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Subscribe to RSSSouth Korean intelligence officials say North Korea may be preparing for a third underground nuclear test. The possible test comes at the same time as North Korea is poised to launch a satellite. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Updated at 8:35 a.m. ET: Recent satellite images show North Korea is digging a new underground tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third nuclear test, according to South Korean intelligence officials.
The excavation at North Korea's northeast Punggye-ri site, where nuclear tests were conducted in 2006 and 2009, is in its final stages, according to a report by intelligence officials that was shared Monday with The Associated Press.
Its release comes as North Korea prepares to launch a long-range rocket with an observation satellite that Washington and others say is a cover for testing missile technology that could be used to fire on the United States.
North Korea shows off its launch pad, satellite
Observers fear a repeat of 2009, when international criticism of the North's last long-range rocket launch prompted Pyongyang to walk away from nuclear disarmament negotiations and, weeks later, conduct its second nuclear test. A year later, 50 South Korean were killed in attacks blamed on the North.
The U.S. isn't nervous about the satellite North Korea will launch, but the rocket that will launch it. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
"North Korea is covertly preparing for a third nuclear test, which would be another grave provocation," said the report, which cited U.S. commercial satellite photos taken April 1. "North Korea is digging up a new underground tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, in addition to its existing two underground tunnels, and it has been confirmed that the excavation works are in the final stages."
Inside North Korea: Closely watched rocket launch poses risks
Dirt believed to have been brought from other areas is piled at the tunnel entrance, the report said, something experts say is needed to fill up underground tunnels before a nuclear test. The dirt indicates a "high possibility" North Korea will stage a nuclear test, the report said, as plugging tunnels was the final step taken during its two previous nuclear tests.
A U.S. official told NBC News it was possible that North Korea could be about to test a thermonuclear weapon, dozens of times more powerful than the weapons they have tested in the past. The North has carried out significant research into both "boosted fission" and thermonuclear weapons development in recent years. However, without testing, the North could not be certain that such a weapon is reliable.
North Korea announced plans last month to launch the satellite using a three-stage rocket during mid-April celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung.
Bobby Yip / Reuters
A soldier stands guard in front of the Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket sitting on a launch pad during a guided media tour by North Korean authorities northwest of Pyongyang on Sunday.
The U.S., Japan, Britain and other nations have urged North Korea to cancel the launch, warning that firing the long-range rocket would violate U.N. resolutions and North Korea's promise to refrain from engaging in nuclear and missile activity.
"Don't do it" is the United States' response to reports that North Korea is about to launch a nuclear weapons test, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said at a briefing Monday.
"North Korea's launch of a missile would be highly provocative, it would pose a threat to regional security, and it will be inconsistent with its recent undertakings to refrain from any kind of long-range missile launches," Nuland said, adding that a launch would also violate two United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Pyongyang says the rocket will only carry a weather satellite, but South Korea and the United States say it is a test of a ballistic missile. And although the risk of it veering off course is low, guidance remains its weakest point.
In a rare move, reporters -- including NBC News' Richard Engel -- were taken to the new Sohae launch station, close to the border with China, where work was in progress to ready the 100-foot high Unha-3 rocket and its satellite.
David Guttenfelder / AP
In this March 9, 2011 photo, a girl plays the piano inside the Changgwang Elementary School in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
The three-stage rocket was on the launch platform, indicating the launch is likely between April 12-16.
"Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un made a very bold decision, that is why you are allowed to be this close to the launch site," site director Jang Myong Jin told visiting foreign journalists on Sunday.
However, NBC's Engel tweeted that North Korea seemed to be giving the press access "to deflect criticism against the rocket launch, to show it has nothing to hide."
PhotoBlog: Images from the launch site
The second stage booster is planned to separate in the seas to the west of the Philippines, about 1,860 miles from the launch site, and experts say that represents the first possible landfall for the rocket if things go wrong.
If North Korea does achieve a successful separation of the third stage -- something it says it achieved in 2009, but most experts say failed to put a previous satellite into orbit -- that would show it had improved its technology and the capacity to produce a missile that could carry an intercontinental nuclear warhead.
North Korea will launch what is being described as a small observation satellite within days. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Pyongyang has also shifted its launch site, and the new, more sophisticated site on the west of the Korean peninsula reduces the risk of debris falling on Japan, which was overflown in a previous test-launch of a missile.
The new rocket is believed to have a design range of more than 4,160 miles, and can carry a payload of up to 2,204 pounds.
At its closest point, Alaska in the United States is about 3,100 miles from North Korea.
Author Victor Cha talks about the nuclear future of North Korea and the growing concern that the country is about to launch a long-range missile test.
While North Korea's 23 million people live in poverty and many are at risk of malnutrition, the prestige of developing rocket technology and nuclear weapons capacity is the most important issue for Pyongyang, which sees it as a deterrent against invasion.
