North Korea, real threats, or just more posturing?

[RipplecutBuddha]

There is a chance N. Korea is serious, or even worse, talk themselves into becoming serious, as in what happened with the Lamanites here and there in the Book of Mormon.

A couple other observations, South Korea has a more than adequate military prepared to handle anything North Korea does, up to and including all out war, whether we assist them or not.

The real danger is with Kim Jong Un believing his own hype. He's not that experienced, and while his father was far more skilled a leader, especially in the skill of rhetoric, there is a danger of him painting himself into a corner that all but forces his hand to act.

My hope is that those around him help him keep a lid on the pot, so to speak, if he cannot do so himself.

[Roseslipper]

I'm not sure if evil or crazy is scarier.

ithink its about the same. its very sad that people cant get along but we know thats not going to happen til Christ reigns. and lots of bad things are happening and unfortunately will happen, hey some of us cant get along in our own familes or just respect each other, sad but true.

[Roseslipper]

If they are really crazy and not driven crazy by their evilness then crazy doesnt have to be repented of and evil does so yes there is a huge difference.

hum good thoght ty 4 it.

[selek]

The situation in North Korea is almost identical to the situation in Iran, in Syria, in Egypt, and many other places where disfunctional autocracies rule with an iron fist.

The only thing holding their "society" together is fear and hatred of "the outsider".

Without the external threat, the rank-and-file peons would turn their attentions on their internal miseries, and threaten the power and security of their putative leaders.

The ayatollahs, the Chinese Central Committee, and the various other chamber-pot dictators live as much (if not more) in fear of their own people as they do worries about Western "imperialism".

North Korea is an extreme example because they've been propped up by the various powers for the last sixty years- and their rhetoric has, of necessity, become more and more shrill.

Alarmism and shrill rhetoric lose their urgency when you hear them too often or for too long.

How many decades did we hear that smoking caused cancer? And how long until it faded into background noise?

Like a drug losing its effectiveness from over use, so too must alarmism be ratcheted up to keep people in fear (a tendency we've noted in our own political "discourse").

North Korea is a genuine threat for two reasons: 1) they've got nothing left and 2) they've got nothing to lose.

The North Korean government is brittle and extraordinarily fragile- if the people (or a even a small cadre of military officials) ever awaken to their power, Little Kim will be lined up against a wall and shot.

And he knows it, too- which is why he's purged so much of Korea's military leadership.

Those who remain are either personally loyal to him (or have seen the dangers of being less than adoring of his personage).

And contrary to the myth-making China has NOT been a faithful or legitimate partner in keeping the peace.

The approach is two-fold: China uses North Korea both as a distraction and as a threat.

On the one hand, they tell us, "Hey, we're not so bad- look at those guys!"

So long as the rabid pit bull is tugging at his leash barking and foaming at our neighbors, we pay less attention to China's atrocities such as forced abortions, persecution of religious minorities, and suppression of internal dissent.

On the other hand, they regularly use North Korea as a threat: "You better be nice to us, because you need us to contain those guys."

It's all a cynical lie: North Korea would not exist as a nation except for the protection and support of the Chinese government.

It was Chinese troops who rescued the defeat North Korean army in 1954(?). It was Chinese supplied men and arms who propped up that failing regime.

Since that intervention, China has- with clockwork regularity- propped up the North Korean government, armed them, excused their excesses, and floated their economy.

They've kept North Korea on a short leash, to be sure- but have never actually called them to heel or offered them a meaningful disincentive or punishment.

Like the gang-banger and his rabid pitbull, they insist that we need them to protect our children and neighbors from the North Korea killer- all the while glossing over the fact that they are the ones feeding the dog on gunpowder and cayenne pepper* in order to keep him vicious.

The situation in North Korea will go away when one of two things happens:

1) China can no longer control them.

2) China no longer needs them.

And between the recent missile tests and the overtures China has been making into other troubled areas of the world, I believe either is possible in the short-term. The only question is how many people die in the transition.

* This is more than just an analogy- feeding dogs gun powder and hot pepper is/was a technique used to "train" particularly vicious dogs (usually for dogfighting).

Edited March 31, 2013 by selek

[Wordnerd]

And the threats keep escalating...

