North Korea confirms nuclear tests

your sarcasm is so obvious its become boring

bit harsh imo

they wont be far atall from having an icbm, once you have technology to make the explosion you can add it to existing missile technologies which pyong yang already possess,

sorry lee why don't you entertain us instead

whos says im after entertainment? its a discussion about North Koreas race for a nuclear missile, not a chance to moan about the iraq war and how soft you are when it comes to proposed action

ok north korea is a failed state.It will collapse if china removes its support which it will likely do if NK carries on with nuclear testing. What would you propose we do about it Mr Hard Man?

remove all support which will cause civil unrest and the populace should then begin to demand support from their own government, PY will then either respond possitively and bow to international and national pressure as they wont be able to feed their people and provide services while developing a missile program, or they will starve their population which although will cause mass suffering will set a stage for further pressure, possibly miltary action from a multinational force, eventually overthrowing the regieme. however i could be totally wrong and the shit will hit the fan... more likely the later

I agree with all that apart from the military bit. NK's poulation has been brainwashed for a generation into believing the outside world is full of foreign devils out to get them and they would resist an invasion, leading to more deaths. And the only realistic prospect I can see of them actually using a nuke would be if they felt they were about to be invaded. Better to let the regime collapse under the weight of its own contradictions

yeah providing the population get sick and tired of living like a 3rd world country, but like you say, theyve been brainwashed into believe its them against the world, a few years of strife should create quite a few stress fractures. if they were to use a nuke then that would probably start the 3rd world war depending on how china and russia respond to the US inevitable use or their icbm's or slbm's

Wonder how much of this is due to the US gung-ho approach to foreign policy, specially round the start of "shock & awe"??

Both Iran and NK were given a very clear "you better behave or you're next" message... now the US military is quagmired in Iraq it seems they've both realised this is prime time to go nuclear, and that it's the best thing to do to make sure they aren't next

just a thought

I suspect they would have been working towards developing WMD anyway - but I'm sure the US approach both polarised opinion within the country, and provided pseudo-justification for it, making it easier for them to acquire.

your bang on the nose with that one IMO

North Korea's nuclear program is much older than the dubya administration and has much more to do with NK's military ambitions (it is a military state desperatly trying to assert itself in a world of mightier forces).

Irans nuclear program is more likely to be related to its 3 nuclear neighbours than america (Israel, Pakistan and India).... Its a knee jerk UK leftie rection to blame all that is wrong in the world on America.

although i don't understand the acquire comment?

I just meant in terms of motivating their technicians etc and providing some impetus to get more money into the program etc

why shoudlnt some countrys be allowed nukes when all of us HAVE got them?

I dont understand how America can argue when they have the largest stockpile of nukes on the planet?

Americas actions agaisnt Iraq mean little countrys HAVE to arm themselfs........... If Iraq had Nukes id be very suprised if we would still have attacked.

There's no moral argument for it

"We think you're an unstable dictatorship so you're not allowed, but various others are, depending on how big they are"

I just saw this on the news and have to say that the guy they're showing looks really like the guy from Team America, Hans Bricks or something like that. Sorry to lower the tone

Hans Bricks was based on the leader of north korea

he's defo the pot calling the kettle black..

bush doesn't like the idea of anyone threatening his domination in proceedings

altho the north koreans are very secretive..they only let the outside world know what they want us to know