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Reuters posted:(Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "enemy". http://www.reuters.com/article/2013...E90N03I20130124 It's interesting that this happened right after the last diplomatic mission to the country including Eric Schmidt and a very unflattering account by his daughter who accompanied him: https://sites.google.com/site/sophieinnorthkorea/home With China publicly stepping back and many suspicious that the political handoff to Kim Jong-un has been rumored to be very complicated it's interesting that their rhetoric has been amped up so high. Isn't this basically a declaration of war? They are alrighty highly sanctioned by the U.S. and the U.N., with China steeping back what do they have to gain by publicially threatening the U.S.?Iit seems like a Seoul threat would be much more effective in making them seem dangerous and not completely nuts. Three Olives fucked around with this message at Jan 24, 2013 around 04:32 |
| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:28 |
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| # ? May 26, 2013 04:31 |
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Welp, guess it's time to stop sending them food packages.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:30 |
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I see it as North Korea using the nuclear program as a bargaining chip in order to gain international aid and a lowering of sanctions, like from "The Mouse that Roared". Assuming that North Korea is a rational actor, they would never use the bomb even if they managed to have a perfectly operational one tomorrow. Basically its the equivalent of Kim-Jong-Un personally dialing up the White House and asking for stuff.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:31 |
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Fun fact: Alaska just built a big rear end airport in the middle of absolutely nowhere with, like, 90% of the purpose of the airport being support for war with North Korea and China. Seriously, the big rear end airport is on a tiny uninhabited island across from another tiny island with a town that has a population of 713. It's here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akun_Island But someone should update that Wikipedia article because the runway was finished. What I'm trying to say is that we got it covered. If North Korea invades, Alaska snow forces are on it.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:34 |
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If anyone's interested in learning a ton about North Korea, there's a bunch of good documentaries streaming on Netflix. Apparently it loving sucks there. As in "if you gently caress up this paperwork we'll send your grandchildren to live their lives in concentration camps" sucks.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:34 |
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Gravel Gravy posted:I see it as North Korea using the nuclear program as a bargaining chip in order to gain international aid and a lowering of sanctions, like from "The Mouse that Roared". Assuming that North Korea is a rational actor, they would never use the bomb even if they managed to have a perfectly operational one tomorrow. Basically its the equivalent of Kim-Jong-Un personally dialing up the White House and asking for stuff. That's the thing, testing ballistic missiles under the presence of launching peaceful satellites was the bargaining chip and they had the protection of China, threatening to target the U.S. with nuclear weapons with China stepping back is not a bargaining chip, it's just insane and makes them look like they aren't anything close to rational actors anymore.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:36 |
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Three Olives posted:With China publicly stepping back and many suspicious that the political handoff to Kim Jong-un has been rumored to be very complicated it's interesting that their rhetoric has been amped up so high. Isn't this basically a declaration of war? Yes. Luckily, sophisticated military analysis has shown that the inevitable North Korean invasion of the Pacific Northwest will be turned around by a plucky bunch of high schoolers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoqlBHSePw0
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:38 |
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Christ. Couldn't they have just stayed happy keeping their population hostage? This is without a doubt the most batshit insane decision I've ever heard. Even Kim Jong Il knew that nuclear threats would lead to a major clusterfuck. There's gotta be something internal going on... maybe Jong Eun is just trying to flex his muscles among his subordinates to show that he won't puss out when it comes to international relations, an attempt to solidify his position. It'd be quite a reversal from the conciliatory and slightly more open attitude he's expressed so far though, so I don't know what the gently caress.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:39 |
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^^^ That is also a likely explanation. Granted you don't have to maintain consistency when you control the media and everything else.Three Olives posted:That's the thing, testing ballistic missiles under the presence of launching peaceful satellites was the bargaining chip and the had the protection of China, threading to target the U.S. with nuclear weapons is not a bargaining chip, it's just insane and makes them look like they aren't anything close to rational actors anymore. I'm supposing that they didn't get all of what they wanted during that round. Using an atomic missile against South Korea, Japan, (doubtfully could even hit the US at the moment) would be the moment that everybody with an iota of power in North Korea will effectively see it vanish away. The thing with assholes in power is that they want to stay in power. Gravel Gravy fucked around with this message at Jan 24, 2013 around 04:41 |
| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:39 |
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I am assuming it will be another bluff, but you never know anymore
pengun101 fucked around with this message at Jan 24, 2013 around 04:46 |
| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:40 |
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It's such a hosed up situation over there. On the other hand, great leader is from the matrix:  "bla bla bla, witty quote from a fifteen year old movie"
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:42 |
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You know I'd really hate to be a painter in North Korea. You gently caress up KJI's eyebrow and that's it for you and all the generations of traitors around you.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:43 |
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pengun101 posted:I am assumeing it will be another bluff, but you never know anymore It's a bluff. If they nuke anything, they know they're getting wiped off the planet. China will have no choice but to back away from them, and then they'll be left all alone. Right now they're just waving their dicks around, shouting about how much bigger theirs are than anyone elses.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:44 |
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Three Olives posted:That's the thing, testing ballistic missiles under the presence of launching peaceful satellites was the bargaining chip and they had the protection of China, threatening to target the U.S. with nuclear weapons with China stepping back is not a bargaining chip, it's just insane and makes them look like they aren't anything close to rational actors anymore. I'm not too worried about an attack on US soil from North Korea, because launching a war with us would be insanity. All support from China would definitely drop, and China isn't exactly too supportive of them right now. Honestly, though, I think we should be more concerned about an attack on South Korea or Japan. But this may just amount to a really stupid move by a country with very stupid leadership.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:45 |
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OP, have you taken any special precautions to protect your condo from North Korean attack? If so please post some pictures of your condo in its upgraded state. Thanks in advance  (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:45 |
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pengun101 posted:I would assume it will be another bluff, but you never know. That's the thing, it's not a bluff, there is absolutely zero chance of NK hitting the U.S. with a ballistic missile, it's an irrational, insane and very direct threat to the U.S. which makes it difficult to assume that NK is a rational actor making bluffs.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:46 |
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FATWOLF posted:OP, have you taken any special precautions to protect your condo from North Korean attack? If so please post some pictures of your condo in its upgraded state. Thanks in advance Come to mention it, it is pretty weird that this threat comes so soon after we got pictures of the Keurig coffee machine. Maybe Kim Jong Un is a coffee aficionado and hates Keurigs as much as GWS does.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:49 |
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So all this time that poo poo game Homefront was training us for the inevitable? Finally, I can justify having bought it. I honestly have to question if the N. Koreans genuinely believe China would absolutely support them if they decided to go all out and attack America.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:50 |
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Goddamnit the North Korean government is completely insane 
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:50 |
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Yeah, the NK leadership knows the second they launched a working nuke towards the South, Japan, or the US their entire country would be wiped off the face of the earth. I'm leaning towards the Jong-un consolidation of power angle, too. It's crazy, stupid, but not exactly that much more than any of the threats his father made over his lifetime.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:50 |
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It's not like North Korea needs to defend itself from anything. No one wants to invade them. Not because we're awed by their military might, or even the fear that we'd be stuck in another quagmire of a war after Afghanistan and Iraq. It's more because no one wants to loving deal with cleaning up their shithole of a country. You've got a population of 20-ish million that is grossly uneducated, unskilled, with little to no infrastructure to speak of. It'd take an occupation force decades to make them self-sufficient. Don't get me wrong, I really really feel for the plight of North Korea, and I would love it if the current regime could be removed. I'd love it if agricultural infrastructure could be rebuilt so the populace no longer has to poo poo in specially designated ditches to reserve their feces for fertilizer. I desperately want to see proper schools open up so kids learn something other than praises and parables of the Kim dynasty. If the DPRK fell into ruin, I'd be one of the first to sign up to fly over and do volunteer work there once I get my medical degree. But even if the US is nice enough to take North Korea under its wing, this'd make China nervous in doing so. And it could hardly ask China to establish sovereignty over the region, because why the hell would China care about 20 million uneducated peasants. In either case, China loses a buffer state.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:52 |
