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Castle Bravo was the test with the drastically larger yield from what was expected. And it really wasn't an engineering oversight, it was the nuclear physics of the Li7 nucleus not being completely understood. The designers of the test had actually reduced (at considerable expense) the amount of Li7 in the device thinking it was a diluent of the expected reaction. As it turned out, it promoted the reaction.
Ivy-Mike was a proof of concept device, not an actual design that was viewed as desirable to weaponize. The goal was to 'burn' a cubic meter of liquid deuterium, and it did. With alacrity.
The granting of a pardon is an imputation of guilt, and the acceptance a confession of it.
(September 3, 2017 at 8:16 am)Brian37 Wrote: Just because the majority of their population is poor does not mean the Kim family is poor. This is what most don't get, there is not one nation, friend or foe alike that have powers that invest in the global market. Kim family has global investments and just because the west sanctions them does not mean all their allies do. It is also a myth that Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Russia were anti market. Every nation takes in money and exports, to greater or lesser degrees.
I don't think Kim Jong Un is paying for this out of his own pocket.
I posted two or three videos showing that North Korea is capitalist, just not the type we think of in the west. In the west we have common law and anti trust laws and anti monopoly laws that prevent consolidation of wealth to one party/family/business. North Korea has a private sector, just not an openly competitive sector.
The Kim family is basically running a Ponzy scheme and they keep their family/party wealth by "gift politics". What we call in America, "Pay to play through blind loyalty". The family doesn't give up personal wealth no, but they do have ways of exporting and importing and getting foreign money to do just enough to keep just enough of the population happy to avoid getting toppled. Force and fear and propaganda are used also in combo with the carrot sticks.
You can enjoy a good life by doing the bidding of the "Dear Leader". I wont say they have a huge upper class or middle class, those are very tiny, but just big enough to act as a heat shield to the Kim family and to pay their army.
Pynongpang is the hub of what we call our "middle class and upper class".
We call Un a dictator, but over there they are seen as Royalty and they see the Kim wealth as something to be worshiped because they too, think ultimately like many gullible people here that the wealth will "trickle down".
No, it is not a free market or a people based open market like the west, but it does include the private sector and global investments.
Carrots And Sticks, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB and @Brianrrs37 on twitter. In room 39 The money does climb To the top Used to keep society in line Over there They sell fear "Gift Politics" "Pay to play" here They hate outsiders Condem all rivals Progaganda of nationalism They keep their power It's the same utopia Of trickle down Let the wealth do that they want For they know what's best Your dear leader Will aid you in disaster Loyalty is blind Your orange master That cant Happen here Is the refrain Stated year after year It has happend In history before When you remain silent And wilfully ignore One man Long ago Sold the same utopia Of abundant bounty The sense of intitlement That your skin tone dictates White Germans, North Koreans Infecting the states Wealth is right Just listen to them No one understands you They are your kin Carrots and sticks Is how they do it Reward blind loyalty Vilify any dissent The only way That is prevented Is by raising your voice "Eternal vigilance".
(September 3, 2017 at 8:00 am)chimp3 Wrote: NK is claiming this was a hydrogen bomb. Where are they getting the money for this shit?
Does a dictatorship early need money to build a nuke? It's not like the workers are getting paid for their labor.
But there's a whole list of suspects who would gladly toss some money into the pot. China, Russia, Iran, Israel, the Saudis, the Arab Gulf States, Pakistan, Afghan, Mexican, and South American drug dealers, the EU, the CIA, assorted Islamic terrorists or any combination of the above would gladly help fund the North Korean nuke program.
The North Korean nuke and missile program illustrates the deficiency in the American education system. In North Korea they teach the students advanced engineering on how to build nukes and ICBMs. In the US the major issue is over which restroom the students can use. Maybe we should hire the North Koreans to run our school systems?
(September 3, 2017 at 8:46 am)Anomalocaris Wrote: Of course he can get it from the people. North Korea is not a giant peasant village. It is still a full fledged nation state with its own research institutions, universities, factories, mineral resources, transportation infrastructure, where the impoverished people work and able to produce things and occasionally invent new things. Kim just need to make sure enough of that infrastructure is commanded to make things and invent things that goes into the bomb.
Well, the bad news is North Korean economy is currently not on the verge of starvation, at least not in 2017. South Korea also estimated North Korean economy grew at the fastest pace in 17 years during 2017. So it's ability to weather sanctions in the short term is probably as strong as it's been in a long time.
It would seem then that despite the growth of North Korea's economy it doesn't look to be benefitting anybody there besides Kim, Pyongyang, its military, and its nuke program.
(September 3, 2017 at 8:41 am)Brian37 Wrote: Don't look now , but for once we agree.
North Korea's capital isn't grim looking at all, but it is where the party loyalist live.
The private sector exists even in North Korea, it is just that it is crony capitalism where the profits go to support the party and Kim Family.
When you get to the middle age couple sitting at the table smiling, at the mark 32 second mark into the video look closely at the table, A CELL PHONE.
Quote:Nope. Pyongyang isn't grim looking at all. Looks to be very modern and upscale while the rest of North Korea lives in squalor and darkness.
Every other nation around North Korea, China, Japan, South Korea is lit up at night. Shows how little Kim's world is. It doesn't expand much beyond Pyongyang. His nation starves while he gets fat.
Have you considered that the reason you don't see a lot of lights in North Korea at night is that maybe all of its industrial infrastructure is underground?
![[Image: North_Korea_at_night.jpg]](https://s25.postimg.org/nogi9wozj/North_Korea_at_night.jpg)
