Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

'Artificial' earthquake detected in North Korea may be nuclear test

theaustralian.com.au

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 139 posts

Re: 'Artificial' earthquake detected in North Korea may be nuclear test

#121

Post by dinkumthinkum »

Volpe wrote: post #45
refurb wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing the issue is that NK is an openly hostile country that is not only threatening its southern neighbor but also the region. India and Pakistan may have a beef with each other, but they weren't a destabilizing force in the region, or maybe more accurately, if they were, it wasn't a huge concern of the superpowers at the time.

NK v SK conflict is not that different to India v Pakistan. The difference is... there are US troops sitting on the border of NK/SK, so agression between those to parties involves the US. So who is the destabilising force in the region? I'm pretty sure "stability" isn't the goal (for the US) it's "Democracy".

The difference is so much greater than that. North Korea is a completely irrational regime. It is lost in a fantasy world. Pakistan, though it's stability is questionable, is not off on some bizarre ideological island. It's not as if the Pakistani government could convince it's citizens of the sort of nonsense the North Korean government does.

Re: 'Artificial' earthquake detected in North Korea may be nuclear test

#122

Post by Volpe »

doktrin wrote: post #98
arcadeparade wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA has nuclear weapons in South Korea, and they are the only country to actually use them. If they withdrew then maybe the two Koreas could negotiate peace.

You simply have no idea what you're talking about. I'm not even really sure where to begin in addressing your misconceptions, since practically everything you've said is incorrect.

The US are the only country to have used nukes (in war)

They use to have nukes in sk, now they don't, but can still strike nk anyway.

So that leaves the hyperbole that NK and SK could negotiate a peace if the US withdrew. Why don't you think that is possible?

How about you respond to the inaccuracies rather than being a jerk and insulting the GP?

Re: 'Artificial' earthquake detected in North Korea may be nuclear test

#123

Post by Volpe »

caf wrote: post #69
Volpe wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You seem to think having nuclear weapons is some sort of national right or something. No, I don't think that. > Nobody wants an unstable, belligerent, nasty dictatorship to have the ability to nuke other countries. The US opened this can of worms and created an imbalance in the world. North Korea is surrounded by nuclear enabled countries (China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan). As an aside: What exactly is 'unstab…

and its Nastiness extends only as far as its borders... This is not strictly true - for example in recent years there has been the sinking of the Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.

Okay, I'll qualify that with: and its borders are disputed.

Re: 'Artificial' earthquake detected in North Korea may be nuclear test

#124

Post by dinkumthinkum »

Volpe wrote: post #38
panacea wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to think having nuclear weapons is some sort of national right or something. It's not. Nobody wants an unstable, belligerent, nasty dictatorship to have the ability to nuke other countries.

> You seem to think having nuclear weapons is some sort of national right or something. No, I don't think that. > Nobody wants an unstable, belligerent, nasty dictatorship to have the ability to nuke other countries. The US opened this can of worms and created an imbalance in the world. North Korea is surrounded by nuclear enabled countries (China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan). As an aside: What exactly is 'unstab…

That's just totally ridiculous. You believe that this view of North Korean belligerence is due to propaganda. Wow. Why don't you tell that to some refugees; that's just incredible. I think you're letting some sort of cultural relativism cloud your judgment.

It is unstable not in the sense of "who is going to rule the country." It is unstable in the sense of they behave irrationally, have irrational beliefs and motivations. The same way that we, mostly, don't think that a paranoid schizophrenic should have unlimited access to assault rifles, any sane, knowledgeable person, would not want North Korea to have nuclear weapons. Wow, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Re: 'Artificial' earthquake detected in North Korea may be nuclear test

#125

Post by dinkumthinkum »

Volpe wrote: post #109
doktrin wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This manner of moral equivocating is disturbing. Even insinuating that the US is somehow on par with North Korea on the whole "regional destabilizing" scale is frankly a little insane.

Really, you don't think the US is a destabilising element in Asia? They were involved in 2 wars that had no relevance to US security, purely for ideological reasons... They are still involved in one of those wars... They lost the other one... Great stabiliser!

What do you think would happen if the West adopted an isolationist policy and stayed out of Asian affairs?

Re: 'Artificial' earthquake detected in North Korea may be nuclear test

#126

Post by lostlogin »

caf wrote: post #69
Volpe wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You seem to think having nuclear weapons is some sort of national right or something. No, I don't think that. > Nobody wants an unstable, belligerent, nasty dictatorship to have the ability to nuke other countries. The US opened this can of worms and created an imbalance in the world. North Korea is surrounded by nuclear enabled countries (China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan). As an aside: What exactly is 'unstab…

and its Nastiness extends only as far as its borders... This is not strictly true - for example in recent years there has been the sinking of the Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.

Not quite so recent (ended in the 1980s) - kidnapping Japanese citizens from within Japan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_abductions_of_Japa...

Re: 'Artificial' earthquake detected in North Korea may be nuclear test

#127

Post by Volpe »

dinkumthinkum wrote: post #124
Volpe wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You seem to think having nuclear weapons is some sort of national right or something. No, I don't think that. > Nobody wants an unstable, belligerent, nasty dictatorship to have the ability to nuke other countries. The US opened this can of worms and created an imbalance in the world. North Korea is surrounded by nuclear enabled countries (China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan). As an aside: What exactly is 'unstab…

That's just totally ridiculous. You believe that this view of North Korean belligerence is due to propaganda. Wow. Why don't you tell that to some refugees; that's just incredible. I think you're letting some sort of cultural relativism cloud your judgment. It is unstable not in the sense of "who is going to rule the country." It is unstable in the sense of they behave irrationally, have irrational beliefs and motiva…

> That's just totally ridiculous. You believe that this view of North Korean belligerence is due to propaganda. That isn't what I said. I said that they are no MORE belligerent than the US, I wasn't saying they are not belligerent. Please reread.

> It is unstable not in the sense of "who is going to rule the country." It is unstable in the sense of they behave irrationally, have irrational beliefs and motivations.

Oh sure, if we redefine what "unstable" means in the context of government, then sure, you are completely correct.

> Wow, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Jerk.

Re: 'Artificial' earthquake detected in North Korea may be nuclear test

#128

Post by Volpe »

dinkumthinkum wrote: post #125
Volpe wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, you don't think the US is a destabilising element in Asia? They were involved in 2 wars that had no relevance to US security, purely for ideological reasons... They are still involved in one of those wars... They lost the other one... Great stabiliser!

What do you think would happen if the West adopted an isolationist policy and stayed out of Asian affairs?

I wasn't suggesting that... Only that Vietnam and South Korean War were anything but "stabilising" and their approach could have been different.

But I like your attempt at hyperbole.

Re: 'Artificial' earthquake detected in North Korea may be nuclear test

#129

Post by rooshdi »

dinkumthinkum wrote: post #125
Volpe wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, you don't think the US is a destabilising element in Asia? They were involved in 2 wars that had no relevance to US security, purely for ideological reasons... They are still involved in one of those wars... They lost the other one... Great stabiliser!

What do you think would happen if the West adopted an isolationist policy and stayed out of Asian affairs?

Maybe something like this won't happen:

http://costsofwar.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vietnam_War_casual...

Post reply on HN