Washington Post: What made North Korea’s weapons programs so much scarier in 2017
Just a few years ago, North Korea's weapons program was treated like a bad joke, better known for its duds, misfires and fakes than its ability to threaten the United States.
But in 2017, the North Korean weapons program stopped being funny. Instead, Pyongyang's persistent pursuit of ballistic missile and nuclear weapons technology led to serious talk about the risk of a devastating conflict between the United States and North Korea.
This change wasn't due to a sudden surge in North Korean tests or a change in leader Kim Jong Un's stance. In fact, data collected by researchers show that the number of tests in 2017 is similar to the number last year, while the bellicose threats made against the United States and others are consistent.
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WNU Editor: I do not know where the Washington Post is coming from. North Korea's nuclear and missile program has always been treated seriously .... especially since the rise of North Korean leader of Kim Jong-Un. I recall President Obama himself .... before leaving the White House .... remarking in an interview that North Korea's WMD was always his biggest worry.
4 comments:
Wnu..they are arguing that it's scarier now because they are having more successes and more capabilities, including the previously missing ICBM capabilities, minituarisation progress and increase in threats. And I agree. Add to that the Chinese and their arming of North Korea with mobile launch systems and you have a nightmare scenario in which you cannot take out all missiles reliably without invading...And China told the US not to invade north Korea or else. So in short it's the combination of technical, credible advances and the Chinese intervention in all of this making it a nightmare situation for the US to stay safe. My opinion is that China is acting absolutely reckless and perhaps foolish here. Their thinking is:we want north and south to never unite so we don't have western influence and an open society at our doorstep. North Korea has always been a buffer zone to the "evil western" influence the Chinese party fears so much. Hence they equipped north Korea with everything from coal deals to mobile missile launch systems to even the special rocket fuel - all while protecting them from sanctions for the longest time. And they did so despite fully knowing that Kim Jong -Un is likely what we'd consider a mass murderer and unstable person at best. You have to think about this. In essence it means the Chinese are willing for many, many innocent people to die if it means they get to keep their buffer state.
The WP has briskly gone from aligned with the Democratic Party to a full fledged media operation taking it's editorial direction. Jeff Bezos really transformed it to lousy rag of misinformation. Yellow Journalism in the tradition of the Heart operation from a bygone era.
I can understand China's need to keep a "buffer state." There is a way to solve this. First the US makes it clear that it will oppose any attempt to reunite the Koreas under the control of South Korea. Hence China's buffer state is not threatened. Now that it is clarified that China's buffer state is not going to be threatened there flow two possibilities to solve the problem from here. 1.)China reaches an agreement whereby their puppet and the North Korean elites go into permanent exile to live out their lives in luxury in a tropical oasis and in turn China replaces the puppet with someone reliable and less threatening to America. 2.)Support reunification of the Koreas under the control of someone more amicable to China than South Korea. Essentially this means the elimination. This should eliminate the concern that China has of a "western" society at their doorstep. Frankly, South Korea has never been a good ally and is a net drain on America. I think the case could be made that they are a huge obstacle to peace. Perhaps jettisoning this "ally" once and for all would be a good place to start.
While we may not like either of these options, they may be the only options we have. Finally, China and Russia must realize and understand the very legitimate need that Americans have to need to feel safe. Bottom line in a war with North Korea, at a bare minimum, millions of Americans are going to die and this is the best case scenario. This would be reasonable to try and avoid this. At present, it appears that North Korea is not going to leave us any choice and the necessary assistance from China and perhaps Russia does not seem to be forthcoming.
anon...you badmouth the paper but just never get to say Fake news.
fact: the paper is doing well and picking up a central role in reporting DC things. You may not like what they say, but, then, so too I dislike Fox, which is sometimes straight legit news but often shabby propaganda
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