[Reily]

To all

If indeed this a true nuke test and not a 'fizzle' that Lil'Kim is conning the world into thinking its a test. The following will happen in short order.

Japan will quietly go nuclear in about a week.
In about a year maybe sooner they will announce they are a nuclear power.
South Korea will go nuclear but it will take longer. They are not quite as technically advanced as the Japanese also they have this inept semi-pacifist Roh regime that will probably delay the decision.

The long term danger is Lil'Kim will provide a "Sears catalog of destruction" to anyone who can pay the freight.
Selling nukes is a potential major new source of hard currency for the cash-strapped North. Right now their Scuds (The best 1960's technology at New Millennium prices!) are a big seller. I see the following customers for Kim's "Little House of Nukes", a) Iran, b) Syria, c) Venezuela. We removed part of the customer base by taking out Saddam. (In my opinion, probably the biggest reason Saddam's nuclear program wasn't restarted in a big way was because he had two potential suppliers North Korea & Libya. Note: Bush's "hidden" policies also took Libya out of the equation as a supplier! A major major success, that for some reason the WH isn't trumpeted !)
Ok do you want to sit out this off-year election because your "pet gripe" about the GOP hasn't been addressed adequately or the GOP'er on the slate isn't pure enough, consider the above "New World Order". Do you want the Pelosi's, the Rangel's, the Kucinich's and other goo-goo's & gaa-gaa's of the Democratic party to march forth and handle national security? Maybe Soros & MoveOn.Org have some answers?
Remember Lil'Kim will sell to anybody on a cash-n-carry basis. And I mean anybody !

[tomnbeverly]

First intelligent post I saw on the subject... Many of the single issue Conservatives are still pissed at Bush because he hasn't walled off the Southern Border and some other are pissed because we got GOP HOMO Congressmen, but as you know by your post we have bigger fish to fry.

[r9etb]

In about a year maybe sooner they will announce they are a nuclear power. South Korea will go nuclear but it will take longer. They are not quite as technically advanced as the Japanese also they have this inept semi-pacifist Roh regime that will probably delay the decision.

I agree with you about Japan. I disagree with you about SK, though -- they've got all kinds of incentive, not to mention the technical know-how, to have developed nukes long ago.

When discussing the Roh regime, I think it's hard for folks like us to understand the background that would lead to it -- SK was devastated by the war, and a guy like Roh, who grew up starving as a result of it, would probably do next to anything to keep that from happening again. But at the same time, SK still has -- and everybody does -- the civil defense drills. There's more than just pacifism at work: they still expect a war. That's why I think they've probably got nukes now.

[NewLand]

Spot on Reily. The single issue "conservatives" better take heed soon,instead of holding on to this crazy notion that a 'loss' in 2006 will turn into a 'win' in 2008.

We can't take that chance. Period.

VOTE 'R' AT ALL COSTS.