The idea is if they lash out enough, the international community might give them sorely needed food and natural resource aid as concession when talks are held about their weapons program. It's not gonna happen.
The idea is if they lash out enough, the international community might give them sorely needed food and natural resource aid as concession when talks are held about their weapons program. It's not gonna happen.
The world does give them lots of food, not to mention oil. And despite all this, the propietors of this gulag state continue to starve whole provinces at a time.
brinkmanship[/b] - The policy of a nation that pushes a dangerous situation to the limits of safety (the ???brink???) before pulling back; an aggressive and adventurous foreign policy.
I want to give you a little perspective. I left South Korea in Feb. 2003. About 1 week prior to leaving, the North Korean army pointed their weapons to South Korea. Obviously, that raised a lot of red flags. (Do you remember this event? Did it make the news??)
Here we are, three years later and they're doing this nonsense.
The idea is if they lash out enough, the international community might give them sorely needed food and natural resource aid as concession when talks are held about their weapons program. It's not gonna happen.
People are assuming that Kim Jong Il is acting with some degree of rationality. He also might just be fucking crazy...maybe not crazy enough to start nuking fools, but folks might be giving him too much credit to think this is a case of posturing in order for long term gain. Scary but true.
The missle is an empty threat. it has to be political posturing. DO you really think he would openly nuke the u.s.? Its not even about that.
The U.S. needs to step its non proliferation treaty game up. As it stands, you gotta have nukes to be a respected world power. So everybody wants to play. If we would really work at getting rid of them, instead of stockpiling more of them ourselves, we might get somewhere.
Or mabye i dont know what im talking about. But im not scared of north korea.
I want to give you a little perspective. I left South Korea in Feb. 2003. About 1 week prior to leaving, the North Korean army pointed their weapons to South Korea. Obviously, that raised a lot of red flags. (Do you remember this event? Did it make the news??)
Here we are, three years later and they're doing this nonsense.
I wonder where will be three years from now.
Same thing was going on in the 90s when I was there. Each time it was a little nerve racking, but at the same time I always got that 'boy who cried wolf' feeling. I was there when that Nork sub got beached on ROK soil and those dudes straight headed for the hills, some committed suicide and the rest were tracked down with fury. Shit was pretty wild.
I remember they put me in charge one night (I was like 20 years old or something) and out of nowhere there was MASSIVE brigade level troop movement (from the Norks) right up to the Z. I was shitting my pants! I remember runnning around the building to the other departments like "What the fuck is going on?!?" Anyways, they stayed there for a day and then turned around and went back to their normal AO. weird.
I want to give you a little perspective. I left South Korea in Feb. 2003. About 1 week prior to leaving, the North Korean army pointed their weapons to South Korea. Obviously, that raised a lot of red flags. (Do you remember this event? Did it make the news??)
Here we are, three years later and they're doing this nonsense.
I wonder where will be three years from now.
Same thing was going on in the 90s when I was there. Each time it was a little nerve racking, but at the same time I always got that 'boy who cried wolf' feeling. I was there when that Nork sub got beached on ROK soil and those dudes straight headed for the hills, some committed suicide and the rest were tracked down with fury. Shit was pretty wild.
I remember they put me in charge one night (I was like 20 years old or something) and out of nowhere there was MASSIVE brigade level troop movement (from the Norks) right up to the Z. I was shitting my pants! I remember runnning around the building to the other departments like "What the fuck is going on?!?" Anyways, they stayed there for a day and then turned around and went back to their normal AO. weird.
Those guys are a trip.
Real talk. Some of the older headz that were stationed there BITD told me similar stories.
I don't know some of y'all say that North Korea don't have the balls to start some shit.
The missle is an empty threat. it has to be political posturing. DO you really think he would openly nuke the u.s.? Its not even about that.
The U.S. needs to step its non proliferation treaty game up. As it stands, you gotta have nukes to be a respected world power. So everybody wants to play. If we would really work at getting rid of them, instead of stockpiling more of them ourselves, we might get somewhere.
Or mabye i dont know what im talking about. But im not scared of north korea.
The US is not going to step up its non-proliferation treaty game up, not under our current *cough cough* leadership who see the emergence of new nuclear threats (NK, Iran, etc.) as justification for maintaining their own stockpiles.
And no, I don't think Kim Jong Il is serious about trying to nuke the U.S. (I said so much in my last post). He's not so completely out of his mind that he wouldn't realize to do so would almost certainly invite a retaliatory strike that would vaporize his cities.