The North is believed to have stockpiled enough fissile material to manufacture up to 10 nuclear bombs.
Government officials in South Korea have calculated the North is spending $19 million on this launch.
NBC News' Richard Engel and Bob Windrem, The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
Leave a Comment:
nice welding job on the ghetto star. that thang will surely blow up.
Pyongyang says rocket technology is a deterrent for anyone wanted to invade North Korea. Are you kidding me? Who would want to invade North Korea? I've never seen a vacation prize to North Korea given away on the Price Is Right either.
@Save
Welding? You sir give them to much credit.
Soldered maybe......Weld No !
Got MAP gas? :)
It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Obama will do if the North Koreans go ahead with their rocket launch and set off another nuclear test. My guess is all he will do is make another speech and waggle his finger the way he seems to like to do, almost like he is scolding some child. I doubt he will take any real actions at all, except maybe to agree to give North Korea the food aid they need if the North Koreans promise to behave from now on. I do not see Obama taking any kind of hard stance or taking any kind of concrete action. It is doubtful he would even push too hard for any new UN sanctions for fear of upsetting China.
Obama's foreign policy is a joke and most of the world leaders laugh at him. They know that he has no stones and will do nothing more than give another speech.
And you *JS in SD* must suffer from PWHUA.
[Posting With Head Up A$$]
Please inform us oh enlightened one, just what would you, jesus and Faux News do differently?
wap3: ThK you for the chuckle to start the day
"North is spending $19 million on this launch."
Way to go NK, nothing like taking care of your real issues at hand. How about feeding some of those people you made cry for your father or did you already kill them to cover that up......
No dummy, you are supposed to wait for us and the rest of the world to give you aid before you say you're going to launch / blow something up. Guess he didn't pay attention to dear old dad's little tricks.
Great Job Obama!
Now that makes Two Rouge States (that we know of) that will have Nukes UNDER YOUR WATCH! One is COMMUNIST and the OTHER...... wait for it....... An ISLAMIC REPUBLIC.......
Interesting combination.... I'm not a conspiracy theorist but doesn't his major critics label him as both a Communist and a Islamist? WOW...
He can't come up with a reasonable answer tothat question because his reasonong is based on a hatred of Pres. Obama rather than an understanding of the issues surrounding the situation in North Korea. As guess I would say his answer would be to nuke them. :P
19 million ?? thats cheap in USA it would be 1.9 billion for same test
Flash
North Korea, already has nuclear weapons, and it happen long before Obama took office. Also Iran has been on a path to get nuclear weapons before Obama. You uninformed idiots seem to think the world started 3 yrs ago, my god man get a clue.
" Texaco called and they're pissed..."
TTGAC:
Wow, nothing sticks to your boy Obama, nothing is his doing. He has ZERO responsiability when things go bad on his watch right? What is going to happen when the SCOTUS strikes down his #1 claim to fame?
Who will Obama (and the rest of his minions) blame? Will it be Bush? Big Dick C? Scalia? Clinton? Holder? Rush? Bill O'Reily? America? Europe? Cats? Dogs? Locusts? My suit was in the cleaners? The dog ate my homework? The check is in the mail? I was going to call you I swear?
It's going to take a true "Leader" 20 years to fix what this Prez has done in under 4 years. Another downgrade, creating division in this country: whites/blacks, women/men, rich/poor, corporations/people, successful/entitled... Yes he's done a great job.... $6 Trilliion in debt, 88,000,000 people are not in the workforce...
Talk about me getting a clue? Dude, you need another handle. Hope is a good thing rght???
Deflecting to various other issues is hardly a rebuttal to a factual statement.
Flash:
The reason nothing sticks to Obama is because none of what you mentioned above is Obama's fault. The recession started under Bush and continued under Obama. When SCOTUS gets struck down, millions of people will no longer have access to health insurance due to their age or "pre-existing medical conditions" that don't actually exist. I don't see any race issues in this country that haven't already existed for the last 100 years, the arguments between the rich and poor have ALWAYS existed, corporations ARE NOT people, so saying that they have the right to argue AGAINST people is ignorant, and most of the "successful" became that way by blatantly robbing the "entitled." As for women vs. men, that's more the fault of Republican candidates. Check the gender gap. If it was Obama's fault, it's pretty @!$%#ing obvious to anyone with a brain that they'd be voting Republican. As of now, it's an 18 point swing in Obama's favor. Obama must really hate women. Corporations vs people was started by an extremely conservative Supreme Court. Blame them, not Obama. Some whites will always hate blacks, and some blacks will always hate whites. That's life. That's no one's fault. Not Obama's, not Bush's. NO ONE'S. As for your little "recession is all Obama's fault" spiel, what'd Bush inherit? That's right, I remember now. A SURPLUS. All he had to do was NOT spend and we'd still have a surplus, or at least be breaking even. What'd Obama inherit? That's right, I remember now, 1.3 trillion in debt. Once you learn economics (A high school crash course will suffice, I guarantee it) and study what ACTUALLY happened in the past, as opposed to just spewing stuff out your butt, you might view things a little differently.
