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The US Waged A Secret Cyber War Against North Korean Missiles (tampabay.com)
Early Monday morning North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into the sea of Japan, lending a new urgency to Saturday's revelation from the New York Times of America's "secret cyberwar" with North Korea. Slashdot reader Frosty Piss summarizes its suspected effects succinctly: "Soon after ex-President Obama ordered the secret program three years ago, North Korean missiles began exploding, veering off course, or crashing into the sea."
The Times reports the program was started when Obama "concluded that the $300 billion spent since the Eisenhower era on traditional anti-missile systems...had failed the core purpose of protecting the continental United States," with tests of missile interceptors showing an overall failure rate of at least 56%. But after interviewing government officials, the Times concludes that the U.S. "still does not have the ability to effectively counter the North Korean nuclear and missile programs." Options include escalating the cyber and electronic warfare, trying to negotiate a freeze, asking the Chinese to cut off trade and support, or preparing for direct missile strikes on the launch sites, "which Obama also considered, but there is little chance of hitting every target." The New York Times article concludes: The White House is looking at military options against North Korea, a senior Trump administration official said. Putting U.S. tactical nuclear weapons back in South Korea -- they were withdrawn a quarter-century ago -- is also under consideration, even if that step could accelerate an arms race with the North.
The Times reports the program was started when Obama "concluded that the $300 billion spent since the Eisenhower era on traditional anti-missile systems...had failed the core purpose of protecting the continental United States," with tests of missile interceptors showing an overall failure rate of at least 56%. But after interviewing government officials, the Times concludes that the U.S. "still does not have the ability to effectively counter the North Korean nuclear and missile programs." Options include escalating the cyber and electronic warfare, trying to negotiate a freeze, asking the Chinese to cut off trade and support, or preparing for direct missile strikes on the launch sites, "which Obama also considered, but there is little chance of hitting every target." The New York Times article concludes: The White House is looking at military options against North Korea, a senior Trump administration official said. Putting U.S. tactical nuclear weapons back in South Korea -- they were withdrawn a quarter-century ago -- is also under consideration, even if that step could accelerate an arms race with the North.
Number of countries invaded and bombed by China since ww2: 1, the US 16.
Oh learn some history.
China invaded India.
China invaded Vietnam
China shelled Tibet
Plenty of bombing during the Korean war.
Lots of bombing of Taiwan
Burma
They fought the Soviet Union, believe it or not
Mongolia
XinJiang
China has border disputes with half a dozen countries. They are not happier players on the world stage.
Of course there's a very good chance that once both Koreas have the bomb that Japan will quickly follow suit,
It's kind of a bit academic whether Japan actually have an assembled bomb at this point. They have an advanced hi-tech industry as good as any, a very active nuclear industry and a large stockpile of plutonium, and an educational system more than capable of churning out people able to understand the physics. In other words, they have all the components, the ability to and produce them and the people capable of designing them. They wouldn't even need a Manhattan project: they've already done pretty much all of that.
Not only that but they recently demoed their solid fuel satellite launcher. That's a not-so-subtle hint that they have a launcher easily as good and probably substantially better than the best current deployed ICBM systems, along with the same trappings of being easy to hide and move and easy to launch without being noticed beforehand.
SJW n. One who posts facts.