Somebody needs to let the North Koreans know that modern nations have LOTS of spy/recon satellites and don't need an announcement every time you do something right out in the open. :D

They are only launching a tiny satellite that will relay music ....

Let them play with their cute little rocket ....

ag,

maybe their governments do not care but sanctions put pressure on the normal people living in those countries and it is through them that the UN is hoping to apply large pressure to get their governments under control. The problem is that the government would rather kill their uppity citizens then listen to them.

There is only one way to remove a dictatorship.

The announcement is coming from your US media, this is written by your journalists, this is what you believe, we don't know what is really true. The media tells what gets a reaction.

Maybe The Dear Leader has no balls. Let them launch their rocket and they get no food as Obama promised. Oh, I forgot Our Dear Leader Mr. Obama also has no balls as well, and will give them the food anyway.

No one may agree to this but we (the US NAVY) should be in a position to launch a patriot missile or two at their missile and shoot it down. that way they will not know if they had it right,and tough talk with the N.Koreans should end If china will not reign them in then lets test one of our own and take it down in flight. . Our excuse is Oh were sorry we were doing missile testing of out own, They must have gone off corse an hit each other. Just food for thought.

Yeah Kilroy, we could do that, shoot their missile down. But, isn't there some kind of international agreement, like the one we made with the Soviets? "When we launch a missile you don't shoot it down and we won't shoot yours down." Hell, let North Korea throw it's fits, like a little kid, talk about what it can and will do, it just makes them look ridiculous to the rest of the world. Thing is, it's good that they launch a missile, it lets us, America, know at what level it's technology is and we can prepare. One commentor crudely intimated that "Dear leader" has no balls. Ok, cool, that was funny, but, "Dear leader" doesn't need any, he has a million man horde that he can send South, so, there's his balls, a million pair of them, lol.

Poor North Koreans, they have such tiny rockets.

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.

Conjures up the visual of this giant rocket with an old transistor radio strapped to it... volume on high... playing "fearless leader's" favorite songs.

I don't believe they've had one launch go well. I bet this one goes into the sea with the others.

North Korea is a mere splinter on the world stage... not a big deal unless it gets infected... to be ignored as often as possible.

JS in SD

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.

At least that's the GOP position on the matter... always claiming to be against Obama... always claiming to know what's best... always claiming to know what "the world" thinks.

Obama is giving North Korea it's due... economic sanctions and very little attention. Perfect.

I'm afraid cowboy Bush set the record for being the global joker of the century. It's been all uphill from there.

And what, exactly, is Romney's position on the matter? Unknown. The only thing we can surmise is that it's "not Obama"... in words only.

Why not trust our President to use tactics as he as already shown he's capable of with SEAL Team 6, a precision strike with minimal risk? We don't even have to look for these weapons on foot for ten years.

So Obama's policy is a joke? And all you armchair generals yearn for the days of Bush. Sure, lets occupy Iran. Pakistan and North Korea for a decade each. First we borrow the funds from China and Saudi Arabia. Eventually, the lenders will tire of this reckless 'peacekeeping', and call in their debt. At this point, we'll be so weak, we could be literally annexed by Mexico.

Yes, js in sd tell us what a real President would do.

Why havent they just went in and crushed them already? @!$%# those il tempered little midgets.

Sonny, you can type so I assume you can read. Go to the library and pick up "Give me Tomorrow" . "The Coldest Winter" "Last Stand of Fox Company" or go talk to a Korean War Vet-if you can get them to talk about it at all, or get down to the recruiter station today and say front line Korea. Hats off to all KWVETS.

Lmark---

"And what, exactly, is Romney's position on the matter? Unknown. The only thing we can surmise is that it's "not Obama"... in words only."

The convenient thing about Romney's position(s) is that it will ultimately be canceled out by Romney at some point in the near future. Isn't that true of most of his platform? If you add up everything he's been for and against you get zero.

Hopefully -- this rocket just goes "bang" on the launchpad. But I fear the embarrassment will lead to some "disappearances".

