Mobilization of U.S. forces in preparation for North Korea Nuclear Launch

Seoul, South Korea — South Korea and the United States kicked off a joint military exercise on Monday amid mounting tensions on the peninsula. North Korea has threatened to shoot down airplanes flying near its airspace and launch a ballistic missile in protest.

Some 26,000 U.S. troops, including 12,000 forces stationed in Seoul and 50,000 South Korean troops, were mobilized for the joint drills code-named Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, according to defense officials. The United States will also dispatch a nuclear-powered carrier for the exercise slated to end on March 20.

Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of the U.S. forces in South Korea, described the exercise as "routine" and "purely defensive," aimed at testing the combat readiness of the South Korean-U.S. combined forces.

"The primary goal is to ensure the command is ready to defend the ROK (South Korea) in the event it becomes necessary," Sharp said in a statement timed with the start of the joint war games.

"Key Resolve and Foal Eagle is a routine training exercise that takes place every year at about the same time. It is not tied in any way to any political or real-world event," said Sharp, who also heads the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and U.N. Command.

The U.N. Command, which monitors the cease-fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, had informed North Korea of the schedule of the drills, Sharp said.

But North Korea blasted the joint exercise as a "war of aggression" against the country, which has developed nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles despite international warnings.

The North's military said it had put its armed forces on full combat readiness in response to the exercise, which it called a "military provocation" that would only occur "on the eve of a war,” vowing to "mercilessly stamp out aggressors."

The Supreme Command of the People's Army issued an order to all service personnel to be fully combat ready, the general staff of the North's military said in a statement.

"A war will break out if the U.S. imperialists and the warmongers of the South Korean puppet military hurl the huge troops and sophisticated strike means to mount an attack," it said.

The North's military also pledged to retaliate against any attempt to intercept a satellite it plans to launch, saying shooting its satellite would “precisely mean a war." The military statement said, "We will retaliate any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means."

The retaliation would be aimed "not only against all the interceptor means involved but against the strongholds of the U.S. and Japanese aggressors and the South Korean puppets who hatched plots to intercept it," it said.

North Korea has said it was preparing to launch what it claims is a satellite for space development, but the United States and South Korea believe the rocket is for a long-range ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear warhead that could hit U.S. territory.

When the North test-fired a multi-stage rocket named the Taepodong-1 into the Pacific Ocean over Japan in 1998, it argued that the rocket's purpose was to send a satellite into orbit for the peaceful use of space.

The North test-launched a Taepodong-2 missile in 2006, but that rocket plunged into the ocean not long after takeoff.

The United States and South Korea believe the North is now assembling an upgraded version of Taepodong-2 at its launch site on the northeast coast facing Japan. Officials and analysts here said the launch would most likely take place in mid-April.

The United States has urged Pyongyang to refrain from a missile test, saying the U.S. military could intercept a rocket from the North. It has deployed several Aegis destroyers, possibly capable of intercepting missiles, for the joint military drills with South Korea. Japan will also deploy an Aegis radar-equipped destroyer carrying a missile interceptor, according to Tokyo's Kyodo News agency.

In response, the North has warned it could not guarantee the safety of civilian aircraft which approached its airspace during the two-week military exercise, causing South Korean airlines to adjust their routes. The change will affect about 200 flights over the next two weeks.

The Seoul government said that the North's threat is a violation of international law, as Pyongyang opened its airspace in 1997 under the International Civil Aviation Organization.

"The military threat against civil airplanes' normal flights is a violation of international norms and an inhumane act that cannot be justified under any circumstances," the Unification Ministry said.

Two North Korean agents were responsible for the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airliner in which 115 passengers and crew were killed. The bombing, an attempt to damage the South's Olympic preparations, put the communist country on the U.S. list of terrorist-sponsoring countries.

comment: smell the coffee

Medclinician

did you see this video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSdytGqi-8A

coleyounger666 wrote: did you see this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSdytGqi-8A

How about this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VZ_8q_k2tM&NR=1

Cole- getting a little hot for us at our present location - we are moving - we will continue to stay on net and are closing our lab. The Survivor Book as well as keeping on pulse is a top priority. Research in our current fields will be accelerated, continued, even though it has certainly become a bumpy ride.

