So who thinks Chairman Kim will go through with a nuclear test (soon)? Is it just a stunt? Would we even be able to tell if they tied and failed as opposed to not having a test at all? I’m willing to bet 100 quatloos that they manage to test a small nuke before Thanksgiving. If not on a NK holiday it’ll be on an American one.
I wager 15 quatloos that he is untrainable.
I think Kim John Il is just crazy enough to do it. Of course I think this is a good thing. The entire world thinks he’s so nuts, they won’t ally themselves with NK. Imagine the unholy trinity of Iran, NK and Venezuela. All going nuke at the same time. I think NATO, the US and the UN would more than have thier hands full at that point.
I think it would be interesting to see him piss of China enough that they’d get all smashy smashy on his ass.
Talking about this in class the other day, my professor noted that the only times Kim and his pops beat their chests like the manly men they want to be is when they need something.
There will amost certainly be a test, before Thanksgiving is a good bet but I’m going to give him all the way to the new year. Right now he’s in a bad position… he’s threatened a test, we’re not rushing into bi-lateral talks to hand him loot so he’s either got to go through with it or back down and I don’t think he can back down at this point.
It’s the brother we have to watch out for…according to David Letterman…Menta Lee-Il. 
The idea that North Korea is actually in some kind of real alliance with Iran and Venezuela (or Iraq or Syria or Cuba or whatever) is ridiculous. North Korea is the most diplomatically isolated country on Earth.
As for filling hands, let’s keep a sense of perspective. If the NATO, the US, and the UN wanted to, they could overrun all three countries in a week.
Not if they tossed nukes at their neighbors as a response.
We need James Bond or Captain Kirk to see that they all have some sort of nasty “accident” with their nuclear test.
Three more situations like Iraq. Hmm…
I’ll give you 1:99 this is just sabre rattling. Not a bang but a whimper.
I don’t think the North Koreans care much about US national holidays…
I was thinking, when that Long Dong missile, or whatever they called it, had the “failed” test flight, that it might also be a successful test of some portion of the US missile shield. Probably wishful thinking. I fear the government (ours I mean) is doing everything so incompetently these days, we can’t even stop a North Korean piece of shit missile.
I think Kim will do a test if he can. Both India and Pakistan did it with no discernable downside. And that’s it, really. There is no serious downside to going it, but a huge upside.
That is, no downside to his face-off against America. The only serious potential threat to NK right now is China. I can’t pretend to know enough about the two to hazard a guess about how China might react. OTOH, lil Kim eould probably assume China wouldn’t mind, unless they told him real clearly otherwise. I imagine China kind of likes NK as it is. Kind of like having a frothing mad dog in your yard to keep your other neighbors shaking in their boots.
Propaganda value. An NK nuke test would overshadow Thanksgiving festivities or election coverage.
I’ll take that bet. Recent comments from the Chinese delegate to the UN have reportedly made high ranking North Korean generals very upset because it was implied that China was their ‘Protector’ state. They’re supposedly pushing Kim Jong Ill to move up the test date as soon as possible. I mentioned Thanksgiving just to give a popular timeframe, in other words possibly not by the end of this month but most likely by the end of next month.
Well, at least we’ve established who the crazy one really is.
You clearly don’t grasp our plan for world domination. That’s why I didn’t teach you the classified American handshake.
Honestly, do you really effin’ care? I at least hope your government has the moral authority to stand up to its half of MAD. So, let NK test a fucking nuke, at least it might keep us out of another Republican war.
RoK news agencies are reporting the fools did it. The South Korean national security council is meeting now.
Damn, that was fast! :eek: So what’s next; sanctions, blockade, war? 
Here’s an AP story
How many of y’all remember really worrying the Soviets would nuke us, back in the early 80’s, when we were junior-high school kids?
Arguably, Kim Jong-Il (or other assorted Evil Empires) is more likely to let loose a nuke than the Ruskies ever were; but somehow, we don’t seem nearly as upset about it nowadays. Kids in my school class made the front page of the local newspaper when “The Day After” debuted on network TV, providing soundbites about our deepest nightmare fears. Do kids today worry about North Korea Gone Wild?
Okay, my cable, internet, and phone just went out for a few minutes and when it came back my TV was stuck on 24 
. That was a creepy coincidence.
Well shit. I owe you.
[Grasping at straws] Could they have used enough dynamite to make it seem like a nuke? [/g.a.s.]
Methinks the west needs to get China on board for a bit of regime change.