. Almost any nuclear weapon will do.

Moreover, North Korea probably has nuclear weapons specially designed, not to make a big explosion, but to emit lots of gamma rays to generate high-frequency EMP. Senior Russian generals warned EMP Commissioners in 2004 that their EMP nuclear warhead design leaked “accidentally” to North Korea, and unemployed Russian scientists found work in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.”

 

 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a25883/north-korea-cant-kill-ninety-percent-of-americans/

22 minutes ago, hardtack said:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a25883/north-korea-cant-kill-ninety-percent-of-americans/

I'm pretty sure I saw it work in Oceans eleven when they robbed the casino.

Now we have been threatened with a thermo nuclear response for comments made by Julie Bishop and our US links! We live in bizarre and dangerous times. Where is Doctor Strangelove when we need him? 

22 hours ago, Earl Hood said:

Now we have been threatened with a thermo nuclear response for comments made by Julie Bishop and our US links! We live in bizarre and dangerous times. Where is Doctor Strangelove when we need him? 

a modern fatboy should do the trick. earl

a fatboy for fatboy has a nice ring to it

Living in Japan (as I do) is a nerve wracking proposition. We have ten minutes to evacuate should Kim launch missiles (nuclear or otherwise).

Rhetoric is stern here but more restrained than that coming out of the US. We have maybe a 12 month window to work something out but if nothing can be done, I wonder where I can go.

 

On 5/3/2017 at 9:57 AM, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Living in Japan (as I do) is a nerve wracking proposition. We have ten minutes to evacuate should Kim launch missiles (nuclear or otherwise).

Rhetoric is stern here but more restrained than that coming out of the US. We have maybe a 12 month window to work something out but if nothing can be done, I wonder where I can go.

I'm hoping that this thread becomes obsolete in the near future but it could be that the real threat from North Korea may be in 4 or 5 years time (if their weapons program becomes much more sophisticated)

In the meantime and in that time frame, diplomatic means may win out.  China can and should be doing a lot more and if China really do want the Americans to not step things up, they should in turn step in.  I know Trump has said the same thing but these are my own thoughts CBF. 

 

 

3 months later and the thread isn't obsolete.

I am seriously worried what comes next.

When Kim launched the missile over Hokkaido, I got the update half an hour later. There are about 171 sirens in my area that will tell us to evacuate. However, if they launch one that is likely to hit then we have ten minutes to do something. If a nuke is launched, kids are being told to hit the ground and shield your eyes (no matter that you will likely be vaporized in the process).

This might break the hearts of some of the resident Tories, but the fact that Donald Trump is president is the thing that REALLY gets me concerned. 

Make no bones about it. The North Koreans are a revolting regime and their behavior is destabilizing the entire region. I expect nothing better from then. What concerns me is that Trump will do something idiotic in a pique and launch a war to satiate his own ego. After all, this is a man who engaged in one sided flame wars at 3 AM with retired beauty pageant contestants.

I have friends who also live in Korea that I am worried for, let alone my family and I. 

 

 

16 hours ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

3 months later and the thread isn't obsolete.

I am seriously worried what comes next.

When Kim launched the missile over Hokkaido, I got the update half an hour later. There are about 171 sirens in my area that will tell us to evacuate. However, if they launch one that is likely to hit then we have ten minutes to do something. If a nuke is launched, kids are being told to hit the ground and shield your eyes (no matter that you will likely be vaporized in the process).

This might break the hearts of some of the resident Tories, but the fact that Donald Trump is president is the thing that REALLY gets me concerned. 

Make no bones about it. The North Koreans are a revolting regime and their behavior is destabilizing the entire region. I expect nothing better from then. What concerns me is that Trump will do something idiotic in a pique and launch a war to satiate his own ego. After all, this is a man who engaged in one sided flame wars at 3 AM with retired beauty pageant contestants.

I have friends who also live in Korea that I am worried for, let alone my family and I.