@ LMarcT

Paying aggressive dictatorships no attention is a perfect strategy?

That's just what Hitler was counting on.

Wake up and smell the history of man...tyrants and dictators can't be "ignored" down from aggressive behavior and abuse of power. Your forgetting our animal ancestory is still alive in well in every living man and woman.

We've got nothing to worry about. Obama will just increase sanctions. That's worked so well with Iran. Oh, wait...just like the Iranians, the N. Koreans DON'T CARE.

Fine, let's start two more wars. Only this time, maybe we should RAISE TAXES TO PAY FOR THEM FIRST. Oh, wait, that's not going to work. Norquist's private Congress won't go for it. Sorry, no pay, no play.

All the Obama haters just love this..."oh goody...we can bash the President again..."

Get over it...this isn't about him...enough with your rhetoric, kids.

Time to go back inside now. Recess is over.

@BluePanther20

We took notes during your anti-Bush rhetoric. You remember...the rhetoric that completely ignores the Democrats hand in our entry into Iraq.

Time to go back inside now. Recess is over.

I think the us or someone needs to shoot it down..because how does anyone know what this rocket is carrying. they might have something up there sleeve..dont really think there interested in the weather.

N. Korea surrounded by two big brothers makes me laugh, how they could both put the squeeze on the little parasite country and end this BS. They are the one's playing us like a fool, it gets complicated after that.

Let it get ten or twenty feet off the ground then shoot it down from five different locations, they'll never figure out who did it.

We are ready to shoot it down. Only if it come our way.

I'll laugh when this rocket fails to lift 10 foot off the pad crashing & burning

Why do they need a weather satellite? Can't they just watch the Weather Channel like everybody else?

Good to see COMPAQ (see monitor in picture) is doing business in NK, with all the sanctions and all...

Hewlett Packard is in NK?

If we were actually serious about this issue instead of listening to Hillary's idiotic statements, and Bush was still President, the headlines would read something like this:

NK is fueling rocket.

US has identified NK launch site and several auxillary sites as potential targets for new anti-missile tests.

NK has readied rocket for launch.

US has positioned military resources to begin testing of new anti-missile technology.

NK has launched rocket and declares test a huge success.

US has announced its test of anti-missile test was cancelled as satellites indicate NK rocket mysteriously exploded on launch pad.

NK begins building new rocket.

US openly destroys new rocket during its construction.

NK promises total retaliation on South Korea and the US.

US and South Korea declare NK will be uninhabitable for the next 2,000 years due to overwhelming radiation.

mellowfello1526615

Sir I do not know what type of agreement we have with the North Koreans, It was early in the morning and I could not sleep so. I was just poking at the story.I am just tired of their tough talk and shooting at a helpless fishing vilage that did not do anything to give reason to be shot at in the first place. I mean Like we'd really do that. I am sure that China would not like that either and my be considered an act of war. Was it not the north that took shots at a small fishing village a little while back, and are we not in aliged with that of the south? I mean the Japanese have said if it crosses their airspace they would do just as I said? and with who's missiles would japan be using? our I would guess

...Is anyone else hoping it crosses Japanese airspace so they have a reason to shoot it down? It just feels like North Korea is getting a little over-confident. Their army will starve before they can launch a major war offensive.

@Dave.....The UN broke its own sanctions, and sent computers and servers to N.K..

@Marky

He'll find his ballz under his chin

America needs to realize we have no right at all to stop other countries from having just as capable of a defense as we do. The sooner all nations have nuclear weapons, the sooner wars will be basically a thing of the past (as we know them).

Even if 10 million people die every 20 years from a nuke to nuke confrontation, if under a non-nuke world 10.1 million people would of died over that same 20 years, we just saved 100,000 human lives.

I'd also point out, no two nuclear nations ever went into a full-on Hot War. Why? Mutually assured destruction (mutual combat with equal arms technology) doesn't just apply to guns, swords, and fists...it also applies to nukes. Deterent factors INCREASE nonviolent results due to game theory mathematics.

