Thursday, April 12, 2012

Norks in Orbit

The North Koreans have been milking the TV news for coverage of their upcoming rocket launch. If they launch and put a satellite into orbit, they will gain enormous amounts of respect. A rocket good enough to throw a satellite up is good enough to throw a nuke anywhere on earth. Say like into Washington DC.
Fox TV has been calling the North Koreans a nuclear state. That is an exaggeration. The Norks have run two tests, both of them fizzled. Yield was so small that observers waited to detect airborne radioactivity before announcing that a nuclear test had occured. Clearly the Norks haven't figured out how to make a fission bomb that really explodes. They have undoubtedly made some engineering changes to their bomb, but until they can run off a test with the same yield as leveled Hiroshima 65 years ago, they ain't a real nuclear power.
The Japanese and the South Koreans are seriously worried about a North Korea with missiles, and have threatened to shoot it down. This is a gutsy move. If they shoot and miss (fairly likely) they just look foolish and loose more face than if they just send nastygrams to the North Korean foreign ministry.

No comments: