North Korea Agrees to end Nuke Program

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Well, China's statement on North Korea that was released today was extremely limp wristed, so I don't think we can count on them to cut off aid to their ally.

 

Assassinating Kim Jong Il would be fantastic, but the problem is, it's probably pretty much an impossible feat to accomplish. The guy is probably one of the most heavily protected men in the world, with a huge standing army, and rarely goes out in public. I can't imagine the US would be too successful in sneaking in an operative who could get close enough to the bastard to end him.

[Guest]

A person willing to die, to boot. Plus, the retaliation from them could be severe, as we just simply don't know what they're doing outside of this incident.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Also, IIRC, Kim's son is already in line to be the next president, and is supposed to be just as bad as his father.

[Guest Felonies!]

Isn't that always the case? Fidel Castro's brother, Kim Jong Il's son, Bill Wirtz's son, even Rufus Shinra from Final Fantasy VII was worse than his assassinated father.

[Toshiaki Koala 0]

Don't forget Richie Hitler!

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Well, the Bush administration has said there would be serious consequences if North Korea conducted a missile launch. So far, the only consequences have been meakly worded phrases from the US and other countries, and more discussion by the UN. When do we actually do something about North Korea? Will we wait unil Seoul or Tokyo or Los Angeles are engulfed in flames to actually take meaningful steps?

[Guest Felonies!]

Don't forget Richie Hitler!

I'm still waiting for Steve Hitler to debut on Raw.

[Slayer 0]

Also, IIRC, Kim's son is already in line to be the next president, and is supposed to be just as bad as his father.

 

Ladies and gentleman, your future dictator-for-life!

[SuperJerk 0]

Don't forget Richie Hitler!

I'm still waiting for Steve Hitler to debut on Raw.

 

Damn, that was a great idea.

[Guest JustPassinBy]

Well, the Bush administration has said there would be serious consequences if North Korea conducted a missile launch. So far, the only consequences have been meakly worded phrases from the US and other countries, and more discussion by the UN. When do we actually do something about North Korea? Will we wait unil Seoul or Tokyo or Los Angeles are engulfed in flames to actually take meaningful steps?

 

The difference between Iraq and North Korea, is that Iraq had no allies. Its easier to fix a problem when only one country is the problem.

 

North Korea, on the other hand receives almost all of their aid from China. China, although not a superpower with the resources that the US has, is still a problem due to their ovewhelming popluation. The US I dont think could win a war with China unless it used Nuclear Weapons, and no one wants that. Therefore, it'd be an incredibly stupid move to do pre-emptive strikes against North Korea without China's ok first.

 

In fact, I think if China doesnt come down hard on North Korea and NK continues testing weapons, that the US will pass sanctions against China (which would really hurt our own economy bc we depend on the cheap products that come out of China).

 

In the end, Communism will lose.

Its always failed.

[Adam 0]

The US will pass sanctions against China? You're on crack.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I was watching Lou Dobbs on CNN briefly last night, and I think his feelings sum up mine pretty well...basically, he asked "Are we a superpower or not? We have a podunk little country that's a thumbnail on the map running around defying the international community and we haven't done anything about it." He also said he was sick of the "blustering and bravado" of teh Bush administration. Basically he heavily criticized the foreign policy of both the current and the Clinton administrations in regards to North Korea.

 

I think Bush's policy has been mainly to rely on China to prod N.K. into giving up their nuke program, but clearly that isn't going to happen. China's statement after the missile tests two days ago was completely impotent.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Why should they give a shit? What's North Korea going to do, nuke CHINA? They're infinitely bigger and more powerful, and they're right next door. It'd be suicide.

[Slayer 0]

Just think what would happen if NK misfires and drops one right in China's lap

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Well, since they're firing towards the Sea of Japan, I doubt that will happen. I think Japan should be quite worried, though.

 

They're already threatening to launch more missiles. If the UN doesn't do anything about it (which won't be surprising), I guess it will fall to the US to deal with the problem again, especially since Russia and China are refusing to take substantive measures.

 

The world has already seen what happens when you give dictators a long leash.

[Vampiro69 0]

According to an article posted on MSNBC.com this little tidbit of info was buried in the article.

 

" A Japanese newspaper reported Friday that North Korea had targeted South Pacific waters in the vicinity of Hawaii with the long-range missile. The conservative daily Sankei cited unnamed U.S. and Japanese and officials as saying Japan’s Defense Agency and the U.S. military reached that conclusion after analyzing the missile’s path from data collected from intelligence equipment."

