No matter how funny they might be on the surface, it is dangerous to laugh at heavily armed mad people. The North Koreans are quite nutty enough to lob a large bomb at anyone within range. That will be South Korea, which could be enough to start a world war. Hopefully the Chinese will be sensible enough to see that it's not in their interest to start anything. The Americans will weigh in however sensible or otherwise it is. And then there are Sino-Japanese tensions too. With luck it will all amount to nothing, but with heavily armed mad people, you never know. Incidentally the current Kim (or whatever his name is) studied in Bern, so it's not as if he hasn't been exposed to normal people. I suspect that he decides nothing. It is all done by strange paranoid generals who have never been out of the country.
I hope so.................because if silly Fat Boy is going to make a strike, I can't see others (the US in some guise or another) holding back..........they have been waiting (hoping?) for something like this........and my gut feeling it will be a revenge hit for the 50s which is why I mention the potential use of a Fat Man / Little Boy type reaction.
North Korea is in bed with China. Do we really want to see the usa and China at war? It has the potential to turn very nasty.
It wouldn't bother me one little bit if China and USA nuked the shit out of each other. But we'd get dragged into it (probably voluntarily, too), and the next thing you know the entire world is taking pot shots at each other. I don't like the idea of that at all; I'm far to evolved to go back to living in a cave:frown:
I'm seeing a lot of posts on Facebook and Twitter about dogs being stolen. Are the Koreans stockpiling food before they go to war? :wink:
The N Koreans have detonated nuclear devices and put a satelite in orbit, the next logical step is to be able to deliver a nuclear device to anywhere on the planet (although packaging the nuclear device into a warhead could be another hurdle to overcome). To launch an attack on South Korea, or the US, would invite annihilation and whereas the N Koreans may be laughable I don't suppose they are stupid, and neither are the Chinese. As for the appeasers who think that the US shouldn't be flying B2's close to N Korea I would say that they most definitely should do just that. The N Koreans need a line drawn for them in the sand and be under no illusion as to what would happen if they crossed that line. The N Koreans are an extreme example of an Orwellian state where individual freedoms are secondary to that of the state and its ruling elite. N Korea must be a living hell for the ordinary people and pretty stressfull for everyone else.
It would be laughable if they didn't have a large, well equipped, fanatical military, and a megalomaniac, naïve totalitarian leader.
"The Americans don't want another Viet-Nam" ? Really ? What about Iraq ? Or Afghanistan ? Read any report of what is happening to the US troops in Afghan and it is quite clear that they are already involved in another Viet-Nam... The problem with the yanks is they cannot comprehend that people who don't want to do things their way are not always wrong. However, back to He11cat's original question - the two are not mutually exclusive. "Laughable nutcase" does not necessarily mean "not a threat". As has already been said, never underestimate the danger of mad people with weapons. It is always dangerous to judge these kind of people by western values - to us it would seem obvious that getting the shit nuked out of you would be a bad thing, but to someone who is absolutely prepared to die for what they believe in death is not a problem: which is why the yanks have such a problem with Islamic extremists. And Oriental headcases... The North Koreans are just sabre-rattling at the moment, what they really want is attention so they can look big on the world stage. It is vitally important that everyone else - Americans, Chinese, whoever - does not over-react.
Vietnam wasn't like either of the Irag wars, but the Afgan conflict is pretty close in the way that a poorly funded, but highly motivated force continued to give the world biggest war machine a bloody nose. The Americans really don't like losing. Their war machine is the driving force behind their economy which could do with a massive boost. There will of course be some people within the US military that would just love to flex their muscles and carpet bomb another country, thankfully thou, brighter people prevail. The ball is on Nth Koreas court at the moment, but at the first sign of an aggressive stance, I think China will be the ones to stop them not the US or UN for that matter
Er... yes, well, one of the biggest problems when dealing with North Korea is that it has no effective chain of command. For example, a British Commander will say something like "There 4 Euro Typhoon jets to be based at the Falklands and they are supported by a Type 46 Destroyer. This will be an effective deterrent to any initial threat to the Island". Kim Jang announces "We will turn S.Korea into a sea of fire and launch nuclear missiles against the west coast of America blah, blah". No precise control of his forces. What this means is that recent incidents such as the sinking of a ROK cruiser that cost 46 lives, or the shelling of an urban area of S.Korea are most likely actions taken independently by local commanders which are [then] supported by the ruling Dictat. This preemptive action is sure to be encouraged by the Northern ruler, but it does not mean he is a ruler. As for the North using an atomic device against the South, it will attract a retaliatory burst but I cannot envisage an escalation outside the peninsular. If the North invades the South (after idiotic actions of a local North sergeant, no doubt) N.Korea will probably invade the immediate locality of China to create a buffer zone, discouraging Chinese intervention - I know I would. But there is no way they will step into Russia because I am confident the Russians will use Nuclear weapons on their own soil without discrimination and if they follow through with an invasion that will be the end of little ol' Kim.
I suspect the Chinese do not have a firm grip of comrade Kim and are not always happy about some of his actions. If he keeps yanking on America's chain and provokes a war he may be retired by a Chinese bullet.
The Chinese leadership may be a bunch of self-interested authoritarians, but they are a good deal more rational than their predecessors of 50 years ago. There is no way they will back the N Korean regime in senselessly wrecking the region today, any more than the Russians will. If the NKs take military action, they will be on their own.
No, I don't think america do really want another vietnam, at least not in the sense of an all out ground war and certainly not in N.Korea. What do they at present possibly have to gain from it, apart from the aforementioned minerals. It won't happen, the chinese will march in there and stake their claim before the yanks knew what hit them. Geographically, it's a no-no. However, should N.Korea start pointing pointy sticks at them or S.Korea, then yes, then perhaps you're right. I think they (the yanks) conceded it long ago and just keep a watching brief on it in the event of .......... no, I'm not pro america, far from it. Iraq was about oil plain and simple so forget that and as for Afghan now that they've got his royal majesty badass dead and buried, they,ve really no reason business being there. Better to have some battle hardened troops at hand should such an incident occur tho, huh? After all, resources and logistics are Uncle Sam's modus.op. Never say never, but I think it unlikely ...
Nah the yanks arn't looking for a fight , they havent pulled out of Afgan yet. When they do, then we're fucked.
sabre rattling is for internal purposes.. as usual... one bullit fired would be very unwise.. china will never go to war with usa over NK... there is not much to be gained now is there..
The Chinese are the world's great merchants. I imagine that all genuine communist ideology faded away some time ago. Now it is just a question of maintaining power and making lots of cash for the leadership. There is nothing for them to gain in trying to prop up a nutty regime and pissing off their biggest customer. On the other hand NK is a sore on the bum of the world. How long will it be allowed to fester?
i don't think they will look very well equipped in todays mil tech reality... remember Iraqi rev guard brigade in War 1... 90% casualties in 25 minutes. and then the highway?.. their losses would be colossal... especially if they attack first... it would give the us a free hand to 'defend themselves' and armies do not march on empty bellies... now they just get by sitting still..
