Not for the lack of trying, from what I understand. The guy had a freaking .50 Barret M82
installed in the cabin. A veritable Real Life man-portable BFG, for the uninformed.
... What the f***? "Tanks" as in "honest to God military Tank Goodness"?
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.You'd think they wouldn't even need tanks. Seriously, modern tanks (as opposed to early tanks) were and are primarily designed to provide crushing fire support against other tanks, heavily fortified defense lines, and generally for the high shock factor against unprepared infantry. Which of these is the U.S. National Guard (or any National Guard force, for that matter) likely to face outside of being under a full-scale invasion*? Highly mobile armoured vehicles with strong anti-tank weapons but only "moderate" armour (a la Stryker) I can understand, but M1 Abrams is overkill for a almost purely defensive force.
(*)Which implies that the invaders can handle the regular armed forces and does not care for the strategic nuclear arsenal, at which point the National Guard should be screwed no matter how strong it is. By its very nature, the National Guard cannot be better at fighting than the Army/Navy/Air Force/Marines. Equal? Maybe. Superior? No, because logic dictates that it should replace its inferior in that role.
edited 25th May '10 9:35:08 AM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.I've always seen tanks as being useful for digging out enemies that might otherwise overwhelm friendly forces, but aren't powerful enough to warrant close air support. As well, they can provide an impressive spearhead for an assault - the blitzkrieg style of warfare, anyone?
Locking you up on radar since '09Blitzkrieg, as it originally meant, is a different and slightly more complex tactic/strategy than that, but it does require a significant armoured element.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Just check The Other Wiki to get either a brief summary of what it is, or read the full article for all the details.
And I thought it was South Korea that was making the first move by terminating economic ties with the North.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Well, assuming you didn't hear everything on why, it's all because it's officially been determined that the South Korean Navy warship that was sunk a few weeks ago was struck by a North Korean-fired torpedo; in light of this apparently flagrant violation of the 50-plus-year-old bilateral armistice, Washington DC has promised Seoul to haul Pyongyang's ass in front of the Security Council for this. We'll see how this new crisis will end in due time, but rest assured, it probably will not be pretty.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Same Shit Different Day.
Two belligerent nations who have not really been friendly towards each other. Supposedly the North's Military has received orders to prepare for war. And they have severed all ties with each other and kicked all the South Koreans out of Kaesong.
Yummy Yummy Powder Kegs all it will take is just one bad incident to send the whole thing to hell and back.
Who watches the watchmen?Well, the only real variable here is China. UN veto or no, if China steps in militarily on North Korea's behalf, things will indeed get very ugly very fast. If they don't, North Korea can heavily damage Seoul, but at the cost of its own annihilation. I truly hope they aren't that stupid there, but I'm afraid they might be.
A complete withdrawal of Chinese economic support might do the trick without war, though, as unlikely as that may be to happen.
edited 25th May '10 12:38:22 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"You know what's ironic in the modern conflict between the two Koreas? There is only thing that stands between the relatively well-equipped and well-fed South's modest war machine overpowering the North's own forces, which has been devastated by at least two decades of famines and poverty and is only armed with a currently outdated-and/or-in-dire-need-of-immediate-maintenance-or-replacement arsenal.
Nuclear weapons. Which Pyongyang has been quite happy to wave around and threaten both Seoul and Washington over the past 2-3 decades. As in, multiple times every year. Sometimes on issues that pretty much trivial in context.
Who are they kidding with the "We're going to nuke every American city unless you stop doing X" spiels? Do they even have ICBM capability in the first place? Not even Russia is that stupid or arrogant, and it is a well-known fact that they do have nuclear ICBMs... Specifically, Topol-M
, the latest in their surprisingly well-maintained nuclear inventory, is infamously claimed to render all current anti-ballistic measures obsolete, short of the Mutually Assured Destruction-based deterrence strategy.
edited 25th May '10 2:21:10 PM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.^ The Taepodong 2
as well as the Taepodong 1
are operational ICB Ms. The former being theoretically able to reach mainland areas of the US at its maximum most range. The latter able to hit any South Korean or Japanese target. Both are theoretically nuclear-capable but no nuclear warheads for them have presumably been built yet.
No, they are not "operational". Even The Other Wiki articles you cited affirm that all tests of both missiles did not manage to successfully deliver their payloads into orbit, and that the majority of their capabilities are shrounded in mystery and probably embellished by the North Korean propaganda machine, which pointedly refuses to acknowledge any "falsified rumours" of the tests' failures.
Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil
really put North Korea's socio-economically disastrous situation into perspective for me.
Captive Navy SEAL: That'd be really stupid.
DPRK ranking officer: I think so too. I am afraid that our Dear Leader thinks that we are more powerful than we really are. I think people are afraid to tell him how hungry his soldiers are... how old his equipment is.
edited 25th May '10 4:21:22 PM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.This Analysis
of North Korean defenses is pretty good. It also mentions the ICBM being only experimantal as of now.
ninja'd Every realistic scenario of a new Korea war is costly.
edited 25th May '10 2:46:42 PM by DasAuto
Now if you excuse me, Starfleet is about to award the Christopher Pike Medal to my dick. — SF Debris

Lol Hello Deboss. -pokes obviously dead brain-
I should note the people injured pretty much injured themselves attacking the dozer or running away. Meh he didn't directly injure anyone.
Who watches the watchmen?