Medclinician

"when the going gets tough.. the tough get going."

I see another train trip to China in his future... One Way.

North Korea Sets Date for Launching

 

Fox News Hypes Missile Threat From North Korea?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFISGhIXDaw&feature=related

The real concern is this...

Even though the North has not tested such a missile since 1998, it is running an active development program that includes ground tests working toward a Taepodong-3, a longer-range version of the missile tested eight years ago. It is expected to be a true intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the entire continental United States.

What exactly is a Taepodong-3 and who has them? They are the tiger that rattles the bar because of their range. They are a three stage nuclear missile which has a delivery distance giving ICBM its true range to be dangerous. Any country possessing a missile with this range (alledgedly) is trouble.

An interesting sidelight is we are so geared into the traditional movie hype (as in War Games, the movie) of which.. well we won't go there.. we all watch these huge 3 stage missiles crawl for 40 minutes across the pole from Russia when in reality the international limit is not much greater than 10 miles and a missile can be launched from a sub and hit within 3 minutes to an American target. This has been known since 1969, and many countries have subs deployed as well as carriers capable of delivering a nuke from a traveling platform with very small range. You do not need a Taepodong-3 to hit the U.S. A modified scud which Iraq had years ago launched from a sub can easily hit target and would be much harder to stop. And scuds are buried all over the Iraqian desert as well as being in many Muslim countries. Pakistan doesn't need them. It has a fully functional and tested nuclear arsenal.

Does North Korea have submarines - and can those submarines nuclear launch? If so the entire hoopla or massive diversion of what they launch from a pad is a moot point.

December 29, 1996
Web posted at: 8:45 p.m. EST (0145 GMT)

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea formally apologized Sunday for an international incident in which one of its spy submarine invaded South Korean waters in September.

In a statement from a foreign ministry spokesman, North Korea expressed "deep regret" and vowed to "make efforts to ensure that such an incident will not recur."

Well we know it is selling submarines to Iran.

Thursday, January 24, 2008      East-Asia-Intel.com

Report: North Korea to sell minisubs to Iran

Well this one is tiny - but how about walking through one with a camera

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMqOUuuCpk0

doesn't look very nuclear does it.  Well neither do the skimmer missile mounted on submersible boats in the gulf.  They are very small and yet with a sufficiently modified torp could take out an aircraft carrier.

So for now  we will be told that North Korea is all talk and no threat even though it has one big army for such a small country.

NUKEWARS North Korean Options The world may not have much time before a North Korean regime collapse could occur. by Bruce Bennett UPI Outside View Commentator Washington (UPI) Nov 28, 2006 The North Korean Army with about 1 million active-duty troops is roughly three times the size of the Iraqi Army under Saddam Hussein. A unified Korea would not need such a large armed force on top of the existing 550,000-person South Korean Army. But if the North Korean Army were reduced in size or even disbanded, a large number of trained fighters would suddenly find themselves out of work and desperate to make a living at a time of economic turmoil with few available jobs. Following in the footsteps of the unemployed soldiers of the disbanded army of Saddam Hussein, many former North Korean soldiers would turn to insurgency and could go on fighting for years, seeking to strike out against the capitalist South Koreans who had taken control of their country. Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction might be one of the insurgents' few options to obtain income.

This might not seem like much.. only a million armed troops..but it would be a problem for South Korea.. and whether or a not a nuke could hit California- it surely could hit South Korea and create massive destablilization of the area- a special problem for Japan - if China did not quickly step in and interfere.

How much is hype, how much is blackmail to get U.S. dollars to a starving country with a dictator with illusions of power-

well time to stop posting.. time will tell us when they launch - what they have and what we are prepared to do if we don't like it.


Medclinician

• Justin McCurry in Tokyo

I don't know why I can't delete this.. it is further expanded in the next post.

Medclinician

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=12454368&ch=4226714&src=news


Goto this link and click on Hilary's pic "Provovative Act" and check this out. This video is phasing in and out so it web life may be limited.

Medclinician...

