[Pops]

North Korea says it successfully conducts hydrogen bomb test

"Make the world ... look up to our strong nuclear country and labor party by opening the year with exciting noise of the first hydrogen bomb!" read a document signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on state television.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/06/asia/nort ... bomb-test/

[Lore]

More like a boosted fission system.... doesn't look like a hydrogen bomb by the experts.

[Tanada]

More like a boosted fission system.... doesn't look like a hydrogen bomb by the experts.

The difference is academic in the size devices commonly built today. You can make a pure fission device up to 500 kt proved by the USA with the Ivy King test in the early 1950's, or as small as a 0.1 kt yield for 155 mm artillery shells. Boosting means you need less fissionable material to get to 500 kt yield and most modern 'fusion' weapons yield around 150-200 kt, easily inside the boosted fission envelope. Like I said the difference is academic, you can make a 'fusion' device an arbitrarily large size, while a 'boosted fission' device is limited to 'only 800 kt' but for the sizes in common use it doesn't really make a big difference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Herald

[GHung]

I'm thinking it won't be long before it becomes necessary for the Superpowers to squash that arrogant pudgy little bug.

[Antaris]

If you can get it wrong and underform, wouldn't it be _____________ if you overperformed and created a big radioactive hole right in the middle of north korea.

[Shaved Monkey]

So far only one nation has dropped not 1 but 2 on innocent civilians,lets hope the 3rd isnt NK or Israel or Pakistan or India or Russia or the US again.

[dissident]

These anonymous NATO experts are obvious frauds. They could not possibly determine the characteristics of this device from the seismic data aside from its total yield. The only way to get any information about the design is via analysis of residual isotopes and since this was an underground test they clearly do not have such data.

It is really lame for NATO to perpetually masturbate in front of the world with its "monopoly on human intelligence" delusions.

Now we will be subjected to more theater about how North Korea is the biggest threat to humanity ever. Meanwhile Daesh gets to export oil from Turkey and Libya without any restrictions.

[ennui2]

So far only one nation has dropped not 1 but 2 on innocent civilians,lets hope the 3rd isnt NK or Israel or Pakistan or India or Russia or the US again.

You do realize that there are two sides on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki ethical debate. You want to debate this yet again after all these decades?

[Oneaboveall]

How about a nice game of chess?

[Shaved Monkey]

So far only one nation has dropped not 1 but 2 on innocent civilians,lets hope the 3rd isnt NK or Israel or Pakistan or India or Russia or the US again.

You do realize that there are two sides on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki ethical debate. You want to debate this yet again after all these decades?

The bomb sites are the only evidence I need to make my statement correct

[Cog]

There are technical reasons as to why that only five nations in the world have ever developed hydrogen bombs. Here is an article explaining why that is the case. The Norks may be enhancing their atomic bombs but it is unlikely they have developed a hydrogen bomb.

http://qz.com/588519/why-its-so-difficu ... ogen-bomb/

[Tanada]

There are technical reasons as to why that only five nations in the world have ever developed hydrogen bombs. Here is an article explaining why that is the case. The Norks may be enhancing their atomic bombs but it is unlikely they have developed a hydrogen bomb.

http://qz.com/588519/why-its-so-difficu ... ogen-bomb/

Again, unless you are building something big enough to exceed the boosted fission limits the difference is purely academic. It is not like North Korea is building a super bomb inside a freighter and then sailing it to Panama or something, they want a device that will fit on an ICBM. The technology to do that is late 1950's technology. North Korea has a substantial industrial capability, far more than most people assume, they build tanks and military jets and have for 50 years or more. Developing something that will go boom and fit on one of their long range missiles is the goal for them, not making it 21st century technology to impress the technocrats in the EU/USA.

Try looking at it this way, does it matter to those killed if they were blown up with a primitive 1945 Hiroshima pure fission bomb, a 1953 boosted fission bomb or a 1955 hydrogen bomb?

[Cog]

The only way we are really going to know if the Norks have developed a warhead suitable for either air drop from a plane or fitted onto a missile, is if they demonstrate it or use it.

Obviously such a thing is not outside their ability.

[Revi]

What would happen if they used it on Japan, or South Korea? They certainly have the capacity to do that already. They are probably crazy enough to do it too. They might use it on US ships if they get close enough also.

[Lore]

Even if they could aim it, the possibility that it would get knocked out of the air before it reaches target would also exist. Specially the farther away the target is. So far they have exhibited a lack of a real delivery system. Even a miss would send repercussions which would be swift and deadly to say the least. It's a dangerous game and one where NK is only trying to say; "look, we're still here and important."

Iran is by far more dangerous in the fact that it has operatives around the Middle East. Then again Pakistan and India could always go at it over depleting resources in the next few coming years. Who knows?

[SteveO]

If Kim Jung-un wants a nuclear weapon, I say let's send him one. It will be there in about 5 minutes on ballistic trajectory, fully armed, set to go off at about 2000 feet above ground level.

[sparky]

.
Just to get a good handle on unlimited nuclear warfare ...... a blast from the past !
the recently declassified target list from the National Archives , this is very official

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb5 ... irst-Ever/

One could wonder what would be the consequences for the populations

Nowadays it's a bit different , the bombs have smaller yield , there is less of them and the targeting is more precise
but the God of War Moloch has an habit of pushing restrain overboard

Still , misreading of one's opponent view made nuclear war a very very close thing in 1983
that was the "Able Archer" crisis when World war 3 could have started by inadvertence

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB428/

[GregT]

So far only one nation has dropped not 1 but 2 on innocent civilians,lets hope the 3rd isnt NK or Israel or Pakistan or India or Russia or the US again.

You do realize that there are two sides on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki ethical debate. You want to debate this yet again after all these decades?

ennui2 is correct, for once. There is nothing to debate here. Murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent people is ethical, no matter how you try to spin it. Kudos to ennui2 for being the voice of reason. Most people are too fucking stupid to be able to rise above their own indoctrination. All of those domestic "Japs" deserved to die extremely horrific deaths. Good on you ennui2 for pointing that out.

[Cid_Yama]

Actually, if we could cull about 6 billion, maybe a few hundred million more, the world would be a lot better place. And a lot better off.

So, what is ethics? Are there higher and lower ethics? And which are which? Is it dependent on how broad of a perspective?

From my perspective there are a lot of regressive binary thinkers out there. Surely we can do without those.

And what about the billions whose intellect is less than exceptional? Might as well improve the species while we're at it.

You can see where this leads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmOAEl2qVkM