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  1. #21
    Titan I Push Buttons's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Themius View Post
    It is a poor idea that isn’t what we would do I feel. Conventional bombs, a nuclear attack on a city that close to Seoul is not optimal for our own ally.
    If we didn't retaliate with a nuke then our nuclear deterrence would be meaningless. The entire concept of nuclear deterrence is based on 'you nuke us, we'll nuke you'... If that fails, it would only invite further use of nukes in the future.

  2. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by I Push Buttons View Post
    If we didn't retaliate with a nuke then our nuclear deterrence would be meaningless. The entire concept of nuclear deterrence is based on 'you nuke us, we'll nuke you'... If that fails, it would only invite further use of nukes in the future.
    We risk fallout over Seoul..

  3. #23
    The Lightbringer
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    What realistically happens? The lone nuke will be shot out of the sky along with the few decoys they have
    and then Kim will die, his generals will die, a lot of the elite that support him will die.
    The USA, the South Koreans have publicly state they have a battalion who’s purpose is to raid them and kill everyone in charge.
    Hell, China probably have pawns in place ready to take care of things should Kim forget who’s his own lifeline is.

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Themius View Post
    We risk fallout over Seoul..
    1) Not really. Its 200km away to the southwest, even if the jet stream fluctuated sufficiently south, it would be over the sea by the time it reached the latitude of Seoul.

    2) In this scenario, Seoul would probably be fucked anyways. North Korea presumably wouldn't just arbitrarily decide to commit suicide one day, their actions would be part of a larger plan... IE: Taking South Korea, Seoul is target numero uno in any plan to that end.

    3) So what? We are talking about maintaining deterrence to prevent full scale nuclear exchanges and the potential end of our civilization in the future beyond this small scale exchange. A relatively small price to pay.

  5. #25
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    Realistically, the North Korean regime dies promptly and nobody mourns their passing. Depending on the circumstances around it, either the US nukes them back, or China swiftly occupies North Korea, or the Regime is overthrown some other way. If a successful nuclear attack occurs, then North Korea is over.

    However why would they do that? Nukes are only really useful if you don't use them. The threat of having nukes is far more powerful then actually firing one off. The second you use a nuke, the game is over, and you die horribly. North Korea doesn't want to nuke anyone, they want to have nukes so that they can threaten to nuke someone. Same with Iran. Nukes are dangerous because someday it might actually happen, on accident or because someone panics or something. But nobody is going to launch an unprovoked nuclear strike into someone else's country. Because if anyone does, that nation promptly dies. Even the US couldn't get away with doing that.

  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Easo View Post
    Well, either China themselves would deal with it, or the Korea would finally become united, but Kim would not rule after it.
    In either way, there would be massive retaliation, yet I doubt it would be nuclear. There is more than enough conventional firepower in South Korea alone.
    Would probably need/want to be nuclear just to try and wipe out the artillery before NK can wipe Seoul off the map killing millions.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Funsipalo View Post
    The US used two nukes dipshit, it is still there.

    Maybe you go back to being a security guard for afghan rapists instead of making dumb easily contradicted statements about everything?
    Not to mention the conventional fire bombing of tokyo that took place slightly earlier than the nukes killed more than the nukes but no one really talks about that.

  7. #27
    Legendary! Thekri's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smityx View Post
    Not to mention the conventional fire bombing of tokyo that took place slightly earlier than the nukes killed more than the nukes but no one really talks about that.
    Because the difference there was the resources required to do it. The fire bombing campaigns were horrifically deadly, but they involved huge numbers of aircraft to conduct. OPN Meethouse, the most deadly raid, consisted of 334 B-29 bombers. Thousands of other bomber sorties were involved in the campaign, which is what made the damage so high.

    Strategically, everyone pretty much was resigned to the fact that if somebody can get 300+ heavy bombers over your capital, they are going to do a lot of damage. That just makes sense. The reason nuclear weapons were so shocking is because 2 cities got leveled by 2 bombers (Yes, there were other escorting bombers with them, but they didn't drop any munitions). This dramatically changed the combat math, where a single bomber getting through air defense networks could inflict strategic level damage to your nation. As far as US using them successfully with no retaliation... well obviously if nobody else has them, retaliation isn't an issue. If only one nation had nuclear weapons, they would still be a viable option.

  8. #28
    Over 9000! zealo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thekri View Post
    Because the difference there was the resources required to do it. The fire bombing campaigns were horrifically deadly, but they involved huge numbers of aircraft to conduct. OPN Meethouse, the most deadly raid, consisted of 334 B-29 bombers. Thousands of other bomber sorties were involved in the campaign, which is what made the damage so high.

    Strategically, everyone pretty much was resigned to the fact that if somebody can get 300+ heavy bombers over your capital, they are going to do a lot of damage. That just makes sense. The reason nuclear weapons were so shocking is because 2 cities got leveled by 2 bombers (Yes, there were other escorting bombers with them, but they didn't drop any munitions). This dramatically changed the combat math, where a single bomber getting through air defense networks could inflict strategic level damage to your nation. As far as US using them successfully with no retaliation... well obviously if nobody else has them, retaliation isn't an issue. If only one nation had nuclear weapons, they would still be a viable option.
    There's also the fact that the US opted not to use them in the war in Korea a couple of years later.