The missile is now loaded on the launch pad and launch is imminent ... (excerpt from video)

On This Missile Launch,you have to understand the history of the three nations involved. The Japanese have always been the dominant force in that part of the world and they have not gotten to butcher millions of people(primarly Chinese and Koreans) since we beat them and stopped their march to be super human,but they have not forgotten the dream. No korean,North or South has any love for the Japenese,because of being treated so badly by them in the past. The Chinese can not get over the fact that the Japanese butchered millions of Chinese and that was only stopped,when we made Japan Surrender. The North Koreans lost face when we pushed them back to their own country and they will never forget or forgive.None of these people will will ever forget or forgive. The Japenese also do like us,because we stopped them from conquering the world.. But all three of these people are the biggest racist in the world. They all think that they are better than any one else and better than each other..Personally,I would just let them go at it again,until they get tired of burialing their dead. We have kept peace there for long enough.Johnray1

Continuing the countdown -

If North Korea can launch this and do so successfully they will possess long range missile capability and be able to theoretically reach at least Alaska and with a three stage missile, the U.S. In 1998 N.Korea under the subterfuge launched a satellite which turned out to be a missile weapons test.

iIf you have a nuclear North Korea you will have a nuclear Japan. And as noted earlier there is NO doubt at all, if you have been to these countries and interfaced with them, there is an intense racism and elitism, resentment that we won World War II and have kept t hem almost hand handcuffed military wise since they would be so dangerous,if allowed to fully expand their military capabilities. The combination of China, Japan, and North Korea,  their technology, extreme discipline and advanced engineering and other skills would make them a most formidable opponent in a war.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/29/gates-prepared-respond-north-korea-missile-launch/

The United States can do nothing to stop North Korea from breaking international law in the next 10 days by firing a missile that is unlikely to be shot down by the U.S. or its allies, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.

Appearing on "FOX News Sunday," Gates said North Korea "probably will" fire the missile, prompting host Chris Wallace to ask: "And there's nothing we can do about it?"

"No," Gates answered, adding, "I would say we're not prepared to do anything about it."

comment: here's the 180 from last week

Last week, Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said the U.S. is "fully prepared" to shoot down the missile. But Gates said such a response is unlikely.

"I think if we had an aberrant missile, one that was headed for Hawaii, that looked like it was headed for Hawaii or something like that, we might consider it," Gates said. "But I don't think we have any plans to do anything like that at this point."

comment: as stated a few days ago preparations are being made to move the missile to th pad.. it is on the launch pad.

North Korea has moved a missile onto a launch pad and says it will be fired by April 8. Pyonyang insists the missile is designed for carrying a communications satellite, not a nuclear warhead that the secretive nation appears bent on developing.

Gates also lamented that the missile launch planned by dictator Kim Jong-Il comes just two months after President Obama took office.

"If this is Kim Jong-Il's welcoming present to a new president, launching a missile like this and threatening to have a nuclear test, I think it says a lot about the imperviousness of this regime in North Korea to any kind of diplomatic overtures," he said.

Gates lamented the futility of diplomatic efforts toward North Korea and Iran, another nation with nuclear ambitions. Despite the Obama administration's talk of ramping up diplomatic overtures toward Tehran, Gates was pessimistic about that strategy.

This event is being greatly played down. The North Koreans, if successful will sell the long range missile capabilty to Iran and they will used it to launch at Israel.  We will be seeing the beginning of a nuclear Middle east that can easily target Europe and even the Unitied States. This is no small launch of just a satellite. It is the development of ICBM missile technology.

Medclinician

Japan has authorized its military to shoot down a North Korean missile that is being prepared for launch in the coming weeks, should it endanger Japanese territory.

The Washington Post reports that the Japanese government has ordered two anti-missile destroyers into the Sea of Japan and is moving Patriot missiles to the coast to intercept the North Korean rocket or its debris.

The orders punctuated a week of rising tensions in Northeast Asia, as North Korea moved its rocket to a launchpad and warned the outside world not to interfere or impose sanctions for its planned launch of what it describes as a "communications satellite." The launch is scheduled for sometime between April 4 and 8.

Japan, South Korea, and the United States have repeatedly asked North Korea to cancel the launch, calling it a provocative pretext for the test of a long-range ballistic missile, which may be able to strike Alaska. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the launch could harm talks aimed at helping North Korea with food and fuel in return for abandoning nuclear weapons….

