Anybody worried about the Situation with North Korea?

[thaiturkey]

Quote:
When the US kicked Iraq out of Kuwait, that's when.

I'll give you that, although it was a rout rather than a war. From what I heard from Britons, Americans and Kuwaitis in Kuwait, there was more to that escapade than met the public eye. What I had in mind was that the West has failed in major campaigns in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. It took political guts to get out of Vietnam and it's a pity that the lesson was not earned then.

If these stupid conflicts are to end then we must see all sides of the story rather than assume that our own is always right. What troubles me is that the West is for ever poking its nose where it doesn't belong and major issues at home are being neglected. This latest friction in Korea is another example.

Organics North, China has a great deal of influence in Pakistan, Myanmar and Korea. It uses those countries for its own economic and political purposes and doesn't give a fig about the rest of the world. Whilst the West puts fear into those countries they will continue to turn to China for support. I agree with you though, leave them be.

I thought that the authorities had decided that the 'missile' was a vapour trail from an airliner. Have they changed their minds? I don't know anything about the Newfoundland incident. What happened? I can't see any reason for China to intimidate other countries on their own doorsteps. China wants to become one of the world's leading economies through trade on its own terms. It has no need to rattle sabres. On the other hand, if we want to fight its neighbours, China will happily sit back and let us waste lives and money.

Over and above all this is the old technique of diverting attention from issues at home by ratcheting up problems abroad. Western governments do it and so do North Korea and Iran.

Let's just hope that all sides involved in Korea see sense soon. It's not looking good now that the South Korean government is threatening to retaliate if there is another attack but there's no threat to home territories in the West. It would be a great shame if the North and south succeeded in dragging foreign troops and lives into their own decades old squabble over a bit of water and land. Give the North some sensible shipping lanes and they would be happy for a while. The remaining problem would be that Korea is a divided country and, as with Ireland, that will always create friction and lack of equilibrium.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote:
It wouldn't really but we made a deal to defend them, weather it was a good move or not. If we drop them everyone sees it. Lets say two years from now we get in to a war with Mexico. We will need help from the southern hemisphere. It would be a hard sell because people would have a hard time believing we would hold up our end of the alliance.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
When the US kicked Iraq out of Kuwait, that's when.

I'll give you that, although it was a rout rather than a war. From what I heard from Britons, Americans and Kuwaitis in Kuwait, there was more to that escapade than met the public eye. What I had in mind was that the West has failed in major campaigns in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. It took political guts to get out of Vietnam and it's a pity that the lesson was not earned then.

If these stupid conflicts are to end then we must see all sides of the story rather than assume that our own is always right. What troubles me is that the West is for ever poking its nose where it doesn't belong and major issues at home are being neglected. This latest friction in Korea is another example.

Organics North, China has a great deal of influence in Pakistan, Myanmar and Korea. It uses those countries for its own economic and political purposes and doesn't give a fig about the rest of the world. Whilst the West puts fear into those countries they will continue to turn to China for support. I agree with you though, leave them be.

I thought that the authorities had decided that the 'missile' was a vapour trail from an airliner. Have they changed their minds? I don't know anything about the Newfoundland incident. What happened? I can't see any reason for China to intimidate other countries on their own doorsteps. China wants to become one of the world's leading economies through trade on its own terms. It has no need to rattle sabres. On the other hand, if we want to fight its neighbours, China will happily sit back and let us waste lives and money.

Over and above all this is the old technique of diverting attention from issues at home by ratcheting up problems abroad. Western governments do it and so do North Korea and Iran.

Let's just hope that all sides involved in Korea see sense soon. It's not looking good now that the South Korean government is threatening to retaliate if there is another attack but there's no threat to home territories in the West. It would be a great shame if the North and south succeeded in dragging foreign troops and lives into their own decades old squabble over a bit of water and land. Give the North some sensible shipping lanes and they would be happy for a while. The remaining problem would be that Korea is a divided country and, as with Ireland, that will always create friction and lack of equilibrium.

and there is the Crux of the issue. Eventually the IRA ceased it's activities and an uneasy peace has settled in the last decade. North Korea is rattling its saber again because Kim Jong Il is passing the baton over to his son... and the both of them visited the base in PDRK before they started shelling the south korea base.

My biggest worry is I am not quite old enough to be exempt from a draft, and I have friends and family already stationed in SK. Things get tense from time to time. I have a sis who's sitting on the front lines in Afghanistan... Trust me, I see China in a lot of this.

On the missile launch, that makes sense also. If the "contrails" were a daily occurring, they wouldn't have been news. The fact that NORAD and the TSA had no knowledge tells me that it wasn't american in origin to begin with.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
South Korea = our Asian Connection. It's where we put a base with about 29k of personnel.

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

It's only a matter of time before someone lights a cigarette too close to the gas pump...

I'm just sayin' that whole situation is a powder keg just waitin' to explode....

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
Only with our own leaders at present. (both parties)

You don't actually think that do you?

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
South Korea = our Asian Connection. It's where we put a base with about 29k of personnel.

It's where we left a base after the Korean Conflict. They used to have a lot more troops over there. If NK decides to come over the border those 29k aren't going to stop them. We need to avoid this conflict. I'm glad George is gone. He would have invaded NK by now as well as Iran.

