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  • david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 18,163
    Sandpit said:

    Yes, there were several during the Cold War, of which Cuba was the most famous but which made the generals and politicians on both sides rather nervous. There was a rumour that a US President authorised a nuke strike while drunk, and after a lot of phone calls it was called off when someone important enough to do so threatened the use of the 25th Amendment. :o
    I'm intrigued. Who was the president?

    The 25th amendment was only passed in 1967, so it could only be Johnson and afterwards (presumably through to Reagan as GHW Bush was facing a Soviet Union already effectively withdrawing from the game). Also, the only person who could meaningfully "threaten the use of the 25th Amendment" is the VP - and even then, he'd need the backing of half the cabinet.

    But the comment about being drunk probably rules out Reagan, who rarely drank. Indeed, it probably rules out all except Nixon - but would even a drunk Nixon have done that? So either the rumour is false or someone was acting out of character.
  • david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 18,163
    Sandpit said:

    Well you know way more about this than I do, but a couple of F16s taking out the radars followed by a few more MOABs along the border would neutralise the immediate threat to Seoul, without making Kim think he's really at war.

    [snip]
    Kim already thinks he's at war (and technically, he is).
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,794

    See there has been a joint statement tonight by Boris and his French counterpart condemning Russia over Syria

    The US, France and UK are fairly aligned on additional sanctions for Russia. Canada will go along with whatever the US stance is and so will Japan. It is Germany and Italy who are the sticking point. Germany more than Italy as it was the Germans who pressured Italy into siding with them so they didn't look like they were blocking a unanimous decision for additional sanctions. Germany is the problem nation of Europe, they just cover it up with a general air of superiority that makes people think that they can't be all bad.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,974
    Sandpit said:


    Yes, there were several during the Cold War, of which Cuba was the most famous but which made the generals and politicians on both sides rather nervous. There was a rumour that a US President authorised a nuke strike while drunk, and after a lot of phone calls it was called off when someone important enough to do so threatened the use of the 25th Amendment. :o

    During Nixon’s last days in the White House at the height of the Watergate crisis, when some were doubting the President’s mental stability, Secretary of State James Schlesinger reportedly instructed the Joint Chiefs of Staff to check with him before carrying out any of Nixon’s orders regarding nuclear weapons. He also drew up contingency plans for an emergency military deployment in the event of an impeached Nixon refusing to step down
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,158
    Sandpit said:

    Yep, same as Hoover, Biro, Google...
    Thanks for the info. I think I will just get the £55 Wacom one. Yes it is double the price of the knock-off brand, but for me it I can afford that difference as it is something I will use every day.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022

    I'm intrigued. Who was the president?

    The 25th amendment was only passed in 1967, so it could only be Johnson and afterwards (presumably through to Reagan as GHW Bush was facing a Soviet Union already effectively withdrawing from the game). Also, the only person who could meaningfully "threaten the use of the 25th Amendment" is the VP - and even then, he'd need the backing of half the cabinet.

    But the comment about being drunk probably rules out Reagan, who rarely drank. Indeed, it probably rules out all except Nixon - but would even a drunk Nixon have done that? So either the rumour is false or someone was acting out of character.
    I don't know, but would have thought Nixon too. My source wasn't directly US gov but would have known those who were. Plausible story but no more than that.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022

    Thanks for the info. I think I will just get the £55 Wacom one. Yes it is double the price of the knock-off brand, but for me it I can afford that difference as it is something I will use every day.
    Cool. Good luck. :) PM me if you want any more advice or need help setting it up.
  • MTimTMTimT Posts: 7,034
    Sandpit said:


    Well you know way more about this than I do, but a couple of F16s taking out the radars followed by a few more MOABs along the border would neutralise the immediate threat to Seoul, without making Kim think he's really at war.

    Obviously if he tries anything really stupid, like showing he's got an ICBM or anything nuclear that's capable of being delivered, then he's toast, Seoul is too close to avert a strike so it's going to be pre-emptive and hard against him. The US don't need to use nuclear weapons to devastate a whole city.

