UPDATE: CNN reports that the North Korean bomb probably weighs ten tons. And they have no way of delivering the bomb anywhere - their recent missile test was a flop, and at ten tons, it's not like they're going to drive it anywhere.
(Source: WorldAtlas.com)
UPDATE: Senior US officials claim that they also believe a test did take place. Pentagon and intelligence officials are nearly certain a test took place.
UPDATE: South Korean officials claim, per the BBC, that there was a seismic event:
A South Korean official said an explosion had been detected in the north-east of North Korea, measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale.UPDATE: Nobody has confirmed this report yet. CNN is now reporting that the Pentagon and the intelligence community thinks North Korea may have conducted a test, but it will take several hours to confirm it. Also, CNN is reporting that North Korea is masterful at deception - so they might have tried to hide the explosion (or they may have tried to fake an explosion). The USGS is saying, per CNN, that there is no indication of seismic activity. But again, it's possible the North Koreans hid the test somehow.
AP is reporting that North Korea has reportedly conducted a nuclear weapon test. I'm not sure what conducting a nuclear weapons test means exactly, since AP doesn't tell us, but I'm supposing it means they actually detonated a nuclear device.
If so, we have George Bush to thank.
Who decided to devote the past five and a half years to Iraq instead of North Korea? We KNEW North Korea was preparing to go nuclear. Iraq, not so much. Hell, even Iran was ahead of Iraq in the nuclear department. But Bush, from day one, decided he wanted to take out Saddam to make the neo-cons happy. And what did that get us?
It got us North Korea watching us stuck in a quagmire in Iraq, watching us use up all of our military weaponry and demoralize and overstretch our troops to the point where we may not be able to do much about North Korea at this point. That's why, in my opinion, North Korea is acting up - or at the very least, it's why North Korea isn't afraid of our threats. They're calling our bluff. What exactly are we going to do? Invade? With what army? And with Seoul only a hop, skip and a jump from the North Korean border, attacking North Korea is going to be an even iffier prospect.
I'll say it again. George Bush has run our military into the ground, and he sent the message to North Korea that the US is vulnerable and unable to put actions behind its threats. So now what do we do that Bush's weakness, and wandering eye, has let North Korea go nuclear?
Feeling safer yet?
