Canada says no to missle defense scheme

[cbacon 0]

Oh yeah? That so?

[Special K 0]

Canadians are cordial and generally cool. And B.C.'s population is apparently 65% gorgeous Asian women. Go Canada.

[cbacon 0]

I wish I lived in Vancouver :>(

[Guest MikeSC]

Oh yeah? That so?

If it'll avoid making you weep, no.

-=Mike

[Jobber of the Week 0]

N. Korea having nukes is stabilizing in what way, exactly?

N. Korea isn't going to use a nuke. They're going to sell a nuke, and that's a different problem that can only really be fought by anti-proliferation and international pressure.

 

At this point, the question for N. Korea is not whether they should fire a nuke, but whether they'll get more for it from foreign countries or from rogue extremists.

[Guest MikeSC]

N. Korea having nukes is stabilizing in what way, exactly?

N. Korea isn't going to use a nuke.

Considering that quite a few people have little faith in Kim's rationality --- you seem awfully sure about his stability.

They're going to sell a nuke, and that's a different problem that can only really be fought by anti-proliferation and international pressure.

Two forces that have never worked.

At this point, the question for N. Korea is not whether they should fire a nuke, but whether they'll get more for it from foreign countries or from rogue extremists.

We have no reason to believe that N. Korea won't fire one.

-=Mike

[Boon 0]

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea demanded Wednesday that the United States apologize for designating the communist state an "outpost of tyranny," and threatened to resume long-range missile tests.

 

However, the North also held out the possibility of returning to nuclear disarmament talks if Washington agrees to coexist with the communist country.

 

North Korea declared on February 10 that it had nuclear weapons and was boycotting six-nation talks aimed at ending its nuclear ambitions.

 

At the time, it cited U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's designation of the country as one of the world's "outposts of tyranny" as evidence that Washington has not abandoned its "hostile" policy toward North Korea since U.S. President George W. Bush first included it in his "axis of evil," along with Iran and prewar Iraq.

 

"The U.S. should apologize for his above-said remarks and withdraw them, renounce its hostile policy aimed at a regime change in the DPRK and clarify its political willingness to coexist with the DPRK in peace and show it in practice," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a memorandum, using the acronym of the country's formal name -- Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

 

The statement attributed both the "axis of evil" and "outpost of tyranny" remarks to Bush. The memorandum -- whose gist was carried in an English-language dispatch by the North's official news agency, KCNA -- said North Korea "will go to the talks anytime if the U.S. takes a trustworthy ,sincere attitude and moves to provide conditions and justification for the resumption of the six-party talks."

 

The original Korean-language statement also said that North Korea no longer felt bound by its 1999 moratorium on missile tests, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

 

North Korea announced its missile moratorium in September 1999 while it was negotiating terms of missile nonproliferation with the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton.

 

"Dialogue between the United States and North Korea has been completely blocked since Bush took office in 2001," Yonhap quoted the memorandum as saying. "As a result, we see no binding force on the missile moratorium."

 

The North's vigorous missile development has unsettled its neighbors. The U.S. military in South Korea has begun deploying new Patriot missiles designed to intercept incoming missiles, while Japan has become the first country to agree to work with Washington on its missile defense project.

 

In 2003, Japan launched its first spy satellites in a multibillion-dollar program aimed at monitoring North Korea's development of long-range missiles.

North Korea shocked the region in 1998 by test-firing a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. The North said it was an attempt to put a satellite in orbit.

 

Taepodong-1 has a 2,500-kilometer (1,500-mile) range, South Korean officials say. North Korea reportedly is conducting engine tests for its Taepodong-2 model that would be capable of reaching the western United States.

 

Washington says North Korea is a top global exporter of missile parts and technology. The Clinton administration held talks with North Korea on curbing its missile development, but no agreement was reached.

 

When he visited Pyongyang in 2002, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won a North Korean promise to keep its missile moratorium. But relations between North Korea and Japan have recently deteriorated over a dispute over the fate of Japanese citizens kidnapped to the North in the 1970s and 80s.

 

"Japan has no right to participate in six-party talks since it is a complete pawn to the Americans," the memorandum was quoted as saying. It criticized moves by some Japanese politicians to impose economic sanctions against the North.

 

Earlier Wednesday, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Dawei met with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon in Seoul as the two nations stepped up efforts to get North Korea back to the table for nuclear disarmament talks.

 

Since 2003, Beijing has hosted three rounds of six-party negotiations, with little progress. A fourth round scheduled for last September never took place because North Korea refused to attend, citing what it called a "hostile" U.S. policy.

 

In previous talks, North Korea has demanded more aid and a nonaggression treaty with Washington in exchange for giving up its nuclear development.

 

The United States, meanwhile, wants the North to dismantle all nuclear facilities immediately.

 

Wednesday's statement reiterated that North Korea has made nuclear weapons in self-defense against what it called U.S. plans to launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the isolated state. Some foreign governments have expressed skepticism over the North's announcement that it has nuclear weapons, with some officials suggesting the claim is intended as leverage to gain concessions in talks.

 

Stuff in bold seems relevant.

[Guest MikeSC]

I love that N. Korea blames Bush for the problems --- and NOT that they lied to Clinton so blatantly and obviously.

-=Mike

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

For those curious about how this thing is actually supposed to work, I've got a buddy in the army who gave me the following diagram:

 

[Guest MikeSC]

For those curious about how this thing is actually supposed to work, I've got a buddy in the army who gave me the following diagram:

 

Your friend lied to you.