Japan took pains Friday to explain that it was preparing for a possible accident, not for an attack. Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said he issued orders "to prepare for an event in which a North Korean projectile falls onto our country in an accident."

Reuters writes that the North Korean missile is a multi-stage long-range rocket, and that while the rocket’s boosters are expected to crash in the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean, "a failed launch or accident could result in one of the stages of the rocket, or bits of it, falling on Japan and endangering lives and property." Reuters adds that Japan would have only 10 minutes notice if the missile or its debris were to threaten Japanese territory.

Medclinician

We could keep using all of our tax dollars to continue the make em all behave game... or

This is all nonsense.  Our country is in shambles (financially), isn't it time to take care of number one first?  It's time to bring home all the troops, from every country, shut down all over seas bases, defend our own borders.  Shut down all non productive banks and let any company that is in bad shape just fold.  There are plenty of other banks and manufacturers that can create jobs.  It's time to have a house cleaning of crocked government employees.  If we must keep the fed, then have them stimulate us out of the recession.  Give every citizen a minimum of $500,000.00.  Of course we'll have a little inflation but our economy would be the envy of the world.  I don't know how much this stimulus package would cost but it's probably around the same amount we are spending to prop up the dead banks.

We have to be interested in  what N Korea and other countries do for our own safety. If N. Korea detonated a nuke above the earths atmosphere, it would cause a EMP effect that would shut down most of the USA power. Within one year as much as 90% of our population could be dead.

Good luck. We are leaving our lab in West Virginia and going phone  and net dark. We will see you after the launch from our new - safer location.

We need to focus on the homeland and our own economic and social problems before we try to solve those of the whole world.

From Medclinician, Bluebird, and Skye - its only a launch like a fire sale.  If successful Iran will have one its final tools to assemble what will no doubt fly.

"and when I awoke... I was alone - this bird has flown."  John Lennon

Medclinician

Mary08 wrote:   North Korea missile shows sign of satellite payload: U.S. ............................................................................................................................................... Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:51pm EDT  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The missile North Korea is expected to launch as soon as this weekend appears to have a bulb-shaped nose cone consistent with a satellite payload, rather than a warhead, U.S. defense officials said on Tuesday. Article here- http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52U80520090331 ....................................

This is good to hear. We still are leaving the line up for a few more hours, but the events will probably play out as in Iran, a satellite launch, and everyone will sit around and watch closely. One might note that Iran did launch quite successfully thus violating what resolutions which are supposed to be in place and also demonstrating its capability to implement ICBM - so you have a lot of refined whatever - missiles that can make it into orbit, and whatever they can buy with oil from North Korea.

We do have wireless and a laptop, which I had forgotten about entirely, so I guess we can still wherever there is an electric plug or none - stay tuned.

We should be in place for the launch.

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) - In response to North Korea, Japan moved on Friday to deploy missile interceptors on its northern coast to prepare to shoot down any missile or debris launched into its territory.

The move comes amid North Korea's announcement that it would be launching a satellite between April 4 and April 8, warning that debris fragments could fall into the Sea of Japan between the two countries or into the Pacific Ocean.

Japan and much of the international community believe the rocket is a long-range missile and have warned Pyongyang to cancel the plans, which would be a violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions.

Although Japan has not taken any offensive measures, its decision to shoot down material threatening to fall on Japanese territory is a bold move for the mostly pacifist nation, whose constitution restricts its military to measures of national defense.

Japan is particularly worried about its proximity to North Korea and has appealed to the international community to help reign in the military and possibly nuclear ambitions of North Korean President Kim Jong Il.

Medclinician

 

North Korea watched intently for rocket launch

AP
updated 1 hour, 23 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea - Spy satellites trained high - resolution cameras on a
coastal North Korean launch pad. U.S., Japan and South Korea deployed
warships with radar and other surveillance equipment in the waters near the
communist nation - all for one of the most closely watched rocket launches ever.

article here-
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30035197/

Countdown to Zero

(portions of this post will not past correct without typing every word.. good stuff in there for data.

