North Korea, Ballistic missles, and us
 

I just saw that NK launched four missiles this morning. One landing within 190 miles fro Japan. I think this is going to be the next biggest issue our country will have to deal with. I would bet that by years end, we will have taken some form of action against NK.

I'm not concerned about North Korea.

They re a paper pussycat.

Yes, looney tunes Korean ruler doesn't trust looney tunes US ruler so he wants to make sure he can strike the US bases in Japan. First thing I have ever heard anything logical from dear leader.

Carl

Bullshit. North Korea has literally thousands of artillery pieces within range of and pointed at Seoul and nearly 10 million active duty and reserve soldiers. Its standing army is ~50% bigger than the Russians and is the fourth biggest in the world.

"North Korea has experienced a string of rocket failures over the past year. Of at least nine launches, six were failures. Several of the test failures involved the more advanced, longer-range Musudan missile. These missiles launched earlier this week were older, more reliable Hwasong-7 types. Descended from the famous Scud missile and otherwise known as Scud ER (Extended Range), Hwasong-7s are short-range range ballistic missiles with an operational range of about 600 miles.
Within hours, the United States military deployed a pair of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile systems to South Korea. The missiles were delivered by C-17 transport to Osan Air Base 40 miles south of the capital Seoul. Developed by the U.S. Army, THAAD is designed to intercept incoming ballistic missile warheads at high altitude. THAAD can defend a larger geographic area from missile attack that the shorter-range Patriot PAC-3 system." PM

http://www.popularmechanics.com/mili...sile-us-radar/

Japanese lawmakers may press for first strike capability:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-kor...--finance.html

Hmmm....that sounds familiar....

That's okay by me.

Reads like Saddam.

Last I heard Seoul was not a city in the United States.

Sounds like this is South Koreas problem not ours.

I was countering your ridiculous assertion that NK was a paper pussycat.

They are to us.

Sure they have lots of conventional firepower and manpower but that's no threat to the US unless we were to do someting really really stupid like invade them and try to fight them in a ground war.

I think one Chosin Reservoir experience was enough.

Your just as clueless as your Trumpenfuhrer. Congrats.

I got enough of a clue to know it's a bad idea to go halfway around the world to get involved in somebody else's war.

Perhaps so, but that ship sailed over 60 years ago.

I don't know. I would think the delivery of a nuclear war head on any US base would be extreme cause for alarm. Even if the missile were to hit South Korea, it would have major consequences.

I wonder what would happen if a nuclear missile was launched? What would China, Russia, or the US do? Retaliate?

Remember Prince Ferdinand? A single shot that started WWI?

What started WWI was an aging Empire's determination to punish a smaller nation....

Yes. See what you mean.

So why else do you think that anti missile battery is being put in place in South Korea?

The Oberste Heeresleitung started WWI. At the last minute the Emperor and his PM changed their minds, but were told it was too late to stop the trains (so to speak). The execution of the Schlieffen Plan was the be all end all at that moment in German history.

The causes are indeed complex, but the assassination of the Archduke was the fuse that caused the powers to mobilize. Discounting the assassination as the fuse that lit the keg is false revisionism.

Your buying off on the lie agreed upon. The Germans were the driver. They declared war on two fronts, attacked and violated Belgium's neutrality. Their choice. Not revising a thing.

History.com says you are full of horse hockey and I concur:

"The assassination of Franz-Ferdinand and Sophie set off a rapid chain of events: Austria-Hungary, like many in countries around the world, blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the question of Slav nationalism once and for all. As Russia supported Serbia, an Austro-Hungarian declaration of war was delayed until its leaders received assurances from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm that Germany would support their cause in the event of a Russian intervention–which would likely involve Russia’s ally, France, and possibly Britain as well. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers collapsed. Within a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and World War I had begun."

Was editing my previous post to more clearly show it was the Germans while you were researching the mainstream lie agreed upon.

The Germans started WWI just like they started WWII. Attacking other nations for their own glory.

Can you post a credible source for this statement? I have never seen it but would like to if it exists.

