At 02:20 PM 2/15/03 -0800, James A. Donald wrote: ...
If their goal is to blackmail us into not invading them, I don't think they need to threaten to nuke LA or DC. We have a lot of troops in South Korea, within a few miles of the border. They can threaten them, or maybe threaten Tokyo or Seoul. No need to develop multi-billion dollar technology, when 1940s era fission bombs are all that's needed.They will be testing another missile soon. We shall see how far it goes. They would not waste a nuke on an untested missile --- which is why they test them.
If their goal is to extort money from us (this looks like the most likely goal), they have a somewhat different set of requirements. Then, their threat is really going to be about proliferation. They announce they have nukes, and make it clear that either we buy them, or someone else will be given the chance. The saber-rattling serves both to communicate the threat and to advertise for buyers.
James A. Donald
--John Kelsey, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
