North Korea has been threatening the United States every year since I can remember. Only this time we have a president who's ego cannot handle it and back down.

They haven't had nuclear ICBMs until recently. Gosh, I wonder if all that "backing down" might've helped them get doomsday weapons? It's probably a complete coinkydink.

edit: better link. Look it up on your own, Clinton actually gave them nuclear tech in exchange for a pinky-swear.

It should also be of note that while the United States might be within range, the effectiveness of North Korea's weapons are unlikely to land on target or with any real accuracy; let alone a reasonable yield. Now, this does not render the regime a non-threat, but people are being hysterical about this. "Get your disaster kits." is a statement that is more hyperbole than fact, this is of course ignoring that one should always have said thing ready, but the point is, is that Americans would likely not be affected directly by such an attack - just that it happened at all.

For the prospects of a Third World War, North Korean hostility would result in that very "fire and fury". There would be no escaping the reality that almost the entire world would, in some way, come after the regime.

If anyone should be legitimately concerned it should be the North Koreans, for the actions that led here, and then South Korea and Japan due to their proximity to their enemy and that their ballistic defense is not nearly as in-depth as the United States. The hardline stance presented by the President of the United States is just an aspect of nuclear deterrence. Nothing new to the game and highly effective; North Korea is well aware of the consequences as is the public. People just tend to forget, and or not know, how the tenants of it function.

Mispost >.<

You know I wonder of my Belarus's fate in case of a nuclear war. We have no reason to be nuked beyond the mere fact of our being a country, and probably won't notice a little fallout anyway. Plus the Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians and all else in the neighbourhood got it coming to it anyway.

Make a better choice Penny. You can do this.

Make a better choice Penny. You can do this.

Speaking of Eisenhower, it's perhaps fortunate that Patton died when he did. The mad bastard wanted us to go after the Russians after V-E Day. On the topic of nuclear weapons, I highly doubt that such a thing will happen in our lifetimes. No-one quite wants to go down in history as the great destroyer. The language used by North Korea is showboating, nothing more.

Edit: My bad, I just now saw your edited post.

My bad, I just now saw your edited post.

It is quite alright I just decided not to feed into the nonsense :)

<Snipped quote by Prawn>

It is quite alright I just decided not to feed into the nonsense :)

I wouldn't worry about that, I think I just took that bullet for you with my post.

Make a better choice Penny. You can do this.

Well now I'm super-curious.

Don't tempt her.

<Snipped quote by Penny>

Speaking of Eisenhower, it's perhaps fortunate that Patton died when he did. The mad bastard wanted us to go after the Russians after V-E Day. On the topic of nuclear weapons, I highly doubt that such a thing will happen in our lifetimes. No-one quite wants to go down in history as the great destroyer. The language used by North Korea is showboating, nothing more.

Edit: My bad, I just now saw your edited post.

That would have been interesting to see because at that time the reds would have won.

Don't tempt her.

or what?

Her wrath will engulf the forum. All shall perish.

Her wrath will engulf the forum. All shall perish.

Somehow this reminds me of that Google business.

The "Trump chicken" has already been acquired for memetic warfare. Certainly not one of my memes, given those are all cats as one would reasonably expect, but this was an impressive turn around after yesterday's incident. There is no shortage of people now using it to further the administration rather than humiliate it. Interesting exercise in understanding how memes work.

<Snipped quote by Prawn>

That would have been interesting to see because at that time the reds would have won.

Considering the fact that the Allied forces were exhausted and tired from fighting their way through France and Germany, I think it would have been a disaster. Have you read up on Operation Unthinkable? It was a proposed attack on the Soviet Union, pushed for by none other than Winston Churchill. Fortunately, the Americans dismissed it as unfeasible and never even considered doing it.

By 1945, everyone was tired of war - and it was only a few warmongers (i.e. Patton and Churchill) who wanted to keep it going. There was even talk of rearming the Germans against the Soviet Union. That's where the danger lies, with individuals who think that unwinnable wars can be won - and in the nuclear age that is a catastrophic mentality to possess.

