North Korea Barks
Time to bite back? Here's an interesting development:
Notice they apparently did not say that they would have the ability to strike the United States; they guaranteed that they would strike the United States.
As I have argued for years, "regime change" and preemptive strikes have proven to be horribly misguided actions in the hands of the United States, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
What's more, it is clear that the vast majority of the North Korean's belligerent statements are intended to keep their own population in a state of panic great enough to prevent them from revolting against the rape of their country by its leaders; still, people with the power to carry their threats out need to show some caution in what they say.
Nevertheless, enough is enough.
It should be made clear to the North Korean government that the day they are found to have the real capability to launch a nuclear strike on the United States, they will be immediately removed from power by any means necessary.
"Seoul (AFP) - North Korea said Saturday it had successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) that would "guarantee" an eventual nuclear strike on the US mainland."
The Fat Man himself
Notice they apparently did not say that they would have the ability to strike the United States; they guaranteed that they would strike the United States.
As I have argued for years, "regime change" and preemptive strikes have proven to be horribly misguided actions in the hands of the United States, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
What's more, it is clear that the vast majority of the North Korean's belligerent statements are intended to keep their own population in a state of panic great enough to prevent them from revolting against the rape of their country by its leaders; still, people with the power to carry their threats out need to show some caution in what they say.
Nevertheless, enough is enough.
It should be made clear to the North Korean government that the day they are found to have the real capability to launch a nuclear strike on the United States, they will be immediately removed from power by any means necessary.
Comments
But sooner or later this boil needs to be lanced. Essentially we have the situation wherein about 25 million people live crushed under the heel of something that resembles nothing so much as a doomsday cult, as sacrifices to the fact that China does not reside in the same power bloc that the US does. People growing up watching their parents executed inside this hideous freak crap state because there are enormously more powerful forces in play around them that keep this situation in stasis.
A few miles away 50 million people, to whom they are related and share the same language and culture, live in a modern country and listen to pop music, drive nice cars, have the world’s fastest internet and generally have a good shot at life.
China is a tough cookie to deal with.
If the Koreas were to re-unite it would have to be in terms of all of it becoming like South Korea, a US ally that China then has on a land border.
If the US – or God help us, and this is quite possible if certain US election rhetoric keeps disturbing them – JAPAN strikes the facilities... what will China do?
Remember how they see us – or more specifically you, the USA. They’ve been around for thousands of years, been overrun many times, and absorbed it. And still have the world’s biggest population and many internal cultures and issues to deal with. They understand “control” and they understand “outlasting” – and to them you arrived 5 minutes ago.
They’re not going to be mollified by “we did it in pre-emptive self-defence” and I don’t want to hear bone-headed “fuck China” because that‘s just nihilistic bravado that hasn’t considered that the end of the world as we know it probably wouldn’t be very nice at all, and the US definitely wouldn’t be immune.
North East Asia is not the Middle-east. There isn’t a patchwork of countries to meddle in, religious lunatics to incite, royal families to pay off and put in charge.
This could be one of those moments in history where the US shines. Japan, South Korea and China cannot sort it out amongst themselves (unless you share Trump’s indifference to a nuclear war that would kill millions and destroy the global economic order) because that is three civilisations with too much history and China does not think the way we do.
Nor it is as simple as saying "I don't care about those countries, I'm in America" because that is the 2nd and 3rd biggest economy in the world and without them the global economy would be profoundly different and the US does not exist in vacuum. Markets matter.
If the US stays engaged we may navigate to a place where the only blood spilled is the North Korean leadership... in some China-sanctioned coup, maybe, dunno... but every other outcome is worse.
Including of course the outcome that this just continues another 63 years.