North Korea: why bother with a test?

Originally Posted by Musharraf

That's major bullshit right here. Nobody knows whether they have those nukes. Kim could be just bullshitting us. Ahmadinejad is too dense to have them. And even if they had nukes, our missile defense systems would kick any fuckin nukes ass, so don't act as if we had anything to worry about.

Well, economically there is alot to worry about. A medium range missile could do alot of damage to japan or South korea, sending the world economy into the toilet. Our commitment to defend these countries still stands, thus causing us to commit troops and money to the fray. The ripple effects through China could have disatrous effects. This is not to say that the combined U.S., Japanese and South Korean militaries couldn't demolish the North koreans, but at what price. Whether or not Kim is bullshitting, who wants to take that chance?

And what do the North koreans have to lose by testing the missile anyway? After their last test which buzzed japan, they were ostracized in the U.N. and then a few years later they launched a diplomatic offensive and normalized relations with many of the same nations who were chastizing them earlier.

Jam it back in, in the dark.