Something I don't get. Having your cake and eating it too
 

So I read this article...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/natio...5158-2477r.htm
"U.S. doubts Korean test was nuclear"

And then I read this one...
http://reuters.myway.com/article/200...-NORTH-DC.html
"President Bush called it a "provocative act" that threatened international peace and security and required an immediate response from the U.N. Security Council."

So, which one was it? Kind of a rhetorical question. I do know which story is correct.

This is why one shouldn't bluster and boast about ones standards, and evildoers, and lines in the sand and other such bullshit, especially if you are the leader of the free world. Someone might just call you on it and sooner or later when you don't do shit you're unmasked as the hypocrite you are.

Good point, hehe.

Jim - in the past it was impossible to confirm an underground nuke test for 72 hours due to the time it takes for the radioactive "dust" to become airborne (vented) out of the ground shafts. Like I said this was in the past and I know for a fact that the US launched a plane from Japan 2 days before this test to monitor for radioactivity which has enough sensitivity to have picked up the immediate effects from the blast if there had been any

As far as I can tell they are using this story to confuse/cover over the news frenzy on Foley - they would have known whether it was really a nuke about 10 minutes after it happened (but giving them the benefit of the doubt, they will know for sure by tomorrow if any fallout shows up on the IAEA monitors around the world)

Given all the hype that Bush and everyone else is going through it kinda makes you wonder why Bush gave them 92 million back 4 years ago to continue their "peaceful" nuclear program - and crossed out the part about requiring monitors on the ground to make sure everything was on the up and up - seems like there is something up someones sleeve :)

No matter what, China could tell what it was :) And they seem to have no doubt. And you know that a satellite has been watching North Korea for quite a while. Plane or not...they know what happened. My point is, why would on one hand Bush condemn the test and on the other, doubt it happened? Oh WTF am I talking about..this is the same guy that believes that the earth started 6 thousand years ago. Holy Shit, I can't wait until November.

Jim - China hasnt come out and said anything definitive yet - other than their ambassador at the UN - they havent confirmed the test and now we are getting the data from the seismic recorders that say that either the blast was a very small nuke (in the range of 1/100th the bomb at Nagasaki) or it was a dud

Were both "statements" made by the same spokesman? Different audiences may have had different messages.

In this day and age, it's more and more likely pollies will try to play both sides and (pretend to) be all things to everyone.