North Korea vows nuclear strike on the US

[Ruffdaddy]

So we have a power mad guy in North Korea openly threatening to nuke the US?

What would you do if there was a guy standing in your front yard saying he was going to kick in your door and kill you and your family?

Would you wait for him to act on his threat?

There is no one at our front door.

There is someones drunk homeless dude telling a neighbor or the 10000th time that he's going to do something he's physically incapable of.

[347Mike]

Not as much as people think.

Stevo

While you are correct, it is not as much as I thought but it is still quite a bit.

Found this:

To put China's ownership of U.S. debt in perspective, its holding of $1.2 trillion is even larger than the amount owned by American households. U.S. citizens hold only about $959 billion in U.S. debt, according to the Federal Reserve.

Other large foreign holders of U.S. debt include Japan, which owns $912 billion; the United Kingdom, which owns $347 billion; Brazil, which holds $211 billion; Taiwan, which holds $153 billion; and Hong Kong, which owns $122 billion.

[stevo]

There is no one at our front door.

There is someones drunk homeless dude telling a neighbor or the 10000th time that he's going to do something he's physically incapable of.

/facepalm

Stevo

[DallasSleeper]

North Korea claims Nuclear Missiles on standby

http://gma.yahoo.com/north-korea-cla...opstories.html
A leading general in North Korea claims the country has a long-range missile armed with nuclear warheads on standby. Pyongyang repeated its Thursday vow to ditch all nonaggression pacts with South Korea and again threatened a "preemptive nuclear attack" on the United States as well.

The regime also announced early Friday that it plans to cut off phone hotlines between North and South Korea. It was part of a defiant response to tough new sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council.

Colonel General Kang Pyo-yong was quoted in North Korea's party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, as saying his soldiers are already positioned to launch a war of reunification -- taking over South Korea -- whenever the order is given by its leaders. "Our intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and other missiles are on standby position mounted with various nuclear warheads that have been developed lighter and smaller," he announced to tens of thousands gathered Thursday at a mass rally in Pyongyang.

North Korea had claimed success in making a lighter and smaller nuclear device after testing it last month, and in December successfully launched its Unha-3 long-range rocket with enough range to reach Alaska and, perhaps, the West Coast of the United States. But weapons experts in the region have said they believe it will still be several years before the North Koreans have a nuclear warhead small enough to be carried by one of their long-range missiles.

China, North Korea's staunchest ally, joined the U.S. and other members of the Security Council to make Thursday's vote at the U.N. unanimous. This is the third round of international sanctions against the North Korean regime.

The Security Council vote came hours after Pyongyang, which has made a series of belligerent statements in recent weeks, said that it would "exercise its right for pre-emptive nuclear strike to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors."

The tough talk from North Korea also comes as the U.S. and South Korea begin joint military maneuvers. The U.S. dismissed the North Korean warnings.

"North Korean threats of provocations will only further isolate North Korea and undermine international efforts to ensure peace and stability in Northeast Asia," Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Cathy Wilkinson said.

In recent days, North Korea has vowed to turn Seoul and Washington into a "sea of fire," has imposed no-sail/no-fly zones along its coasts, and warned that it might end the armistice that halted the Korean War in 1953 without a peace treaty.

The targets of the latest round of sanctions included in the latest round of sanctions include top officials at a company that is the country's primary arms dealer and main exporter of ballistic missile-related equipment, and a national organization responsible for research and development of missiles and probably nuclear weapons.

[Mychael101]

Nukes don't make any sense since they wipe out everything: people, buildings, infrastructure. Make it a virus that your troops are already immune to and then its just a matter of cleanup and disposal of the bodies and all the infrastructure remains largely intact and undamaged.

[IHaveAMustang]

We've fought the Chinese and NK in a war before, nothing stopping us from doing it now...and we have much better technology this time. Just not enough foot soldiers if we fight it on NK/SK turf.

[Forever_frost]

We can't win a fight with them right now as there's no way those in power would allow us to do what needs to be done. You'd have to do an ICBM as the first strike, opening salvo aimed at every place you think Kim was hiding and be okay with destroying the entire population and sacrificing SK as well

[Denny]

We can't win a fight with them right now as there's no way those in power would allow us to do what needs to be done. You'd have to do an ICBM as the first strike, opening salvo aimed at every place you think Kim was hiding and be okay with destroying the entire population and sacrificing SK as well

Right. We might have the power and technology to beat just about anyone on this planet, but the string pullers to let stone throwers give us a good run for our money.