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North Korea has a history of making these types of threats as sort of a bargaining ploy, as others have pointed out. The only difference now is they actually managed to launch a satellite. It would be completely irrational for them to ever to attempt this, and despite the apparent irrationality of the regime, I think it's a leap to say that their top level officials are actually this crazy. But as Three Olives pointed out, that's kind of the rub. Everyone knows it's impossibly crazy, so why would they actually think the threat would get them anywhere? My guess is a propaganda move of some sort. Either Jung-Un is trying to secure his position by appearing tough, or it's an attempt to placate his citizens, or both.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:52 |
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This article is odd to me. Some of the statements seem misleading. If the missiles "would" target us, wouldn't they be attacks and not tests? Or are they just testing weapons that COULD reach a target as far away as say... the U.S., and Koreaa has said that is the message they want to send.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:53 |
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Three Olives posted:That's the thing, it's not a bluff, there is absolutely zero chance of NK hitting the U.S. with a ballistic missile, it's an irrational, insane and very direct threat to the U.S. which makes it difficult to assume that NK is a rational actor making bluffs. Maybe the leadership of NK is trying to shift the attention of their populace away from problems inside the country? Outside threats have been used in other dictatorships for that before.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:53 |
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Liar posted:I honestly have to question if the N. Koreans genuinely believe China would absolutely support them if they decided to go all out and attack America. You don't, China didn't support them in their very thinly veiled nuclear ballistic missile test, ramping it up to a direct threat to attack the U.S, with nuclear weapons is beyond into crazyville, Three Olives fucked around with this message at Jan 24, 2013 around 04:56 |
| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:54 |
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Keep in mind...BBC posted:In a statement carried by KCNA news agency, It's a statement from the North Korean news agency, which isn't a stranger to bombastic language such as this. And given the tendency for media to sensationalize for attention, this isn't anything to get too worked up about. Three Olives posted:You don't, China didn't support them in their very thinly via veiled nuclear ballistic missile test, ramping it up to a direct threat to attack the U.S, with nuclear weapons is beyond into crazyville, Which only ramps up the absurdity of the concept that they'd try to seriously attack anyone. They don't really have a friend in the world. Gravel Gravy fucked around with this message at Jan 24, 2013 around 04:57 |
| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:54 |
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BigHead posted:Fun fact: Alaska just built a big rear end airport in the middle of absolutely nowhere with, like, 90% of the purpose of the airport being support for war with North Korea and China. Seriously, the big rear end airport is on a tiny uninhabited island across from another tiny island with a town that has a population of 713. Uh no, that airport is just a way to spend ARRA money. Plus it's not a very big airport, I don't even think it has a terminal. Plus Cold Bay is only like 100mi away and that's a much bigger airport (and one of the places they already divert commercial flights too). I'm sure there's already some military airstrips or something up there as well. Plus we already have tons of poo poo in Japan and South Korea.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:54 |
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If North Korea was actually interested in a war they would just bomb the gently caress out of South Korea. They know they can't attack us and they know we know they can't attack us.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:54 |
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HackerJoeGuy posted:Yeah, the NK leadership knows the second they launched a working nuke towards the South, Japan, or the US their entire country would be wiped off the face of the earth. I'm leaning towards the Jong-un consolidation of power angle, too. It's crazy, stupid, but not exactly that much more than any of the threats his father made over his lifetime. The NK government has to be able to access liveleak. Those JDAMS look like they'd bust Dear Leader's bunker any day. They just want some food.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:57 |
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Omnicarus posted:You know I'd really hate to be a painter in North Korea. You gently caress up KJI's eyebrow and that's it for you and all the generations of traitors around you. I once read a biography of a kid who escaped North Korea and he reportedly wanted to be an artist when he grew up. One day he was doodling Kim Jong Il's face in school, and a classmate saw him and ratted him out. I think his teacher freaked out and shrieked at him about being a traitor or something because only specially designated artists had permission to depict the Kims. Things calmed down though, but he was pissing in terror when he realized he might get sent to a camp because of it.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:59 |
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This may be a little off topic, but I went searching on a tangent to see whether or not the Korean war was ever technically called off or not, and found these: Miss Atomic Bomb 1955  Miss Atomic Bomb 1957  If poo poo goes sour, I wanna see a Miss Atomic Bomb 2013. 