The launch of a communications satellite into space will take place soon, North Korea said, as world leaders scrambled on Friday to forge a united stance on how to react.

North Korea's Korean Central News Agency cited space officials saying preparations have concluded at the coastal launch pad and that liftoff is imminent.

North Korea earlier advised international authorities the launch would take place sometime between Saturday and Wednesday between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time.

Saturday was to be the start of a five-day window during which North Korea said it will send a communications satellite into orbit.

"I think it's almost certain North Korea will fire the missile," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told reporters in London, where he was still visiting on Friday following the G20 summit.

Japan and U.S. officials have also confirmed that intelligence suggests the missile will be launched on Saturday.

'Enormous strains'

U.S. President Barack Obama urged North Korea not to go forward with the rocket launch.

At a news conference Friday in Strasbourg, France, where he was preparing to meet with other NATO leaders, Obama said the planned launch is provocative action and is putting "enormous strains" on international talks over North Korea's disputed nuclear ambitions.

The U.S. will "take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it can't threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity," Obama said.

comment: perhaps instead of political rhetoric is is time to spell out what those steps will be. Perhaps that could even make the North Koreans reconsidered instead of issuing and incredible vague and truly bland warning. Watching North Korea proceeded to develop nuclear as well as the same deal in Iran is hardly convincing either Iran or North Korea in the least bit to halt there goals when they not specific as to what dire consequence North Koriea will stop them.

I realize this sounds extreme- but you can only wave your bone in the air so many times (reference to 2001 Space Odyssey scene.  In the end we will sit and watch as both North Korea and Iran continue their basically reckless progress in developing the parts in NKs  tests and a nuclear arsenal with a sattelite already in orbit by Iran to ready to nuke Tel Aviv, Israel.

It is a great loss to the Free World security for us to allow this launch to proceed.

Medclinician

                                                         

The U.S., South Korea and Japan think the communist country is really testing long-range missile technology — a move they have warned would violate a UN Security Council resolution banning the North from ballistic activity.

Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Lee on Friday to discuss the situation. Hu said China is also working to avert the liftoff and urged other countries not to aggravate the already tense situation.

Japan and other nations are pushing for an emergency session of the UN Security Council to be held on the weekend.

But North Korea has warned against any efforts to censure it, claiming it has the right to the peaceful use of space. It also has threatened retaliation against any efforts to intercept the rocket.

'Stern response'

Lee repeated on Friday that a launch would garner a "strong and stern response" from the international community.

South Korean protesters burn North Korean flags and mock missiles during a rally against the pending missile launch. (Ahn Young-joon/Associated Press)The pending launch has sparked international alarm because the North has repeatedly broken promises to shelve its nuclear program or halt rocket tests.

North Korea, which reportedly began fuelling its rocket on Thursday, already has medium-range missiles that can reach Japan, over which the North has said the missile will travel. Japan is bracing for the possibility that debris could fall around its northern coast.

Japan has deployed warships with anti-missile systems off the coast, set up Patriot missile interceptors and established crisis centres and a system to warn residents when the rocket is approaching. Japan says it has no intention of trying to shoot down the rocket itself, which is expected to reach its territory 10 minutes after liftoff.

"It is a threat to the security of Japan," said Yukio Takasu, Japan's UN ambassador.

North Korea's actions are raising tensions in Asia and globally, he said.

At a rally in central Seoul on Friday, about 100 activists protesting the launch ignited a North Korean flag and a missile replica.

A successful launch would mean the renegade state has a long-range missile capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction, said Kim Sung-han, an international affairs professor at Seoul's Korea University.

It is unclear whether the North has been able to shrink its warheads enough to fit on a rocket

Considerable thanks to BBC for extensive high quality news, and some extremely informative new articles.

Courtesy of BBS lets take a look at the Global public opinion response in laymen and profession comments.

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=6310&sortBy=2&edition=2&ttl=20090405170314

And once again how interesting take a look at this...

NORTH KOREA STATES:
State-run media said North Korea had succeeded in launching the craft in the early hours of Sunday although there has been no independent confirmation of the claims.

As per some data (still confirming -North Korea has launched (successful) and orbiting satellite.