What would expect this country to do for a rocket test? A test being preformed by more than a few countries, ours included. Stop with the Obama BS. These programs started long ago. If we weren't so busy with two wars, maybe something would have been done YEARS ago.
As was stated, the first NUCLEAR test was done in 2006. when do you think that program started?
Don't try to confuse the Righties with facts and reality, guys.
This is what happens when you give them food! The fat cat's in Korea get fatter on the free food, then have plenty of money to build weapons. No matter how many times we pay their ransom fail to change their behavior, we try again and again with the same ineffective policy. Maybe Republicans and Democrats alike should spend less time and effort on getting themselves elected and start doing what they were elected to do.
It's because we keep asking the Pyongyang regime to commit political suicide by disarming, which is NEVER going to happen. If we send conditional aid, we need to stop making futile demands and start putting measurable conditions on instead.
To flash and the other foreign policy experts:
Of course if you didn't suffer from selective amnesia, you would remember President Bush labeling N. Korea part of the "axis of evil" in 2002. Evil-doing since 2002. Let's see that would be a full 7 years before President Obama took office. But to hear you speak, they just split the atom in 2009, when the Kenyan Communist Muslim took over.
So, let's hear your alternative plan to deal with North Korea:
Nuke 'em? Yeah, that's going to go over well with Russia and China.
Invade them? Forget how the 1950 "police action" ended? No? Maybe 'cause it hasn't, we still have several thousand troops lined up against the 38th parallel. Don't know what that is? Read a history book every now and then.
Starve them to death? Have you seen pictures of the Kim's? Not exactly withering away.
So let's hear it genius. WWRD (What Would Romney Do). Propose a viable path forward or craw back under your ignorance and rage and let the adults deal with the problem.
Nice one Realist. that and "let China feed them". Like you say we have been paying ransom to all sorts of people, like "we was ashamed". Giving to terrorists never pays off, they always want more. the young dictator is following in daddy's footsteps to keep us trained.
The problem with #1.3 is he might be right and Wap #3 has the same disorder he claims JS in SD has. Mr Obamas response to foreign policy is always the UN, Mr Obamas response to domestic issues is the UN, I don't know of a more worthless organization on the planet. Mr Obama is a opportunist and a globalist, he does not stand for America he will sell us out to the UN and the globalists if he gets re elected. check your Obama alerts he is up to no good, unless you want the UN becoming the new world order and running the show, now the UN is actively seeking a income tax from all nations, that means they want to get into your pockets, and redistribute the worlds wealth at their convenience. the way he plans on taking out the US constitution is by allowing the UN to draft resolutions to override the constitution and the bill of rights, they are planing a world wide digital currency and abolishingcash and private ownership of precious metals, there is allot going on in this world that the media is not informing you about, when Obama gets a second term he will have the flexibility to do as he wishes. in his mind its the right thing to do, in my mind it will just drag everyone down to one common level unless you are one of the globalist elite. and Obama is more afraid of China then China is of the US, China also will not cooperate with the globalist they desire to be the ones in control, our children's future is what is at stake. now everyone just take a break and plan a nice vacation, go outside and play a little basketball everything will be just fine. the UN is on duty. And what is with NK having a space program when they can't afford to feed their people. their priorities are way out of prospective.
@D Buck-2239568
That's a pretty big accusation. can you cite your source please?
His own vivid imagination fueled by too much time spent on conspiracy theory websites. I have to give him credit for one thing. That's one of the most concise summaries of the major whacko conspiracy theories I've ever seen. The ones related to the UN anyway.
Nah, that would credit D Buck with having an imagination. He's just parapharsing what he's heard from Alex Jones and Michael Savage.
Oh JM please. What's with the "adult" comment? Typical droll liberal drivel.
My point is that the facts are right in front of your face when it comes to Obama and the fact that he has failed over and over and over... Your like a kid that that's sick and I'm your mother trying to put a spoon of medicine in your mouth but you keep turning your from side to side with your mouth shut.
JM you're a child that doesn't like your medicine.... LOL
Hey Flash, if you think Obama' polices are so far out of whack regarding North Korea, when are you planning on telling us what steps you think Obama should take with regards to the situation there or are you going to continue on with the deflections to other subjects and the generalized condescending bull@!$%# you been spewing?
@flash8
The administration already cut off the food aid to N. Korea a couple weeks back in response to their planned test. There are already sanctions in place, so I'm interested in what you think the next step should be.
I still wonder why we continue to be blackmailed by NK for food aid so they will 'suspend their nuke ambitions'. We already know its a scam and they will not stop their nuke program for anything, it is merely a ploy to get us to send them food so they can use it to keep their population working on nukes. Stop the food aid and let them struggle with their nuke program. If they decide it's time to use them, they will find out the hard way how small they are compared to everyone else.