I don't believe that contrail was a missile. I have more faith in our Navy than that. We still have SOSUS and a lot of subs patrolling our waters. That's just more of the same old same old. Be afraid be very afraid stuff that the media has been putting out since 2002. Like Thai said. China doesn't need to go to war with us. They own most of our country already and between them and Osama Bin Laden have destroyed most of our economy anyway. What would be the purpose.

They won't bring the draft back. The upper 2% that run our country have sons and daughters too.

 

[Organics North]

Quote:
South Korea = our Asian Connection. It's where we put a base with about 29k of personnel.

It's where we left a base after the Korean Conflict. They used to have a lot more troops over there. If NK decides to come over the border those 29k aren't going to stop them. We need to avoid this conflict. I'm glad George is gone. He would have invaded NK by now as well as Iran.

I don't believe that contrail was a missile. I have more faith in our Navy than that. We still have SOSUS and a lot of subs patrolling our waters. That's just more of the same old same old. Be afraid be very afraid stuff that the media has been putting out since 2002. Like Thai said. China doesn't need to go to war with us. They own most of our country already and between them and Osama Bin Laden have destroyed most of our economy anyway. What would be the purpose.

They won't bring the draft back. The upper 2% that run our country have sons and daughters too.

I am sick of the fear mongering...

It gets all the sheep worked up, and then they lose focus on the real battle... OUR ECONOMY! and by the way where is Bin Laden????

IMO we should bring back the draft... This way the elite have to participate along with the common folks....

North Korea is more of a threat to China and Japan than us.. Let China lead on this one.. No one including China wants NK to have long range nukes. Matter of fact, why not give Japan back the right to defend it self???? We did it for them long enough... (Look how their economy blossomed in the last 50 years by not having military expenses and us protecting them..

Really when can we stop all this preemptive invading horse pucky... The only one likely to do invading on other sovereign nations is the good ole USA.. USSR used to do it to but they are bankrupt, which we are not too far behind...

I mean seriously no nation is going to invade us. Yes folks like Bin Laden without a nation are a threat, but no nation will attack us especially with nuclear weapons... They fully know we will strike back with 1000X the force and leave whoever tried it as a smoldering hole in the ground. IMO being a nuclear super power is a sufficient deterant...

ON

 

[thaiturkey]

Conscription into the military doesn't necessarily put the offspring of the rich and powerful in the firing line. They find themselves in senior positions studying maps and planning the next massacre of the plebeians. A blood sacrifice is probably what those in power want right now. Too many mouths to feed so get rid of a few million.

It's most unlikely these days that any nation would attack one of the world's major powers or its close allies, at least in a conventional military way. The risk of overwhelming retaliation is too great. That won't stop them using smaller nations as proxies, of course. The real danger for the West is that the entire structure of world capitalism is collapsing. Or is it? Perhaps it's the old game of letting working people feel comfortable and secure enough to borrow money and then allowing a recession that sweeps away all that they have worked for. All this stuff about Al Qaeda, China, North Korea and so on is just there to keep our attention off what's really screwing us all.

Bin Laden is probably relaxing in a Saudi palace with a nice chilled white wine, a Cuban cigar and a bevvy of women around him. He'll be laughing at all of us as he thumbs through the family photograph album and sees the pictures taken in the days they had an arms business with the Bush family. He was allegedly trapped in a cave in the Afghan mountains and being bombarded by the USAF when the word was sent that there was a truce and instructing a ceasefire. That's when he slipped away. There has been no news since of any further attempt to find him. Forget bin laden. He never was a threat - just a rich loony with an eye for publicity.

I can understand the honourable sentiment that a commitment to defend a weak ally should be adhered to but I'm not sure that it's always effective. Firstly, we don't know much about the terms of the deal and, as in the case of Vietnam for example, it may be cancelled when things get too hot for the 'protector'. I think that, rather than help, fighting for part of a divided nation is likely to prolong the period of bloodshed and spread the misery to families in other parts of the world. These wars are often ideological in nature and not fully understood by foreigners. Iraq is a nation divided by three, possibly four, versions of Islam. Afghanistan is also divided by religious differences. Vietnam and Korea have been divided by different political philosophies. It's impossible for a 'protector' nation to bring about a lasting peaceful settlement of a civil war because it cannot fully understand the local issues that may well go way back in history. The Indian sub continent and Ireland are perfect examples of how partition in order to allow occupying forces to go home leaves a time bomb of conflict which the natives will have to sort out themselves on day.

Just to lighten this a little, the other day I saw a brief documentary made by an Afghan cameraman who was allowed by the Taliban to film them in action. They planted a roadside bomb and waited a short distance away for enemy vehicles to pass by. They did but the bomb didn't explode. Guns were fired after the enemy but it was too late and no damage was done. A heated argument started with each member of the group blaming others for the failure of the bomb. Then, from down the road, came the boom sound of an explosion. Heads turned in that direction and there were a few moments of silence.

'Was that the bomb?'

'It was a bang. What else do you think it was?'

That could even have been a Monty Python sketch.

Back to Korea, it seems that we shall soon be entertained by images of both countries simultaneously having military exercises side by side on opposite sides of the border. Real munitions will be used but none will be aimed over the border. Come on now, you have to see the funny side of that!

 

[knjinnm]

My solution;
Massive, Massive leaflet drop over NK.

On each leaflet in BIG RED LETTERS ...

FREE FOOD JUST ACROSS THE BORDER IN CHINA!!

All YOU CAN EAT >>> BRING THE ENTIRE FAMILY!!