But we're not talking about someone who seems to be playing with a full deck. He's a meglomaniac with a god complex - you can't really sit across the table and hash out a series of tit-for-tat concessions and hope it'll stick. I think China has to play a major role in reigning him in and in that respect, I think multilateral talks are a good thing. That and praying he falls down some stairs. And hopefully, didn't leave any kids behind.
I can't say I know much about the situation. If this country is such a threat, why hasn't the US gone in there & shot/bombed/blasted everything that moves? Why does this country exist on a map & not in a history book?
The missle is an empty threat. it has to be political posturing. DO you really think he would openly nuke the u.s.? Its not even about that.
The U.S. needs to step its non proliferation treaty game up. As it stands, you gotta have nukes to be a respected world power. So everybody wants to play. If we would really work at getting rid of them, instead of stockpiling more of them ourselves, we might get somewhere.
Or mabye i dont know what im talking about. But im not scared of north korea.
The US is not going to step up its non-proliferation treaty game up, not under our current *cough cough* leadership who see the emergence of new nuclear threats (NK, Iran, etc.) as justification for maintaining their own stockpiles.
And no, I don't think Kim Jong Il is serious about trying to nuke the U.S. (I said so much in my last post). He's not so completely out of his mind that he wouldn't realize to do so would almost certainly invite a retaliatory strike that would vaporize his cities.
But we're not talking about someone who seems to be playing with a full deck. He's a meglomaniac with a god complex - you can't really sit across the table and hash out a series of tit-for-tat concessions and hope it'll stick. I think China has to play a major role in reigning him in and in that respect, I think multilateral talks are a good thing. That and praying he falls down some stairs. And hopefully, didn't leave any kids behind.
This last part is basically right. Before 9-11 America and Russia signed a treaty whereby America shelved more than half its nuclear arsenal in exchange for the abrogation of the clause in the ABM treaty proscribing missile defense research. North Korea has been coaxed and coddled since 1993 when it first threatened to leave the nuclear nonproliferation treaty it has since used as toilet paper. It has violated every deal the civilized world has signed with its mafia regime. We signed in 1994 a joint framework that committed Pyonyang to end the development of nuclear weapons only to find out in 2002 that it had been secretly enriching enough uranium for its own nukes it now says it has. The latest missile test was a violation of prior commitments north korea gave to never test a two stage rocket again. Kim made those promises in 2000 to Secretary Albright in her visit to the Hermit Kingdom. I was on that trip, and I can tell you that North Korea is a place of inhuman depravity. I have never been to another country where I could honestly say the government had sucked the life out of its people, every last drop. It is a state that exists to worship Kim Il Sung, his photo and statue is everywhere. His son, Kim Jong Il is a boy king, who deserves to be consigned to a prison of rapists for presiding over this prison state. I think the policy at this point needs to be an appeal to all people of conscience to help the underground railway from north korea to china to south korea and allow as many of the people of that country escape this nightmare. If ever there was a case today for the reemergence of anti-apartheid politics it is north korea. Westerners should demand their governments impose sanctions specific to the regime, task treasury agents to sieze his assets.
Westerners should demand their governments impose sanctions specific to the regime, task treasury agents to sieze his assets.
In the North Korea though, the regime = the people.
I wish I had a specific figure, but a good chunk of the country is part of the military, because that's one of the few ways you are able to eat. The only choice those people have are
1. Starve
2. Join (read: stay in) the military
3. Escape to China (who might just send you back again, which means death).
Kim is a lunatic though. His dad, for all his faults, was at least a war hero and built his regime (with a lot of help) on his own merit. Lil' Kim just inherited it. He wears high heel platform shoes for fucks sake.
What's funny is when there is hard evidence of a real nuclear threat, the current US administration does nothing or very little, however when they can trump up "WMO's" in an oil bearing nation, all stops are pulled.
What's funny is when there is hard evidence of a real nuclear threat, the current US administration does nothing or very little, however when they can trump up "WMO's" in an oil bearing nation, all stops are pulled.
It may or may not be worth noting that the average South Korean views Japan as a bigger threath than the DPRK (insert banging head on wall gremlin here).
It may or may not be worth noting that the average South Korean views Japan as a bigger threath than the DPRK (insert banging head on wall gremlin here).
i'm sure the north hates/fears japan even more which should make japan very worried
It may or may not be worth noting that the average South Korean views Japan as a bigger threath than the DPRK (insert banging head on wall gremlin here).
i'm sure the north hates/fears japan even more which should make japan very worried
Good point, however from personal experience I would say that the DPRK's #1 priority is "liberating" south korea.....
