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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Powell Says N. Korea Blast Not Nuclear |
| 2004-09-12 |
| EFL SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A huge explosion in the northern part of North Korea sent a plume of smoke more than two miles wide into the air on an important anniversary of the secretive communist regime, a South Korean news agency reported Sunday. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the explosion Thursday was not a nuclear test but that it was not known yet what caused it. "There was no indication that was a nuclear event of any kind. Exactly what it was, we're not sure," Powell said on ABC's "This Week." China's government, which has the closest relations with North Korea, had no immediate comment about the reported explosion. The Yonhap news agency said the blast Thursday was more powerful than the April 22 explosion that killed 160 people and injured an estimated 1,300 at a railway station in North Korea. That explosion was believed caused by a train laden with oil and chemicals hitting power lines. In a story published before Yonhap's report, The New York Times said Sunday that senior U.S. intelligence officials had seen signs of activities that some analysts thought might indicate North Korea was preparing its first test explosion of a nuclear weapon. Other experts were more cautious in their assessments, but the developments were considered worrisome enough for the White House to be alerted, the Times said. Asked about the report, Powell told "Fox News Sunday" that U.S. authorities have been monitoring activities at a "potential nuclear test site." "We can't tell whether it's normal maintenance activity or something more," he said. "So it's inconclusive at this moment, but we continue to monitor these things very carefully." Let me see if I understand this. Noth Korea is an isolated Communist nation. They had a train wreck a few months ago in which the full story was "unconfirmed" by anyone for about a week. Now we are expected to take Powell's word for it that this test was not nuclear after less than 24 hours? Please. We can't get a clear report about a train wreck, but top-secret military actions (nuclear or not) by N. Korea are instantly known and reported by Western officials. This smells, IMO. |
| Posted by:Chris W. |
| #10 Joseph, darling, please don't shout. It makes us hard of hearing. And introducing just a few paragraph breaks would make it easier for the reader to figure out exactly what it is you are trying to say. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-09-13 1:22:21 AM |
| #9 Oh god...we got the troll from Bill Quick's site here now. |
| Posted by: Valentine 2004-09-13 12:48:08 AM |
| #8 Your argument has one insurmountable flaw: it's "prone", not "rpone." |
| Posted by: Another Dan 2004-09-13 12:26:44 AM |
| #7 Sigh. Thorazine on aisle 5. Make it a double. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-09-13 12:21:19 AM |
| #6 Here...have some cookies and milk. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-09-13 12:05:39 AM |
| #5 Commie states are just economically and geopolitically minor states armed with nukes - All things equal, it behooves the USA to watch North Korea and Asia, more than IRAN, SYRIA, AFRICA, et al. WHilst CHina will not stand for a nuclear North Korea with an independent arsenal, neither will she stands for any nuclearized democratic Japan or SOuth Korea. China and NK need nukes both for international credibility, as well as self-defense and ideo justification of the continuing centralization and militarization of their perennially poor or backward societies. Iff one accepts that Radical Islam is nothing more than PC/Deniable Mercs for AMerica's COld War Communist enemies, then given the anti-US agenda both within and outside the US per se, if the Failed Left intends to destabilize and take over AMerica without need for mutually-destroying GLOBAL NUCLEAR WAR, then they need China, et al. to engage in Limited War [ Conventional/Limited TacNuke] against the USA. CHINA is the only nation that can likely stand devastating to catastrophic manpower losses against tech-superior US/Allied milfors,. and