North Korea: When Internet Trolls Get Nukes

[Longdan]

I dunno.  I have sometimes thought that China should clean up that mess.
The fact that there even is a North Korea was brought about by a military deadlock between
the US and PRC.  We did not win that war because of Chinese intervention.

[pawelj]

I dunno.  I have sometimes thought that China should clean up that mess.
The fact that there even is a North Korea was brought about by a military deadlock between
the US and PRC.  We did not win that war because of Chinese intervention.

Absolutely. It should be China's and Russia's responsibility to cleanup the mess. And it should be clearly conveyed through diplomatic channels that they would be advised to do it otherwised a US cleanup is something they will not like.
My impression on Korean War is that the US did not engage in it in the same way as in WW2, which was necessary when confronting Red China.
A successfull Korean War would have a positive domino effect on many subsequent foreign policy issues.

[JasonPratt]

A successfull Korean War would have a positive domino effect on many subsequent foreign policy issues.

Like when we overthrew Iraq!

;D


(Not saying there wouldn't be positive results from it, especially if China decided to ally with South Korea over NK human rights abuse; but I'm doubtful from experience the dominos are ever going to fall our way.)

[Longdan]

A successfull Korean War would have a positive domino effect on many subsequent foreign policy issues.

Like when we overthrew Iraq!

;D


(Not saying there wouldn't be positive results from it, especially if China decided to ally with South Korea over NK human rights abuse; but I'm doubtful from experience the dominos are ever going to fall our way.)

Just because that didn't work out doesn't mean it shouldn't be tried about 20 more times until somebody says "That didn't work out."

[LongBlade]

A successfull Korean War would have a positive domino effect on many subsequent foreign policy issues.

Like when we overthrew Iraq!

;D


(Not saying there wouldn't be positive results from it, especially if China decided to ally with South Korea over NK human rights abuse; but I'm doubtful from experience the dominos are ever going to fall our way.)

The *last* think the South Koreans want to do is pay for a unification with the North. They figured that out when they saw what took place with Germany - and the Norks are about a thousand times worse off.

Pity the people there, because nobody wants to pay to clean up that mess...though by rights China owns it.

[Longdan]

I think China keeps it because they have to have some bad place nearby to threaten to send people to.
"No more Tianamen Square BS or we send you to North Korea!!"  That would slow 'em down.

[Martok]

^  Funny, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some truth to that. 

[pawelj]

A successfull Korean War would have a positive domino effect on many subsequent foreign policy issues.

Like when we overthrew Iraq!

;D


(Not saying there wouldn't be positive results from it, especially if China decided to ally with South Korea over NK human rights abuse; but I'm doubtful from experience the dominos are ever going to fall our way.)

Korea 1950 was not Iraq 2003. And one could argue the Iraq 2003 was negatively effected by all the chain of events from Korea via Vietnam. We can even go back to the botched post-WW2 political settlement where Stalin (one of the two main instigators of the war) was left in charge of Russia.

[Longdan]

^^We had little choice in that one.

[JasonPratt]

^  Funny, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some truth to that.

"The Chinese have a lot of hells." -- Big Trouble In Little China


Meanwhile, since no one took them seriously about turning Washington DC into a sea of fire, now they're threatening to do the same to Guam and other American territories. Which they can actually do.

Could they actually want us to glass their country (albeit with conventional weaponry)?

And is it normal practice for us to tolerate threats from unstable regimes to literally nuke what amounts to states of our country?! -- especially when they can actually do it?!

[LongBlade]

NK has traditionally used the following formula for diplomacy: military "strength" + crazy threats + demands = get demands.

Sometimes they put some bite behind their threats to get what they want. Like sinking a ship or shelling an island.

Lately it appears as though they're being ignored. So they're upping the ante a bit.

That isn't to say that they couldn't change their calculus (they might). And like a child craving negative attention, they might behave worse to get attention.

But I don't think they really believe they'll last long if they went down that road. Doesn't mean they might not try. But I'm thinking their formula of issuing crazy threats is still mostly bluff.

At least right now.

[Barthheart]

There's also China to consider.
If the Norks went too far and actually did somethng related to their threats, I'm thinking China would beat the US to the punch and be the first over the border with a big stick in hand....

[LongBlade]

There's also China to consider.
If the Norks went too far and actually did somethng related to their threats, I'm thinking China would beat the US to the punch and be the first over the border with a big stick in hand....

We should be so lucky.

[bayonetbrant]

Someone needs to steal a nuke from the Norks and drop it off in Beijing

Imagine how China would react if the blast pattern / radioactivity analysis pointed back to the Norks.

Think they'd wait to hear any of Un's 'explanation' before steamrolling the country and turning it into a parking lot?

[GDS_Starfury]

There's also China to consider.
If the Norks went too far and actually did somethng related to their threats, I'm thinking China would beat the US to the punch and be the first over the border with a big stick in hand....

not before the norks did decades worth of damage to one of Chinas main trade competators.