The Glade 4.0

If you are talking about geo-political ramifications that consider global economics, even in the short term, if China supposedly has us by the balls, then their own balls are clutched in that very same grasp. In essence, our balls will enjoy mutual destruction from an economic standpoint.

The US needs continued and unwarranted faith in its bond market to continue along its current budgetary trajectory. Destroying China would completely annihilate that.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

There's a way around that. If China tries to use those bonds as a hammer to force the U.S. into an unacceptable position, then treating that action as cassus belli doesn't harm our bond market, or at least not nearly as much. Pretty much any country can grasp that if you buy up another country's debt and then try to dictate to them, they're likely to respond unfavorably. Even if it is our own fault for getting so in debt in the first place, trying to collapse someone's economy is a hostile act.

That also assumes we continue on the current budget trajectory. If we're faced with this sort of extreme situation, it's going to be changed by events because normal domestic politics are quickly going to take a back seat.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Keep in mind, NK's "nuclear deterrent" is mostly hot air. IIRC, they are way behind the curve on miniaturization (meaning missiles or atomic artillery is out) , and their bomb tests to date have been more along the lines of sparklers rather than m-80's.

So yeah, they have a bomb (most likely more fizzy/dirty than explosive) that's likely the size of a small 5th-wheel. They'd have 3 choices: try to get that huge device through one of the most militarized and mined geographies on the face of the earth in order to detonate it so it would be tactically effective. Or, they'd have to hide it in their own territory, and hope that they'd be able to detonate it after the position had been overrun. Or, make a lot of smaller dirty bombs that would pollute the battlefield in a way that NK isn't likely to be able to operate in as effectively as the South Koreans and Americans.

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Women are from Hoboken, men are from Trenton. ~ Jimmy Kimmel

That's true, although it is likely to actually explode; they did have a second, more successful test but as far as I know they ca't have material for more than a few bombs.

The "nuclear land mine" you cited is probably their best chance of getting any value out of it; their air force would be hard pressed to get a bomb through SK air defenses. Ballistic missiles are not out of the question assuming sufficient size, and they have quie a variety with some fairly long ranges - when they work. Still PAC-3 (2 battalions in Korea), THAAD (Hawaii), and SM-3 (Sea-based) are effective ABM systems, although they could fire a horde of conventional missile hoping the one with the nuke got through and functioned.

The real deterrent NK posesses is in its chemical munitions at this point, although hard information on their nuclear arsenal or lack thereof is hard to come by. A lot has happened since that 2006 fizzle.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

/proud mom derail

My son is on the USS George Washington. I've heard from him several times via email since he's been over there. They are taking the threats very seriously. I don't think you can "oh pshaw" a nut like Kim Jong Il. I read the other day that his 3rd son is expected to take over and he's even nuttier.

I was watching for blue shirt Jake in the flight deck photos that have been released lately. I guess he's working nights this round. It still amazes me. I've watched a bunch of videos of flight deck operations. When he told me he was working nights ... I had to imagine those same videos but with the lights turned off. He's loving every minute of it.

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“The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.” - Pearl S. Buck

I'm glad you're proud and I'm glad they are taking him seriously. Never underestimate crazy.