The other real worry is if one or more of these missiles launched by North Korea hits a target by accident ... given the recent history of these missiles, would anyone be surprised if that happens?

And then what happens?  Retaliatory action based on a mistake?  ... and then there's the very real possibility of a genuine attack from North Korea or a pre-emptive strike by the Americans. 

Meanwhile,  Putin & the Russians are stirring the pot and the Chinese seem to be sitting on their hands.

I'd offer up a solution if I had one but we're dealing with a number of volatile variables and more than a couple of leaders who I have zero trust in.

I don't envy your situation CBF.

Have you guys seen the pic of him with the screen of about 6 different currencies in front of him as he shoots the missile over Japan? I don't think it is photoshopped.

Could be shorting all sorts of global currencies before he does his crazy experiments and profiting off it.

Seems Trump has put the appropriate amount of pressure on the Chinese. Chinese banks will no longer do business with North Korea.

Rocket man had it easy under Obama. I doubt he will last Trump's electeted term.

4 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

Seems Trump has put the appropriate amount of pressure on the Chinese. Chinese banks will no longer do business with North Korea.

Rocket man had it easy under Obama. I doubt he will last Trump's electeted term.

Hope you are right.. China has a habit of saying one thing and doing multiple other things.

On the other hand China would be scared of this escalating. They want a puppet State on that border and thus they may be concerned that the increased rhetoric could back fire on the North Korean regime. Hard to imagine the regime falling but after the speed at which Communism fell in the Soviet Union in 1989 who knows. The best outcome would be a Chinese sponsored regime change that ends with a more moderate communist government similar to that operating in China at present.

Have just had my son and friends staying with me for a few days. One of the boys is due to go into the South Korean army in the next few weeks to do his two year compulsory military service. I feel for him and his family.

On 9/2/2017 at 7:10 PM, Colin B. Flaubert said:

3 months later and the thread isn't obsolete.

I am seriously worried what comes next.

When Kim launched the missile over Hokkaido, I got the update half an hour later. There are about 171 sirens in my area that will tell us to evacuate. However, if they launch one that is likely to hit then we have ten minutes to do something. If a nuke is launched, kids are being told to hit the ground and shield your eyes (no matter that you will likely be vaporized in the process).

This might break the hearts of some of the resident Tories, but the fact that Donald Trump is president is the thing that REALLY gets me concerned. 

Make no bones about it. The North Koreans are a revolting regime and their behavior is destabilizing the entire region. I expect nothing better from then. What concerns me is that Trump will do something idiotic in a pique and launch a war to satiate his own ego. After all, this is a man who engaged in one sided flame wars at 3 AM with retired beauty pageant contestants.

I have friends who also live in Korea that I am worried for, let alone my family and I. 

 

 

People on this site also forget the extent of the atrocities perpetrated on North Korea during to so-called Korean War. When they flew Macarthur over what had once been Noth Korean cities - keep in mind Macarthur wanted to nuke them - Macarthur wrote that he almost vomited when he saw the devastation. The Us dropped more bombs on North Korea than they did during the whole Pacific campaign. No wonder the North Koreans are paranoid and feel only nuclear weapons are going to protect them from the only country that's ever used them.

1 hour ago, dieter said:

People on this site also forget the extent of the atrocities perpetrated on North Korea during to so-called Korean War. When they flew Macarthur over what had once been Noth Korean cities - keep in mind Macarthur wanted to nuke them - Macarthur wrote that he almost vomited when he saw the devastation. The Us dropped more bombs on North Korea than they did during the whole Pacific campaign. No wonder the North Koreans are paranoid and feel only nuclear weapons are going to protect them from the only country that's ever used them.

something like 3m tonnes of explosives dropped, about 20% of the population destroyed.  I read somewhere that there have been a number of treaties between NK and the west and that at least 3 of those had been broken by the US, who failed to live up to their end of the bargain. Given the current climate where the current US president rips up agreements, trade deals at his leisure can you trust anything the US does at this time.