First off, China isn't going to let their red-headed stepchild do anything that would jeapordize America's (or anyone else's) ability to continue buying billions of dollars worth of cheaply-made crap from them. They have had a taste of capitalism and are now as addicted to it as everyone else, despite their form of government. Second, the US owes China about a metric ass-ton of money right now, so once again, thery're not going to let Best Korea to anything that might screw up our ability to make our loan payments on time (seriously, where do you think all that TARP money came from, and the cash to continue financing the Afghan conflict?) Third, NK would have to have a reliable delivery vehicle to get their bomb over here, and even in the unlikely event that they were able to procure or develop such a vehicle, the most they could do with one of them would be to blast a single moderately-sized city, which may or may not actually affect enough of the infrastructure to do anything more than inconvenience some people for a few weeks.

EMP bombs are great scifi plot devices, but I'm afraid that the technology that they demonstrate in Homefront simply does not exist on the scale that they would like you to believe.

I am crazier than a padded room full of Charlie Mansons! Sgt. Renee Jordan PUMC, PUV James Keeling

 And I do feel that China does have some influence over NK but the Chineese have been unloading US dollars for a few years now. There have been talks among major nations about trying to find another currency to replace the USD as the prefered currency. The US economy is on very shakey ground to say the least. One has to wonder what will happen to the world economy if/when the USD falls and begins to rapidly devalue. If our currency becomes so devalued how will be repay the chineese? A bit of a tanget but still seems very relevant to the overall topic.

Tensions between NK and SK are becoming a big issue again. Havent the NK been working on a missle launching system for some time now? Not to mention their uranium enriching facalities. I have not kept up on the state of that in quite a while. And even if the NK don't get their EMP bomb to work it does worry me a little bit they are so focused on working on their weapon systems. Now I don't expect anything like homefront to happen but I have had great intrest in the game and after seeing this headline it makes me think of the possibilities.

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Does someone go into the park and, uh... lift up the dinosaurs' skirts?

...about the status of the USD in the international market. I like to believe that the value will recover as the economy stabilizes, but the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor, along with the gradual dissapperance of the middle-class, leaves me worrying that our economy will eventually collapse under the weight of the hubris and greed of the 1%ers. That said, I still don't really thing NK is or ever will be a significant threat. Tensions between NK and SK have gone up and down in roughly 10-year cycles ever since the '53 cease-fire (remember, they're technically still at war). Not to play the "I'm older, so listen up" card, but I am slightly north of 40 and I've seen this rollercoaster in the Koreas several times. NK does some saber-rattling, they cause a bit of trouble here and there, but they know that in an all-out fight these days, China will not have their back. The Chinese have too much to lose if they back the wrong dog in that fight, in terms of international trade and financial products, no matter who has the reigning international currency. They can't come right out and say it (because of the asian culture, I believe), but I get the feeling that China is as fed up as everyone else with NKs childish antics. So NK continues to act like a teenager, testing their boundries, seeing just how far they can push tings before getting into serious trouble.

As for their weapons progeams, fear not. NK simply does not posess the academic power to impliment a successful wide-scale advanced weapons program, nor do they have the purchasing power to outsource such a program or to purchase reliable plug-and-play systems from third-parties. China pretty much only sells the their second-rate hand-me-downs. NK did test a small nuke a while back, which ended in a stunning failure. You might remember that supposed "gas explosion" in NK back in the summer of '09? Based on the stuff I've read, scientists are reasonably sure that it was a failed underground nuke test. Other intelligence points to the program being one that is run entirely in-house and on the cheap, so you can imagine just how likely it is that a borderline third-world nation could actually make a bomb that works. They do have some delivery systems that can reach as far as the Philippines, but it's not like they're going to be lobbing missiles at Los Angeles any time soon.

I am crazier than a padded room full of Charlie Mansons! Sgt. Renee Jordan PUMC, PUV James Keeling

... The real threat you should be worried about is a custom virus...

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 Lol nice.

After reading your replys I do feel that I may have let my imagination run away with me slightly. Though given the events that are happening throughout the world it does make me look at situations like this and think of that "what if?". Now I am not one that looks at the currently headlines and yell "END OF THE WORLD!" and that is not to say that it is worse today then it has been in the past. For all that I know it could be the fact that I am all of 23 years old and my eyes are just open to the events that are taking place in the world.

I for one feel that the way our adminstration has their head up there ass that the future of our economy does look very bleak. The amount that we are spending is insane, we have so much money that is being printed today that has no value other then the paper that it is being printed on IF we are lucky. The point you make about the gap between those that have and those that don't is a feeling that not only I but many that I know have been having for a while. Looking at all of the turmoil that is taking place the in middle east with those people fed up with their rulers/goverment and taking to the streets makes me wonder if it is only a matter of time before the citizens of the US rise up and follow suit.

As I said NK may not be the boogie man that will end this country but one does have to wonder with things as shakey as they are is there a boogie man that is waiting for the right moment to pounce?

There was an article that I read not too long ago that talked about the reason our economy suffered in 2008 was also partial due to a terroist attack http://www.marinkapeschmann.com/2011/03/03/pentagon-report-reveals-financial-terrorism-suspected-in-2008-economic-crash/ . All the great empires have fallen... seeing news articles like this makes me wonder if and when America will. Though I could be one of those paranoid conspricy theroist that doesn't know what I'm talking about >.>

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Does someone go into the park and, uh... lift up the dinosaurs' skirts?

Drop one on Chase Bank and destroy any record of my credit card spending would be great! Combat Cook