V have you been to NK? Tells us more about what you saw.
The way I understand it is there are sanctions on NK. Seems to me NK is the most isolated country in the world. Which works to put pressure on NK. But it also allows Kim Jung Il to delude his people into thinking their lives are somehow normal. So doing the kind of anti-investment campagin that helped to bring down aparthied will not work.
When North Korea steps over the line and a coaliton that is lead by South Korea and has China's blessings invades I would think that North Korea would fall quickly, South Korea would absorb the north the same way Germany absorbed the East and there will be much rejoicing. Of course there are two problems NK has, probably, maybe, most likely, nukes. And currently the US is pinned downed in Iraq and Afganistan.
I have no doubt that those who rule are the first to eat. But there is a real humanitarian crisis there. And there are people who are getting food to the people. Mercy Corp travels with the aid they send and makes sure that it gets to the people.
They also took a friendship delegation there. My friend went on that trip. I haven't talked to him yet, but he said "North Korea is a trip" and recommended two books.
From what I understand, the food situation in NK isn't as bad as it has been in the past. It's still bad but it's not famine-like levels as it was back a few years ago.
The thing is...it's really hard to see what would push SK to invade, with or without China's blessing. Seoul is EASILY strikable at artillery range, with some real schitt WMDs this time and not the phantom Iraqi kind. That's putting a city of 12 million in danger of being annihilated. I'd certianly take pause.
I'd be curious to hear Dizzy's sense of the strategic feasibility of taking out NK militarily.
V have you been to NK? Tells us more about what you saw.
The way I understand it is there are sanctions on NK. Seems to me NK is the most isolated country in the world. Which works to put pressure on NK. But it also allows Kim Jung Il to delude his people into thinking their lives are somehow normal. So doing the kind of anti-investment campagin that helped to bring down aparthied will not work.
When North Korea steps over the line and a coaliton that is lead by South Korea and has China's blessings invades I would think that North Korea would fall quickly, South Korea would absorb the north the same way Germany absorbed the East and there will be much rejoicing. Of course there are two problems NK has, probably, maybe, most likely, nukes. And currently the US is pinned downed in Iraq and Afganistan.
I have no doubt that those who rule are the first to eat. But there is a real humanitarian crisis there. And there are people who are getting food to the people. Mercy Corp travels with the aid they send and makes sure that it gets to the people.
They also took a friendship delegation there. My friend went on that trip. I haven't talked to him yet, but he said "North Korea is a trip" and recommended two books.
Comments
The world does give them lots of food, not to mention oil. And despite all this, the propietors of this gulag state continue to starve whole provinces at a time.
Satan is dyslexic...
Elvis = Evils
v
I hope they 'pull back'
I want to give you a little perspective.
I left South Korea in Feb. 2003. About 1 week prior to leaving, the North Korean army pointed their weapons to South Korea. Obviously, that raised a lot of red flags. (Do you remember this event? Did it make the news??)
Here we are, three years later and they're doing this nonsense.
I wonder where will be three years from now.
or did it?
People are assuming that Kim Jong Il is acting with some degree of rationality. He also might just be fucking crazy...maybe not crazy enough to start nuking fools, but folks might be giving him too much credit to think this is a case of posturing in order for long term gain. Scary but true.
The U.S. needs to step its non proliferation treaty game up. As it stands, you gotta have nukes to be a respected world power. So everybody wants to play. If we would really work at getting rid of them, instead of stockpiling more of them ourselves, we might get somewhere.
Or mabye i dont know what im talking about. But im not scared of north korea.
Same thing was going on in the 90s when I was there. Each time it was a little nerve racking, but at the same time I always got that 'boy who cried wolf' feeling. I was there when that Nork sub got beached on ROK soil and those dudes straight headed for the hills, some committed suicide and the rest were tracked down with fury. Shit was pretty wild.
I remember they put me in charge one night (I was like 20 years old or something) and out of nowhere there was MASSIVE brigade level troop movement (from the Norks) right up to the Z. I was shitting my pants! I remember runnning around the building to the other departments like "What the fuck is going on?!?" Anyways, they stayed there for a day and then turned around and went back to their normal AO. weird.
Those guys are a trip.
Some of the older headz that were stationed there BITD told me similar stories.
I don't know some of y'all say that North Korea don't have the balls to start some shit.
