Now that he has apparently miniaturized the war heads, all missile "tests"could be considered as live and no longer blanks... What happens after he launches his next missile "test" will be rather interesting IMO.
Why would he waste a nuke like that? It would assure the total destruction of NK, and probably part of SK with it.
The million dollar question... yes why would they threaten as they are doing? No money in it ( other than ego), is there? They are currently threatening to launch a number of medium missiles to land off the coast of Guam. Does the USA trust them enough to allow them to launch their "in your face" demonstration? Or are they going to presume that the missiles are nuke armed and actually heading for the base? Playing chicken with the USA seems to be a fashionable thing to do... yes? ( Russia, Iran, Syria etc) USA paranoia is what is provoking it IMO. (Trump and his support base especially.)
Because Kim's power thrives on it. Also because they are responding to Trump's foolish bluff. Trump can't just slap them, because they will attack Seoul. They have been preparing for this longer than Trump has been grabbing pussy.
Well trump keeps heating it up, either he just being a lying huckster, which he is or he is really going to go down with attacks on north korea. If those attacks result in counter strike on US citizens the result will be a public rally for trump ala Bush after 9/11, he will invade North Korea, and only years later after a second term of trump will people finally figure out what a waste that was. If on the other hand trump does as other US presidents have done and ignore North Korea's threats, well he will look stupid, but he certainly has no problem with looking stupid. North Korea on the other hand will never attack the USA in a way that would cause the USA to counter attack and invade, they seek only to bring things to a brink where they can dictate concessions in their favor at the negotiating table. It is actually a tactic Trump knows very well of making insane demands to force the other side to negotiate you down to what you really (secretly) want. The problem is have two people try to do the same tactic to each other won't work out well.
If I were the POTUS I would simply pick a NK military target ( structure, buildings, airports, docks etc.) of some substance and declare an ultimatum. Fire one more missile and the USA destroys that target. The repeat the exercise every time. Brinkmanship! This is because of the potential for any missile being fired by the NK being armed and I would say so... If war is the out come then so be it... as war will be the outcome regardless... and as is suggested NK does not actually want war...
That's one possible strategy, but one that risks Kim taking any attack as prelude to all out war, which I don't believe is inevitable.
The problem that I see is this: If NK launches a so called test missile ( undeclared as such) that missile could be carrying a nuclear war head capable of wiping out a good part of Seoul in one hit. The NK have bragged about it's ability to deliver a nuke via missile. There is no real way that the USA can be sure that the missile is a blank. ( and the NK are counting on it) So if USA strategic command is faced with a missile launch what are they to do? Are they going to wait for the mushroom cloud to provide evidence that the missile is not a blank test? The NK nuke development has placed the NK (and the world) in the hot zone of why there is a nuclear non-proliferation treaty in the first place. The dilemma that NK 's nuke program has only one outcome in IMO. If the NK Fire any missile, they are declaring war. And they and the world needs to be told so....
NK has fired lots of missiles before, there is no reason to assume another one will be an actual attack unless we track it in the air and calculate that it's aimed at Seoul or Tokyo. The fact is they can destroy Seoul with conventional weapons. If they fire any missile at these targets, they must know we can vaporize the entire country, so I doubt they would unless they knew they were under existential threat.
We don't really need to poke the tiger with a stick. ................ alternately:from the 1st Dalai lama from his retreat Gendun Drup issued a poem of advice to his followers advising restraint from responding to violence with more violence and to practice compassion and patience instead. The poem, entitled Shar Gang Rima, "The Song of the Eastern Snow Mountains", ...
The Chief Cheeto does... President Donald Trump further escalated his rhetorical standoff with North Korea Friday morning, saying the US was ready to respond militarily should the rogue nation "act unwisely." "Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!" he tweeted. http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/10/politics/trump-north-korea/index.html Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Yeah trump is loving this, no one is talking about the investigations on him, his failed legislative attempts, or general republican incompetence. If North Korea attacks first or even makes a counter attack that kills a lot of Americans, trump will be able to use it to rally the American people to his side, at least enough of them ala Bush Jr. Meanwhile China as threaten that if Trump tries regieme change they will "intervene", but china has also claimed they won't get involved if North Korea strikes the USA. I'm predicting that limited strikes on North Korea by the USA are now very likely, the strikes will be "destroy North Korea capacity to produce and launch nuclear weapons" or something like that, if north korea is smart they will lay low and take those attacks without a counter-strike, then afterwards launch a nuke and detonate it in the sky to proclaim that they still can strike or something, all for show.
Oh god look at that pig boar's face! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Well it would need to be a large missile, and ICBM, but yes if the USA can claim to have shot it down, then maybe we could proclaim North Korea's arsenal is useless, but that won't stop them from selling to Iran and terrorist.
Meh...childish name-calling... And you KNOW that that "won't stop them from selling to Iran and terrorist", because?