    Macarthur wanted to nuke the chinese, at which point Truman removed him. That created a precedent of not using them freely in situations where you have them, and your enemy does not.

  9. #29
    Legendary! Thekri's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zealo View Post
    There's also the fact that the US opted not to use them in the war in Korea a couple of years later.

    Macarthur wanted to nuke the chinese, at which point Truman removed him. That created a precedent of not using them freely in situations where you have them, and your enemy does not.
    True, but Russia had nuclear weapons a year before the Korean War started. Although neither the Chinese nor the Koreans had them, Truman was very concerned about the Soviet weapons.

    It was one of the most important decisions Truman ever made though, there was a lot of pressure coming from the military to use nuclear weapons, it wasn't just MacArthur pushing it. The idea was that it was immoral to let so many Americans die when we had a weapon that could break the stalemate. Thankfully Truman took the long view on them (Even though it was his decision to use them in WWII, which is a different topic).

  10. #30
    China has always preferred stability. And if they feel the need to forcibly take over NK to maintain that, then they will.
    Bear in mind, China does summon Kim on occasion for any reason they feel the need. Not the other way around.

    At this point in time China can only be amused that the great and powerful Oz they see in Trump lowers himself to deal with Kim.

  11. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by Collegeguy View Post
    Due to treaties, there would be no choice but to nuke NK. Whomever the administration is would be publicly lynched by house and senate if they didn't nuke them starting a trial no doubt. Allies would quickly leave and seek they own nuclear weapons. Chaos would ensue regardless, but the results would only be worse if the US didn't nuke back.
    Which treaties require you to nuke someone? There really is no need for nukes in NK case, they are not even close to being that strong.
    Lynched in Senate? Just look at Trump, someone can get away with a lot of stuff, as long as partisan policies are going on.

    Quote Originally Posted by Gabriel View Post
    Dude. Seoul is essentially a hostage to NK conventional artillery. Only nuclear weapons have the needed destructive capacity to take out that artillery I'm short enough time window that Seoul doesn't get turned into pile of rocks.
    Do you really value SK that low? Or the fact that shell artillery cant reach Seoul unless they drive Koksans right unto DMZ, so that leaves missiles only, all of which are definitely not targetted only at Seoul?
    Last edited by Easo; 2020-01-10 at 08:15 PM.

  12. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by Themius View Post
    We risk fallout over Seoul..
    Failing to respond in kind risks inviting others to use small numbers of nukes against the US.

  13. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by YUPPIE View Post
    A lot of people make the joking conclusion the US would retaliate by removing North Korea from the face of the planet, but in all seriousness, what happens? I hear China would intervene to protect North Korea from consequences and that the US nuking anyone in response would incite WW3 from the civilian crisis
    We'd reduce their country to glass. China would have no recourse for interfering.

  14. #34
    We probably blow a nuke off on a remote research or nuke facility to limit casualties but show we are not afraid to use them....

    then as war hawks of our country love to do we would spend a few trillion invading NK for the next 6-12 years.
    Buh Byeeeeeeeeeeee !!

  15. #35
    "tried" is the operative word here.

    NK is just used, by Russia and China, to troll the USA.

    Quote Originally Posted by ParanoiD84 View Post
    Absolutely no one would protect NK if they nuked anyone or tried.

  16. #36
    If it happens i would think the response would be so swift that China could not intervene or take out Kim themselves. The bigger question is how would the world respond to the real cleanup and more overall problems effecting the surrounding populace.

  17. #37
    It's quite simple, they would get invaded and occupied.
    "I feel bad for Limit , they put in so many hours only to come in second place" - Methodjosh

  18. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by Funsipalo View Post
    The US used two nukes dipshit, it is still there.
    I refuse to believe someone could be this stupid. Seriously.

  19. #39
    Quote Originally Posted by YUPPIE View Post
    A lot of people make the joking conclusion the US would retaliate by removing North Korea from the face of the planet, but in all seriousness, what happens? I hear China would intervene to protect North Korea from consequences and that the US nuking anyone in response would incite WW3 from the civilian crisis
    The US would almost certainly not nuke North Korea.

    It's far more likely the US would engage in a massive conventional campaign to destroy the North Korean regime - easily the largest war since the Korean War and dwarfing Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan and the Iraq War.

    But there isn't a scenario where it nukes North Korea. Not really.

    And China would not intervene if North Korea fired first, except to remove the North Korean leadership in a bid to prevent a US intervention, which would probably not work.

    It would not be World War III either.


    North Korea would be occupied, but likely not united with South Korea. The cost and complexity of uniting East and West Germany was great enough that doing it on a vastly larger scale with the Koreas is unthinkable. Let me put it this way: Germany Unification cost about $4 trillion that Germany, Europe and the US paid for. Korean Unification would cost well over double, and maybe even triple that. And nobody is going to foot that bill.

    post-Kim dynasty North Korea will almost certainly remain an independent state.
    Last edited by Skroe; 2020-01-10 at 10:49 PM.

  20. #40
    Theres no realistic scenario where this would happen so whats the point of speculating? Kim isn't suicidal or stupid.

    For all the bluster and huge size of the NK army it would be a complete mismatch. Any fight would be like cavalry against people armed with modern day machine guns. Sure they'd do a lot of damage if they threw artillery at Seoul but they'd be crushed.

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