WESTERN MEDIA AND .GOV states

The US military says the satellite failed to orbit and instead crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

comment: obvious question. Was it shot down? It is not that difficult to launch an orbiti satellite. Only a few weeks ago Iran did without any problem.

Since North Korea no doubt is getting backing technologically and moneywise on ths project doesn't it seem inept that everytime North Korea launches something it blows up my mysteirously. They had no problem at all taking a "passenger flight" which was in their air space and could very well could have had American Inelligence observers and equipment on board.

Before we go there however - lets give the BBC some credit and link here and at least 12 pages commetary (Global) on this launch.

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=6310&sortBy=2&edition=2&ttl=20090405170314

If I am constantly quoting from them on Avian, and many areas of news - seems only fair to give their news site referal traffic as a courtesy.

Pretty interesting what is being said.

Medclinician

We are having considerable problems in posting this data. We have lost our net connection twice and had 3 power outs in 15 minutes to the level we are running our communications center.

This is a link to the North Korean clear statement of a successful launch of their satellite along with a video.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=12825692&ch=4226714&src=news

alternate tiny : http://tinyurl.com/ch5kcf

text hand typed in case link is compromised

Well, with this launch North Korea has defied the will of the international community in a move that the South Korean government is calling a serious threat to world peace.

One the evening news today North Korea trumpeted its launch as quote
A proud result of our fight to upgrade science and technology.
At 11:30 this morning a multi-staged rocket was launched
From North Korea, it dropped boosters to the east and west of Japan
According to the statement from Pyongyang just nine minutes later, their satellite was orbiting successfully.

North Korea insisted it merely launched a communications satellite. Many fear the real intention was to test a long range missile that could potentially carry long range nuclear warheads to Alaska and Hawaii.

comment: this I documented  in a earlier post that was lost during a broken connection and then a power out of our facility here. True or untrue - it really doesn't seem that unusual. It displays the launch and depicts separation of the final satellite into orbit.

The problem is that 3 minutes ago on Yahoo a 180 degree statement has been issued by the United States is a full 180 spin from this data.

This statement as documented by Yahoo was release about 30 minutes ago-

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090405/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_missile

Did the rocket violate a UN resolution?

Nevertheless, Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul insist the launch violates a resolution passed in July 2006, in the wake of a surprise medium-range missile test, banning Pyongyang from any ballistic activity. Missiles carrying warheads and rockets carrying satellites are essentially identical.

North Korea argues that its membership of a UN treaty on the peaceful uses of outer space give it the right to launch satellites, which it says was the missile's purpose. Beijing is sympathetic to that view.

"The launch violates the UN resolution but it is different from nuclear and missile tests," says Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing. "It is less sinister" than the unannounced missile test in 2006, he adds.

Japanese cabinet spokesman Takeo Kawamura did not agree. "Even if a satellite was launched, we see this as a ballistic missile test and we think this matter should be taken to the United Nations Security Council," he said on Sunday.

Medclinician

Mary08 wrote: according to  Shi Yinhong-    North Korea is now "less sinister" than in 2006.   Am I the only one who is embarrassed over  Pres. Obama wanting to talk to a man who   seems very clearly... not all there?  What would he say?    "Now Kim ol buddy, you hafta stop lobbin those missiles over Japan, it just isn't nice."   ......   (I think Kim violated the laws of sanity)

_________________________

reply to Mary and for readers of AFT on North Korean Missile Crisis

first thanks to X provider actually dealing with our net 'hook' at midnight and has given us a very fast connect making living on the computer a lot easier.... thanx SL since I can't use names. You rock. .

Actually as my Yahoo popped up and I began to read the headlines I felt like I was beginning  a Twilight Zone episode.

I think it is the scale of what is happening and the magnitude which is dizzying.

Let's get back to the satellite to begin with.

First we watched the cable news line drift past with 'satellite in orbit and broadcasting something NK patriotic' less than 30 seconds later we saw that the so called object was somewhere in Davy Jones locker at the bottom of the Atlantic.  Signal must be kind of  muffled. We have a planet full of astronomers and observatories. Wouldn't  you think they could track one missile and one satellite?

