Enjoy it while it lasts

[TightEnd]

Intelligence agencies say that a North Korean missile could reach the U.S. in a year

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/us/politics/north-korea-missiles.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

"It is unclear how, if at all, that will change the calculus for President Trump. He has vowed to dispense with the Obama-era strategy of “strategic patience” toward North Korea. American military officials have been asked to come up with new potential strategies, from stepped-up economic pressure to increased cyber attacks on the missile testing regimes. But there is a lurking sense, one senior intelligence official said last week at the Aspen Security Forum, that at this point the best the United States can do is delay the day when North Korea demonstrates it can reach beyond Alaska and Hawaii."

[TightEnd]

Japan says North Korea has fired what appears to be a missile, could land in waters off Japan.

[TightEnd]

Kim Jong Un does not yet have a missile that can strike America. But he is close

https://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21725763-everyone-would-lose-how-nuclear-war-korea-could-start-and-how-it-might-end?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/howanuclearwarinkoreacouldstartandhowitmightend

[Graham C]

I'm quite surprised that the US have let North Korea get this far.  Given that they've (N Korea) always said they want to achieve long range missiles and possibly nuclear weapons, why does the rest of the world even let them get this close?

[Woodsey]

I'm quite surprised that the US have let North Korea get this far.  Given that they've (N Korea) always said they want to achieve long range missiles and possibly nuclear weapons, why does the rest of the world even let them get this close?

Because there are no military options that doesn't likely see a couple of million people killed. China could probably choke them off by closing borders IF they wanted to.......but that's a big if.

[Graham C]

Bombing North Korea isn't the only option.   I thought I read that China was imposing sanctions after this latest test but might have misread it.

[Woodsey]

Bombing North Korea isn't the only option.   I thought I read that China was imposing sanctions after this latest test but might have misread it.

It was the UN I think with the sanctions, they made little difference before as long as supplies come through the China border. As said, China could probably choke them off if they wanted, but then again it would be the people that got fked first before the regime probably.

[Graham C]

Not related to this but I found out not that long ago how many nukes there are in the world.  (It might have been discussed on here)

I'd always assumed that we perhaps had 2 or 3, the US a few more but my goodness how wrong I was. there's about 15,000 of them kicking around.

[TightEnd]

Washington Post: U.S. intelligence officials assess North Korea has produced a miniaturised nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles

[TightEnd]

"How Washington hard-liners helped to create the North Korean crisis" must read from an actual expert on the country

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/04/19/how-washington-hard-liners-helped-to-create-the-north-korean-crisis/?utm_term=.341827e132df

[TightEnd]

Trump threatens 'fury' against N Korea

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40869319

[tikay]

Hard to imagine anything less likely to defuse the tension than the "fire & fury" comment by Trump.

To be fair to Trump, the USA (or more correctly, its Presidents) have a history of ridiculously dumb comments like that.

It won't help one bit, & could very well make matters far worse.

[TightEnd]

BREAKING: North Korea says it is seriously considering plan to strike Guam - & Reuters citing state media

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/north-korea-seriously-considering-strike-on-guam-reports-citing-state-media.html

[TightEnd]

North Korea v the US: how likely is war? (!)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/09/north-korea-v-the-us-how-likely-is-war?CMP=twt_gu

[DaveShoelace]

I wish Corbyn had got in so he could have written a strongly worded letter to prevent all this.