So, we're simply afraid of the irrational HOW we might die, not the rational chance of it happening. It's no different than fearing flying even though it's far safer than car travel.

We need to get a grip on our fear, and think rationally. Our government knows this (their computers that launch nukes are based on game theory math), and keeps us in fear of a LESSER threat to our lives so they can avoid losing exploitive status as a nation with nukes versus nation's without them. In game theory those who have nukes will be exploitive mathematically of all nations without them...so in order to avoid being exploited mathematically, nations must get nukes. It's not disputable...it's pure math.

The world is better off with nukes, is safer, and is less exploitable. We as Americans should embrace this as stop listening to government propaganda which is designed to make us hate outgroups, love the ingroup, and ignore the mathematical facts that are beyond reproach.

Thank God I'm thousands of miles from that thing. It looks like welded together oil drums that is proped up by 2 by 4s,

geowil, like their people can change the govt there? get real.

Mike S.-2262427

AH,Yes! ;o)

@Marky-239878

That was great. I thank you and my coffee covered monitor thanks you as well :)

It seems there is nothing we're not willing to blow up in the name of peace.

@Gabriel-1934044

Please read geowil's post again carefully. I'm not trying to pick a fight as I know the grammar and such is a tad off. Geo states that the UN is applying pressure against the common person hoping that sh#@ will roll up hill and affect Gov. policy (essentially). Then "Points" out that the flaw in their reasoning (I refuse to say logic & UN in the same sentence) is the "Deer" Leader would rather just shoot any uppity peasants that get in the way (target practice and 1 less mouth to feed).

Re: "There is only one way to remove a dictatorship"

Thats about as "Real as it "Gets"

The implication is that overwhelming "Force" must be used (expensive and who is footing the bill not the USA I hope?).

@DT - Really great analysis, but I think you should square your post with the simple FACT that N. Korea first developed and tested nuclear weapons when Bush was in the White House. Some job he did of deterring them. The bulk of Iran's progress on the nuclear front was done during Bush's presidency. All of you jacka$$ who are quick to bash Obama and claim "this wouldn't happen if Dubya was still in office," need to take your heads outta your a$$ and open your eyes because all of this happened on Bush's watch. So, to make this simple so can understand DT, your post makes no sense considering N. Korea gained nuclear weapons and first tested them when Bush was President, not Obama

If We didn't have such a spineless leader this wouldn't even be happening.

I go way back as a North Korea watcher. I was a senior North Korean intelligence analyst at the Far Eastern Watch Center (5th AF) from 68-70. In fact, I was plucked from Vietnam two days into a six-month extension to replace the bunch that were fired as a result of the Pueblo incident.

This is just a ploy for young Kim to consolidate power. By making a public show of standing up to Obama (as well as the hated Japan and South Korea) Kim will go a long way to showing that he is capable of handling the NK Army.

My best swag is that the launch will be accompanied of followed shortly by a nuke test and some sort of provocative incident, most likely by the NK Navy.

With the ranking members of the government and military it will show that Kim is capable of following the same pattern of brinkmanship that has kept the West off balance since 1953. But more importantly, the series of activities will exercise the chain of command. There will be thousands of "watchers" --- political cadres --- who will look for the slightest hesitation or failure to follow orders to the letter. Any one doing so will simply disappear instantly.

The Chinese are no longer on board with anything that Korea does. They are more than anything afraid of the sudden appearance of millions of starving refugees on their border. They also fear that North Korea will draw them into Kim's adventurism. The older folks in South Korea are still violently anti-Communist and would like to have reunification. But the younger generation has come to realize that North Korea is so much like Albania that reunification would be a economic and social disaster.

But everyone with any sense realizes that North Korea holds all the aces. If we don't play along with their script, the entire Seoul-Inchon Corridor (which includes South Korea's financial and governmental centers as well as 40% of its population and most of its manufacturing) would simply disappear in about 15 minutes of intense artillery, heavy mortar, and rocket fire. Also disappearing would be about 28,000 US troops and two air bases. Commando activity in the rear would also commence and would do a lot of damage. The US would have absolutely no real comeback. North Korean facilities are hardened to the point that we really don't have the means to take them out with conventional weapons (including "bunker-busters" and MOAB's.) In fact, it is the North Koreans who are coaching the Iranians on how to do the same in Iran.

