N. Korea will punish the US.

Donwhite, to add to one of my answers, AF mission has evolved to include outer space so I think the AF is OK with RC135's it has for now, plus any uav's.

Back in early 1990's I remember some news item re CIA tracking a NK shipment of missiles to Iran. More like NK the retailer for wholesaler China.
Argh, that damnable Axis of Evil speech!

But which country by dollar volume remains the largest arms purveyor around the world? So on what moral grounds do we complain when Iran and NK do a little war weapons trading?

The most serious damage that North Korea can do is for Kim Jong-Il to stop buying pornographic movies. Apparently he has one of the biggest collections in the world, and without his support the US industry might go bust!

[edit on 14-6-2006 by Darkmind]

posted by Darkmind

The most serious damage North Korea can do is for Kim Jong-Il to stop buying pornographic movies. Apparently he has one of the biggest collections in the world, and without his support the US industry might go bust! [Edited by Don W]

Well, D/M, the US says it’s for free trade. And likewise, the free market types say that is the Holy Grail of the 21st century. It looks bleak for the anti-porn people. Some of the earliest artifacts ever discovered could be pornographic icons. Surely everyone over 21 has heard the story the Vatican holds the largest collection of porn objects on this planet. So-called “soft” porn is apparently popular even with the girls who pose for the pics men will waste their family’s food budget money to possess.

So maybe we ought to expend our energies in a more profitable undertaking? Stop beating our brains out on the impossible. Admit it to ourselves that porn is an integral part of humanity. How much money is spent on Viagra? Learn how to avoid it, not dwell on how to end it.

As relates to Kim Jong Il, I can’t say I’d believe anything the US said about him. I think it’s called disinformation. Like the swift boat people. And etc.


[edit on 6/14/2006 by donwhite]

DonWhite, my girlfriend (now fiancee) and I were in the main museum in Naples last year, where there is a large display of artifacts dug up from Pompeii and Herculaneum. Many were discovered by the Victorians, who were naturally utterly shocked by what they found there (what else can you expect from a people who thought that exposing a woman's shins was a license for sinful behavious) and locked them up. You can see them all now and quite an eyeful they make. Nothing you can't get anywhere else though!

posted by Darkmind

DonWhite, my fiancee and I were in the main museum in Naples last year, where there is a large display of artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum. You can see them all now and quite an eyeful they make. Nothing you can't get anywhere else though! [Edited by Don W]

I never had the opportunity to travel abroad - outside my AF experience in Korea and Japan - and I’m sorry about that. I guess it is more accurate to say “I never took the opportunity.” My only sibling moved to Florida decades ago and every vacation I visited her and her family. Choices.

I was about to say most good museums have 10 artifacts in storage for each one on display. As we are wont to say, one man’s art is another man’s pornography. Or, updated, one man’s hero is another man’s terrorist. Perspective. It comes down to perspective.



[edit on 6/14/2006 by donwhite]

The RC-135s are about to get new engines, and a massive overhaul of their electronics systems to make them more effective. They're the best airframe for the mission, because they carry a large crew and are capable of looking for SAM sites, communications sites, HQ sites, and other places all at the same time. Drones will be good for photo-recce or listening in, but not all the missions the RCs can perform at once. Sattelites will let you look for SAM sites by taking pictures, but they don't have the listening or loitering ability of the RC. Not to mention that most major countries know when the sattelites come over their head and hide anything they don't want you to see, and they're predictable. An RC-135 orbiting off your coast can move to another area, leave or fly in at any time. If you try to do that with a sattelite you burn off all the fuel and it becomes useless.

Any new version of the RC will most likely be a 737 or 767 airframe. There won't be a need for stealth since it will stay in international airspace. If there is an AWACS in the area they monitor and "guard" them against interception, and the RC can monitor the ground control frequencies and tell when there are fighters launched against them. They're not fast, but they'll have a head start and fighters are fairly short ranged so they should be able to get away. A Gulfstream would be a good compliment to the RCs, but it wouldn't be able to completely take over the mission and perform it at the level the RC does now.

Originally posted by hawk74
All this talk about a Dicator that is waving his arms in the air saying "look at me"
This guy wants to be a tough guy ( I'm in construction we call short guy syndrome) He wants other countries to tremble in fear like his own people. Any type of unprovked offensive strike against the US would lead to his demise (he knows this) Sure, he'll push our buttons but thats it all talk.
The only thing that concerns me is him selling one to some terrorist group. Like Nicole Kidman said in "Peacemaker" "I'm not affraid of the man that wants 100 nuclear weapons I'm terrified of the man that only wants one"
But, of course, they're no threat at all to us.

They're a threat I never said they wern't just not the kind you point out. Do you think China would stand behind them if they pulled something stupid? Would anybody?
thuthseeka, why are you so quickly offended by someone with a different opinion?
Do you really think NK is that kind of threat? If their as dangerous as you say maybe we ought to fly really old spyplanes over their country to find out what they're up to

peace

Sort of like our president. If you insert "America" and "Bush" It's alot of parallels there. . It's megalomania. But of course we need a nemesis and since we don't want to admit the enemy is within. Will find one in a Foreign nation but then will scar our country's reputation so deep that it will be too late for any redemption .

But then of course we need to start a shouting match over nothing but hot air. Our military is hurting. Don't kid yourself about invading "other" countries.