It's funny but this guy seems like a reincarnation of his father, I know Koreans are hard headed but I guess if it don't affect you why should you care, does that remind you of one of our political parties here, I'm talking about the people and how impoverished they are, sleeping hungry is no way to live, Yet, he can find the money to build these rockets and bombs, Gee, that's like looking in the mirror here, but I guess it's better to point out another country's short coming than our own ..........
When Obama looked into N. Korea with binoculars and said he looked back 50 years, doesn't that compare to saying "I can see Russia from my back porch" (which Palin never said)?
No, because the North Korean government has been pretty much stuck in the same mindset from the end of the war until the present day.
flash,
So I give you several scenarios and I ask for your alternative plan and you reply with a childish comment and tired rhetoric about liberals. Then in the same breath, you complain about my "adult" comment. All I can say is thank you for making my point.
But I repeat, besides your unimaginative drivel, what would you like to see happen vis-a-vis North Korea?
There is the Anti American Toasty wanting to feed our enemies again. Here is North Korea spending millions on arms and satellites instead of food for their population and Toasty wants to send them aid. North Korea is not going to attack anyone. They will be "TOAST" in 5 minutes, (that was for the benefit of Toasty) and the leaders don't want to spend the rest of their lives underground and China doesn't want the winds to blow nuclear fallout on their territory. Get the troops out, leave the tactical nuclear weapons, get Japan, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand to take over responsibility and cut our military costs to 0 in that region. Paying attention to North Korea is ridiculous. Toasty, first we feed "AMERICAN CHILDREN" we do not appease or send food to a country that sent back to the U.S. over 53,000 young Americans in body bags! If you like North Korea so much, go there to live!
Everyone has or had handled this situation past/present all wrong, that includes Obama and G. Bush Jr. The pressure needs to be put on China. China likes a rogue communist state like N. Korea because they act as a buffer between the West and China. Second, N. Korea diverts attention from internal issue's China is dealing with i.e. famine, work force (labor) rights, arms build-up, and so on. How often do you hear about China in the news? North Korea is like a cancer, and most everyone knows what happens to a cancer if left untreated, it becomes untreatable through conventional means.
@Redphish
You say that the N. Korean government has been stuck with the same mindset since the earlier 50s, we'll that must have just changed because they split the atom 3 years ago. Their mindset is rapidly changing now.
I'm talking about political midset, not technical.
Jesus "dictionary," you got ANOTHER account banned?
That's because their "fearless leader" is more than willing to let the rural population eat grass and starve as long as things are good for him and the urban population in the capital can hide their heads in the sand and pretend that everything is just wonderful. Building nukes will not do anything about the grinding poverty in N. Korea except to be able to blackmail the south and the rest of the world. They already know that if they ever use those nukes it will be the end of them all.
Why do we even bother discussing this third world #$%^ pit, it’s a communist dictatorship and has been for 65 years. North Korea is Chinas problem they created it let them clean it up. The reality is simple if the madmen that control North Korea attempt to attack us or our allies with their tinker toy rockets….. It’s their funeral and they know it.
So what? I don't understand why they can't launch rockets into space with out the rest of the world tripping on them. I mean we already have enough to deal with trying to control the rest of the world. We need to mind our own business.
Building a ROCKET with a 4,000+ mile range so his neighbors won't invade? That sure makes it sound plausible...
And, just what kind of "concrete action" would you recommend? The country is isolated economically, the food aid program has been suspended. What's left?
Looks like N. Korea has a little in common with us.
“While North Korea's 23 million people live in poverty and
many are at risk of malnutrition, the prestige of developing rocket technology
and nuclear weapons capacity is the most important issue for Pyongyang, which
sees it as a deterrent against invasion.” NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news
services
“WASHINGTON — Another 2.6 million people slipped into
poverty in the United States last year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, and
the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million
people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing
figures on it.” SABRINA TAVERNISE September
13, 2011
Third times a charm.
Wasn't the last test on the tail of a rocket test? "If papa can do it so can I?
It might be well if the USA and other nations would take a firm stand telling the North Koreans to stop acting like a Child with a sneaked Cookie who promised to be good. To back this they should be made to understand that there would be no aid of ANY TYPE, EVER as we can no longer trust their "Promises".
You know what's weird? The North Koreans might actually taking being called "children" as a compliment. There's this really creepy infantilism fetish in Korean racial theory.
I would think that the best way to control these people would be to feed them. People become dependant on "gifts" from us,and then if we take the gifts away they WILL buck,against us,yes,but against their own government most assuredly. The way to control people is to give them what they think they want.
That's not quite how ultranationalism works, though.
Here we go again, with this North Kprean dictatorship. When MacArthur wanted
to wage total war on them, Truman said were going to engage in
a limited Police Action type.
