N. Korea

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Studly

Trad climber

Mar 17, 2013 - 01:02pm PT

Oh yes, the huge threat of communism that I have heard about all my life. As the Chinese set back and watch us self destruct, they have to be laughing at it all, how truely easy it is for them to take the wheel because of our greed, corruption, stupidity, and lack of unity as a country.

Don Paul

Big Wall climber

Colombia, South America

Mar 17, 2013 - 07:44pm PT

No need to get so angry Ron. I was referring to ALL stupid Americans, not just you.

tornado

climber

lawrence kansas

Mar 17, 2013 - 09:06pm PT

[Click to View YouTube Video]

Largo

Sport climber

The Big Wide Open Face

Mar 18, 2013 - 06:03pm PT

3) US is automatically in when #2 occurs and N. Korea goes bat sh#t crazy in response to the S. Korean response.
-

What I've been told by politicians and people who follow this stuff a lot is that there is basically a total hands-off policy per getting drawn in to other people's wars no matter how grave the circumstances. There really and truly is NO MONEY to campaign like we used to, and nobody in Congress or the Senate wants to promote participation in a war after the debacle in Iraq and the missing WMDs. It was our business when we had cash. Now it's gone. And again, history shows us VERY clearly that third world countries in today's world only fight civil wars. Incursions into other countries - like North Korea invading the South, are totally beyond the capacity of the North to pull off and sustain. they totally lack the organizational skills to pull any such thing off. People don't realize that war making as we have always known it basically died in Iraq. It is the most dastardly and unpopular thing going on the in the world today, and people have economic concerns on their minds these days. The North is just blowing smoke because they are desperate. In he most extreme case they might lob something at the south, but an incursion is totally out of the question. That takes a massive amount of petrol and foodstuffs that the North does not have.

Again, three are not my opinions but come from writer friends who cover war issues. Maybe they're wrong. We have always liked to flex our military muscles but inserting ground forces into a foreign land has suddenly become a non starter. I think a lot of people have yet to adjust to the idea that the US is done policing the world. At least for the moment. Bush was so profligate with the cash box that "war machine" is the portal to national disaster.

JL

MisterE

Social climber

Mar 18, 2013 - 10:55pm PT

Ryan - thanks for the link(s)

It is fascinating and frightening.

Werner, quit being the feral cat of Supertopo - LOL!

WBraun

climber

Mar 18, 2013 - 11:41pm PT

They sent Rodman to North Korea to tell them to threaten America so that the defense contractors will have more business making more stupid missiles and sh!t.

Building stupid missiles and sh!t is good big money.

Stupid Americans don't have the secret insider back channel news like me.

Chuck Norris could just go to North Korea by himself in his underwear and little Kim would sh!t a brick and stop everything ......

Captain...or Skully

climber

Mar 18, 2013 - 11:48pm PT

Not a big deal. Meet the New Boss, same as The Old Boss.

WBraun

climber

Mar 18, 2013 - 11:56pm PT

Rodman was a CIA courier with messages for little Kim.

The messages were in his tattoos.

He took his shirt off and the North Koreans went WTF, look at this dude.

They came to the conclusions that Americans are bat sh!t crazy and we better Nuke them before we all become like him.

Thus the nuke threat to America by the North Koreans ......

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Mar 18, 2013 - 11:58pm PT

so that the defense contractors will have more business

Man, this is so true. The NSA used to do everything in house and there were no outside contractors. Now they have a thousand contractors selling them stuff. If you drive the interstate through Laurel, MD, where the NSA is located, you will see giant buildings of the usual suspects: Lockheed, Boeing, etc. Those contractor complexes are so huge that they have their own exits, and those exits come right to a security stop and gate.

If we want peace, and save a lot of money to boot, we need to recognize this. The problem is that the defense contractors, like all businesses whose main revenue comes from the U.S. Treasury have lobbyists who will portray a legislator as soft on national security.

The Financial Industry is much the same. The banking crisis was caused directly because Clinton ended the Glass-Steagal act, which controlled where a bank could invest its money and how much cash it had to keep in capital reserves.

Despite the crash, nobody has reintroduced the Glass Steagall act. Why? Tons of pressure from the financial industry.

It is out of control. The voter doesn't know the details of how things happen in Washington, and most don't even care. That's why we live on a steady diet of soundbytes and analysis based on poor and biased opinions.

Look at Fox News. Obama can't blink without him getting reamed. Hell, if he DIDN'T blink they would criticize him just as much. We are all carp with hooks in our mouths.