And, as for the idea of shooting down the rocket, that is just a pipe dream. Anti-missile missiles simply don't work all that well in real-life situations. The new launch facility in North Korea is on the northwest coast near the Yellow Sea. The Yellow Sea is international waters, but has at least 20 advanced Kilo-Class submarines laying in the mud at the bottom of these shallow waters where SONAR doesn't work very well due to high sediment content. That is how the North Koreans sank a South Korean Navy state-of-the-art anti-submarine warfare corvette without being detected. If the US Navy were to send even a single ship into the Yellow Sea for the purpose of shooting down a missile, the ship(s) would be most likely lost. If a North Korean sub or shore-to-ship cruise missile didn't get them, a Chinese sub would be sorely tempted because they could easily blame the North Koreans.

The idea of an invincible US Navy is a thing of the past. The Chinese have deployed land-based anti-carrier ballistic missiles that can hit a flattop without the carrier having a chance to defend itself. And the Yellow Sea is like the Persian Gulf --- it is shallow and difficult for a group of ships to maneuver in becauise of various territorial water and military exclusion zones. At least 20 times during 2010, a Russian, Chinese or North Korean submarine has surfaced within hailing distance of a US Navy capital ship without having been detected. This just scares the crap out of military planners.

So before the hawks talk bombing North Korea or taking any direct actions more substantial than sanctions, a lot of "thinking caps" need to be donned. Our military is still over-deployed and badly in need of troop renewal and equipment refurbishment or replacement. And these people have been preparing since 1953 to absorb everything the US can throw at it from the air without losing siginficant troops, equipment of supplies. It's not gonna happen.

@RustyBoy

It's better than us being blown up in the name of their peace.

Ignorance is only bliss inside of the veil of protection provided by the United States of America. Outside ignorance will get you beheaded, traded as a sex slave, killed as collateral drug trade damage or thrown in third world prison.

Without America the world would be plunged into another dark age. Don't think so... what happened after Rome fell?

We will listen to their.. Rock and Roll, while we conduct missile Drills..... :D

Seriously, why is there always so much sensationalism in everything ? If they want to launch a missile into space then who cares ? Regardless if its intent. So what if they are even testing for nuclear warheads. Does anyone think that the USA is going to do nothing ? As in spying to make sure we are safe ? Even if , god forbid they shoot something at us, or another nation, does anyone think Korea is that stupid to do such an act that would invite us, and other nations, going in there and kicking some butts.

Let them do what they want, so sick and tired of US trying to tell countries what they can and can not do. Build your nukes, just dont shoot one our way or be prepared for a massive counter strike.

@ Chris 749391 Excellent posting.

Who knows maybe we'll get lucky and the North Koreans will launch the damn thing in our direction. That would give us a great excuse to vaporize them once and for all..... Just kidding, sort of.

Marky...

Funny! C'mon collapsers, lighten up...Marky didn't ask that you scratch dear leaders nads...

Mike S.-2262427

it failed!

Chris-749391

I want to thank you for your time there, Thank-you. And I would not go into the yellow sea with a carrier,destroyer,frigate or any other type of navy vessel(Well maybe a sub) I was talking in my sleep on post 1.7 I like your post and thoughts you posted .....Good posting Sir. I see you have made a lot of good post on many articles. I do enjoy the reading of them

Joseph - While I agree that our government has issues with power, control and true representation of "We the People" you go WAY overboard in maintaining that the Taliban are our friends. You are psychotic and troublesome. Those people are responsible for killing thousands of innocent people and soldiers. Maybe YOU need to go and do some research on how evil they really are....but I doubt you will. You seem to have the ability to research and post comments which means your twisted philosophy will not be changed, thus you are mentally/emotionally impaired. Either that or you are evil. I hope the former for your sake.