North Korea approves nuclear strike on U.S. - The Globe and Mail

All the analysts seem to think they don't have the capability, I sure hope they are right. I am fervently praying that this is still just bluster, and that they knock it off before they cause the US to respond with force, no one can win in a nuclear conflict.

[Vort]

Oh, hooray. A missile defense system. We all saw how reliable they were in the first Gulf war action. The real thing to celebrate is the unlikelihood that North Korea can deploy a warhead via missile, along with the fact that merely building and testing a nuclear device is a ways away from building one that can be fitted on and launched by missile.

[Just_A_Guy]

And the threats keep escalating...

North Korea approves nuclear strike on U.S. - The Globe and Mail

There was a mistranslation. It's supposed to be "new, clear strike", not "nuclear strike". It's a labor thing.

[annewandering]

Anonymous says hello to North Korea with multiple hacks, sites defaced | FreakOutNation

I was horrified to read this. Oh such a good idea to tease the crazy guy with the nuclear bombs. Brilliant.

[Vort]

Anonymous says hello to North Korea with multiple hacks, sites defaced | FreakOutNation

I was horrified to read this. Oh such a good idea to tease the crazy guy with the nuclear bombs. Brilliant.

Actually, I have to admit I think it's pretty hilarious. I admit it's purely a matter of whose ox is being gored.

[annewandering]

Actually, I have to admit I think it's pretty hilarious. I admit it's purely a matter of whose ox is being gored.

I am not sure baiting crazy people is all that funny especially if they are armed. Of course the hackers werent going to be the ones attacked so it would make it a lot easier for them to laugh.

[LittleWyvern]

With North Korea, I think we should be firm, but also careful not to increase the temperature of the water, so to speak. We don't want to put Kim Jong-un into a position where he thinks he has to invade the US to "save face" or save his honor. As much as I'm sure the collective group of countries that will end up invading North Korea won't have a difficult time of achieving victory, I'd rather not see people die.

[yjacket]

Personally, I think this "situation" stinks and could very well lead us into another unnecessary war.

The first flaw that is committed by a huge portion of the individuals in studying international politics is in assuming the leader of the "opposing" side is an irrational actor and is "evil". Rest assured, they are extremely rational; they may be ruthless and "evil" but they are rational and in many instances have several specific objectives in mind.

Just like this recent news story of the professor who had students "stomp on Jesus", there is always more to the story than what is reported.

Bin Laden was exceptionally rational, as is Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Un. Unfortunately, it is too easy to dismiss them as "evil" (because it is what we want to believe) without actually delving into the details of the reasons behind what they are trying to accomplish. In many instances, if we are forced to analyze the reasons behind why they are doing what they are doing it would lead us to rethink some of our own actions. And it is completely impossible that our country would have ever committed wrongful acts against another country.

For over a year (way before NK started to be in the news), I heard of the US military's "pacific pivot". As a general strategy, the military is shifting focus away from the desert to the pacific. Now NK is coming into focus as Iran is sort of fading . . .

We have too many useless, senseless wars; we have been conditioned to believe that is our God-given duty to fight every perceived injustice or perceived threat from any tiny bug that might land on our nose.

NK a threat?? . . . . just like Iraq was a threat and Iran is a threat. Please, these guys may be ruthless and evil but they ain't dumb. All of them know that if they lobbed a nuke to the US their country would be obliterated. Countries like NK and Iran have way more to fear from the US than we have to fear from them. We pre-emptively attacked another country that had not attacked us! If I were NK, you are darn right I'd build a nuke. I'd want the US to know that if they attacked me, they'd get punched in the nose.

For the most part the "intelligence" to go to war with Iraq was a farce, built up on lies and on what individuals wanted to see rather than what really was. I suppose now we are to blindly trust the current "intelligence" and news reports, regardless of the fact that Iraq, Iran and NK were labeled the "axis of evil" over 10 years ago. There is always more to the story than meets the eye.

Whether we want to see it or not, there are individuals and interest groups within the US who want war; rather than be peacemakers they glory in war, they glory in strength, they glory in power. And so they convince others of the righteousness of their position. To enhance and grow the military, to be number 1, to be the most powerful . . . all as we go marching to war.

[Praetorian_Brow]

When a country believes its own propaganda, then other countries are in danger.