any US-China shooting war in East Asia allows China to take care of three-PLUS problems/competitors to her hegemony - TAIWAN, SOUTH KOREA, and ESPEC JAPAN, and possibly also the PHILIPPINES-VIETNAM! China can NOT possibly nor successfully challenge the US/USN/USAF as far out as WESTPAC and CENTPAC POAS without de facto control of vital staging areas or airsea lanes, read - LAND! GIVEN THE CLINTON-LED PERVERSIONS AND SUBVERSIONS OF ISSUES AND STEREOTYPES HERE IN AMERICA, DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE WILLINGNESS OF THE COMMIES TO SEEMINGLY GO AGAINST THEIR OWN OR THEIR OWN INTERESTS, IF IN THE END IT MEANS THEIR VICTORY OR POWER! Candidate Kerry may be categorized as a Liberal, but the now PRO-PROGRESSIVE, CLinton-led Democratic Party has all but officially discarded dedicated Left-Liberals unto the GOP and American Right, and it isn't just because its an election year! Liberals are ultimately intended to longer compare to sur-Socialist Progressives, SOcialists per se, and espec Communist SOcialists, even though by the Clinton definitions both the GOP and Dems are [FASCIST/RIGHTIST] versions of the other, besides also being covert Communist and Left-based SOcialists, and also living in majority or predom Communist and Left-Socialist manistream America! Traditional American ,Western, and GOP-RIGHTIST democrats and WCapitalists are now, SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, outside the America Commie and Socialist mainstream Clintonism = 2004 and post-2004 POTUS ELEX, any each and all, is ULTIMATELY ABOUT "KIND OF AMERICAN SOCIALISM", NOTSOMUCH SOCIALISM VS CAPITALISM ALTHOUGH IS ALSO IS! BUTTTTTTTTTT, since Rightist Unitarian capitalist America is making alleged error and mistake after alleged error and mistake, error-prone AMerica ALSO CAN'T BE TRUSTED WITH GLOBALISM OR RULING THE WORLD, ERGO AMERICA, AND BY EXTENS ANY CURRENT OR FUTURE AMERICA SOCIALISM, ALSO CAN'T BE TRUSTED ERGO SOMEONE ELSE, SOME NATIONS OR REGION, ANDOR SOME ENTITY SHOULD AND MUST MAKE ALL THE RULES, DECISIONS, POLICIES, AND ACTIONS FOR MISTAKE-RIDDEN, MISTAKE-RPONE, UNTRUSTWORTHY AMERICA! GEE WHIZZZ WHILLICKERS, I WONDER WHAT TWO COLD-WAR SOCIALIST AND COMMIE NUCLEAR SUPER-STATES CAN AMERICAN AND INTERNATIONAL COMMIES AND SOCIES FIND TO HANDLE ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING FOR AMERICA AND THE WORLD, ESPEC IFF OWG AND AN AMERICA UNDER OWG IS TO TAKE PLACE BY 2015 NLT 2020 AS PER THE LEFTBLOGS??? EVEN POSTERS ON PRAVDA SAY THE WORLD SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT AND PRIVELEGE TO ELECT ANY AND ALL US PRESIDENTS - I WONDER WHAT -ISM DOES CLINTONIAN COMMUNIST/SOCIALIST MAJORITY, REPUBLICAN AND FASCIST AND CAPITALIST AMERICA NEEDS TO ACCOMPLISH THAT??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2004-09-12 11:55:40 PM |
| #4 A nuclear detonation can be detected optically (via a distinct double flash that all nuclear explosions have) or seismically virtually anywhere in the globe. If NK detonated a nuke, trust me a lot a people would know. |
| Posted by: Valentine 2004-09-12 9:16:11 PM |
| #3 Politcos once again parsing words while the world teeters on the brink... _______________________ Hiroshima wasn't a nuclear blast either..."merely" an atomic one... __________________________________ NASDAQ didn't "collapse" in March 2000...it merely began its "consolidation at lower levels..." |
| Posted by: borgboy 2004-09-12 7:14:26 PM |
| #2 "We can’t tell whether it’s normal maintenance activity or something more," Based upon my college education in physics, work at the Nevada Test Site, and a facilities director for 18 years, I can categorically say that this event is NOT normal maintenance!! activity. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-09-12 6:54:48 PM |
| #1 We have satellites whose purpose is to detect above-ground nuclear explosions. The physics of a nuclear detonation are such that it produces a very distinctive signature in the form of a double flash of light. If a blast doesn't display that characteristic, then it isn't nuclear. My guess is that it's this satellite data that's the basis for Powell's statement. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-09-12 6:29:16 PM |