Another NK Ballistic Missile 250 mi Off Japan

[Kathianne]

Same old...

http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-detects-north-korean-missile-launch/story?id=48908129


An initial assessment shows that North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) today that traveled 620 miles horizontally into the Sea of Japan, a U.S. official said.

Assessments of the launch, which was detected at about 10:45 a.m. ET, are continuing.
South Korea's Joint Chief of Staff said North Korea launched a missile at 11:41 p.m. local time, according to Yonhap News Agency in South Korea.
The Japanese government said it believes a North Korean missile was launched and then fell in waters off Japan’s coast, in what’s known as the Exclusive Economic Zone. Japan's coast guard is warning ships in the area to look out for debris and alert the government if anything is found, according to NHK, Japan's national public broadcasting organization. A senior Japanese official said the missile flew for approximately 45 minutes.

...

[jimnyc]

Not going to end well. It's almost as if the little fat guy WANTS to go to war, that he wants to push all of the other countries and show everyone that he doesn't care and will defy them.

Outside of war - they need to 100% completely shut them off. No ways of money or anything going in or out. So long as the little meatball has that, he'll keep playing the video games of what likely he knows very little about.

[Kathianne]

Some reading for those interested on sanctions discussion on NK:

https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/a-blueprint-for-new-sanctions-on-north-korea

http://observer.com/2017/07/donald-trump-north-korea-options/

[pete311]

We won't do anything. Would have by now. We will have to live with it.

[pete311]

Not going to end well. It's almost as if the little fat guy WANTS to go to war, that he wants to push all of the other countries and show everyone that he doesn't care and will defy them.

Outside of war - they need to 100% completely shut them off. No ways of money or anything going in or out. So long as the little meatball has that, he'll keep playing the video games of what likely he knows very little about.

Considering Russia and China supply them with 90% of their needs, how do you suppose to do this?

[gabosaurus]

Kim Jong-un operates from a position of impunity.
China has developed a growing dislike of North Korea, but has a greater dislike of a potential western ally along its southern border. Not to mention the fact that any conflict would send millions of NK refugees fleeing into China.
Russia sends aid to NK to improve its economy and because Putin likes to needle Trump. It's a win-win situation.
Kim has a very myopic view of the U.S. He believes his own propaganda about North Korea's military might. He doesn't realize the difference between testing ballistic missiles and actually using them.

Trump needs to come to grips with the reality that any conflict with North Korea will bring in China and possibly Russia.

[jimnyc]

Considering Russia and China supply them with 90% of their needs, how do you suppose to do this?

How about get them on-board? Is that so crazy to think that perhaps other countries don't want NK going crazy with missiles either?

Personally, I hope we bomb the shit out of them. But I'll be just as happy if a small unit somehow goes in and assassinates him.

[aboutime]

At the expense of millions of Poor, North Koreans, and threats from China,
or Russia, and even Iran.

Does anyone here honestly think the PENTAGON, and the President are just sitting back like Obama, and the Cut & Run Democrats?
Truth is (IMO). Anything the little Fat Idiot in N. Korea may threaten us with; probably has been sighted, zeroed in, targeted, and identified as TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY, that will CEASE to Exist in a More than SHOCK & AWE experiment from the Two Carrier Battle Groups in the Pacific.

If China and Russia want to play games, and turn a blind eye to N. Korea. They are making really huge mistakes.

[Kathianne]

They're still doing the math, but this doesn't look good:

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/2017/07/28/congressman-new-north-korea-icbm-test-probably-put-u-s-west-coast-in-range/


Congressman: New North Korea ICBM Test 'Probably Put U.S. West Coast in Range' BY BRIDGET JOHNSON (https://pjmedia.com/columnist/bridget-johnson/) JULY 28, 2017

...

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said (http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003848620) the missile traveled for about 45 minutes, exceeding Pyongyang's Fourth of July launch of a Hwasong 14 capable of reaching Alaska or Hawaii by about five minutes. Today's ICBM splashed down within 200 miles west of Hokkaido.


"The missile North Korea just tested probably put U.S. West Coast in range," Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, tweeted. "Now is the time to ramp up sanctions. China cannot have it both ways; it cannot do business as usual with both the U.S. and while subsidizing North Korea."


"But we need to be ready to talk too, and ready to accept a freeze, something far less than denuclearization for the foreseeable future," Sherman added.

...

[Ricky Tavy]

How about get them on-board? Is that so crazy to think that perhaps other countries don't want NK going crazy with missiles either?

Personally, I hope we bomb the shit out of them. But I'll be just as happy if a small unit somehow goes in and assassinates him.

I wonder how happy the thousands (millions?) of South Koreans and Americans living there will be when they become dead as a result of Krazy Kim's retaliation. Oh well, the important thing is that Deplorables will be able to suck vicarious martial glory.

One of the interesting things about this missile launch is we had no idea they could do it from the location they used. Oh well, I'm sure bombing the shit out of them will cover that.

[pete311]

How about get them on-board? Is that so crazy to think that perhaps other countries don't want NK going crazy with missiles either?

Personally, I hope we bomb the shit out of them. But I'll be just as happy if a small unit somehow goes in and assassinates him.

Have you not been paying attention? We've been trying to get the Russians and Chinese on board for decades. Guess what, they aren't our friends and don't want to help us. They have very good reasons to keep the conflict going. This isn't some grade school playground drama.

[aboutime]

We can say SCREW China, and SCREW Russia because...Like it or not. WE, THE PEOPLE, have the ability, power, military, and strength...TODAY, to totally destroy North Korea...without China, and Russia....and THEY KNOW IT.