Didn't y'all learn anything from the first Gulf War? There's no money to be made in a swift ass whoopin'. Long, drawn- out losses is our new cash cow.

If our government isn't our biggest spender, then this fake-ass economic recovery (propped up on life support by a semi-controlled inflationary pump) would buckle.

[Forever_frost]

If we were allowed to fight, there'd not be a country on the planet that would lift their head in opposition to us. Sun Tzu is right, you make the fight swift and terrible before your weapons are dulled and your forces tired.

[DallasSleeper]

If we were allowed to fight, there'd not be a country on the planet that would lift their head in opposition to us. Sun Tzu is right, you make the fight swift and terrible before your weapons are dulled and your forces tired.

Just like I said in an earlier post. We have to fight dirty and take the gloves off. When you tie the soldiers hands you get Vietnam, Afghanistan and as much as I hate to say it OIF... All of those should have been swift victories but politicians are worried more about fighting nice and winning hearts and minds. If we go to war with you we should destroy you, and leave. No reason to spend billions repairing the damage we did, it is part of the consequence. Keep the media out, keep the politicians out and just let the war fighters do what they need to do to come home alive. Strategically North Korea would be a nightmare. Not enough troops in theater or that can get there quick enough to help. Unless you have been there then you do not understand the terrain, it is brutal.

[Forever_frost]

Russian nuclear forces conducted a major exercise last month that tested the transport of both strategic and tactical nuclear weapons near Europe, according to United States officials.

The exercise raised concerns inside the Pentagon and with the U.S. European Command because it was the largest exercise of its kind in 20 years and involved heightened alert status of Russian nuclear forces.

The nuclear drills were part of other military maneuvers in Russia carried out between Feb. 17 and Feb. 21.

The exercises followed a recent surge in Russian strategic bomber flights that include a recent circling of the U.S. Pacific island of Guam by two Tu-95 Bear bomber and simulated bombing runs by Tu-95s against Alaska and California in June and July.

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Wesley P. Miller sought to play down the nuclear exercise but declined to comment on the movement of nuclear weapons and whether nuclear forces went on a heightened state of alert. “We don’t comment on intelligence matters,” he said.

Miller said the nuclear forces maneuvers were “nothing to be concerned about because the Russians, like us, have routine exercises and inspections.”

However, a U.S. official said the exercise was a concern within the U.S. national security community because of the scale of the exercise and the number of weapons being moved. “Certainly it’s a concern when you have this kind of exercise going on,” this official said.

The official said another worry is that Russia appears to be increasing the readiness of its nuclear forces at a time when the U.S. nuclear complex is in urgent need of upgrading and the military is facing sharp automatic defense cuts that could affect U.S. nuclear forces readiness in the future.

Contractors and employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which runs the nuclear weapons complex, were notified of possible furloughs under automatic spending cuts that went into effect March 1, the Hill reported Thursday.

Miller said the administration remains committed to a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent. “The administration will ensure continued focus on maintaining a strong nuclear deterrent as part of the president’s comprehensive approach to nuclear security,” under sequester, as the automatic spending cuts are called.

He quoted past Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as saying that no decisions on how cuts will be made but that “nothing will be off the table in our review of how best to proceed.”

According to the officials, the exercise involved Russia’s secretive 12th Main Directorate of the Defense Ministry, known by its acronym as 12th GUMO, the main military unit in charge of all nuclear weapons.

Details of the nuclear exercise are classified, but officials said the 12th GUMO transported a large number of nuclear arms from some of its nuclear munitions depots to storage sites during the exercises.

It could not be learned if the Russians provided advance notification of the strategic exercises.

Declassified U.S. intelligence reports have identified three large nuclear storage facilities near Europe, including one that is located miles from the intersection of the Rusisan, Latvian, and Belarusian borders. Two other nuclear storage complexes close to Europe are located at Zhukovka, near Belarus, and at Golovchino, near the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

The nuclear training coincided with the visit to Moscow by Rose Gottemoeller, acting undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, to discuss a new round of U.S.-Russian strategic arms talks.

