North Korean Rocket Launch (& New Nuke Test)

[Joust Williams]

Awwww, look at wittel N Korea, trying to be relevant.

That place is a shithole

[icarusfall]

Well.... yeah.

Or were you just pointing out the obvious?

[Andrew]

I didn't blame us for causing this, I blamed us for dropping the ball on a tool we could use to leverage against this. That doesn't make us the "bad guy," it makes us a less effective "good guy" than we could have been.

P.S. If you want to know why conservatives get the stereotype of seeing the world as a black and white stuggle between good and evil, this is why.

If you want to go for the witty comeback, that's all well and good. But at least wait for me to actually slip up. I never mentioned "black and white" or "good and evil." I was speaking in terms of culpability.

Where does one draw a legit connection between two underground nuclear blasts and the pursuit of peaceful energy?

Let's say nuclear fusion was a real, feasible means of producing cheap, clean energy. And let's say we offered it to North Korea in return for halting all nuclear testing. Do you honestly think it would make a difference? No, just like food aid, and medical aid, and every other aid we've tried to throw out there as an enticement to behave, Kim will just take it, squander it, and continue to test nukes and launch missiles.

He is hellbent on acquiring the ability to launch nuclear weapons long-range. Whether he actually plans to do it or just wants the capability as a bargaining chip is neither here nor there. If he succeeds, it's bad news for the United States and our allies.

As for the "good and evil" debate, I'll leave that to the TNL chest-pounders.

[Othello Harrington]

Fuck yourself. Move on dude,

[icarusfall]

I don't understand how we think we can tell other countries they can't have nukes.

[Andrew]

Fuck yourself. Move on dude,

That's hardly constructive or appropriate. Also, fix your punctuation.

[Andrew]

I don't understand how we think we can tell other countries they can't have nukes.

All things being equal, we shouldn't. Thing is, North Korea is nobody's equal.

Take China, for example. We might have major disagreements in terms of political philosophy, human rights, etc. But they have as much to lose as any other civilized nation in a nuclear exchange. In other words, we might not like them, but we can say with pretty strong certainty that they won't use their nuclear arsenal for shits and giggles.

North Korea is the erratic meth-head of the global community. A meth-head with nothing to lose. And nukes.

[haohmaru]

I think you might be the one not paying attention. Nuclear fusion reactors can't meltdown like fission reactors, create no radioactive waste, and don't require enriched nuclear materials to run. If anyone has a problem with them, they're pig-ignorant. It's safe, clean energy, that can power a city on materials extracted from a gallon of saltwater.

See, I live in an area where they built a nuclear reactor from the ground up and finished it to the point of being ready to turn the "on" switch only to have it protested to the point of being never opened and a taxpayer burden for 30+ years and billions of dollars. I know what I'm talking about in the real world - which is where I live. "pig-ignorant" or not, it's reality. And, FYI, I'm not saying I agree with it.

Coal mining might be hurt by nuclear fusion, but generally speaking it would just change the power industry, not wreck it. Reactors will still cost money to build and maintain and people will still buy power from them. Just because we aren't digging coal out of the ground as much doesn't mean our economy's going to take a blow.

Corporations aren't always willing to invest in long-term research projects with no clear date of completion unless it's in the medical field for whatever reason, but there's no reason the rest of the world should be beating us on this. You put too much faith in corporations, when the reality is, they're fucking stupid sometimes.

Not nearly as stupid as our government. Or, are you seriously going to argue that they are more efficient than Microsoft, Sun, etc... in procuring and advancing new technology? If there were money in it, it would get done. I'm sure there's TONS of opposition to new energy technology from very rich oil companies, coal companies, etc... It's naive to think the government, that's getting tons of money from these industries via taxes, campaign contributions, etc..., is going to actively compete against them.

We aren't European socialists yet, but we're getting there. Maybe your dream will come true.

[bbobb]

Fuck yourself. Move on dude,

You know you're in trouble when Biff is actually on your side in an argument and still telling you to shut the fuck up. Take a hint Squall.

[youandwhosearmy]

There's also the very real possibility that cold fusion just can't be done.
Throwing money at an impossible problem won't solve anything.

*cough, "The War on Drugs" *cough