Parading a fancily decorated empty metal tube in front of State run television cameras is one thing, and proving the design and flight operability of a multi-stage intermediate range missile is quite another.
None of the grand standing by the NoKos will change as long as Kim Jong Ding Dong is still Dictator, and no matter how many stars he gives Kim Jong Flounder to wear on his crisp new uniforms, until someone sequesters Il’s personal carbon the Lessor Kim will have to play along with the old man along with the rest of the Country.
Personally, I think the kid will fold (or be folded...) shortly after his old man assumes room temp. I don’t think the kid is his Daddy’s kind of Stalinist Dictator, and there are too many ruthless little bastards in the NoKo Military who will not go quietly. That’s always been the Achilles Heel of these Regimes, is that you need so many people who are more ruthless than you are to carry out your will. Eventually, many of them get ambitious, and none are willingly going to give up what perks they have just because the role of Fearless Leader changes every now and then...
I give the kid six months on his own, tops.
six to nine months, max
That thought crossed my mind, too. I reckon someone somewhere is checking the chassis height on the carrier vehicles against an empty one and the amount of 'squat' in the tires...just to see how much weight is involved, here.
Agreed!