North and South Korea

[SQUACKEE]

Why did they sink the south korea ship, are their threats of allout war real. The south has ceased trade. Clinton says the North has to be punished. Whats' gonna happen?

[kuha]

Re: North and South Korea

NK is the classic jerk-kid who is constantly screaming for attention. The more attention it gets, the more "successful" it considers itself. NK needs quiet time (like a decade or more) in the corner with a dunce cap.

[jazzcyclist]

Re: North and South Korea

This is a real head scratcher. There was no South Korean provocation that we know of, but that doesn't mean that North Korea wasn't provoked. Becasue of the internet, I now regularly follow news from all over the world, and I'm really amazed at how many news stories don't get covered in American MSM that I think are very newsworthy items. IMHO, selective reporting of the news is just as dishonest as misreporting of the news.

[LopenUupunut]

Re: North and South Korea

All prejudices aside, North Korea is (and has long been) in a very ugly position, with no advantages and plenty of disadvantages in almost every imaginable area. What can they really do? Imagine yourself as a North Korean political or military leader.

Not that I feel very sorry for them, but it's a point.

[kuha]

Re: North and South Korea

All prejudices aside, North Korea is (and has long been) in a very ugly position, with no advantages and plenty of disadvantages in almost every imaginable area. What can they really do? Imagine yourself as a North Korean political or military leader.

Not that I feel very sorry for them, but it's a point.

One can be at any point of the political spectrum and observe that they (their leadership, that is) have caused MOST of their own problems. Hard to generate much sympathy for that...

[jazzcyclist]

Re: North and South Korea

I'm surprised that there hasn't been a revolution in North Korea after all these years of poor leadership. There have been less malignant regimes than this one that have been overthrown all over the world throughout the centuries. Is there something about their culture that makes revolution unlikely?

[marknhj]

Re: North and South Korea

Not that I feel very sorry for them, but it's a point.

I feel very sorry for the population of North Korea. But when your leader appears to be an irrational and deranged lunatic, and the consequence of protest is potentially individually catastrophic, it's impossible to know what one would do in their place.

[LopenUupunut]

Re: North and South Korea

All prejudices aside, North Korea is (and has long been) in a very ugly position, with no advantages and plenty of disadvantages in almost every imaginable area. What can they really do? Imagine yourself as a North Korean political or military leader.

Not that I feel very sorry for them, but it's a point.

One can be at any point of the political spectrum and observe that they (their leadership, that is) have caused MOST of their own problems. Hard to generate much sympathy for that...

I'm not talking sympathy, just being practical. The question of how such a situation first arose left aside - how does pondering that help here? - North Korea has no reliable allies and an immediate opponent (South Korea) with a very powerful ally that independently dislikes North Korea in any case and has a track record of declaring wars on countries that haven't attacked them (United States). They'd be mad not to prepare for war, try to get their hands on nuclear weapons and direct a sizeable amount of their available resources into the army. (Which of course leaves less resources available elsewhere, worsening any domestic problems they have. This isn't to say they aren't 100% responsible for completely mishandling quite a lot of other things...)

[jazzcyclist]

Re: North and South Korea

and the consequence of protest is potentially individually catastrophic, it's impossible to know what one would do in their place.

And yet throughout history there have been many revolutionaries who have been willing to pay those catastrophic consequences. Where's the North Korean Joan of Arc, Nat Turner or Mandela?

[kuha]

Re: North and South Korea

and the consequence of protest is potentially individually catastrophic, it's impossible to know what one would do in their place.

And yet throughout history there have been many revolutionaries who have been willing to pay those catastrophic consequences. Where's the North Korean Joan of Arc, Nat Turner or Mandela?

Dead and buried, without fanfare or headlines.

[KDFINE]

Re: North and South Korea

I think that throughout history, revolutions come from the intelligensia or from the middle class. The North Koreans do not have these social classes from which such ideas can emerge. The leaders seem to have planned it that way and continue to do so in order to remain in power. There are the political leaders sitting atop everyone else. When it is a hand to mouth existence for all (e.g. periodic famines and total repression in North Korea), revolutions, at least in the modern era just don't seem take place.

[BruceFlorman]

Re: North and South Korea

Whats' gonna happen?

Probably nothing, as usual.

There's a good summary of the situation on Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2254826?wpisrc=xs_wp_0001

I don't entirely agree with the author's "Everybody already knew this" statement, since I think leftover mine theory did have some degree of plausibility, but overall I think it's a pretty accurate assessment.

[Pego]

Re: North and South Korea

In the case of North/South all out military conflict, will China stand by them? Cuba? Vietnam? Real help, or just lip service? As irrational as Kim is, he must know, he can't do it alone.

[jazzcyclist]

Re: North and South Korea

I think that throughout history, revolutions come from the intelligensia or from the middle class. The North Koreans do not have these social classes from which such ideas can emerge.

Excellent point! MLK, Mandela and Ghandi were all sons of privilege. Not surprisingly, Osama bin Laden and Fidel Castro were also sons of privilege.

[26mi235]

Re: North and South Korea

All prejudices aside, North Korea is (and has long been) in a very ugly position, with no advantages and plenty of disadvantages in almost every imaginable area. What can they really do? Imagine yourself as a North Korean political or military leader.

Not that I feel very sorry for them, but it's a point.

Back 60 years ago the north had the general economic advantages over the south, as I understand it. Those advantages were squandered early and often. I think that especially when the South grew rapidly some years back the failings of the North became more evident to everyone.