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Something doesn't click, Russia has a RAIL line to the DPRK, a holdover from the USSR.
I call BS on the "for North Korea". They'd stick it on a train and have secure passage through their own territory.
It's more likely they were smuggling parts anywhere else that they don't have land access to.
Perhaps the parts were too large to transfer by rail?
If thats the case, they also have the artic pass, going through the north sea.
Not in winter, large parts of that route are frozen currently.
Then what is 6 months to a likely decades long development?
And that's with the assumption the parts are "too big" to be carried via rail.
I dunno, I'm just guessing here. Perhaps doing it via the ghost fleet offers more plausible deniability? Or it may be more secretive in general since doing it via rail is a bit more publicly visible. Or maybe the parts need to go to some other part of NK that isn't connected via this rail line, and doing it this way is faster over the whole trip? The connection with Russia uses a different gauge than the rest of NK, might add some planning complications too.
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Spanish rescue units responded and found the ship heavily tilted. The captain claimed mechanical failure, but hull damage showed signs of an external strike consistent with a supercavitating torpedo
Kinda just left that hanging out there.
I feel like that bit was obvious from the headline. Imperial "Ghost ship" with nuclear parts for other authoritarian regime sinks. No way it was an accident or we probably wouldn't have heard about it.
A distress signal followed on December 23. Spanish rescue units responded and found the ship heavily tilted. The captain claimed mechanical failure, but hull damage showed signs of an external strike consistent with a supercavitating torpedo.
Spy shit? War shit? Both shit?
As far as I'm concerned for Russia: "Eat shit."
Don't care who did it or why, other than to give them a round of applause and buy them a beer.
Good shit.
Leaving North Koreans without electricity isn't good shit actually, US + EU sanctions kill half a million people yearly. How many innocent civilians will be left without access to energy as a consequence?
Im sure NK was totally going to use a reactor built for nuclear submarines for.... civilian use, even though they annouced building a nuclear submarine a few months ago.
Oh, my bad, I assumed it was for civilian use.
Russia is the only country with supercavitating torpedoes. However, the damage they cause wouldn't be any different than a conventional torpedo.
Yeah I don't see how the blast damage would indicate the torpedoes propulsion type. Which makes me question the rest of the details.
So, somebody knows about those ships and is capable of sinking them. Why are not more sunk?
That seems as if it would slow the progress of getting the parts to North Korea.
They didn't even bother covering those containers...what a bunch of incompetent fucks
GOOOD.gif
Why? This is reactor parts,not a bomb. That's electricity for thousands/millions of people.
Reactors can also be used to produce plutonium for bombs. The North Korean regime isn't that concerned with the comfort and health of its people.
They have bombs, for fucks sake! What they need for weapons systems is missiles. Reactor parts aren't missile parts, AFAIK.
not that concerned
No but not completely unconcerned! Its useful for their grip on power and PR wins.
The reactor parts according the article were VM-4SG models. The same used by russian nuclear submarines. Dont take a genius to assume NK is planning on building nuclear submarines to load'em with nuclear missiles.
Maybe. Why not just send them a fucking submarine and do a few retrofits? Much easier to transport.
Submarines are sealed units. You can't really retrofit them. If it doesn't fit through a hatch, you have to cut the hull, which can create a weakness when it's under pressure.
Because a submarine is much more expensive than reactor parts? I dont think NK has 800million dollars to give russia. Plus, NK would love nothing more than boast about their own nuclear submarine.
Can afford new but not cold war hand-me-downs?
Does russia have spare surplus? Pretty sure they scrapped everything thats not in active duty.
That's one murderous regime helping out another murderous regime for helping murdering innocent people in an illegal war.
one murderous regime
Yep
another murderous regime
Also yes!
helping out
With probably-civilian electrification. I want this to happen.
for helping murder
Yep! And that's done and the regime should be killed for it. They probably already have electricity though. I'm sure the palace is wired the fuck up.