North Korea test fires long range rocket.
 

North Korea test fires long range rocket.

That makes me feel so much safer.

So wtf happens now?

You're thread title makes me die a little on the inside.
 

Well, I'm sure Rozen Aso, Barack Obama, and the SuperfriendsUN Security Council will probably tell North Korea to knock it off. I'm not sure how inclined North Korea will be to listen, but having the UN as an enemy seems less than a bright idea, and probably won't have any positive outcomes for NK.

North Korea has typically shown a remarkable disregard for world opinion. I was rather surprised that they admitted their nuclear weapons program.

Is anyone really surprised by this? Really? I mean, when people want The Bomb, there's pretty much fuck-all anyone else can do about it. Same as with Iran. Having nukes is a symbol of being a world power, because it gives you the power to wipe someone you don't like off the face of the planet. In practice, it's really less that than "Hey, just so you know, I'm entering into the circle of people who aren't going to be firing off missiles anytime soon, but totally could, anyway," but it still stands that all it takes is one press of a button to kill thousands or even millions of people. The only thing stopping anyone from doing so is the fact that there are a bunch of other people who can do the same and might retaliate, so really, no one wins. But it still carries the status.

It's not just the status - it's the safety. India and Pakistan got nukes so as to protect themselves from Pakistan and India. Isreal developed nukes (n.b. they're technically not allowed to have done so and officially refuse to admit that they've got nukes, but everyone knows that they got 'em) in response to that one time all of their neighbours tried to kill them. Iran and NK? They figure the U.S. is fixin to fuck their shit up and reckon that a good 'ol a-bomb is a one way ticket to safetyville.

Now you hear a lot about how terrible it is that Iran might get / NK has got nukes, mainly 'cos the U.S. is making a big stink about those nukes, as opposed to Pakistan, India, and Israel, about whose nukes the feds made a perfunctory statement of concern (at best). The reason for our particular concern with those two countries being that we was fixing to fuck their shit up and reckon that their getting nukes would spoil our party.

Israel, North Korea, India, and Pakistan are all non-signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which forbids production of nuclear weapons for countries that did not have them prior to the treaty in 1968 (hell of a grandfather clause). North Korea was a signatory, but withdrew fairly recently. Iran is a signatory, meaning they can't manufacture nuclear weapons, but they are allowed the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes (which is their alibi).

As far as the security thing goes, that's quite true, and quite unfortunate. While nuclear deterrence makes sense for each individual nation-state, as a whole it's basically another threat of extinction.

I was going to make a seperate topic for this but I think it related to here, feel free to break up if necessary.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...s-barack-obama
Barack Obama promising to actually pay attention to the non-proliferation treaty and get US and Russia to cut back and even maybe eliminate all thier nukes. Though we've heard such statements before and I don't really think it'll happen.

While I don't really think much of North Korea, to be fair they really aren't the only ones who don't seem to give a shit about world opinion when it's against them.

I don't think it's a good thing that they're getting nukes, I just don't feel this particular argument to be too solid against them.

Well, so far the US officials claim no satellite made it into orbit, but Russian and Korean officials claim one did. This part is actually the most confusing element to me, because knowing north korea, it was equally likely they would release a statement claiming Kim Jong Il simply lept into the sky and placed the device into orbit to the cheers and roars of elementary school children.

Here is what happens now:
North Korea has made China uncomfortable. And when china gets uncomfortable, bad things happen. Maybe the whole world will just cut off all trade with North Korea, effectively starving their nation of resources.

The US still gives aid to North Korea. And China, in a sense is a benefactor. With regards to the region, Japan might be taking a more... harsher stance than say the US since they are the most powerful country in that region for the time being.