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 04:59 |
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HondaRider271 posted:If North Korea was actually interested in a war they would just bomb the gently caress out of South Korea. They know they can't attack us and they know we know they can't attack us. North Korea has nothing to gain in a war. Any one with half a brain can say that one of the most impoverished nations in the world would not be able to make a single foothold in the world, and the amount of power that would come crushing down on them would be impressive, to say the least. They really have no bargaining power, so they got to talk big in hopes of getting people to try and offer them something just to shut them up. I think we have a greater chance of seeing a coup-de-tat with these guys than we do an external war.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 05:01 |
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HondaRider271 posted:If North Korea was actually interested in a war they would just bomb the gently caress out of South Korea. They know they can't attack us and they know we know they can't attack us. The most important part of making a threat is that the person being threatened has even the tiniest bit of concern that is possible, it's the difference between humor and a hostage situation. Their threat is completely rediculious and impossible and North Korea does not have a sense of humor so that leaves them being insane.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 05:01 |
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It's ok goons, I will protect you.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 05:02 |
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Three Olives posted:The most important part of making a threat is that the person being threatened has even the tiniest bit of concern that is possible, it's the difference between humor and a hostage situation. Whether or not their government and military leaders believe it isn't the concern. Its what the populations believe and fear that matter. Edit: The South Korean elections were just held. Perhaps its an attempt to start a dialog with the incoming president? Normal states would just use a phone or diplomat, but you know, whatever. Gravel Gravy fucked around with this message at Jan 24, 2013 around 05:09 |
| # ? Jan 24, 2013 05:05 |
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Three Olives posted:The most important part of making a threat is that the person being threatened has even the tiniest bit of concern that is possible, it's the difference between humor and a hostage situation. Is it not possible to do and say crazy things, but not be crazy? Their entire existence is predicated on this exact strategy of "acting crazy and irrational." But it's so predictable now that "acting crazy" is the expected norm, and no longer crazy.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 05:05 |
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I will support any efforts to eradicate the lair of corruption that is Three Olives' condo. Alas, this is not it.Three Olives posted:Isn't this basically a declaration of war? No? You must have misunderstood the "test is targeted at USA" bit. An action can be targeted politically at someone which is a whole different thing from a physical target. Or if you mean them calling USA an 'enemy', still no.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 05:07 |
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This is a good watch: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=....41248874,d.aWM Vice Guide to North Korea
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 05:09 |
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Nenonen posted:No? You must have misunderstood the "test is targeted at USA" bit. An action can be targeted politically at someone which is a whole different thing from a physical target. Or if you mean them calling USA an 'enemy', still no. To be fair, if someone says "I'm testing my new gun and you're the target," there aren't a lot of people who would assume "Oh, they're just going to shoot at the wall to send me a message."
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 05:10 |
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| # ? May 26, 2013 04:31 |
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Everyone seems to agree NK is probably doing this to get some aid thrown their way. Why don't they just stop being dickwads and I'm sure the world would bent over backwards to help them get up to 21st century standards of living. What am I missing?
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| # ? Jan 24, 2013 05:14 |
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