We still have U.S. of A. troops there. It likewise seems were going to be in
Iraq, Afghanstain, forever. No matter what feel good Bubble the present
Administration is spouting, same as the previous one did. I'm wondering
what kind of Kool Aid these people are sipping. we still have troops in Germany,
Japan, Okinawan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey. Probably many other places we
don't know about, because they are called advisers. Lets get the heck out of these places
and save our own people from terrorists within. Namely these Gangs that have sprouted up that
are waging war within our Inner cities and Nationwide spreading throughout our own Towns
big and small. We have a battle here within the U S of A with these Gangs that are killing
Maiming anyone who they feel like, with impunity. Lets protect our own "borders" rather than
defend other Nations borders. Japan's Holy mumble jumble guy said we will shoot down any rockets
North Korea sends over our territory, " if we can". Interpreted it means (we The U S Of A )will do the
shooting down, at a cost of a Million Dollars a missle. without compensation from them towards
us defending their Borders.
Amen and be well people we cant even take care of our own citizens yet were trying to be the Policemen
of the entire Universe
What Say You
Highway
To Highway: Your idea sounds great, then the good old U S of A could just sit around and wait for incoming ICBM's. Possibly next year, or 5 years, or even 10 years.
Good Call WW2 VetEran; Isolationism didn't work then and will not work now. What we need to do though is be a bit more choosy of where and how we get involved and (For God's Sake) keep off the ground in Asia! It's hopelessly different from what we know and how we approach society.
Life is too cheap to them for us to get involved. We should have learned that from the Banzai charges of the Japanese in WW2, We could have recognized it in the Howling of the North Korean and Chinese in The Korean War. I learned it in Vietnam; 5,000 lost is nothing to them as long as they achieve their objective and save face. My son saw it again and we all read it in how they have accepted their losses in Afghanistan meted out by the Taliban.
HOW MANY LESSONS (and lives lost) UNTIL WE LEARN?
C'mon fatboy...ya wanna dance?
"I lay no hands on any man...and I don't allow any man to lay hands on me."
John Wayne "The Shootist"
Sort of sounds like Teddy Roosevelt; "Speak softly and carry a big stick" same premise.
Understanding President Obama’s foreign strategy or “How to stop being known as a bully”
A simple perusal of the various comment sections of the numerous Internet news sites show that there are many people who still do not fully grasp the over-arching foreign strategy of President Barrack Obama. Folks from many different camps can each point to incidents that highlight his both his ability to use force go after “the enemy”, and his desire to utilize diplomacy, almost indefinitely before resorting to the big end of the stick. What most critics either miss or ignore, is that President Obama is employing a specific strategy, and uses each individual event to progress towards his goal, which is, to attempt to remove the stain and stigma of being the world’s second biggest bully (Britain wins that prize), and to instead advance the cause of world peace.
It seems that the war hawks of this generation have neglected their study of history; or perhaps, who is responsible is of little consequence, and all that matters is that someone is buying the guns, and bullets, and warplanes and tanks, and missiles, and trillions of dollars of other sacred Defense Department toys, gadgets and bringers of death.
We can look at various “hot spots” around the planet, and call our “enemy” names, and demonize their way of life, but I ask you to do the barest of research to find out why Iran hates the United States. In case you do not yet understand the bully reference, which could just as easily be expanded to “thug”, or “racketeer”, documented history tells us that the United States of America deposed the legally elected Democratic Ruler of Iran, and placed instead a puppet, so we could have cheap and easy access to their oil.
And then there is our old arch-enemy, Saddam Hussein. Would it be an understatement to say that at one time the United States supported his cause, and his wars, and many of the acts and “atrocities” that we later condemned when he was no longer killing just the folks we wanted him to kill? Of course, it is well known that we trained and armed many of the tribes the “allies” fought in Afghanistan. We caused the split into North and South Korea because we didn’t want the commies to get their hands on it, and many of the other opium, cocaine and heroin producing areas, and eventually take over the world. And let’s not even go far back enough to discuss the utter devastation the African slave trade wreaked on a large swath of that continent.
Well versed in world history, and with a keen understanding of the unforgivable role of “bully” that America has played across the globe, after his election, the current President of the United States went on what many critics saw as a “sorry tour”. They were shocked and dismayed, because everyone knows a bully doesn’t say sorry. But President Obama didn’t just apologize for America’s missteps, he actually bowed lower than Japanese, and the First Lady touched the Queen, they brought humanity back to the White House.
President Obama has sought international consensus before acting, and let others take the lead; he’s deferred on using force, and sought to give sanctions and diplomacy an actual chance before sending someone’s child to fight and die. He has made decisions and taken actions specifically to demonstrate that we are not the same old bully that we used to be. We are still the strongest guy on the block, and we will stick up for the weak and innocent, but now is the time to expect more maturity and thoughtfulness from a leader of developed nations.