    My suspicion is that a lot of the DPRK artillery would work just fine hitting Seoul without radar. MOAB's are primarily designed, as I understand it, to take out underground facilities (essentially by creating mini-earthquakes, like Barnes' 10,000 kg Grand Slam bombs in WWII). But I am not a munitions expert.

    The problem is the DPRK have thousands of artillery gun, and more than half are already dug in pointed at Seoul. It is estimated that they could lob 500,000 artillery rounds at Seoul in the first hour of hostilities.
  • OUTOUT Posts: 569
    SeanT said:

    We are rapidly headed to something like the Cuban Missile crisis. Obviously not as apocalyptic - North Korea can't wipe anyone out - but eeeek, nonetheless.

    eeeek? Last week you were yearning for a war.
    You should be on the next flight out to Seoul.
  • AndrewAndrew Posts: 2,900
    MTimT said:

    MOAB's are primarily designed, as I understand it, to take out underground facilities (essentially by creating mini-earthquakes, like Barnes' 10,000 kg Grand Slam bombs in WWII). But I am not a munitions expert.

    You're thinking of MOPs (Massive Ordnance Penetrators, aka bunker-busters). MOAB does what it says on the tin: Massive Ordnance Air Burst, ie it's set off in the air.

    Presumably they used it against caves in Afghanistan not as a penetrator, but for the shock wave in a confined space.
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,207

    Kim already thinks he's at war (and technically, he is).
    Yes, because they never accepted the peace
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,207

    Which is why MOAB was field tested...
    How do you deliver a moab..........

    Not sure it fits in a B2....... just saying......
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,251
    viewcode said:

    There has got to be an emoji for "places palm on forehead, looks down, doesn't know whether to laugh or to cry"...
    https://ruthdehaas.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/triple-facepalm.jpg
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,207
    RobD said:

    Perhaps he has evacuated Pyongyang so he can nuke it in celebration.
    Well some of the architecture is crap - level the place and start again could work :-)
  • CyanCyan Posts: 1,262
    edited April 2017
    Ishmael_Z said:

    I don't think that. I just thought the numbers were interesting, and at least as illuminating as the very entertaining footage of NorK goosestepping.
    Not just goosestepping, but doing the skipping goosestep, which takes a lot of stamina, and in some cases while carrying bazookas. The ideology of the regime ("Juche socialism" as they call it) has replaced the "proletariat" with the army as the principal historical force. They will fight. They will not collapse because of poor morale.
  • MTimTMTimT Posts: 7,034
    Floater said:

    How do you deliver a moab..........

    Not sure it fits in a B2....... just saying......
    Out the back of an air transporter. CH-130 (Hercules) or the like.
  • CyanCyan Posts: 1,262
    edited April 2017
    viewcode said:

    During Nixon’s last days in the White House at the height of the Watergate crisis, when some were doubting the President’s mental stability, Secretary of State James Schlesinger reportedly instructed the Joint Chiefs of Staff to check with him before carrying out any of Nixon’s orders regarding nuclear weapons. He also drew up contingency plans for an emergency military deployment in the event of an impeached Nixon refusing to step down
    Kissinger says that during his last few days in office Nixon told him that he had reversed US policy on Israel and had made sure it could not be reversed back again. That was in Kissinger's memoir of the time.

    An "emergency military deployment in the event of an impeached Nixon refusing to step down" would have been a military coup. An impeached president doesn't have to step down.
  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669
    Floater said:

    How do you deliver a moab..........

    Not sure it fits in a B2....... just saying......
    It was launched via a platform and a parachute out of the back of a C-130.
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,492
    Who is putting that out? is it expectation management?
  • OUTOUT Posts: 569
    MTimT said:

    Out the back of an air transporter. CH-130 (Hercules) or the like.
    Just like a barrel bomb.
  • QuincelQuincel Posts: 4,042
    BigRich said:

    Who is putting that out? is it expectation management?
    Lib Dems are. Which makes it expectation management, but unusually optimistic.
  • CyanCyan Posts: 1,262
    edited April 2017
    Sandpit said:

    Well you know way more about this than I do, but a couple of F16s taking out the radars followed by a few more MOABs along the border would neutralise the immediate threat to Seoul, without making Kim think he's really at war.