I don't know because Kim Jung is a lunatic.
That's exactly why I can never make up my mind....
The US is not going to step up its non-proliferation treaty game up, not under our current *cough cough* leadership who see the emergence of new nuclear threats (NK, Iran, etc.) as justification for maintaining their own stockpiles.
And no, I don't think Kim Jong Il is serious about trying to nuke the U.S. (I said so much in my last post). He's not so completely out of his mind that he wouldn't realize to do so would almost certainly invite a retaliatory strike that would vaporize his cities.
But we're not talking about someone who seems to be playing with a full deck. He's a meglomaniac with a god complex - you can't really sit across the table and hash out a series of tit-for-tat concessions and hope it'll stick. I think China has to play a major role in reigning him in and in that respect, I think multilateral talks are a good thing. That and praying he falls down some stairs. And hopefully, didn't leave any kids behind.
I read last week that his son is in Europe following Eric Clapton around on his current tour....honest to goodness.
This last part is basically right. Before 9-11 America and Russia signed a treaty whereby America shelved more than half its nuclear arsenal in exchange for the abrogation of the clause in the ABM treaty proscribing missile defense research. North Korea has been coaxed and coddled since 1993 when it first threatened to leave the nuclear nonproliferation treaty it has since used as toilet paper. It has violated every deal the civilized world has signed with its mafia regime. We signed in 1994 a joint framework that committed Pyonyang to end the development of nuclear weapons only to find out in 2002 that it had been secretly enriching enough uranium for its own nukes it now says it has. The latest missile test was a violation of prior commitments north korea gave to never test a two stage rocket again. Kim made those promises in 2000 to Secretary Albright in her visit to the Hermit Kingdom. I was on that trip, and I can tell you that North Korea is a place of inhuman depravity. I have never been to another country where I could honestly say the government had sucked the life out of its people, every last drop. It is a state that exists to worship Kim Il Sung, his photo and statue is everywhere. His son, Kim Jong Il is a boy king, who deserves to be consigned to a prison of rapists for presiding over this prison state. I think the policy at this point needs to be an appeal to all people of conscience to help the underground railway from north korea to china to south korea and allow as many of the people of that country escape this nightmare. If ever there was a case today for the reemergence of anti-apartheid politics it is north korea. Westerners should demand their governments impose sanctions specific to the regime, task treasury agents to sieze his assets.
In the North Korea though, the regime = the people.
I wish I had a specific figure, but a good chunk of the country is part of the military, because that's one of the few ways you are able to eat. The only choice those people have are
1. Starve
2. Join (read: stay in) the military
3. Escape to China (who might just send you back again, which means death).
Kim is a lunatic though. His dad, for all his faults, was at least a war hero and built his regime (with a lot of help) on his own merit. Lil' Kim just inherited it. He wears high heel platform shoes for fucks sake.
Hell yes.
No resources=no invasion.
That said...
With this pic, I can't finally imagine him singing that Team America song.
Kim Jong Il is fucking scum.
i'm sure the north hates/fears japan even more
which should make japan very worried
Good point, however from personal experience I would say that the DPRK's #1 priority is "liberating" south korea.....
The way I understand it is there are sanctions on NK. Seems to me NK is the most isolated country in the world. Which works to put pressure on NK. But it also allows Kim Jung Il to delude his people into thinking their lives are somehow normal. So doing the kind of anti-investment campagin that helped to bring down aparthied will not work.
When North Korea steps over the line and a coaliton that is lead by South Korea and has China's blessings invades I would think that North Korea would fall quickly, South Korea would absorb the north the same way Germany absorbed the East and there will be much rejoicing. Of course there are two problems NK has, probably, maybe, most likely, nukes. And currently the US is pinned downed in Iraq and Afganistan.
I have no doubt that those who rule are the first to eat. But there is a real humanitarian crisis there. And there are people who are getting food to the people. Mercy Corp travels with the aid they send and makes sure that it gets to the people.
web page
They also took a friendship delegation there. My friend went on that trip. I haven't talked to him yet, but he said "North Korea is a trip" and recommended two books.
My Friend
The thing is...it's really hard to see what would push SK to invade, with or without China's blessing. Seoul is EASILY strikable at artillery range, with some real schitt WMDs this time and not the phantom Iraqi kind. That's putting a city of 12 million in danger of being annihilated. I'd certianly take pause.
I'd be curious to hear Dizzy's sense of the strategic feasibility of taking out NK militarily.