What a load of crap. The reality is that Obama has absolutely no cohesive foreign policy an has turned the US into a worldwide laughing stock. Rogue leaders around the planet thumb their noses at the US, knowing that Obama will do nothing about it. About all Obama will do is try and talk them to death and wave his finger at them. Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the rest all laugh at Obama's posturing because they know he will never back any of it up with any real actions.
And so, pray tell, what was the uproar about our role in Libya? Selective memory seems to be a republican trademark. JS in SD
Its funny how flip floppy Republicans have become. One day the President is too Hawkish rushing off to get us into conflicts, and kill terrorists. The next day he's white flag waving Dove. He can't be both JS in SD.
What's even more amusing is democrats acting like they are different in some way.
All that is true, Shareef. Putting aside whether the US is the world's biggest "bully" (and I certainly think that if we are, Britain has nothing on us), I do believe that Obama is trying to put a new face on American foreign policy and change the impression we have abroad.
But at the end of the day, the question is: is it working? Can a superpower get what it needs, project power when necessary, keep its allies safe and generally be respected in a world where it's concerned about image first and results second?
Maybe it can. I don't think we've seen this approach long enough to judge it as a success or failure (as someone else pointed out, both Iran and NK were intractable rogue states before Obama came to office, and it would be absurd to expect them to fold easily to diplomacy at this point). And certainly we've seen that there are limits to even our ability for militaristic intervention.
But still, I don't think we owe a bloody thing to Japan. Just sayin'.
So let me get this straight, Obama is a brutal tyrant with his iron jackboot pressed on the throat of the free world... And also is a liberal pussy who lets terrorists and Europeans walk all over him?
Shareef,
I can't stop laughing.
Obama wants to enslave the U.S. and hold us hostage to energy problems. No Keystone. No decision on Iran. Cutting hydrogen energy research 95%. Telling the world that the U.S. should have the same energy costs as Europe.
Then he brings up North Korea which is going nowhere with nothing as an issue. He should tell Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Russia and China it is there baby. Leave the tactical nuclear weapons and cut and run. North Korea is not going to attack as the retaliation would devastate them and the nuclear fallout would affect China tremendously. Wind blows left to right. Didn't set up a pro western government in Iraq before leaving even though he had three years. Afghanistan is a disaster. Wasting billions on NATO? What for. Europe can take care of itself and why does he want 11 aircraft carriers? Lots of waste and he doesn't give a damn. Playing politics with Iran, Syria and Israel to keep gasoline prices up and playing the fiddle while the world burns! What is he doing right? He killed bin Laden instead of capturing him and sent an unknown body into the ocean.
Still admires his self proclaimed Marxist preacher Wright who wants to kill every Jew. And signs free trade agreements to take away U.S. jobs. Tries to take credit for Bush solar energy projects in Arizona and New Mexico and sends $590,000,000 dollars to Finland which produced two electric cars. Lost billions on his renewable energy projects. Where do I stop?
Uh, "Dictionary?" Your tin foil hat is coming loose.
JS in SD its your reality. Not realy how the rest of us see things take your blinders off you mite get a better look!
35% of people that admit to being republican think Obama is the anti-Christ. For Gods sake people, he is black and being president doesn't make him the essence of evil. It would seem congress has hogtied him so he can't show what he is really made of. Wouldn't it be terrible to have to admit a black man made a great president? It was the democrats in congress that turned the healthcare bill into an embarrassing farce by leaving the states in control of who sells insurance in their state and delaying it with all sorts of stupid deals until they lost their needed 60 votes. A president can do little without the support of congress.
Like starting two needless wars?
It seems your love for Obama is only motivated by your hate for a past president. All your republican and Bush bashing is more transparent than Obama's promises ever will be.
Obama is no different than any other politician, in fact he is just that a great politician. He caters to people in an ideological way to obtain votes and campaign donations.
For as much as you and the rest of Obama followers like to think people dislike a president for the color of his skin, you sure are fooled by your own blind support of a person who has done little to separate his actions from the actions of our previous president.
They all need to go every single politician holding a seat in office.
Softdude,
You have it all wrong, Obama thinks he is god (lower case g), and all his faithfuls are his subjects to blindly follow his every wish and command.
We have 67 miollion people free to go down the road they want. George Bush 2 will go down as one our best learders. He started the movement of all north A. and the Med. I look up to him. As far as the Oct. superize he was FUCx into doing the move on banking by the Dems. and Dood Frank, we should hunt them dowm like dogs and feed them to whatever that would not spit them out. No jail time the two them, of nor there buds..