    Obviously if he tries anything really stupid, like showing he's got an ICBM or anything nuclear that's capable of being delivered, then he's toast, Seoul is too close to avert a strike so it's going to be pre-emptive and hard against him. The US don't need to use nuclear weapons to devastate a whole city.
    Quickest way of committing that particular war crime, though.

    The Torygraph is already doing its bit and saying North Korea, bomb Iran, bomb Iran, North Korea. I wonder whether Israel will nuke Iran at the same time, leaving "experts" to explain that MOABs wouldn't work against the fiendish Iranians' really deep bunkers, blah.

    Is anyone predicting a Korean war would be over within less than three years and with less than 10 million killed?
  • david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 18,163
    It is possible that the LDs could achieve a bigger swing than in Witney and still be further from winning (in percentage terms) than they were in 2010.
  • brokenwheelbrokenwheel Posts: 3,352
    edited April 2017
    Speaking of Gorton, I did a search but i couldn't see anybody mention this;

    https://twitter.com/georgegalloway/status/850264094435299329

    This is the LD who managed to poll in the 30s at their peak.
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,207
    Tim_B said:

    It was launched via a platform and a parachute out of the back of a C-130.
    I know, just trying to nudge the good dr to think about this a little deeper
  • MTimTMTimT Posts: 7,034
    OUT said:

    Just like a barrel bomb.
    Not quite. Barrel bombs don't have guidance systems.
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    The candidate endorsed by the French Communist Party is now 15/2 to be next president according to the latest Betfair odds.

    https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.117179983
  • fitalassfitalass Posts: 4,320
    HYUFD said:

    Precisely the opposite, if SLAB become pro independence their remaining unionist voters will defect en masse to the Scottish Tories and Scottish LDs while they will recapture virtually no pro independence voters from the SNP
    Absolutely correct, if SLAB become pro independence they would lose many of the very voters they have managed to hang onto despite their current political difficulties. They have already lost the pro Indy SLab voters to both the SNP and the Greens in recent years. If you were pro Indy, why would you return to SLab who are languishing as the 4th party in Opposition behind the Scottish Tories when the SNP Government and the Greens are in a loose Coalition pushing for a 2nd Indy Ref?
  • GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    MTimT said:

    Not quite. Barrel bombs don't have guidance systems.
    Does gravity not count? :)
  • fitalassfitalass Posts: 4,320
    surbiton said:

    Starmer vs Cooper would be a great leadership election.
    No, it just wouldn't, both are the Labour equivalent of Michael Howard as Leader of the Tories before 2005 GE. Neither would set the heather on fire within the Labour party or with the wider electorate. But that is not to say that the Labour party does not need a Michael Howard to steady the ship, and more importantly, to restore party discipline and put the right future Leader contenders in the Shadow Cabinet. We shouldn't dismiss Liz Kendell or Stephen Kinnock, the latter would make an interesting Shadow Foreign Secretary right now.
  • fitalassfitalass Posts: 4,320
    fitalass said:

    Absolutely correct, if SLAB become pro independence they would lose many of the very voters they have managed to hang onto despite their current political difficulties. They have already lost the pro Indy SLab voters to both the SNP and the Greens in recent years. If you were pro Indy, why would you return to SLab who are languishing as the 4th party in Opposition behind the Scottish Tories when the SNP Government and the Greens are in a loose Coalition pushing for a 2nd Indy Ref?
    Oops, that should have been SLab as the 3rd party not 4th.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    AndyJS said:

    The candidate endorsed by the French Communist Party is now 15/2 to be next president according to the latest Betfair odds.

    https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.117179983

    And here I was thinking laying off at 11 was smart.
This discussion has been closed.