North Korea

[Phil]

Does anybody here think that this is going to be a major issue and perhaps the beginnings of a war or is this going to be another Soviet Union situation where we hold our breath of the possibility and manage to avoid it?

I hope the latter but you just never know with some of these power seeking countries. I guess some nations think we're that too.

I grew up 1st aware of news and things around age 6 or 7. That puts us about 1977 or 78. I remember the duck and cover drills in school. The how to utilize a bomb shelter drills. And the explanation of should the country ever be under attack, presumably bu the Soviet Union, this could be our only hope of survival.

That was practiced until I was about driving age then the thought that the Nuclear disarming of the 2 superpowers was beginning to have a peaceful solution because Regan and Gorbachev got together. "Mr Gorbachev, tear down that wall." And communist Russia became mostly more democratized. We understood each other better and hostile and tense relations seemed to have faded.

I would hope that can happen here too.

[Jersey]

Unfortunately Phil, I don't have the same outlook. War with North Korea is well on its way. And when it gets here, it will actually be a continuation, or resumation, of the original Korean War. The document they signed back in 1953 was only a cease fire. The war is actually still active. The fact that the war has been discontinued for this long is nothing short of a miracle.

The problem with North Korea, a Communist nation, is that they want the war to resume. Kim Jong Il is beyond a war mongering dictator; he openly refuses appeasement and shrugs off weak sanctions. He has both secretly and openly developed nuclear weapons, which flies directly in the face of U.N. rules. The typical Communist arrogance of North Korea is reflective of the Communist arrogance of the Soviet Union. North Korea seems to believe they are as powerful as the Soviet Union once was in their heyday. Yes, they are wrong, but they are in fact backed by a very powerful ally. China. The United States simply cannot wage an indirect war against China while waging a direct war on North Korea in our present state.

The only way the United States can successfully wage a war against North Korea is to somehow either obtain Chinese support or get them to stay out of it. But considering the fact that you would be asking a Communist nation that wants to undercut the United States wherever possible to back away support from a fellow Communist nation that wants to flat out destroy the United States? Fat. Chance. Of that. It isn't going to happen. And with our weak-ass leadership? Yeah. 'Nuff said there.

It's not a good situation. The United States is currently embroiled in two prolonged wars against terrorism and radical Islam in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our leadership (except in the House, now) is nothing but a sorry excuse. Our economy is still in the toilet. And the main problem? North Korea knows this. To drag the U.S. into a war with them now would put them at an advantage, at least for a short while.

I don't know. I certainly don't see anything good coming out of this. We have pledged 100% to back our South Korean ally, which I definitely agree with but has put us in a tough position, especially considering how dangerous Communist North Korea is.

[Kimm]

Communist North Korea is dangerous. And the remaining strongparts of communism are China and North Korea. Theres other dictatorships but those two are the most powerful.

Can we get the support of China or at least get them to stay neutral? I dont know but Im inclined to think its possible even probable if they value their national economy. If the United States and the democracies of the world refused to buy these products from China that could be a major set back to the Chinese economic state.

Economic sanctions could quickly lead to China running out of funds. There would be problems in the USA too because so much importation is dependent on China but most manufacturing of most items is possible. It could take some time to build the factories and presses but in the long run it could actually fix the United States economy even if there was no war because jobs would come back into the country instead of outsourcing like America has for the last 25 to 30 years.

[Classicblast]

I wish I shared Kim's optimism on this.

I am concerned that they're figuring that we need the goods and we're too lazy to make them at home anyway or it would take too long to get ourselves ready for it anyway.

I believe America can be more independent but I don't think the Chinese think that.

[Demona]

I think China only supports them because they're both communist countries, but that's it. It's a pretty sad reason too, because I don't they agree with the whole mess. From what I read in different articles, China seems to think the north is going too far and even they know that idiot is crazy. I hope nothing actually happens, it wouldn't be cool to say the least.

[Kimm]

I think Demona is mostly right but I still think that the Chinese are well aware of how damaging the loss of business from the western part of the world would be to their economic and social well being. That could lead to them not being a big factor. They might lend supplies quietly to Korea but actually send troops maybe not for the reason of economy.