North Korea claims success in fifth nuclear test

I'm working on a research base in Antarctica and we have one of the very few Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) detectors in the Southern hemisphere on our station. It's pretty interesting how fast the detection network can sense and locate a nuclear blast above a certain yield. North Korea is frequently discussed when referencing the effectiveness of the system.

China needs to put this particular Genie back in it's bottle. Having a mad dog on a leash is a reckless and juvenile diplomatic strategy and we're starting to see that China doesn't have as much control over NK as it pretends to.

Is there any way the world could become more peaceful, and we could get rid of the seemingly eternal gun-pointing happening between the USA (+ NATO), China, Russia etc? Curious to hear what possible steps can be taken to calm the worlds warmongerers down further. What are possibilities for the future.

I can't help but detect a weird affectation (a combination of proud and pushy) in the voice of the newscaster. I don't know Korean or any Asian language, so I can't tell, is that a normal newscaster voice for North and South Korea?

&quot;Great.&quot; Oh, wait...<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.independent.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;world&#x2F;asia&#x2F;north-korea-bans-sarcasm-kim-jong-un-freedom-speech-a7231461.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.independent.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;world&#x2F;asia&#x2F;north-korea-ban...</a>

probably worthwhile the world powers reminding themselves that policies of nuclear deterrence rely entirely on rational agents

Since the comparison between North Korea and other dictatorships keeps arising, I feel compelled to note that North Korea is truly an edge case.<p>Nothing in Western democracies, Middle Eastern theocracies, or even African dictatorships comes close to the horror that is North Korea. They torture people <i>for entertainment</i>, without even a pretext. They <i>kidnap children</i> to serve as sex slaves for their leadership. They <i>starve families</i> to the point that parents beat their own children over <i>single grains of rice.</i><p>North Korea is such an extreme outlier that no other extant nation compares.

A forecast:<p>(1) NK eventually attacks a sovereign nation. Most likely, their nukes will be used as a threat to back up their aggressive actions rather than being actually used.<p>(2) China, at first perhaps tentative and apologetic, eventually joins in with strong anti-NK policies and pressure.<p>(3) NK doubles down, building up its offensive capabilities and maybe launching more attacks.<p>(4) Very sad day for the innocent North Koreans living under the regime. The US, or China, or the UN, or all of the above smash NK into the dirt.<p>(5) Profit.

The US is the only country to have used nuclear weapons casually and rationalized it like all other things later. This was a crime against humanity and nothing can change that. It an act of barbarism and savagery unprecedented in human history. Why the second one?<p>And to confirm its absolute disregard for human life since then has proceeded to stir up trouble in dozens of other countries and destroyed millions of lives in pursuit of its own financial interests, the latest victims being Iraq, Libya, Syria and with Iran in crosshairs.<p>Entire regions some just coming out of hundreds of years of destructive colonialism found themselves head first in old world politics of violence and self interest couched in the modern language of human rights, democracy and peace.<p>That&#x27;s a tally easily of hundreds of millions of lives in disarray or extinguished just from the latest meddling in the middle east purely because of financial interests. But yet all these blatant crimes against humanity for some reason are all ok. Because?<p>Nobody&#x27;s human rights have been protected, democracy has not been advanced, but &#x27;interests have been secured&#x27; on the back of entirely fictional narratives and fabrciated intentions. This is mind boggling.<p>This is perhaps the same kind of self serving rationalization and reckless disregard for human life that advocates first strike against North Korea. If these are the good guys who are the bad guys?

If the United States&#x27; military posture was not so depleted at this point, I would say that it is time to seriously consider a conventional first strike.<p>Right now, North Korea cannot deliver a nuclear payload anywhere. It&#x27;s one thing to create a nuclear test device, but it&#x27;s another matter entirely to miniaturize it for delivery.<p>However, if allowed to progress unimpeded, North Korea will soon have missile technology that can reach Japan consistently. Around the same time, their miniaturization project will likely be complete. At that point, other nations will lose the option of intervention.<p>North Korea&#x27;s government is simply... <i>unstable</i>, in both senses of the word. There is simply no other way to put it. The more closely one examines the country, the more disturbing the picture becomes.<p>They cannot be allowed to have a permanent nuclear deterrent.

The end for this could come with voluntary incorporation of North Korea as a Chinese new province.

Today is the Foundation Day of DPRK. Probably their version of fireworks.

At this point it is hard to believe this is not US agenda.

Has North Korea become &quot;too big to fail&quot;?

I&#x27;m all for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons but also find it amazing what their scientists can do working with such limited resources.