Mushroom Cloud Reported Over North Korea

cbrocious writes "Yahoo! News is reporting a mushroom cloud over North Korea that occured on Thursday in Yanggang province near the border with China. 'The explosion in Kim Hyong Jik county blasted a crater big enough to be noticed by a satellite, the source said.'"

Comments

Well....From the TFA-

[thewldisntenuff]

"there was no immediate indication that Thursday's reported explosion was linked to Pyongyang's efforts to develop nuclear weapons."

What was it then? Car crash? Natural gas explosion? Hmm..."no immediate indication." Bah!

I'm actually kind of surprised it took this long to hit the wires though....I mean, shouldn't we have picked it up and there been at least, a news report? Or some sort of acknowledgement of the situation by those in power........

I bet most of the Pacific Rim's probably up in arms over this-Especially the Chinese, TFA states it hit somewhere close to the China-North Korean border..... You'd think with something like that, either the Chinese would strike or raise hell along the diplomatic channels.....

Reminds me of those WWII era Civil Defense movies I saw once in a history class...You
know, the one with the turtle...

"Ok kids, what do we do when the bomb hits?"

"DUCK! AND COVER!"

-thewldisntenuff

Re: Well....From the TFA-

[Black Parrot]

"there was no immediate indication that Thursday's reported explosion was linked to Pyongyang's efforts to develop nuclear weapons."

What was it then? Car crash? Natural gas explosion? Hmm..."no immediate indication." Bah!

Just about any big explosion will create a mushroom cloud; I saw one from a tank car explosion one time.

However, the reported 2+ mile diameter of the cloud is troubling. Surely radiation detectors will sort it out within a day or two.

Re:Well....From the TFA-

[Read Icculus]

What's China going to do? Those nukes aren't for protection against China I can tell you that... although they work for that too.

No the ball is in our court now, and as they have nukes... well I'm not too sure what the move is. It just goes to show other nations (Iran), that stepping things up is probably the way to go if you don't want to be the next Iraq.

Re: Well....From the TFA-

[Anonymous Coward]

Those in power know as of right now whether or not it was a nuke, the question is - what will they tell us?

Well according to CNN those in power have told us what it is, and I quote:

The U.S. official said the cloud could be the result of a forest fire.

Ya...right...forest fire...

And they wonder why everyone thinks that the government is involved in so many conspiracies. A forest fire is going to create a mushroom cloud and a crater? A forest fire is going to create a seismic event? I so can't stand the lies anymore. I can't wait until November 2nd, and I can get rid of them!

Re:Well....From the TFA-

[MrWa]

I couldn't agree more, killjoe.

The logic behind the US's preemptive strike strategy boggles the mind. All we have done is solidify the opinion that the only way to deal with the US on anything close to a even standing is to develop nuclear weapons - real weapons and not "nuclear weapon related programs" - or you are fair game for some major bullying from the US government.

Now that the world has seen how we handled Iraq and North Korea in parallel - one a real threat, one a fake threat - it is obvious that being as strong as North Korea is preferrable to being like Iraq (all bark, no bite.)

Looks like more interesting times are headed our way...

Re: Well....From the TFA-

[Igmuth]

Well, thats not exactly a minor mistake... It's like writing
"The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal makes a good meal for visiting tourists"
instead of
"The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal makes a good meal of visiting tourists"

Re: Well....From the TFA-

[HeghmoH]

And, yes, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to apologize for Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Dresden, I could see. Maybe even Nagasaki. But Hiroshima? What's the apology going to say? "We're sorry that your country went on a total rampage across half the surface of the planet for fifteen years. We're sorry that your ancestors were so totally fucking crazy that the only way to get them to admit they'd lost was to kill millions of people in a blockade, kill millions of people in an invasion, or kill hundreds of thousands of people in a shocking demonstration that could not be denied. We're sorry that, in the end, we chose the fastest option with the least loss of life."

Re:Well....From the TFA-

[Bora Horza Gobuchol]

Geeks here like to think that by mirroring the american hatred of the rest of the world, they can be part of the intellectually superior and socially sophisticated crowd (and hopefully get laid at the same time).

That's right. And all the "hippies" protesting the Vietnam War in the 70's were just at the rallies to get laid and smoke pot. Ignore the tear gas, the intimidation, the bullets, and the fire hoses.

People died protesting the Vietnam War. It's likely that people will die protesting this one. Yes, some of the protest was fashionable - there was a culture war going on at the same time. But to say "oh, they're protesting because it's trendy" is to ignore the real arguments and issues at hand, and the very real determination they have to protest an illegal action.

Installing a successful liberal democracy in the heart of the middle east...

First: it's extremely difficult to "install" a democracy. It has been done, but only in countries in which millions died before being defeated.

...is the only way to bring lasting peace to the region and the world.

Really? The only way? As opposed to, say, finding a solution to the Palestinian crisis, which has been the touchstone of religious fundamentalism and terrorism in the region for the last 60 years?

