The John Batchelor Show

VIDEO: ICBM

February 09, 2016

Monday 8 February 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com & Daily Beast; Bruce Bechtol, Angelo State; in re:  North Korean missile.  Every single aspect of the missile – three stages — launch, trajectory – all is exactly the same as for a mil platform except the payload which is a bulbous thing. For a test, use a dummy warhead, or a real nuke or chem warhead.   One thing not yet confirmed: Iran and DPRK collaborating on an 80-ton warhead; if so, means DPRK has launched the heaviest, largest payload of its history.  Flew over Japan and Philippines.  Japan put Patriot missile batteries in the middle of Tokyo. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense System —  South Korea is now unhappily obliged to cooperate with the US and the rest of the international community in this.  Washington unwilling to anger Beijing, so will have an ineffective response; a mistaken policy, but clearly what this Administration will do.   ROK needs to add SM3missiles to its ships, and we shd be giving the same technology to the Israelis, since Iran will aim its missiles at Israel.   The 80-ton rocket booster: Treasury has sanctioned SHIG in Iran, and Iranian individuals for visiting North Korea.  Bruce has been a leader in saying that State knew all about Iran-North Korea cooperation, but refused to tell Americans or the world about how bad it actually is.  One of the most unfortunate things about Secy Kerry’s dealing with Iran is that he’s pretended that Iran and DPRK aren’t closely working together.  Since 2003. Completely excluded from the talks with Iran. Expect to se the cooperation increase a great deal in the near future.   It’d be easy for the US to do something effective: start by sanctioning Chinese banks.  North Korea: ICBM technology; can they put it on a missiles? It’ll be a KN-08 mobile missile, not the TaePoDong.
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North Korea and Regional Security in the Kim Jong-un Era: A New International Security Dilemma byBruce E. Bechtol Jr. ; U.N. Security Council condemns North Korea launch - CNN.com ; North Korea claims it has successfully launched a satellite into space, prompting an ... ; North Korea fires long-range rocket despite warnings - BBC News  ; US, South Korea to discuss deployment of missile defense system | Fox News ; China's foreign exchange reserves are contracting fast and may already be below generally accepted safe levels.  http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2016/02/07/chinas-forex-reserves-may-already-be-below-imf-safety-line/ ; -- North Korea’s Missile Could Hit U.S. by Gordon G. Chang - The launch on Sunday is another sign of Pyongyang’s growing threat, and the impotence of U.S. and global efforts to stop it.