North Korea

[57Brave]

wondering how you feel about a military draft -- because -we will have to find people to fill the "boots on the ground" you so freely spend.
Wonder what ages?

Wonder if maybe some of our under 30's posters will suddenly post less frequently while finding new meaning to their political views.
Sons/daughters nephews put in harms way to protect us from someone who has not only not harmed Americans but have not yet harmed anyone.

You are advocating something that is more than an existential exercise in semantics.

Containment has worked just fine to this point.
Containment only works with dialogue
................

My money says either Trump is bluffing or gets talked down

[57Brave]

Jennifer Griffin‏Verified account @JenGriffinFNC

Jennifer Griffin Retweeted NBC News

Multiple sr defense officials say this report is "wildly wrong" "crazy." Pentagon pushing back on NBC report, call it "extremely dangerous."

[Hawk]

Sense of security that the crazy Kim won't be sounding the alarm every cycle.

Besides. Aren't SK taught in school not to hate the people but the dictatorship up North?

I don't know what the North Koreans would do without their 'Supreme Leader' ... these are people who have been brainwashed, since inception, to believe that this man is essentially a God. They have no concept of the world as it exists beyond their borders. They believe that the United States is literally an evil force that is the puppet master of South Korea. There's no possible way of predicting how they might react to a scenario where Kim was removed from power (in any fashion). I'm not saying that it isn't a solution worth considering, I'm just saying that it's a complicated proposition.

When the Sunshine Policy was in place, under President Kim Dae-jung (who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts), a pro-NK curriculum was aggressively pushed in the public school system. There are still murals in various places around Seoul with children's drawings depicting a unification of 'brothers and sisters' ... but, honestly, today, most South Koreans are significantly removed from drama surrounding North Korea. They follow it, perhaps obviously, given that Seoul is only 40 miles from the DMZ, but they are totally indifferent (which is surprising, considering that many Koreans who are coming of age grew up living in a world that openly pushed for unification with the Sunshine Policy).

[57Brave]

seems at odds Reading your first paragraph above and earlier mocking the gifts from US of MJ autographed basketballs and making other contributions to N Korean everyday lives

[Runnin]

This explains so much.

Explain it to me.

[Hawk]

If it needs explaining then the joke is lost.

[Runnin]

If it needs explaining then the joke is lost.

There's a joke? I don't get it.

Weso said "I'd be highly concerned if I lived in Seoul or Tokyo right now. "
I said "How about Hiroshima?", because I live in the prefecture and wonder if he thinks I should be concerned.
You said "This explains so much."

Explains what? Do you think my views are influenced by having moved here several years ago?
I hope so, but I was against the use of those weapons long before. Now my views in general
haven't changed while having learned some of the history of WWII has made them more complex.

I don't think the idiot in NK would actually attack anyone and only wants to kick up dust. He knows that a
first strike on the U.S. or Japan would be the end of his country unless he thinks China would stand by him.
Would they? I personally, like many Japanese I know, believe that at the end of the day, ignoring him is the
only smart thing to do. He's like a wounded animal, already cornered and dying. Why walk up and poke him?

I don't want to assume what you may have thought, that's why I asked.

[BedellBrave]

Well that fizzled out...Link

[Krgrecw]

Wonder if North Koreas missile failures have more to do with the Americans sabotaging them rather than North Koreas ineptness

[57Brave]

" my military "

[Hawk]

I don't think the idiot in NK would actually attack anyone and only wants to kick up dust. He knows that a
first strike on the U.S. or Japan would be the end of his country unless he thinks China would stand by him.
Would they? I personally, like many Japanese I know, believe that at the end of the day, ignoring him is the
only smart thing to do. He's like a wounded animal, already cornered and dying. Why walk up and poke him?

You lend unrealistic credence to the rationality of an individual who has enslaved 30 million people and may/may not believe he's a God.

He has nuclear weapons, artillery on the border which reaches Seoul easily, and an ever-advancing ICBM program which will have missiles able to reach the United States within 4 years.

You can ignore him at your own risk, but Trump isn't ignoring him. Abe isn't ignoring him either.

Why? Because he's not 'cornered and dying' ... he's stronger than ever before.

[57Brave]

Suicidal?
He may be all of those things but pretty sure he understands the consequences of carrying out his threats.
His family has held power for a reason

People act as if Kim jung Un just happened

[Hawk]

He killed his own brother a few months ago for no real reason. He has no offspring. If he's as smart as some have asserted, he realizes that there's no way forward for the Kim dynasty even if he is complicit with other nations.

Consider North Korea one large cult.

Ended well before.

[57Brave]

I believe it was the David Frost interviews where Richard Nixon said the best political advise he ever was given was from FDR.
Always have an enemy

[Hawk]

We have plenty.

[Runnin]

You lend unrealistic credence to the rationality of an individual who has enslaved 30 million people and may/may not believe he's a God.

He has nuclear weapons, artillery on the border which reaches Seoul easily, and an ever-advancing ICBM program which will have missiles able to reach the United States within 4 years.

You can ignore him at your own risk, but Trump isn't ignoring him. Abe isn't ignoring him either.

Why? Because he's not 'cornered and dying' ... he's stronger than ever before.

Abe would never ignore a chance to blow the nationalist horn. Same with Thumbs, except he has the means to act, which worries me much more than NK.

[Hawk]

Abe would never ignore a chance to blow the nationalist horn. Same with Thumbs, except he has the means to act, which worries me much more than NK.

Speaking of nationalism, any potato chips left down there?

[Runnin]

Speaking of nationalism, any potato chips left down there?

Huh?

[Hawk]

Huh?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...buying-12-bags

[Runnin]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...buying-12-bags

Hadn't heard about that. I only buy senbei but will finish off a bag of chips if one gets left out during happy hour.