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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (97629)	5/8/2003 12:40:30 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I don't think they would care too much if the device were untested. Moreover, financing a purchase is presumably not a huge problem for AQ. Not so sure about that. NK isn't about to sell any nuclear weapon (which would possess it's radioactive "signature" of it's uranium/plutonium) to a terrorist organization. Such a signature would be relatively easy to track from the fallout that is produced in any attack and NK would be directly held responsible. As for price, NK certainly wouldn't sell them inexpensively. It costs money to build them (even in that slave labor society) and a bomb is a high-value item. And considering Bin Laden's estimated net worth was around $300 million, I don't think that would be sufficient. I can't see Kim Jong Il selling one for less than a Billion. The value of nuclear weapons isn't so much in their actual use (which is what terrorists would desire), but in the deterrent value they provide a despotic regime seeking to avert international political pressure.. IOW, a nuclear "shield" behind which they can hide in relative safety free from outside interference. I highly doubt that there are many active plans to directly invade NK in motion at the moment. We have a greater opportunity to create change through multi-lateral economic and political sanctions through regional powers that further isolate NK and loosen Kim Jong Il's credibility within his own powerbase. IMO, it's not nearly as much of a nut to crack so long as we can convince Bejing that it is NOT in their interest for NK to nuclearize the peninsula or to proliferate nuclear weapons. Hawk