N. Korea approves nuclear strike on United States

[noonwitch]

He's saying this stuff because he knows Obama won't do anything. NK can nuke Guam off the map and Obama will try for a diplomatic solution.

That's what they all think until the drone strikes.

[DumbAss Tanker]

That's what they all think until the drone strikes.

Despite the current Admininstration's pretenses to the contrary, supported by a ridiculously co-opted American media, there would be no legal difference between that and sending a bomber fleet to just bomb Pyongyang from the Chalcolithic into the Paleolithic.

[Odysseus]

Hopefully we take a stable approach to how we deploy on Guam so the delicate balance is maintained.

They deploy on the buddy system. Marines go there in pairs, with one going to each side of the island. Whenever one moves anywhere, the other has to move to balance him and prevent the island from tipping over. I don't believe that anyone gets much work done that way, though.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were at the end of a long bloody war. I cant see any kind of scenario where the US would make a pre emptive nuclear strike.

Odyssesus has it on this: they will start planting soon..the moment they do, this is all bluster. We wait.

Keep in mind that while this may be bluster, North Korea's previous bluster included bombings of civilian aircraft, assassinations and artillery attacks, and the new "dear leader" is not secure enough in the job to really control things if he lets them get out of hand.

Despite the current Admininstration's pretenses to the contrary, supported by a ridiculously co-opted American media, there would be no legal difference between that and sending a bomber fleet to just bomb Pyongyang from the Chalcolithic into the Paleolithic.

This is true. The media's war doctrine is that anything done by a Democrat is legal, while anything done by a Republican is illegal, regardless of what the laws actually say.

[noonwitch]

Despite the current Admininstration's pretenses to the contrary, supported by a ridiculously co-opted American media, there would be no legal difference between that and sending a bomber fleet to just bomb Pyongyang from the Chalcolithic into the Paleolithic.

There would be a lot less civilian deaths with a drone strike.

[DumbAss Tanker]

There would be a lot less civilian deaths with a drone strike.

It's a casus belli with us as the clear aggressor either way (Not that I personally object to us pursuing a late 19th Century model in foreign policy when dealing with barbarians, but a lot of other people seem to have some silly nattering quibbles with it). The DPRK Army would have really no choice but to attack the South at that point, if it wanted to stay in power...and it does. There is more to their bellicose posture than just the personal quirks of any one member of the Kim family, it's institutionalized in their entire military-political structure.

[Sonnabend]

The DPRK Army would have really no choice but to attack the South at that point, if it wanted to stay in power...and it does. There is more to their bellicose posture than just the personal quirks of any one member of the Kim family, it's institutionalized in their entire military-political structure.

That would turn it into a conventional war, as opposed to a nuclear "brinksman" scenario.

Normally the NK arent this...aggressive, bellicose. What or who is pushing Kim's buttons? The famine? A possible rebellion..yes NK has some dissident elements..but enough for an uprising? Cant see it.

So whats the missing piece?

LOL just found this on Rodong Sinmun

The 23rd Chemical Battalion of the U.S. Army based in Seattle City, Washington State was recently redeployed in the U.S. Second Division in south Korea.

The DPRK has two major news papers, Rodong Sinmun and Pyongyang Sinmun, they can be a hoot at times, but it's also a good feel on where they are. One thing is interesting, they have dialed up the rhetoric on "reunification" over the last six months or so.

[Novaheart]

South Korean President Icannot Park was most interesting today. She told her generals something to the effect : if North Korea strikes do not consider politics in your response. I believe she was telling China 'We re not afraid of you. We're ready this time."

[Zathras]

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were at the end of a long bloody war. I cant see any kind of scenario where the US would make a pre emptive nuclear strike.

Neither do I but you can bet the coordinates of the NorK's missile sites are locked into the targeting systems of the 7th Fleet's supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

[DumbAss Tanker]

That would turn it into a conventional war, as opposed to a nuclear "brinksman" scenario.

It would be a conventional war anyway. They have one or two working devices, if that, and even then using the word 'Working' very, very loosely. They are test-stand devices, not finished ordnance, which is to say that their only method of delivering them is by what we would call an 18-wheeler and the Brits would call a Juggernaut, and not necessarily with everything fitting onto a single transport vehicle per weapon. The most likely scenario in which they would be used would be as a self-immolating Gotterdämmerung when Pyongyang or one of the major ports line Hungnam get overrun...or possibly trying to truck one into Seoul, which is a relatively short trip although a highly uncertain one for anything moving on roads in a situation where the other side has air dominance. There is pretty close to zero capability to use them as anything but ADMs.

[Rockntractor]

China has NK creating a diversion while they prepare to take back Taiwan.