Money talks. China, and Russia need the United States Financially. PERIOD.

If China and Russia are UNWILLING to do anything about N.K. President Trump has already told them....in No Uncertain Terms...WE WILL TAKE CARE OF N.K. OURSELVES.

The President of the United States has ONE responsibility, and Only ONE. Which is..TO DEFEND THE NATION, and the AMERICAN PEOPLE.

I know this will work, and can work because I remember the words of Donald Rumsfeld who repeatedly told the Press..."We can do whatever we want because YOU DON'T KNOW, WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW, YOU DON'T KNOW!"

Think about that.

[O E]

Kim Jong-un operates from a position of impunity.
China has developed a growing dislike of North Korea, but has a greater dislike of a potential western ally along its southern border. Not to mention the fact that any conflict would send millions of NK refugees fleeing into China.
Russia sends aid to NK to improve its economy and because Putin likes to needle Trump. It's a win-win situation.
Kim has a very myopic view of the U.S. He believes his own propaganda about North Korea's military might. He doesn't realize the difference between testing ballistic missiles and actually using them.

Trump needs to come to grips with the reality that any conflict with North Korea will bring in China and possibly Russia.

There are things in the above that ring true. On the other hand, I find in it the cardinal foreign-policy sin, that is, underestimating your opponent. Think about it: The Kim dynasty defied the big, bad U.S. of A. for more than half a century, and, even though being awarded a prominent spot in the "axis of evil", they avoided sharing Saddam's and Qaddafi's fate. So, it would appear they are doing something right, playing the game with the cards they are being dealt, which is in effect maintaining a credible deterrence by way of maintaining the capacity to inflict an enormous price on the region, reinforced by raising the impression they're insane enough to use it once threatened. Re-analyze that thing assuming that Kim is a rational actor, supported by a collection of old, experienced hands, trying to maintain his country and his position in power. I think you'll find that under this perspective things make a good deal more sense than the way you seem to look at Kim and the situation in which he finds himself.

[kflaux]

There are things in the above that ring true. On the other hand, I find in it the cardinal foreign-policy sin, that is, underestimating your opponent. Think about it: The Kim dynasty defied the big, bad U.S. of A. for more than half a century, and, even though being awarded a prominent spot in the "axis of evil", they avoided sharing Saddam's and Qaddafi's fate. So, it would appear they are doing something right, playing the game with the cards they are being dealt, which is in effect maintaining a credible deterrence by way of maintaining the capacity to inflict an enormous price on the region, reinforced by raising the impression they're insane enough to use it once threatened. Re-analyze that thing assuming that Kim is a rational actor, supported by a collection of old, experienced hands, trying to maintain his country and his position in power. I think you'll find that under this perspective things make a good deal more sense than the way you seem to look at Kim and the situation in which he finds himself.

That is all perceptive and well-reasoned. However, it does leave us wondering why Kim decides to shoot off those missiles precisely when he does, and why he then follows the launches with absurd rhetoric about a "merciless blow" to the US and etc. Perhaps there is method to the NK madness, but it is rather hard to ferret out.

BTW an editorial in a newspaper for workers in NK, obviously a gov't outlet, stated outright that it was the fate of the US to be dropped into the gate to hell at the time, and place, and by the martial method, of NK's choosing. This is a translation from Japanese. I guess this has not appeared in the English language media; at least I have seen nothing approximating this.

A J blog reporting this:
http://masoyagi.exblog.jp/27017697/

Harder and harder to see the genius behind this...but hey.....

[Little-Acorn]

We won't do anything. Would have by now. We will have to live with it.
That's what the Iranians thought in the last year of the Jimmy Carter presidency. Ditto for Qaddafi.

[O E]

That is all perceptive and well-reasoned. However, it does leave us wondering why Kim decides to shoot off those missiles precisely when he does, and why he then follows the launches with absurd rhetoric about a "merciless blow" to the US and etc. Perhaps there is method to the NK madness, but it is rather hard to ferret out.

BTW an editorial in a newspaper for workers in NK, obviously a gov't outlet, stated outright that it was the fate of the US to be dropped into the gate to hell at the time, and place, and by the martial method, of NK's choosing. This is a translation from Japanese. I guess this has not appeared in the English language media; at least I have seen nothing approximating this.

A J blog reporting this:
http://masoyagi.exblog.jp/27017697/

Harder and harder to see the genius behind this...but hey.....

Yeah, I have seen the punditry's tea leaves readings, "Lil Kim flips the bird at Mr. XY", or "Lil Kim tries to anger entity YZ", and from the U.S. punditry in particular, as they're prone to "analyzing" whatevers in terms of personalities, spite, manliness or (claims to) victimhood. When that kind of analysis fails, they usually arrive at the conclusion that "Lil Kim has lost his tiny mind". What if most of these test launches were timed based on NK engineers' needs for tests to assess their progress and to proceed further, to learn where they stand and eliminate heretofore undiscovered design flaws?

I need not invite you to look at Korea's history. Just the last century of colonization by the Japanese and being plunged into a devastating war by the Americans is enough history to understand that angry and over-confident rhetoric naming Japan and the U.S. as the threatening bogeymen, including the promises of destruction rained on them, would serve domestic political purposes. Even Kim, the autocrat, has to convince his population that the spending on advanced weaponry is well advised in the context of historically informed policy making. It may well turn out, in the final analysis, that these historical references are the main raison d'être for a separate North Korean state, as distinct from a treasonous Southern part cavorting with the enemy.

Whether that's "genius" I do not know. What I am saying is, irrational or insane it is most likely not; at least there's a rationally discernible method to it.