A North Korean Poker Face
October 13th, 2006 by Grant in: GeneralAccording to initial reports, there was no radio active material found in air samples taken by a U.S. aircraft this week.
According to the report published by MSNBC News Services, this could mean one of a few things:
1. The explosion was not nuclear, but caused by conventional explosives
2. The site was so well sealed that no radioactive material escaped
3. The “test” was small enough that it didn’t release a significant amount of radioactive material
In either case, it appears the North Koreans “nuclear test” is being perceived as a nuclear dud.
Being in a position to call a bluff at a nuclear game of poker is not my idea of a fun Friday night…
Although it does remind me of a great Kevin Costner movie called Thirteen Days dealing with the Cuban missile crisis. Highly recommended.
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October 13th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
It’s interesting (unbelievable) that we can’t (apparently) tell if it was a “fake” explosion of a very small/partly failed nuclear test.
Perhaps by faking the test, and doing so repeatedly, Nth Korea hopes to avoid the unified global sanctions that would be applied if it was definitely known to have been nuclear. Eventually, they could then do a *real* test, and it would be harder to drum up global outrage when the “proof” that is was really nuclear became available…
http://enoughwealth.blogspot.com
October 14th, 2006 at 10:38 am
That’s a good point too.
Now, the U.S. is saying it did find traces of radioactive material in the air at levels such that they think it was a nuclear test that fizzled…
Either way, we better be holding a good hand when we start upping the ante.
-Grant
October 21st, 2006 at 11:31 am
Interesting, now the Kim Jong Il guy says he’s SORRY!
WHos he trying to fool?
October 21st, 2006 at 11:42 am
This is all kind of like playing chicken. Whos goonnna flinch first?
Seems Iran and N KOrea have the same agenda: provoke the US into doing something stupid.
NOVA