And here we are, North Korea and America each staring down the barrel of a gun.

The United States is not, I say again, not staring down the barrel of any metaphorical gun in the nuclear age. Of the nuclear powers, both those official and unofficial to include North Korea, the capabilities strongly favor the United States' offensive and defensive mechanisms. The United States for years faced a far superior enemy to North Korea in the vein of the Soviet Union who is still the other most advanced and dangerous nuclear power. Even China, an emerging first world nation, with its enormous economic and military power is not even close; that is to include their remarkable ability to replicate what technologies other nations have, be them the United States of America or the Russian Federation.

North Korea poses little to no actual threat to the United States, but they do have the intent and potential capability to make an attack against them despite almost assured failure. While said attack is likely to be extremely ineffective, enough so that nuclear retaliation by the United States is not guaranteed (instead merely an option), the greater consequences are more of a realistic concern. Due to the proximity of the two Korean nations, the only real targets held at risk are South Korea and Japan. The former is at more risk due to conventional threats and other forms of weapons of mass destruction, such as North Korea's massive amount of artillery, which can and likely would include chemical and biological weapons. Japan stands far better odds due to positioning and the ability of their allied forces, as well as their own defensive forces, to intercept and take out intercontinental ballistic weapons.

The biggest threat any of this poses to anyone is, strangely enough, an economic one. In the event North Korea did opt to engage the United States, who then reciprocates in kind (where I need note the infamous "Mutually Assured Destruction" is not American doctrine any longer since the late 1960s and is more along a "flexible response" that could vary greatly based on war plans), the worst scenario is immense regional damage to South Korea and potentially Japan. China has repeatedly stated they have no interest on joint Korean-American forces taking the peninsula, as has Russia. Such a large scale incident would cause great harm to the globalized economic environment and grind the gears to a halt.

There is little doubt the United States would be extremely effective in committing to a limited retaliatory strike, significantly minimizing civilian losses, environmental contamination, political ramifications, because of the policy on the matter, yet the real danger was that North Korea did anything at all. It is reasonable to assume that if they do take any hostile actions, it will not simply be one missile or even their entire inventory, of which is very primitive I might note, but instead such an attack that would likely be coordinated with an all out attack against their enemies. Doing so almost assures that South Korea and potentially Japan are affected, the continental United States as well as Alaska an Hawaii being probably without real danger.

This is far from an unwinnable war and the only people who are going to really suffer are those who deserve it the least; the people of North and South Korea, to include Japan in worst case credible scenarios. Militarily, despite the immense fortifications of the northern region, there is years and years of planning the United States has made to counter this and innumerable more technologies in the inventory, as well as those only alluded to.

A war is going to hurt. That much is likely.

But a catastrophic war? Very unlikely.

The North Koreans have no interest in attacking America. They merely want to make the notion of attacking them unpalatable. Having the capability to nuke Seoul or Tokyo is really all they need.

The North Koreans have no interest in attacking America. They merely want to make the notion of attacking them unpalatable. Having the capability to nuke Seoul or Tokyo is really all they need.

With the unfortunate knock-on effect of bringing America into the fray. South Korea and Japan being America's allies and all.

@Penny

The exact reason such an attack at this stage would be very ineffective. They would need to hit as many of their targets all at once with a massed attack. That isn't going to be viable and any potential nuclear threat is going to be eclipsed by the conventional, chemical and potential biological one on, almost exclusively, South Korea. North Korea is attempting to dissuade the United States as a whole from even acting at all because it can threaten targets, even if it cannot actually land a blow on them. It is attempting to cow the populace.

In short what it is I am saying, is that they have not a way to succeed with any attempt at nuclear arms being employed because of a retaliatory attack of equal or greater vengeance. They know too well the risk. This is nothing but talk to induce fear and concern. Their best option, if they do choose to act at all, is unleash their standard array on the southern hemisphere; it is the only one that does not end in parts of North Korea being reduced to carefully aimed crater while they miss the majority of, if not all, their desired targets.

An actual nuclear war, with an exchange, is more unlikely now than before.