 

The shield has Uncle Sam's picture on it.

-=Mike

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

3.05

When I Debut At Just For Laughs

 

Any attempt at levity is not the brightest of ideas. Until, perhaps, next year, when I debut at Just For Laughs.

 

B. is in Los Angeles right now. Earlier today were talking and he mentioned how rampant the anti-Canadian rhetoric was on the local news. He said that he was worried that the US might take real action against us in the future if we didn’t change our tune.

 

I wonder what Americans make of all this. I mean, they lambasted the French when they refused to support the invasion of Iraq, so much so that French jokes were the mainstay on every late night talk show for weeks. I wonder if Canadian jokes will be the new craze. I wonder if, in 2008, the next Democratic candidate for President will be called “too Canadian”, as if it were an insult?

 

I can tell you this - I’m mighty tired of it all. Living next to a rude giant is like living next to a garbage dump filled with diapers. It’s huge and full of shit.

You mean the same Canada who's governing party constantly said their main opposition was 'too American' in the last election?

[LaParkaMarka 0]

Canadians are cordial and generally cool. And B.C.'s population is apparently 65% gorgeous Asian women. Go Canada.

Not BC as a whole, but Vancouver has a sizable amount of cute Asian chicks. It provides for some excellent eye candy. The mild climate doesn't hurt either.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I need to get up around there. I love the pacific northwest anyway. All my canada experience at an age to appreciate real travel was around Quebec and Nova Scotia, and I hated those fuckers. The Quebecois, that is. Nova Scotians had wonderful food and seemed eager to have a visitor.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Is having no shield slowing anybody down in their pursuit of nukes?

 

No, but having a shield is only gonna make people want more nukes faster.

 

One of those damned if you do, damned if you don't things.

 

And Agent, did you get a donair? Those things rock.

[Highland 0]

And Agent, did you get a donair? Those things rock.

 

Lies.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Oh, what the fuck do you know?

 

Caper.

 

I think.

[Highland 0]

Oh, what the fuck do you know?

 

Caper.

 

I think.

Enough to know never to get any sort of donair from Halifax. Especially Greco ones.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Of course not Greco. KOD, fool.

 

Wow, this went way off-topic really quick.

[Highland 0]

Of course not Greco. KOD, fool.

 

Wow, this went way off-topic really quick.

I'll take your word for it.

 

And yeah, international topics take a backseat to provincial rivalries.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I enjoyed poutine, specifically. It sounds vaginal.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Furthermore, I'd support a missile defense shield that was affordable and effective. If we're talking some Reagan-era "star wars" madness, count me out. I don't particularly want to get nuked, even if capabilities like that are going to make other countries nervous.

[Highland 0]

I'm still undecided on the MDS issue. Maybe I'd be convinced if they had one that actually worked.

[Special K 0]

We're all fucked once Metal gear Rex comes out anyway. That thing fires stealth nukes. We should be spending money on mechs.

[Highland 0]

[Special K 0]

There wouldn't be anymore wars. That's for sure. All you need is a mech that tromps around and does a little tyranasaurus scream and BOOM! Enemy insurgents become enemy incontinents. Everyone cleans up, we have a laugh and some cocoa, and David Hayter reads a half-hour novella on the adverse side-effects of nuclear war.

[Vyce 0]

For those curious about how this thing is actually supposed to work, I've got a buddy in the army who gave me the following diagram:

 

I don't trust those North Koreans......That missile looks a little too phallic for my tastes.

 

 

I'm worried about making a Canadian cry if you speak ill of them.

 

I actually did, once.

 

But she deserved it.

[Guest MikeSC]

Is having no shield slowing anybody down in their pursuit of nukes?

 

No, but having a shield is only gonna make people want more nukes faster.

As opposed to the slow, deliberate pace countries are pursuing nukes now?

 

Do you really think a country is going to say "You know, now that America has a shield, I want some fucking nukes more than anything!"?

-=Mike

...So, does this mean I'm allowed to kill a hippie who says we need to make love, not war?

[Jobber of the Week 0]

They're going to sell a nuke, and that's a different problem that can only really be fought by anti-proliferation and international pressure.

Two forces that have never worked.

 

So you don't believe Bush is doing the right thing with unilateral talks?=

 

We have no reason to believe that N. Korea won't fire one.

 

That's their whole bargaining chip. They're trying to extort everything they can out of people over the threat of a nuke. If they actually use a nuke, the threat is gone.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Do you really think a country is going to say "You know, now that America has a shield, I want some fucking nukes more than anything!"?

 

Yes.

 

Because, like I've said before, unless the shield is 100% effective, then the only thing people will need to penetrate the shield will be lots and lots of nukes.

 

Thus, they will build lots and lots of nukes to ensure that they still can nuke the states, should circumstances arise.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Here's what annoys me most about this missile defense shield. I don't think a terrorist group is going to try firing an ICBM into our country. They're going to sneak it into the states through mexico in a van or some shit, drive it someplace populated, and set it off. That's the kind of security that needs bolstered.

 

Missiles are big things to move around, assemble, and utilize, and the space age has drastically reduced that effectiveness. Al Qaeda isn't going to risk their only nuclear weapon in a big production to get a missile into position, arm it, and fire it, when allied planes already in the air can be scrambled to blow it up as soon as it's spotted. I can't imagine how many spy satellites are over the middle east right now.

 

If this were 1955 and there were still big missiles with CCCP pointed right at us en masse, I might be more inclined to think the shield's a good idea.