Cold War: Part Ii The North Korean Threat

[Cerebral Stasis 0]

Ah, it's like the Cold War all over. The United States is beginning to close itself due to alien threats (alien to the country, that is), while threatening countries are beginning to arm themselves with nukes (or at least going in the right direction). Iran was the ringleadre at first, and now North Korea has announced that they will be performing nuclear missle tests (at an undiscosed time/location) in order to prepare for the "US extreme threat of a nuclear war." Before we know it, we may be regularly seeing "Duck and Cover" instructional videos, stock-piling water and other supplies, and booking a spot in a nearby nuclear fallout shelter.

 

Although the threat may not be as imminent as my wording implies, it is still a very real threat and someting to think about in the future.

[Shadowcast 0]

The main problem being of course was last time there were at least leaders who had some ideas that were remotely related to the real world (well for the most part anyway), the last Cold War was largely just fanfare, with no real threat (although it appeared to be there at the time, and both leaders knew and used this as a tool to ensure that peace remained - with the exception of Cuba obviously that could have been very, very bad. If something similar was to happen with the current administration I doubt the result would be so happy).

This time around we have a very real threat of nuclear war (given that both sides have extremist leaders Bush and Ahmadinejhad, don't know much about the Korean bloke).

Added to this that there is a very real chance that this time around the US government will not have it's people to keep it in check (If the Military Commissions Act gets through and effectively suspends habeas corpus, great article about why this is not good at all: http://ivorjawa.livejournal.com/338059.html?nojs=1, I don't know the situation in Iran or North Korea)

If this is indeed the beginning of a new Cold War I wouldn't expect it to remain all that cold, and I don't just mean by proxy like Vietnam and Afghanistan (not the last invasion the Russian-American funded rebel war) I mean full on war (and potentially of the Nuclear Kind). Hopefully someone with a grip on reality will have emerged by then who can calm the situation, I also expect that the result of said war has the potential to not be in the favour of America, given the recent performance of the Allied troops in Iraq and the continued struggle in Afghanistan.

Off topic but I read the first line and actually thought you meant Aliens as in from Space, wondered what that was going on for a bit.

Edited October 3, 2006 by Shadowcast (see edit history)

[Cerebral Stasis 0]

Yeah, that's why I felt the need to clarify that I meant aliens from other countries, not aliens from space.The threat of nuclear war is really not a whole lot more looming now than it was during the Cold War, as far as I can see. Sure, with history at our disposal, we can look back and point out that we never were THAT close to atomic destruction, but at the time the threat was very real, as it is now. I agree, however, with your point that this time around it has much more potential to rise to the point where someone finally pushes the button. At this point, what choice is there? If the USA would immediately disarm every nuke, terrorists will probably attack. If they stand firm, North Korea may attack.