In 1914 when a country mobilized its army on a border it was considered an act of war, as was a blockade. So one can say these parties were at war when Serbia mobilized followed by Austria-Hungary, who had backing from Germany. So any thing Nailer points to that happened after the mobilization of the armies, an event caused by the killing of the Archduke, as being the reason for the outbreak of the war is not really true. Plus most historians agree that Germany was punished too harshly by the reparations that the League put on the nation after the war. In other words might have been at fault but was not the only nation responsible for the war.

The Guns Of August by Barbara Tuchman is a good one volume history.

I guess the pundit who said you can't fact check crazy this week was right.

My studies have never shown Germany as the instigator of WWI. This is why I had to ask. I have often looked at that book, one day soon I will actually read it.

Europe stumbled into that meat grinder because of entangled alliances.

That is what I learned.

There was an arc of four Prussian/German wars of aggression beginning with the Austro-Prussian War and ending with WWII. The Great War was the third. Massie's Dreadnought provides insight into Imperial Germany being the aggressor that led to WWI. The first volume of Churchill's WWI history is also insightful. Nobody wanted to fight the Germans yet somehow the Germans stumbled into fighting a two front war and they even invaded France via Belgium knowing it would bring GB in. The Großer Generalstab was over confident and the German Emperor was a fool.

The tiny quibble is that the Oberste Heeresleitung was a wartime organization and did not come into existence until after the decision for war was taken, so you can't pin the war on the group of that name. The Großer Generalstab is what existed prewar. Of course, the Großer Generalstab 'staffed' the Oberste Heeresleitung when it was formed, so the distinction is not exactly stark....

The big quibble is that it's not clear to me that the Austrians only attacked Serbia with German permission/instigation.

Nonetheless, I do believe the Germans embraced the war in anticipation of a quick and glorious conquest of France....

Picked nit acknowledged. :) Should've used the generic German General Staff.

The Austrians were indeed acting with the Germany's tacit approval and then some. The Germans were surprised at Austria's unreasonable demands of the Serbs which pretty much guaranteed war. The Austrians would've backed off if told to. The Austrians were looking for a little fight, the Germans a big one, the Germans had their weaker brother's back against the Russians, the French had the Russian's back against the Germans, and the British were guarantor of Belgium neutrality and weren't about to let Germany dominate Europe. BOOM!

Let no one forget the times. Colonial expansion industrial expansion the race for resources exploitation across the globe all feed the great war's start.


There was enough blame to go around! The war did not happen in a vacuum.



Barney

Hilarious that you of all people would complain about nit picking, Bob. :rolleyes:

Not a complaint on my part. :cool:

All this arguing about whether the sun rises in the East, Trump and the Russians, and Paul Ryan's destruction of health care as we know it has only one solution. Everclear and water.

Some arrogance!

"Strategic patience at an end, all options are on the table!' says our Secretary of State, re N. Korea. Certainly strikes a tough, and probably provocative note. Exchanges of provocations are a path to war, of course.

Coincidentally, NPR ran an interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski this morning. It's too soon for a transcript (if they do post one) but it's very worth a listen. He calls the Trump foreighn policy stance "chaotic, unclear, unfocused." He scoffs at the idea of the destruction of ISIS as a central, major policy goal--he acknowledges ISIS as a threat, but doesn't see them as a "central strategic issue." After stressing the necessity of top-down leadership, he laments Trump's statements, saying 'some are entertaining,' but 'none are strategically substantive.' Instead he says they seem to come from a "wonder-wonder-wonder-land."

I don't think he'd believe Secretary Tillerson's remarks on North Korea are based on deep analysis and a well-planned policy. He paints a picture, instead, of an administration well-set to impulsively rush into war.

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/17/520498...foreign-policy

I saw this as well. I think we are pretty close to an armed conflict with Korea. I don't think we will fire the first shot. I wonder how Trump will respond when we actually need a real President?

I know that if i happened to be in Korea, I'd get out of Seoul, and then try to get out of the country without going back.

We could have the most deadly war since WWII in a matter of minutes.

I would guess within a year we will have had an event of some sort with North Korea. It will be something like a missile launch against Seoul or Japan or maybe one of our carriers, weather it is a successful detonation or not. This event that will require a major challenge or change to the power of Kim dumb young. I suspect when it happens and that as long as there is no loss of life, China, Russia, and us will demand he remove himself or he will be removed. If there is any loss of life, I think China, Russia, and us will come together and decide if a nuclear option will be used. I wouldn't want to take a bet on that .