You are just people! No right to shoot down anything. Just keep being people. There is nothing special about you

So your retort to a list of facts is : AD HOMINEM (I surrender the debate, you're a poopy head).

Great jon surrendering w/o a fight.

Statism and nationalism are mental disorders.

you go WAY overboard in maintaining that the Taliban are our friends.

Agreed...but they aren't our enemy either. Equating that domestic force with an international terror group Al Queda is incorrect...and to suggest we need to set up puppet govts for 10 years to stop terrorists that WERE (but aren't anymore) hiding there is naive. They aren't at war with America per se, they are war with our govt...who I also disown as illegitmate. No govt is legitimate that governs individuals who have not harmed or defrauded other first...they have no right to govern us. Even the Constitution is flawed in this ethical regard.

If you think our government is criminal LEAVE. I doubt you'll be missed.

Joey, Joey, Joey. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times--you can't just go cold turkey off your meds. The flashbacks are a bitch. Taper, dude, taper.

Nukes don't stop the US from bombing countries. Just look at Pakistan, they have nukes, yet we are shoving drones up their you know what. They are angry and their government is always demanding that we stop bombing their mountains, even stopped us from using their country to aid our troops. Nukes doesn't get you immunity from the US.

Heck, if one country were to use a nuke against us, or vice versa, we would just nuke each other to death.

I wonder how you would feel if the shoe was on the other foot. Just pushing your weight around, doesn't prove anything. Bully tactics are not good tactics. There are many miss-placed people with families that have been forced to move to many countries, and start a new life, because of your bombs. I guess you don't think about the innocent lives that this screws up.

and your comments have what to do with this story? BTW how do you build a nule? hehehehehe loser

Josh - isn't that kinda the point. To KEEP NK from having nukes so we avoid that very scenario. These wackos have NO BUSINESS possessing any nuke of any kind, period. Look how radical they are just advertizing what they are doing now. Can you imagine how bad it would be if they really DID have a nuke. I'm no warmonger, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I say take out any and all facilities that have anything to do with manufacturing nukes. We owe it to Japan, SK, and especially ourselves to prevent the NKs from using a nuke as leverage against the rest of the world.

Elizabeth - I have to disagree. In certain times, bully tactics work just fine. If you have the biggest stick, people will think twice before jumping you. It's just the way it is - even if you think it's not right or not fair. Obviously "sanctions" don't work; if they did NK would have stopped playing with nukes and FED it's people....but they (NK Govt) don't care about their people, they just want nukes. I think we SHOULD be alarmed that NK would sacrifice it's people in order to have nukes. Doesn't that raise a red flag to you? It should.

I agree, these knuckleheads that are running "OUR" (our meaning, the American people, not those jack asses in Washington) need to be stopped. Unfortunately, there is no money to be made for themselves or their buddies in stopping North Korea, but what is going to happen when those crazy bastards do come up w/ a nuke and decide to start blowing people up. This is a real bad sign of things to come.

Thats funny, cause if you were in N. Korea, you would be shot for saying that. I love America, best place to be.

ok here is the test, is there a god in any form? we will know the minuete that rocket explodes on the launch pad. if not god has surely foresaken us.

Your mom is calling you tomcatfixer.

Okay look: We only invaded Iraq because of Bush(yes that dumbass is at fault.) Iran CAN'T make nukes because: 1)The UN looks down on that type of building, 2)More sanctions would be placed on the country, 3) Iran can't afford a war, and 4) ITS NOT STUPID(unlike you). The countries with nuclear weapons know that if they use them then every able country will be it's enemy and they will be faceing a world war with nukes and most likely the world will get blown up in the process. Our government would bend every way possible to NOT get into a nuclear war even if the enemy country has something they want(I wouldn't know if it involved US citizens).

You know why we have not attacked North Korea? It is because it has nukes. If Iran was smart it would start building nules immediately. Our leaders would be willing to lead us to nuclear war to get what they want because they will be able to take shelter. We Americans need to stop our criminal government.

