(no subject)

[bzarcher]

So, from what I can tell, the debate tonight consisted of a little light discussion, some firey salsa over the issues, and finished with a buffet of live human babies of the opposing parties served to each candidate.

Well, okay, the babies part is an exaggeration, but you have to admit it would have made a more interesting time. As far as I can tell, nothing new really came out. Bush had poor delivery, Kerry was inconsistent in message. Bush whiffed on point and procedure, and Kerry tended to come off a bit too creepy.

Comments

[ixx.livejournal.com]

I find it actually kinda cool that Kerry looks like the badguy from Reanimator. If there's a White House scandal where he's caught ripping off his own head and giving cunnilingus to a bound intern, I think that means this country is headed in the right direction.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

...

I hadn't made that connection till you said that. Now I can't get it out of my head.

[ls56.livejournal.com]

I actually thought Kerry had a consistant message. He looked good. George looked like a moron.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Mostly, but his message on Iraq and North Korea waivered a few times, and that worries me. Especially NK.

[gigerlicious.livejournal.com]

Waivered? He said he wanted bilateral talks with North Korea.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Only after saying first that they had 7 nukes, then going back to say that they might have 4 to 7 nukes, and then saying that China should be involved eventually.

[gigerlicious.livejournal.com]

While I see the contextual difference between 7 and 4-7, I wouldn't go so far as to call that inconsistant, as 7 is a subset of 4-7.

Frankly, I think North Korea is a big and scary mess. There is no way, ever, that they will give up their nukes. The best plan I see is to stall and fluster their nuclear pursuits until their economy collapses Soviet-style, then reunify the country. Reunification will never happen without China's help, but that's a whole other issue as China begins to emerge as a second Superpower.

For the immediate time being, he's right - the six-way orgy that's going on is accomplishing nothing, we need to take the bull by the horns and actively halt this program before they acquire a missile and guidance system capable of delivering their bomb, or worse yet, sell it to Al-Qaeda to boost their dying economy.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

It's a contextual difference, but I also worry about how many intelligence matters he just blew up by giving that kind of numbers.

The big risk I see in trying to grind down their economy is that Kim Jong Il seems to have no reservations about flipping the button if things get bad enough, nor do we see any signs of a Gorbachev or Yeltsin type who might take a more moderate/progressive line should he croak in the near future.

We know they have the missile and guidance. The Nodong 2 was tested as being able to hit Japan fairly easily, so yes, that's a big thing we need to jump on. But I don't know if there is a good way to go out from there.

[gigerlicious.livejournal.com]

My understanding is while they have tactical range on their Taepodong and Nodong missiles to hit targets like Tokyo and the like, they still have no guidance system to actually target anything specific. In essence, they have a bit range they can hit, but they lack the ability to really threaten anyone specific. My information about this comes from a Korean colleague of mine who was a Lieutenant on the DMZ for 12 years.

Granted, I think you're right - Kim Jong Il is nuts enough to just hit the button regardless of the consequences if he thinks he's lost, and that kind of crazy is what's been keeping us in check.

I still think we should appeal to his porno obsession.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

I thought one of the major concerns about the Nodong 2 /was/ that they'd finally mated a guidance system to it, but I could be wrong.

Really, everyone needs to pause for porno. Why can't the world just see that?

[gigerlicious.livejournal.com]

Just talked to my colleague again. He's says it's fairly conventional wisdom among the South Korean military that while the Nodong 2 has guidance systems, their actual accuracy is largely exaggerated. A Nodong launched at Tokyo has about just as good a chance at hitting Vladivostok or possibly Beijing, not to mention a lot of water. Of course, with everyday they probably get one step closer to precision, time is not on our side.

I think Kerry is spot-on when he says nuclear proliferation is the prime agenda. If bin Laden/terrorists ever got his hands on a bomb and it could be traced back to North Korea, we'd launch some military assault at them, and they'd likely launch any and all missiles they had at us and our allies, leading to who knows what kind of nuclear retaliation.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

A very nasty scene, indeed.

[daemi0n.livejournal.com]

He kept looking into his podium like "Maybe there are answers here... oh. There aren't. Maybe there are bananas there. Damn. Whiskey? No? -sigh- I'm a saaaaaad monkey.