Dubya will go down is history as the biggest idiot that ever set foot in the oval office and by stealing the election to boot. The Democrats were not behind the big tax cuts for the rich. They didn't start two needless wars when all we needed was a local action to get bin Laden. Telling the enemy to bring it on when you are nowhere near the incoming rounds is such bravery. Announcing "mission accomplished" shortly after the beginning of a more than ten year war is such great leadership. Have you seen the look on his face when he was told the first tower was hit? There hasn't been anybody home for years in that alcohol pickled brain. He couldn't speak English, do you think he even understood it? Given the look 'of a kid that just broke the cookie jar' and the halting speech of the congressional leaders I wonder about 9/11. Where was the rage and threats to bomb them into the stone age? It looked like the plan went wrong when the towers fell, something they were assured would not happen. I'm sure there is a better explanation, what government has ever staged an attack on its homeland? I know, even the film clips in Fahrenheit 911 were faked. I don't doubt fanatic religious terrorist carried it out, but I do think the weapons and targets were specified by some pretty unsavory people looking for great TV coverage thinking there would be a much lesser loss of life and no expectation that the towers would fall. War was the ultimate goal and alls well that ends well, right? I may well be wrong but that is what I think of the character of the republican leadership. In fact, I hope I am wrong but there is this nagging doubt.
Written like the lower level uncouth, and uneducated troll you are. At least use the spell check function if you want someone to see your post as having any credibility at all.
George W. Bush was the President of the United States when North Korea became nuclear capable, period. They designed, tested, and deployed nuclear weapon technology, and Bush's Administration did nothing about it. Now the very same people, republican law makers, cry to the heavens that Iran absolutely can't have a nuke. Here the North Koreans are with a ballistic missile that can be tipped with a "satellite.", but Iran is the real threat. It makes no sense. We let a lone wolf have the power to split atoms in a bomb, and then sabre rattle a pack of wolves who desperately want that same power. The Aiyatola confesses a deep belief in a God. The crowned leader of North Korea more than likely, fancies himeslf one. Who would you rather have a nuke? Neither is the right answer, but sadly, that is not the case...damn
korea has no oil, iran does and we want it
Dustin, North Korea has a nuclear device, not a nuclear weapon. There's a difference, and weaponizing a system like that is immensely difficult, which is why it's taken these people close to 70 years to do what the United States managed to do in four.
Dustin,
You can bet that Republicans are very worried about North Korea with a nuclear weapon - at least, all the ones I know are. But Bush - like Obama now - couldn't have done much about it. The country still has one of the largest militaries in the world, despite its impovershed state, and the backing of the behemoth China. Beyond that, South Korea is practically a hostage state. It's a sticky situation where there is relatively no way to win unless China agrees to help us with a Blitzkrieg-style invasion to dismantle the country and unite the Korean peninsula. Can't really imagine that happening.
The reason that Republicans are ranting about Iran now can be reduced to two reasons: First, they are an easier target. Sure, Russia and China could be a wild card if they wanted to, but they have more to lose than to gain by getting involved. None of Iran's other neighboring allies can be called a threat. Two, Iran has repeatedly called for the destruction of our ally, Israel, and could be a danger to a still-recovering Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems a logical step - to Republicans and a lot of Democrats - that Iran could be coaxed into using that weapon. So we impose sanctions and pray to God that they work so we don't have to do a preemptive strike.
So I don't really think it has anything to do with Republicans crying over Iran and not North Korea... it's just a matter of where they can realistically apply the pressure and get results.
Uh, Noryc? If you think that China will intervene militarily, you obviously missed the headlines two years ago.
Leading nuclear scientists believe from fallout analysis that the North Koreans detonated a nuclear weapon with a yield of between 50 and 100 kilotons. Call it what you want, but our Fat Man bomb was 23 kilotons max. Whatever they have, I damn sure wouldn't want to test it on our boys and girls standing on that DMZ.
Who the hell would want to invade North Korea? But no sense criticizing them for spending millions of dollars on rocketry while their people suffer from malnutrition because the USA does the exact same thing. We've spent TRILLIONS on a war we can't win while our seniors eat cat food and kids in Appalachia and on Indian reservations have nothing.
Oh, really? When was the last time the US had a famine? You DO realize there's a difference between "people are hungry" and "people are DYING of hunger", right?
Oh hell...let these NoKoreans blow themselves up! Let them glow...it's only a matter of time that they mess it up and the whole area becomes unliveable...
We then can send our fearless leader over there to make his assumptions...but let's leave him there as an experiment....let's see if radiation makes him grow a pair...
AND TO THINK korea got nukes under geoge bush and the gop in charge, they were to busy chasing nukes and weopons of mass destruction that only existed in the gop,s mind then going after the real threat in n.korea that actually existed
Actually North Korea built their nuclear program on Clinton's watch!
Dear China,
Thanks for all of the crappy products, contaminated food, moronic communism and especially for North Korea.
The World
Dear China,
Thanks for all the nice products that you provide the world, they are value for money. Without your products most of us conusmers in the west are doomed.
The World.
