I live in Chicago and now with this news of North Korea having nuclear bombs and such, I’m starting to get really freaked out that we’re all gonna die due to our brilliant President pissing somebody off.
So what, really, is the danger? That an airplane would fly over and drop bombs? That missiles could be sent from foreign countries? That they’d be fired from ships or subs in the ocean? Are we in imminent danger, or would we know about it before something big happened? I don’t want to die. I’m too young. And stupid. (Thus my recent interest in Straight Dope.)
of course we’re all gonna die… eventually, one way or another… get over it. my sister’s humanities professor says we (the US) have enough bombs to blow up the entire world 52 times; so whoever tries to bomb us is a moron.
Bush will not need to piss somebody off for North Korea to start killing people. Their leader is happy to start a nuclear war on his own initiative.
Fortunately, China has started putting pressure on the little maniac. When North Korea did a test missile launch a short time ago, China cut off all oil supply to NK for a day or two…
This seems like a bit of an exaggeration to me. I’m sure we could wipe out most major population centers, but I doubt we could carpet bomb even a decently-sized country, let alone the planet. Are the warheads the limitng factor? Do we have enough missiles to carry our entire nuclear arsenal? I mean, the insane amount of radiation would probably obviate any need for carpet bombing, but that’s not the point. . .
You think you’re scared, Qazz? I live on the West Coast (San Jose, California) ! If there’s any part of the country that’ll be glowing in the dark, it will be mine! :eek:
It helps me play *Missile Command[i/] with greatly increased fervor
Most of this e.g. US plan to bomb North Korea is just brinkmanship and negotiating tactics for the multilateral talks. So long as Bush himself can simply keep out of the “who’s got the biggest, hairiest chest” slanging match, the lid can be kept on.
From DPRNK perspective (or at least their retoric) Bush included them in the “Axis of Evil”.
Bush has overthrown another “Axis of Evil” regime on the rationale of destroying their WoMD, which were not used and may not exist.
DPRNK has WoMD, the US has moved forces into their region and has expressed a preference to oust the regime in Pyongyang and hence Kim would have a logical basis that his best chance of retaining power is by having and being prepared to use WoMD and using this as leverage in seeking a non agression pact.
It might suit the US domestic agenda to claim Kim Jong is a deranged lunatic, but I think it would be safer to assume he’s cunning, ruthless and knows exactly what he’s doing.
China’s involvement in this issue is overdue, welcomed and critically important. If the US will “allow” them the kudos of brokering a settlement, this can be worked out.
I think there were reports the Clinton Administration studied the options of a second war on the Korean peninsula and found even a conventional war would result in unacceptable levels casualties in South Korea, and possibly extending to Japan and China. Whether the neocons put the same value on Korean lives is something outside my ken.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Qazzz *
I live in Chicago and now with this news of North Korea having nuclear bombs and such, I’m starting to get really freaked out that we’re all gonna die due to our brilliant President pissing somebody off.
So what, really, is the danger? That an airplane would fly over and drop bombs?{/quote]Of course not - Mayor Daley has solve that problem by back-hoeing Meigs field, thereby keeping the city safe from all airborne mayhem :rolleyes:
Hawaii, Alaska, Washington state, Oregon, and California are all in far more danger than Chicago is - at least at this point.
Well, kid, congratulations on trying to better yourself. If you want to live a long time don’t play chicken with trains, don’t eat at McDonald’s three times a day seven days a week, and stay away from cigarettes.
He really is a deranged lunatic. (And he probably thinks Bush is as crazy as he is.) But it’s also true that he knows what he’s doing as far as responding to the whole axis of evil thing. He wants to wrangle for aid since his country is starving (and no, he obviously won’t take money away from the military to feed them), and he wants to ensure his country isn’t attacked.
It’s not really news that they have a nuclear weapon or two. They’ve just confirmed what was already apparent, or at least highly probable. Things get a lot uglier if they finish reprocessing plutonium and start making a bunch more. At the moment, the offer to dismantle them seems to still be on the table if they get aid and assurance there won’t be a war.
This one part of the issue is pretty simple, I think: he’s on the list and he knows it. What else is he going to do but try and deter it? =P
America survived the nuclear threat from the 50’s through the 80’s (Cold War). I think we can survive this. As almost everyone said, a lot of it is just politics playing it’s part.
And yes, this guy is a lunatic.
And no matter what, if something goes wrong people will find a way to blame President Bush, even though this has been a problem with other Administrations. Bush just ‘played his punk card’.
Bush 2004.
To answer the question in the OP, North Korea does not possess any delivery system that can threaten any part of the USA including Hawaii. It has the capability to threaten South Korea and Japan including US forces stationed in those countries.
So, you should really cross “being bombed by North Korea” off your list of things to worry about.
Damn, you young uns don’t know what fear is until you come home from school and at 4:00 pm pacific time President John F. Kennedy comes on the black and white TV and starts talking about offensive weapons 90 miles off the coast of the U.S. and the Soviet Union this and the Soviet Union that…and the next few weeks everyone is trying to act like it will all be ok…(it was, but just barely)
And they had missles that would hit the entire US and Europe.
The 98 test was the same one that can definitely reach Japan, as I stated above. If you want your claim that it can reach the continental USA to have any credibility, you may need to provide a cite.
But what’s this?
Odd that you choose to link to a site that does not corroborate a single allegation you have made about the range of NK’s missiles.
If you actually have some evidence that shows that I am wrong, I will be quite happy to take it on board. It’s all about eradicating ignorance after all.
All the brouhaha is over developmentnot production. By some estimates, the missile could be deployed as early as 2010.
This description of the Taep’o-dong-2 missile clearly illustrates the uncertainty over its potential capabilities, to say nothing of the status of the program:
The potential threat posed by these missiles is the poster-boy for accelerated deployment of NMD. As such, all claims as to the missile’s abilities need to be taken with the same grain of salt as last years stories of frogmen with backpack nukes infesting America’s harbors. -It’s the same people tellings us about the threat.
I wouldnt worry about it too much… If Chicago gets nuked, hopefully you’ll be at ground zero and will be vaporized… wont feel a thing. Otherwise…
In any case, I highly doubt ANYONE is stupid enough to nuke the United States. Our vengeance would be so swift and merciless, that there would no longer be a North Korea, or Iran. Just a sea of glass, or barren wasteland. Take your pick.
North Korea may bang the war drums, but they even realize that any move they make against the US or South Korea WILL result in a nuclear strike. Basically, they are seeing how far we will go until we say enough is enough. Then they will be forced to back down unless they want to commit suicide…
As others have said… you can mark off being nuked by North Korea on your ‘things to watch out for’ list.
Oh yea… we can literally nuke the entire world over at least 3 times… 10,000 nukes buys you a lot of security… if you catch my drift…
Yikes. Where did that venom suddenly come from? Chill the heck out.
As to the OP–I wouldn’t worry too much about short-term disaster befalling you, Qazzz. NK does not yet pose a proven threat to the US itself, and certainly not to the Midwest. Their missiles are not quite strong enough to reach us (though the west coast and Hawaii can feel free to start sweating now … ), and I highly doubt that any NK plane would make it past our air defenses, esp. in post-9/11 America.
The real danger is to the thousands of US troops in the region, as well as to teh South Koreans and Japanese, who could basically be incinerated at any time.
If you’re nervous, stay in Chicago. Don’t visit Seoul or Tokyo.
That’s well put. I think their most recent missiles actually can reach the West Coast, but I’m not sure they’ve been tested. South Korea’s insistence that this be settled diplomatically, however, is very understandable given that Seoul would be in a world of trouble.