 

The rest of the article can be found here N. Korea article

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

Some russians papers are reporting 10 missles were fired on the 4th/5th not 7 or whatever is reported

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Yeah, I've heard at least 7, but as many as 10. Not that it really makes a difference.

 

If the thing about Hawaii is true, I think that would be enough to declare war on North Korea.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SohmJW_rdc...ted&search=

 

Billy Graham - not the opinion you'd think he'd have

[Guest]

If the thing about Hawaii is true, I think that would be enough to declare war on North Korea.

With what army? Not that I'm against this idea.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Don't need an army, just some bombs and missiles of our own.

[cbacon 0]

Yeah, jumpstart the nuclear war, fantastic idea.

[cbacon 0]

Russia urges diplomatic solution with North Korea

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the international community must resolve its problems with Iran and North Korea through negotiation.

 

In a BBC webcast, he said it would be a mistake to impose sanctions on Iran.

 

He said he would prefer the Iran nuclear problem to be dealt with by the International Atomic Energy Agency rather than the UN Security Council.

 

He was answering some of the thousands of questions sent in by readers to the BBC and Russia's Yandex website.

 

Korean missile technology

 

The Russian president said Russia was "disappointed" by North Korea's missile test.

 

Civilised states gave other countries warning when they planned to launch a missile, and predicted where the parts would land, he said.

 

He said the international community would have to focus in future not only on North Korea's nuclear potential but also its delivery systems.

 

"We have to create an atmosphere where we can arrive at a mutually acceptable compromise," he said.

 

However he cast doubt on North Korea's ability to launch a long-range missile, "at least for the foreseeable future".

 

Gas subsidies

 

On Iran, he said it was not possible to wait endlessly for Iran to comply with the international community's demands.

 

"But it's even more counterproductive to get the problem into an impasse from which we won't know how to get out," he added.

 

The webcast came a week before the G8 summit, which Russia is hosting in St Petersburg, and which will focus on the issue of energy security.

 

Asked if switching off gas to Ukraine in January was the best way to start Russia's year as chair of the G8, Mr Putin said Russia had no choice.

 

He said Russia had spent billions of dollars each year subsidising gas supplies to its neighbours, for more than a decade, and had been talking to Ukraine about switching to market prices for a long time.

 

He blamed the Western media for creating "hysteria", saying this was designed to put pressure on Russia to sell its gas cheaply.

 

"Europeans have nothing to worry about," he said.

 

Visa help

 

Answering questions for more than two hours, Mr Putin also touched on relations with the United States, Russian democracy, the conflict in Chechnya, the fight against corruption, and the problem of racism.

 

He said he had spoken to US President George Bush earlier in the day to congratulate him on his 60th birthday, adding that he regarded Mr Bush as a "decent man" and a personal friend.

 

In answer to a question from Mike Hetley in the Cayman Islands, about the difficulty of obtaining a Russian tourist visa, Mr Putin promised that Mr Hetley's problems would be solved as quickly as possible.

 

"As soon as we find his details we will definitely help him," he said.

 

He added that Russia was negotiating right now to move to a non-visa travel regime with the European Union and with many other countries.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5154920.stm

[cbacon 0]

Harper came out of his birthday meeting with Bush yesterday and said we's all better be scared. And Bush said, 'yep, them shitty korean missiles could stray off course and hit Vancouver, so y'all should reconsider that missile defense bullshit.' And Harper said "oh yea, more Canadian tax dollars for useless American defense scams comin' yer way big fella...' This shit practically writes itself.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Yes, let's have more diplomacy with the madman dictator, since that has been working so well for the last ten years.

[NoCalMike 0]

I'd feel more willing to take out North Korea's leadership if we weren't wasting away a bunch of resources in Iraq. Unless you are of the opinion that all we need to do is simply launch some missles at NK, however I would strongly disagree with a nuclear attack.

 

I guess this is why people have been arguing from the get-go that we wouldn't start a war of choice/convenience(Iraq) because legit troubles might come up.(North Korea)

[BruiserKC 0]

I'm more concerned about a nuclear Iran than North Korea. North Korea wants money for food, etc. They know if they launch on America the only thing that will most likely happen is total annihilation. In Iran, "Death To America" is a popular slogan and with a guy who truly thinks he's the man responsible for the Apocalypse in charge...I'd be more worried about them.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

WE can do this. We tell Korea we are going to pull most of our troops out Iraq and Afganistan and move them to North Korea. The insurgents will hear about this move and they'll go to North Korea and fight the Koreans because the US won't show up. America can protect Iraq and Afganistan without the insurgents.

 

Um this idea made sense in my head.

[cbacon 0]

Maybe sit this one out, UndertakerHart