As speculation mounts that Kim Jong-un and Trump could meet this month, analysts say Pyongyang will continue to see nuclear weapons as a matter of survival

North Korea’s launch last week of a missile from a naval destroyer elicited an uncharacteristically prosaic analysis from the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un. The launch was proof, he said, that arming ships with nuclear weapons was “making satisfactory progress”.

But the test, and Kim’s mildly upbeat appraisal, were designed to reverberate well beyond the deck of the 5,000-tonne destroyer-class vessel the Choe Hyon – the biggest warship in the North Korean fleet.

His pointed reference to nuclear weapons was made as the US and Israel continued their air bombardment of Iran – a regime Donald Trump had warned, without offering evidence, was only weeks away from having a nuclear weapon.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    but at the time the only thing they had were nukes.

    Wildly incorrect…

    Like just look at any map, Ukraine was the front line to Europe, think about how much military is built up in Texas because it’s a border. Ukraine had a shit ton of all types of weaponry when the USSR dissolved

    • StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Weapony that the former USSR had claim to and would have been a justification for intervention. I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know the nuances of the fall of the USSR. I was 3. But I can see enough to know that at the time, Ukraine made the smart play for the foreseeable future. In 1994. In hindsight, it should have held its nukes. In the moment, throwing down that sword gave it a seat at the world table.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        Weapony that the former USSR had claim to and would have been a justification for intervention.

        Hate to break it to ya…

        But after the dissolution of the USSR, there wasn’t anymore USSR.

        Russia had claim to those weapons, just like the nukes.

        Ukraine kept the conventional equipment, and gave up the nukes back to Russia instead.

        This isn’t a hypothetical, this is what happened, and if you don’t know what happened, it’s hard to trust you on hypotheticals. Youre making them without all the facts

        • StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          Look, I’m not really into how hot you’re being about this. Little nitpicking like that doesn’t strike me a good faith discussion. Especially when I haven’t exactly been adverse to a few of your points. If you want to talk, cool, if you want to argue, scroll on.

          Thank you.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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            2 hours ago

            how hot you’re being about this

            “It’s only nuclear war, why is everyone getting all worked up!?”