I'm no expert on rockets but it looks to me by comparing that rocket to others I've seen, I don't think it can reach the speed of 17,500MPH (escape velocity) it's not a very big rocket so there's not much fuel on it plus it has no booster rockets, if this thing is able to get into orbit I will be very surprised.
I think everybody will be surprised. Seems to me this missile is made to come back down...
Nah, I'm not too worried about this rocket actually delivering its payload. North Korean engineering is really... lacking. But they'll learn from every attempt. It's just another milestone.
Why then is GE letting NBC report this , Pretty bad when a HUGE government /military /Nuke Power contractor Company sends a reporter to NK and give the dictator what he wants.
Reporters will report what they can, even if it's what a dictator wants them to see. Nothing strange about it. They just tag it with a disclaimer.
I guess you miss the point that NBC is owned by GE( a HUGE government /military /Nuke Power contractor Company)
My best educated guess is that they will test a hydrogen bomb following the missle test.
Of course, my education is suspect.....
nobody wants to invade north korea, but they are stupid enough to invade south korea if they and the rest of the world stops giving them food and aid, even though they have enough money for a nuclear and space program.h
nonetheless, stop feeding them, stop giving them aid...
let their own people revolt... they will once they get desperate enough, even though just like china, their military has no conscious and would kill their own people even knowing its wrong.
Seems logical, but I'm honestly not sure it will work. Their people are starving to death now and thousands are sent to death camps, but they still don't revolt. In the West, sure, no politician could spin this in a redeeming light to his people. But North Koreans genuinely believe that their country is one of the best in the world and their "dear leader" is always going to look out for them. Call it mass brainwashing, if you want. It's more likely that the best way to get a revolt would be to educate them on the rest of the world... but, of course, their government strictly controls all foreign information.
The sad but true facts are this. North Korea begins additional nuclear activities. The US objects. North Korea than says they will stop if they only could have a bunch of aide in the form of food their people need to stop them from starving. The US agrees to furnish North Korea with thousands of tons of food stuff. North Korea than stops for a small amount of time, and than they go ahead and start doing the same activities that our bribes and humanitarian were supposed to have stopped.
This has been going on for decades. It is time to stop giving aide to the enemies of the US. Let the North Koreans put their money into food for their people instead of spending it on Nuclear activities. It is long past time the government begins doing the right thing. The right thing such as get out of Korea, and let them get on with whatever they choose to do about the two parts that make up the one Korea.........bc
Who the hell cares about North Korea? WMD's, big deal, they're like kids with a fire cracker. Give them enough time and they'll blow off their thumb. Nobody interfered with America while we produced bombs by the thousands, and we're the ONLY country to ever use one in war against civilian targets. I would think after all the financially devastating, completely unproductive wars over the last 62 years we'd start minding our own business. If the South Koreans want to start a fight with them at least it's in their neighborhood. If everyone just ignored the North they might get bored playing war and start feeding their people.
Let's hope they don't provoke another earthquake to Japan with that stupid nuke test. The korean peninsula is very close to Japan and Japan is sitting on the ring of fire.
They are testing us because they perceive president Obama as weak. I am not saying he is weak but that they perceive him as being weak. Foreign enemies didn't know what George W would do when challenged so they were less belligerent.
The only nuclear tests that North Korea have done were performed while Bush was in office.
North Korea tested nukes while Bushy boy was in office. What the hell do you mean, "foreign enemies...were less belligerent"???? Are you kidding?
Well, kylesme is right to some extent... in his early years, Bush gave off the "if you screw with us, we'll invade your country and another one for extra measure" vibe thanks to Afghanistan and Iraq. An aggressive president can be intimidating as opposed to an appeaser. On the other hand, North Korea still went ahead with its testing anyway and still got foreign aid out of the bargain, so in this case it didn't really help.
North Korea is just showing off, we should play their game, show them one of our Nuke Subs off their coast....give them a moment of pause and to try and think of their consequences.....a SeaWolf Class Sub is a real mind changer
Exactly. Show them the Sea Wolf. Rewarding them with continued food aid certainly isn't working. The President unfortunately seems to be sticking with the exact same policy on NK as George W. Bush. It isn't working.
obozo...give them another billion, so they can ignore you again
hail lord obozo, saving the world one country at a time
The "Brown Clown" is hiding in the closet ..... he doesn't want anyone to bother him until this is all over!! BTW ... he had a TV hooked up in the closet so he could watch the basketball playoffs.
And yet the teabaggers always get mad when I point out their racist tendencies...
Yeah... probably not the best choice of words, Zman. I'm not a fan of the president either, but giving anyone a reason to accuse you of racist remarks doesn't help the cause.
What ever happens , happens. not one person in this country (or world ) that can do anything thing to stop it.
There is just to much greed in the world. to many people. to much drug use.
I do not what to die, but it will take a major world war and a lot of dead peole to get things back to where it belongs.
OH! and don't count on the non-existing man in the sky to help.