Japs to launch their 1st Spy Sat!

David · Post by **David** » 2003-03-29 09:09pm

I doubt that, but that would be a wise course of action, since the US could not possibly stop China from taking over as much of Asia as it wants. I think if I were the Chinese I'd worry alot more about India than the US.

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-03-29 09:53pm

David wrote:I doubt that, but that would be a wise course of action, since the US could not possibly stop China from taking over as much of Asia as it wants. I think if I were the Chinese I'd worry alot more about India than the US.

Well we know that India worries about China....

IRG CommandoJoe · Post by **IRG CommandoJoe** » 2003-03-29 11:12pm

David wrote:Why exactly are they doing this? It's not like it matters if Japan knows what the NK military is doing, since the Japanese people practically revolt when lawmakers suggest creating a military force capaible of protecting their nation.

Perhaps the government wants its own satelite to convince the people that North Korea is a threat and to rebuild their military? (shrugs)

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-03-29 11:16pm

David wrote:Why exactly are they doing this? It's not like it matters if Japan knows what the NK military is doing, since the Japanese people practically revolt when lawmakers suggest creating a military force capaible of protecting their nation.

Actually Japan is more then able to defend its self. And recently developments in their navy point towards a developing offensive capability.

IRG CommandoJoe · Post by **IRG CommandoJoe** » 2003-03-29 11:25pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:
David wrote:Why exactly are they doing this? It's not like it matters if Japan knows what the NK military is doing, since the Japanese people practically revolt when lawmakers suggest creating a military force capaible of protecting their nation.
Actually Japan is more then able to defend its self. And recently developments in their navy point towards a developing offensive capability.

Didn't you say that Japan wouldn't be able to do much at all to North Korea a while back? Something about their troop transports and warships being useless against the North Korean coastal defenses....or something...

Crown · Post by **Crown** » 2003-03-29 11:41pm

David wrote:Why exactly are they doing this? It's not like it matters if Japan knows what the NK military is doing, since the Japanese people practically revolt when lawmakers suggest creating a military force capaible of protecting their nation.

Not sure if I am right, but with all the sabre ratteling that NK has been doing lately, your average Japenese person isn't too afraid of building a larger military to actually being able to defend themselves.

Arrow Mk84 wrote:I'm just waiting for NK to actually act on their threats and start some shit. I have a feeling that Bush would nuke their asses instantly, regardless of what China or Russia want.

The concept of 'taking whole' is completely lost on you isn't it? Yes it would piss off China and Russia, but do you think the SK and Japenese would be happy about it either? That was close to being a very stupid comment you know.

David · Post by **David** » 2003-03-30 12:22am

My apologies, I must retract my earlier statments. It seems that my information about the Japanese military is sorely outdated. Japan appears to be quitely increasing it's military expenditures over the last decade. Indeed while they are far behind numerically, their military is quite advanced technologically. Unfortunetly having a powerful conventional military wouldn't matter if ol' Kim manages to create a large number of ballastic missiles tipped with nuclear warheads, which is the whole problem. Japan has a strong policy about not having weapons of mass destruction, so it still relies on mutual defense treaties with the US as far as being able to go tit for tat in the nuclear weapons area. They have also been very careful to keep this out of the lime light, the few times that Japanese troops participated in UN actions they got bitched at for resuming what they began in the 1930's.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2003-03-30 08:45am

Crown wrote:
Arrow Mk84 wrote:I'm just waiting for NK to actually act on their threats and start some shit. I have a feeling that Bush would nuke their asses instantly, regardless of what China or Russia want.
The concept of 'taking whole' is completely lost on you isn't it? Yes it would piss off China and Russia, but do you think the SK and Japenese would be happy about it either? That was close to being a very stupid comment you know.

You have a better to stop a million man plus army that is well trained and equipped fighting in mountains and forests, backup by an operational air defense and airforce (regardless of how old their aircraft are)? While the US and SK have better technology, and could take down the NK airforce, the NK air defenses would make life extremely difficult for our aircraft and the sheer size of the NK army, combined with the terrain, makes a renewed war a war of attrition. The only to deal with such a threat is to use tac-nukes on NK's army formations early in the war. Now, what are Japan and SK going to bitch about more: the use of nukes against NK or the slaughter and misery brought by the NK military?

And this does not even consider the possibility of NK having nuclear weapons of the own. NK isn't Iraq. They're a much tougher cookie.

So, it doesn't seem so stupid now, does it?