Amen

If you think our government is criminal LEAVE. I doubt you'll be missed.

Obviously you aren't aware of American traditions of secession (we seceded from England), Civil Disobedience (an idea anarchist Henry David Thoreau invented and was credited for, by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.), and individual sovereignty (the government only has sovereignty via our CONSENT...if we do not consent it is illegitimate provided we have not FIRST harmed or defrauded anyone).

We don't need to leave...we need to break as many laws as we please in an act of civil nonviolent disobedience, because those laws are unjust. The government is simply an extortionist (taxing) mafia (state) within a specific gang turf (geographic area where they hold a law, court, and police monopoly BY FORCE).

We can collectively Civilly Disobey; it's called nullification. States in the North nullified Fugitive Slave Laws in order to not return runaway slaves to bondage. It's Constituional, let alone ethical (which is more important, logically). Furthermore, if they feel so wronged, those collectives can secede. Any aggression against those acts of nonviolent resistance are TYRANNY. Don't fool yourself into believing the Civil War was over slavery...it wasn't. It was over secession. The South (evil as their reasons were) could of seceded over a bag of donuts and STILL a war would of occured. How do I know this? Read history, clearly they were threatened with war before the Civil War under other Presidency for threatening to secede based on wholly sparate topics from slavery. The TYRANNY of government foce to stop Civil Disobedience clearly extends past the singular despicable issue of slavery. And look up Lincoln's own words for yourself...he backed an Amendment to KEEP slavery for all time, the original 13th Amendment (which passed Congress and he signed previous to the war breaking out). He insisted white supremacy was correct (yes, he was an admitted white supremacist). He tried to deport blacks to Africa, but they starved to death in the pilot program. He thanked his man in the field for provoking the first shots of the Civil War fired by the South as his "favorable outcome". He even said that if he could thwarted secession of his tax cattle (humans) in the South, and won the war, without freeing the slaves he gladly would of done it. It was never about slavery for Lincoln...it was about "preserving the Union", or keeping half of his tax cattle on his tax farm in line. He freed the slaves to incite insurrection and to recruit needed soldiers to win a war...not out of humanitarian means. Essentially, the market of unwilling soldiers forced his hand. His draft (the first in national history) to force men to die for his war wasn't enough...he needed blacks to die for his cause...and he said as much. He was of the opinion that the more blacks that died in the war, the less white soldiers died...and that was his reason to admit them into service.

Sorry...but this is the politically incorect version, but the factual version, of history they won't tell you in your government propaganda laced history classes. They also sell you the virtue of the Founders...many of whom owned slaves. Some were cruel slave masters on top of it. They have pictures of these men handing above first graders alphabet, right above the chalkboard. They have you say the Pledge of Allegience to this goernment every day for 12+ years...as if it has any relation to education AT ALL. This is what nationalism is...it's brainwashing. It's taking symbols and turning them into religious symbols beyond questioning. It's forming a religion around these symbols, and where the false idol is the state (government). This nationalist religion worshipping the false idol the state leads to demanded blood sacrifice (children recruited in high school to die in wars NOT directly in self defense, and revolutions every 200-300 years to overthrow and (unfortunately) replace the state with another tyrannical state).

Nationalism and statism, nation states, are mental disorders that rationalize tyranny and evoke emotions like religions. It's faith, a lack of facts.

We as Americans used to believe in individual sovereignty; rugged individualism. Now even the RepubliBloods agree with the DemoCrips that individualism and individual rights are evils and inconveniences to state domination.

We used to believe that if you have the mental and physcial ability to govern yourself, you have the right to govern yourself. If in that act of self governance you do not harm or defraud another person, their properties, or possessions, then logically all external compulsory government is tyranny.

We no longer believe that. We believe in statist and nationalist collectivism, which leads to the inevitable things this always leads to:

Atrocity, tyranny, and a lack of ethics. The death of philosophy, and the rise of ideology. Anomie.