Running North Korea freakout thread

Nations with nukes don't get attacked by other nation states.

What was the last non-proxy hot war between two nuclear nations?

 

Sadly, I'd feel more comfortable with a NK deal backed by China and Russia than the Iran deal backed by France and Germany.

 

Fair enough. I guess, with 9/11 in mind, as long as we don't grease the skids for a like-minded nation-state to develop nukes than we should be relatively safe.

 

The 9/11 attackers are all dead.

Nation-states kind of like to remain nation-states. They're funny like that.

 

Just to be clear, you're aware that China and Russia have also backed the Iran deal, correct?

 

Yes. Mostly alluding to the "But our allies back it" justification given how much of a mess Europe is right now as it pertains to security.

 

I generally agree with this. IMO the reason Kim is so determined to build a nuke that can hit the U.S. mainland is to prevent the U.S. from attacking and toppling his regime – by making the potential cost of a U.S. attack so high – not so he can unilaterally and pre-emptively attack the U.S.

Therefore, Kim is going to do everything he can to achieve that goal. If the Trump admin has decided that he simply can't be allowed to achieve it, then a pre-emptive strike of our own is a logical move. And we can call such a strike "targeted" and "limited," but that's in the eye of the beholder – and Kim would have to do his beholding in real time in an atmosphere of extreme saber-rattling. Even without yet having a nuke that can hit the U.S. mainland, Kim clearly has lots of goodies right now that can hit Seoul, Tokyo, Guam, and Hawaii.

So then our bet would be that he won't? As the initial article puts it, that's a sucker's bet.

 

Good point. And I would bet that lots of folks in South Korea are raising their hands and saying, wait, are WE the proxy?

 

I certainly hope this is how it plays out. This is why I don't have the stomach to be a serious gambler.

 

I think Donald Trump is an idiot. I think he's dangerous. I think he might be on the road to insanity. But I'd never, ever want to be sitting at a table with him.

This is as close to grudging respect he'll ever get from me.

 

That gave me a good laugh, imagining Trump as that guy at the blackjack table who drives everyone crazy by going "against the book."

"That was supposed to be MY face card, a--hole!"

 

Trump as Ali and North Korea as Liston?