Enter the Dragon -

We have a country ruled by a man who recent had a stroke.
Kim, 67, is believed to have suffered a stroke last August,  Reuters

Let us do wake up and smell the coffee here....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1540429/N-Korea-helping-Iran-with-nuclear-testing.html

North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year.

Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data and information they received from their successful test last October with Teheran's nuclear scientists.

comment: Iran launched a satellite without a hitch and one single threat from any other country. Basic logic here. If the technology needed to launch a satellite and that needed to launch a nuclear ICBM are the same then - Iran possesses the technology to launch a nuclear ICBM missile. If the North Koreans used this as a ploy (as in 1998) to test their booster rockets- would it not be safe to say- so did Iran who is preparing not one- but a satellite controled  arsenal of nuclear weapons.  What is the logic of talking about going to the conference tables after 6 years and finally a complete rebuff by Iran.

North Korea provoked an international outcry when it successfully fired a bomb at a secret underground location and Western intelligence officials are convinced that Iran is working on its own weapons program. (understatement)

A senior European defense official told The Daily Telegraph that North Korea had invited a team of Iranian nuclear scientists to study the results of last October's underground test to assist Tehran's preparations to conduct its own — possibly by the end of this year.

_______________

comment: Would someone please hand a copy of this to someone who just tested the delivery missile system that will carry the nuke war head to make Tel Aviv a crater.

Now getting back to the "he lied" scenario as far as the success of the satellite- well for one it probably was never intended to be a useful satellite - getting there is half the fun. They demonstrated they could do it.

As  hungry North Korea looks to Iran and says so what's the going rate for a fully tested and functional nuclear warhead delivery system. 

No offense - I am originally from California and I can enjoy walking into a health food store, smelling the incense, buying some jasmine tea, and Bluebird, in one of her wilder blonde moments have Bluebird pick out some Australian crystal earrings and buy a book The Essence of Chakras- but we cannot and must not play New Age Kumbaya on a World Scale with truly dangerous extremist types and serious countries such as North Korea. They have one of, if not the largest ground force army in the world.

Yes, it is wrong to take some innocent mother and beat her with a rubber hose or tie her up and zap her with battery terminals. That was supposed to be the turf of the evil Al Queda (which is still being name dropped - and is not our big problem)  but we certainly cannot forget the past of these people in terms of extreme murder with prejudice.

Saw an interview with a young North Korean guy this morning asked about American aggression towards NK and he siad something like - "if you start this- we will fight."

IMHO we definitely need some foreign policy 101a here. The idea is not to make friends and take smiley photos.

Anyone who has been in the military knows when you lead a platoon or group into battle you are not trying to be liked. You sometimes have to be the meanest toughest SOB in the valley to get your people's minds off half of what was their leg. You need a general to lead an army. You need a man with scars to understand the consequences of bad decisions.

Enough said. Those who have been there will know exactly what I am saying.

North Korea is trouble. North Korea with China and Russia running interference for them who have always thought Americans were lesser beings, does not set us up for pulling out.

If we are looking for a war to pull us out of the economy, don't play this one. Nuclear wars don't fix economies, they destroy worlds and those who live on them.

IMHO our greatest flaw so far in dealing with these events...

we watched and did nothing.

Too much of that is going to get us toasted. Bush wasn't my role model, and doesn't decorate my computer hutch, but we have some tough enemies out there, and we can't toast marshmallows, tell them it was a big misunderstanding that we were worried about a Jihad and the middle east which already has some nuclear weapons.

Its war out there. Our men and women are dying in Afghanistan, Iraq, and if that is the price of freedom, I would go there myself. I was in during Vietnam. Let's just be sure freedom is the name of the game, not power and oil.

Preppers - a hard rain's gonna fall - I mean hard.

Not a single moment you have spent getting ready, a single can, bottle, whatever you have done getting ready will be wasted.

I think aspersions were definitely being cast on the leader of North Korea's sanity. And I also believe if we thought Saddam was bad, we ain't seen nothing yet.

They will do as much as they can do as long as we let it happen.

We don't need friends. We need allies. And we don't have to like each other to join for the common good of us all. We can deal with Putin if we have to, to secure the world, but lets not try to be buddies.Flashy smiling photos only go so far. We need a plan. 

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Medclinician