Posted on 08/29/2017 6:36:29 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
North Korea said on Wednesday it had conducted a test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) to counter U.S. and South Korean military drills and as a first step in military action in the Pacific to "contain" the U.S. territory of Guam.
The North's leader Kim Jong Un ordered the missile drill to be conducted for the first time from its capital, Pyongyang, and said it was necessary to undertake more exercises with the Pacific as the target, the North's KCNA news agency said.
"The current ballistic rocket launching drill like a real war is the first step of the military operation of the KPA in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam," KCNA quoted Kim as saying. The Korean People's Army or KPA is the North's military.
Earlier this month, North Korea threatened to fire four missiles into the sea near Guam, home to a major military presence, after U.S. President Donald Trump said the North would face "fire and fury" if it threatened the United States.
Tuesday's test was of the same Hwasong-12 missile Kim had threatened to use on Guam, but the test flight took it another direction, over northern Japan's Hokkaido and into the North Pacific Ocean.
Trump, who has vowed not to let North Korea develop nuclear missiles that can hit the mainland United States, said the world had received North Korea's latest message "loud and clear".
"Threatening and destabilising actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table," Trump said in a statement on Tuesday.....
(Excerpt) Read more at theedgemarkets.com ...
Well, for example, one MIRV’d SLBM from our submarines could destroy and kill pretty much everyone in North Korea. As a matter of fact, that would probably be overkill, to say the least. One missile. How many of those are typically deployed? Or we could destroy them with less cruise missiles than Trump fired at Syria. Or a handful of bombers. Or other weapons that I cannot discuss.
Do you think that ROK and US Army artillery units are going to just sit there and let the KPA fire on Seoul without responding? When I was there we “joked” that we were there to keep the South from going North.
Do you know the rules about responding to WMD attacks? Whatever the enemy hits you with you can respond with the kind you have. We have eschewed chemical and biological weapons by treaty, leaving us with only nuclear. So if anyone attacks us with biological or chemical weapons we can immediately retaliate with nuclear weapons. Them’s the rules.
Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil...
But you will see massive loss of life in South Korea. We should have finished this long ago.
...Uruguay, Panama, Mexico?
I didn’t say we don’t possess them, I said that by treaty we don’t have them. Just like Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons and Israel doesn’t have the H bomb.
Strange logic you've got going on there. If Russia selling to them is bad, how is us selling to them good?
So you actually thought the piece I posted about Russia arming hostile Latin American countries stated or implied that WE, the United States, was arming Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, too?
I don’t think we should give away the store, some of our stuff is highly accurate (THAAD) but the incoming has to be somewhat on a threatening trajectory for this concept to have a good chance. As I see it, the trajectory over the north of Japan is not really threatening Guam. The Japanese may have been in the threat zone, but I do not know they are deployed on the north island — do you know?
The 40 % value is more like our stuff in Alaska which would be launched against a trajectory heading for the CONUS. It has recently been upgraded and has greater accuracy but it takes time to build and deploy and I don’t know where we are in all this.
However, I believe if we had a chance we would have taken it, because like NK we would learn from a “realistic” defensive launch and if our chances were as low as you think, we would have launch more than one.
You raise some interesting points. We did do a test firing from Vandenberg a few weeks ago that was claimed as a success and the missile that was hit was a long way down range and fast. As far as NK is concerned, the ongoing issue is the defense of Seoul. Remove Seoul as a problem and I think we would make strategic strikes on NK. The Hobson’s Choice is do we wait until NK decides to really shoot something at the CONUS before we take action in order to protect Seoul from taking any major hits? The fact of the matter, Trump has been dealt a $hit hand here thanks to every effing president we’ve had since the end of WWII, starting with that worthless turd Truman. The have all kicked the NK can down the road. Back then, we had a supreme position of strength that should have been used on NK, and China (and maybe Russia if they had stuck their noses in). And as each year passed and we appeased the Norks, they moved steadily toward their goal of being a nuclear power. Now they are there. And we also have Iran and Pakistan to contend with as well.
Now there’s talk of trade sanctions on China, but you can hear it now from all our quisling capitalists when they see national security juxtaposed with their bottom lines. We can crash China’s economy if we chose, but our Chamber of Communists will pi$$ and moan if that route adversely affects their bottom lines, which it most certainly will.
I know, but I’ve still got that bridge. I’ll pay a good commission if you can find me a buyer.
Oh yeah, the Minuteman with a cone full of W88s is a massive destruction machine. It could take out a good 500km x 60km stretch of earth. A submarine full of them, just wow. Nukes are so amazing that even people that think they understand the power of a nuke are far, far underestimating the power that can be unleashed. It’s just like imagining the distance across the universe. It’s almost unfathomable and impossible to put into terms that we can easily identify with.
They think in terms of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and those were over 70 years ago. It’s like comparing a 747 to the Wright flyer.
Are you trying to say that Venezuela is no more an alley of Russia than they are to us?
When exactly did the US sell arms to Venezuela? They've been hostile toward us for many years.
And I asked HOW recently? In other words, were they hostile toward us as they are now when your Russian pals are currently arming and supporting them?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.