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Seismic Data From North Korea Suggest a Repeat of 2013 Nuclear Test
Lasrick writes: Seismologist Jeffrey Park has done an initial analysis of the seismic data from North Korea's reported nuclear weapon test and found 'an uncanny resemblance to the signals recorded for the February 12, 2013 detonation.' Park's analysis pretty much destroy's the North Korean claim that they detonated a hydrogen bomb, and he postulates that P'yongyang is desperate for attention during the US presidential election cycle.
Siegfried Hecker, one of the world's top experts on the North Korea nuclear program, is nonetheless concerned that the DPRK has now completed its fourth test, and with it a greater sophistication in their bomb design. Hecker is also skeptical that the test was an H-bomb. However, as he says, "We know so little about North Korea's nuclear weapons design and test results that we cannot completely rule it out."
Siegfried Hecker, one of the world's top experts on the North Korea nuclear program, is nonetheless concerned that the DPRK has now completed its fourth test, and with it a greater sophistication in their bomb design. Hecker is also skeptical that the test was an H-bomb. However, as he says, "We know so little about North Korea's nuclear weapons design and test results that we cannot completely rule it out."
A nuke might be a simpler accomplishment.
P'yongyang is desperate for attention during the US presidential election cycle
When are we NOT in an election cycle? Is there any time ever that someone is not campaigning for public office?
Even if they aren't actively campaigning, they are positioning and posturing for future "election cycles"
Oh, and I believe I saw some aluminum tubes in a satellite photo of N. Korea... so....
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
I know they are not a good government, but we are not going to fix them. We have not fixed them in the last 60 years of them being a bad government. Nobody else will fix them either. Every Government needs a bogeyman, and the DPRK still works as one.
Personally even if they had a H-Bomb what is the fright? That they are going to use it against their own population? Until they have something better than coal fired missiles from the old USSR the world is not under eminent threat.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
I don't know, if you put 768kT MIRVs in a single missile and targeted each separate warhead at a single city, you could theoretically do enough damage to a mid sized country to cause it to teeter close to collapse. In fact, if you shot those at say, the top 5 US cities, you wouldn't have enough to end the US, but you'd crater the US economy in short order. It's not necessary for those warheads to even annihilate those cities, which they probably wouldn't, but it would be enough to empty the cities out and cause complete chaos.
Yes, you can't kill everyone in a country that way, and it would actually take quite a lot of nukes to seriously depopulate a country by direct explosion effects or even residual radiation. But it could kick off the loss of order and infrastructure which would allow disease and disorder to complete the job. In that sense, radiation is much worse because it has a denial effect over areas that wouldn't be otherwise damaged by a blast.
Park's analysis pretty much destroy's the North Korean claim
Destroys.
Not that anyone will bother to fix it, I'm sure.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
This isn't an assessment of "what they're capable of", it's an assessment of what they just did. "The west" has an international network of seismographs and satellite suites specifically designed for picking up nuclear explosions, both on the surface and underground, and assessing their strength and various properties about them. In fact, this capability was first introduced as far back as 1963, it's nothing new. You don't blow up an atomic bomb on Earth without it being detected and analyzed.
Shiny New Australia.
Huh, the 1994-2002 gap corresponds to when North Korea was in the grip of a severe famine and lack of resources. I wonder if that had anything to do with their sudden willingness to negotiate. Let's not investigate this any further, and give all credit to the Clinton administration that was the author of so many successful international adventures such as Blackhawk Down.
This is a textbook example of selection-bias. Let's rewind and condense the conversation that happened.
OP: "Democrats caused this. Conclusion: Republicans good, Democrats bad."
Reply: "Here are some facts.. Republicans were always in power when NK did nuclear, Democrats never. Conclusion: Republicans bad, Democrats good."
You: "Only replying to one aspect of your post, ignoring unpleasant correlation between NK nukes and Republican presidency, dismissing correlation between lack-of-NK nukes and Democrat presidency. Conclusion: Republicans good, Democrats bad."
Me: "I'm not American and this is too complicated for trivial cause & effect analysis. Conclusion: Republicans, Democrats, NK government, OP, Reply, and You all bad, Me awesome."
"Oh no... he found the