They think the only reason the terrorists attack is because of grievances, not because they want to take over the world

Please show me how 9/11 was an attempt to "take over the world."

Bottom line: terrorism doesn't allow you to defeat nations. The goal of terror is to drive nations crazy with grief, fear, and anger, and nudge them in the direction you wish. It's not about defeating the enemy - it's about influencing policy. You need an army and modern weapons to take over a nation - not nineteen guys and boxcutters.

Yes, there are dreamers on the fringe that talk of a "Muslim world" and a "new Muslim empire". That kind of rhetoric even works with some people. The reality is cells working in the dark.

Those who doubt the Iraq mission are no different from those who doubted America's efforts to rebuilt post WW2 Europe and Japan. Back then they said it couldn't be done, was a waste of money and that the people would not be able to handle US-style democracy.

It's very different. No-one in the Allied countries believed that Japan and Germany should be left to their own devices after being defeated. Both nations had functional demoracies before being taken over by extremists pre WWII. In addition, their culture was one of obidience to central authority - imposing a system of governance was not difficult. There was a slow, dawning realisation of shame amoung the citizenry - a realisation that they had been, at best, misled. Both nations had largely homogeneous cultures. Finally hundreds of thousands of civillians had to be killed.

The situation in Iraq could not be more different. Iraq has never experienced democracy. It is riven by tribal, relgious, and cultural differences. Authority is at the behest of the tribal leader, the "strong man", or the iman - all of whom have different goals. Amoung the general populace (as opposed to English speaking, Internet connected bloggers) there is a tremendous feeling that Iraq did not deserve to be invaded and occupied - and the reasons for invasion have little to do with lofty ideals of "democracy". The war, to them, is about control of the region, politically and economically, by the US.

No other country has sacrificed so much and given so much for complete strangers and yet you only see protestors in NYC protesting Bush's 15 billion dollar AIDs policy but you never see them protesting Europe's 0 dollar AIDs policy.

Garbage. The EU has an annual budget of 800 million euros towards HIV/AIDS in the developing world. In addition, it pledged 120 million euros towards a Global Health Fund to combat AIDS this year. This

Looks like Bush finally found...

[dameron]

Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

How long can we ignore this crazy bastard, Kim Jong-il I mean? Are we gonna have to wait until he strikes oil?

-dameron

The Time Frame

[Caraig]

Something interesting to note. This took place on Thursday, 09 September. Two days ago. The news is only getting out now.

Anyone else think it quite remarkable that we live in an age where information travels at incredible speeds all over the world... but it took two days for the (at least mainstream) media to report this? Think about it. There are still places in the world where something equivalent to a small nuke can go off -- mushroom cloud and all -- and we don't NOTICE it right away.

It's kind of humbling.

Re:It's a good thing...

[Phanatic1a]

Nowhere near "all of our troops" are in Iraq. We've got about 125,000 troops in Iraq. That includes Army, Marines, Air Force, Navy, and significant numbers of National Guard troops.

That's about two Canadian Armed Forces' worth of troops, but only a fraction of our total force strength.

And here's a big, big question for everyone who's going to bleat "Well why'd we send those troops to Iraq instead of North Korea?":

The city of Seoul is home to eleven million people. The city of Seoul is also within artillery range of North Korea. Artillery is cheap and ubiquitous, and as North Korea's army is arrayed along Soviet lines, they have scads of it. Until it fires, it's damned hard to spot camoflaged artillery from the air, and even if you could spot all of it, the sheer number of artillery pieces they have is quite staggering.

If you have a plan for military intervention in North Korea that doesn't lead to the virtual annihilation of Seoul within hours of the start of the war, please, we're all ears.

Troop numbers...

[WIAKywbfatw]

134,000: Number of US troops sent to Iraq, to topple Saddam Hussein's regime, which had nothing to do with September 11th.

17,900: Number of US troops sent to Afghanistan, to hunt down Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, the people responsible for September 11th and other terrorist attacks against the US.

That give you an indication of what the Bush adminstrations priorities have been?

Re:Misleading

[flacco]

But if you even START to THINK about invading North Korea, Seoul gets hit by 50,000 missiles before our troops can even step across the border. Sure, North Korea would fall in a matter of days, but not until after they'd done tons of damage.

and i'm sure he'll become more sane, have less weapons, and become less desperate as time goes on.

Re:Not likely

[fyngyrz]

It would suck, but it would only destroy two countries, not the entire world.

I think you underestimate the situation. Remember 9/11? Remember the US economy taking a royal crap over the loss of one building and a few thousand worker bees?

What do you think would happen if Japan, one of the world's most powerful economic engines, were destroyed or knocked out of play for a while?

"Suck" doesn't even begin to cover it. This isn't 1945. There are more ways to destroy a country than to blow stuff up. If Japan goes, I think you'll see lots of awfully bad stuff happen in the US and elsewhere.

Re:Misleading

[quax]

Thank you. Happy for every American slashdot reader who has not gone bloodthirsty crazy. Helps me to maintain my believe in humanity.