Military vehicles carry missiles with characters reading 'Pukkuksong' during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father, Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, April 15, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
Dennis Halpin, National Interest: Armageddon: The Devastating Consequences of a Second Korean War
The label of the North Korean state as a Marxist-Leninist regime, even of the particularly repressive Maoist Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution variety, is a misnomer. North Korea is a dynastic autocracy, ruled by a semidivine Kim family with absolute power over both the inner court and the general populace in a way comparable to a Henry Tudor or a Caesar. Even family members who fall into disrepute are not beyond bloody retribution. Just as a Korean king once sentenced his errant crown prince son to die in a rice box of starvation in the sweltering sun, so too Kim Jong-un recently struck down his own half brother with an internationally banned chemical weapon.
The fanaticism of the North Korean public, in its devotion to its leader, is not some Broadway-like drama of feigned affectation. A visit to North Korea and discussion with members of the public at large revealed a clear devotion to the Kims. Implied was a willingness to die in defense of the juche philosophy and the great leader and his bloodline. North Korea, for almost four decades a colony of imperial Japan, has seemingly absorbed the kamikaze-like death wish of those pilots who once made a last-ditch suicidal stand to die for the emperor.
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WNU Editor: If the U.S. was serious about launching a surgical strike against North Korea .... we would now be seeing 2 to 3 aircraft carrier strike groups in the region backed-up by a massive deployment of air assets not seen since the Vietnam war. But this is not happening .... hence no surgical strike. What I am more worried about is what will North Korea do, and how actions on their part can participate a conflict where everyone will then lose control.
Maybe the question should be "is doing nothing worth the risk"?
ReplyDeleteThe assests in the area are adequate for a surgical strike. , tomahawks and a b1 are enough.
If you mean is it enough to conduct an all out assault on NK then no its not, but l have a hunch that trumps calculus is that NK will NOT respond with a massive counter but will respond with a very limited "surgical" strike of his own for domestic consumption then say "Never ever do that again or else " and the u.s has set his programme back enough for yhe next admin to deal with.
Still extremly risky to do against a country that has nuclear weapons.
DeleteLol were you replying on behalf of B.Poster?
DeleteNot really... N.Korea's nuclear weapons are in its infancy. The worry is where they'll be 5-8 years down the road. Their launch capabilities are limited and remain so.
ReplyDeleteAlso, a surgical strike may still be on the cards. Sending 2-3 carrier strike groups to the area is probably unrealistic in relation to current deployment assignments and is also showing your 'hand' to the Koreans.
Agree
DeleteWhen will Trump deploy chuck norris?
ReplyDeleteA surgical strike will lead to war all along the DMZ. Period. The Pentagon, South Korean Government, the Chinese, Japanese, etc. .... everyone knows that. It is in this context that any "strike" will be backed up with overwhelming force in the wings should a general war break out ... which it will.
ReplyDeleteNow my spies are telling me that Chuck Norris is in Afghanistan (it was his fist and not a MOAD that caused that explosion a few days ago). So he is not in the equation right now.
Lol, seipusly thpugh dont you suspect that kim has been emboldened by this assumption of all out war and this is the first time ever that an american president is calling him out.
DeleteI may be wrong Fazman. Chuck Norris may be in Korea after-all. North Korea just tried to launch a missile and it failed. http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.ca/2017/04/breaking-news-north-korean-missile.html
ReplyDeleteYes l knew it!!
DeleteWow how embarressing for kim, that gulag is getting the guest room ready as we speak.
DeleteAfter President Obama left the White House he admitted that his number one worry was always North Korea. A person who orders the death of his own uncle and half -brother is not who you want as a supreme leader of a state .... especially in a state like North Korea. But that is what we are faced with. Living up to being the supreme leader also has some drawbacks .... especially when he is called out on it and he cannot deliver. This missile test is not going to be reported in North Korea. But word will leak out. It always does.
ReplyDeleteWNU,
ReplyDeleteYeah. I bet he's sweating big time. Do the ones I've been counting work? There are a lot of people very close to him with very good reasons to get him. I bet he he hears the knives being sharpened.
Jay. As long as his security apparatus is loyal to him .... and are brutal about it when it comes to keeping dissent under control .... he will persevere. The only way to get rid of him will be from outside .... like Pol Pot in Cambodia .... even with his brutal rule he stayed in power .... that is until the Vietnamese invaded. Same story will be for North Korea. But the South Koreans are not interested .... and the Chinese do not have the stomach for it right now.
ReplyDeleteValkerie in Pyongyang. ?
DeleteWNU,
ReplyDeleteJay?
Sorry James (and Jay)
ReplyDeleteI meant James.
:)
As you know James .... I am getting ready for a lot of family visiting me this week .... and my brain is just everywhere.