The exercise did not come up during the meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Berlin Feb. 26.

Arms control experts say the Russians are required to notify the United States under the New START treaty of major strategic nuclear exercises that involve bomber flights.

It is not known whether the nuclear weapons were transported by air, rail, or truck during the 12th GUMO exercise.

Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov mentioned the nuclear exercise Feb. 22 when he said a surprise inspection of both conventional and nuclear forces was held.

Gerasimov said the exercises involved the 12th GUMO and the Central and Southern military districts and that they were the largest maneuvers of its kind in 20 years.

The drills began with orders for forces to go to “higher states of combat readiness and carry out combat training missions,” the website Russian Defense Policy reported. The exercises were also reported by the Voice of Russia and the Russian Defense Ministry website.

Several hundred pieces of equipment, 7,000 troops, and 48 aircraft took part, the general said.

The drills also involved moving forces to exercise areas far from normal deployment locations.

Gerasimov said the 98th Air-Assault Division at Ivanovo and the 4th Air Forces and Air Defense Command near Rostov performed well.

The troops were transported in IL-76 jets to an area near Chelyabinsk, which has large nuclear facilities, in difficult weather conditions.

Forces of a long-range aviation group and air defense also conducted bombing exercises and performed well, Gerasimov said.

The general did not say how the 12th GUMO fared in the exercises but said that overall “a number of systematic deficiencies in the state of combat readiness and lever of personnel training” were uncovered.

A 2008 State Department cable described the 12th GUMO as one of several key military units with direct control over nuclear weapons. “An attack or exploitation of any one of these could leave elements of the arsenal vulnerable,” the cable said. “While the impact on the U.S. might not be immediate, the danger of such elements falling into terrorists’ or extremists’ hands could pose a serious threat to the national security of the United States.”

Another cable said nine 12th GUMO sites were being modernized in 2008.

http://freebeacon.com/russians-conduct-huge-nuke-drill/

[Trip McNeely]

Posturing for something perhaps?

[Denny]

The Us and Japanese watched them launch those Bears and followed them all the way over. Andersen AFB scrambled their F-15s once they got near Guam. I unofficially, they got a little too close.

Either way, they would have been put down by either us or Japan in a heartbeat if they flinched toward some sort of hostile movement.

Russia is a non factor if they even think they can use those antiques against anyone.

It was posturing because they were pissed at our exercises (COPE North 2013) here on Guam with Australia, Japan and South Korea. This is also when North Korea detonated their junk.

[Pokulski-Blatz]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/11/world/asia/south-korea-military-exercises/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

(CNN) -- A new joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States began Monday amid heightened tensions across the region.
In a sign of crumbling relations, North Korea refused to answer its hotline with Seoul, South Korea's unification ministry said Monday, according to the Yonhap news agency.
The ministry said the North did not answer two attempts to communicate by telephone at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time.
The latest military drills involving the two allies are called Key Resolve. They follow the Foal Eagle joint exercises that began March 1, which are scheduled to last two months. More than 3,000 U.S. forces are taking part in Key Resolve, according to United States Forces Korea.
The latest exercises fall under the shadow of North Korea's army declaring invalid the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953, an article in Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, reported Monday.
With the declaration, Pyongyang made good on its threat to nullify the armistice.

North Korea previously warned it could carry out strikes against the United States and South Korea.
Despite the strong language, analysts say North Korea is years away from having the technology necessary to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile and aim it accurately at a target.
And, analysts say, North Korea is unlikely to seek a direct military conflict with the United States, preferring instead to try to gain traction through threats and the buildup of its military deterrent.
Military exercises a threat?
North Korea has called the annual training exercises "an open declaration of a war," but South Korea says it notified Pyongyang that the drills "are defensive in nature."
The United Nations Command notified the North Korean military on February 21 of the exercise dates, noting that Key Resolve is an annual joint exercise that is not related to current events on the Korean Peninsula.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed tougher sanctions against North Korea Thursday targeting the secretive nation's nuclear program, which followed successful missile and nuclear tests.