Gary

Social climber

Right outside of Delacroix

Mar 19, 2013 - 12:03am PT

Victor Davis Hanson couldn't find his ass with both hands. The fact that any of you think he has something legitimate to say is scary.

North Korea does have a kickass army.

Snowmassguy

Trad climber

Calirado

Mar 19, 2013 - 12:04am PT

I wonder if their is any established climbing in N Korea. I am guessing that would be frowned upon.

Captain...or Skully

climber

Mar 19, 2013 - 12:05am PT

I've looked their soldiers in the eye. Granted, it was 1980.
Not a big deal. Underfed punks.

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Mar 19, 2013 - 12:12am PT

Coz,

One of my greatest beefs is that we guzzle so much oil in this country that we even NEED to put Nimitz class aircraft carriers in the middle east to flex our muscles.

We actually import only a small amount of oil from the middle east. We get almost all of our oil from Canada, Mexico, and the Atlantic Basin countries such as Brazil, Venezueala, Nigeria, etc.

So why care about the middle east?

Oil is traded on a national market, and if the straights get permanently blocked, bringing about a quarter or a third of the world's supply to a stop, then oil anywhere will be sought by everyone, and the price would probably triple.

That wouldn't be such a big deal if you disregard other economic factors. Gas would be so expensive that people would finally be forced to use less. I scream from the rooftops that our oil addiction would be less of a problem if we cut our consumption by a third. Jimmy Carter actually accomplished this for a couple of years.

Dude. Go to the Energy Information Agency website. They are like the CIA of energy statistics and is considered the gold standard for the industry all over the world. They don't change a thing when parties change, because statistics are just statistics.

It is a fantastic website, and you guys should surf through some of the beginner's articles on oil markets and such.

You will then understand that all of the major oil companies control a microscopic part of the world's oil supply. The nationalized exporting countries are where the real muscle is.

Exxon is a chain of gas stations compared to Irag, Iran, Venezuala, any of them. The power lies in the hands of those nations on one end, and on the gullet of the American consumer on the other end.

We just waste the stuff and are fast approaching a very bad position: Oil prices will climb, and we won't be ready for it.

As for N Korea, Wiki has a great page on them, their economy, their politics, you name it.

We defend Japan and S Korea by treaty. So those are two other countries who we pay to defend.

You are correct about China, but think like this: China has very little oil but tons of coal. They actually own production in the United States. At my last job, they would take our work and the acreage blocks and open a data room to find joint venture partners. I never got to go down there, but I would get an email telling me to get this and that ready because say, the French were in town with Total, the Norwegians were in town with Statoil, and the Chinese were in town with CNOOC. You can bet your ass that they have their eyes on all of the China and Yellow Sea deposits. Those are known producing areas that haven't been fully explored yet.

Hell, the Falklands is important to the Brits (and Argentina) because there are some sweet looking sedimentary basins offshore.

No sh#t. Although they aren't the operating company, many of the shale plays are partly owned by foreign companies, even the Chinese. I heard that the Chinese picked up some stuff from Chesapeake, where I just finished my last contract. Just in time to see it go down in flames. Sort of.

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Mar 19, 2013 - 12:36am PT

Hey, keep it on point boys, this is about N Korea, not China. But it does bring up an interesting point as to why China has been propping up N Korea all these years. It does look like that may be a thing of the past; most families get tired of making excuses for their 'black sheep'.

I watch NHK News often and they had a hilarious bit on how N Korea Tourism announced that foreign touroids can now use their cell phones when they visit the Inner Sanctum. However, the NHK reporter couldn't get a signal in Pyongyang.

labrat

Trad climber

Auburn, CA

Mar 19, 2013 - 12:45am PT

"Blah blah blah ....
and do nothing except run yer mouths ......"

Says the gentleman with 21,633 posts and counting :-)

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Mar 19, 2013 - 12:53am PT

I don't think that anyone but the most primitive people will ever use nukes again.

I think that the wars of the future will be economic ones. The Soviet Union collapsed due to economics, although Reagan likes to take credit.

It is still a valid question. If Iran gets nuked, will Israel use the pre-emptive war that Bush made valid during the Iraq war? Will Pakistan and India go at it, even if it is an accident?

Will N Korea, in an act of economic deperation, toss a nuke at Japan?

We can park a trident missile sub and have it sit on the bottom 100 miles off the coast of N Korea, but why?

We have this incredible military, but what is it good for? I will say that defense contractors love war. I remember the fight when they tried to close an F-16 plant in Ft. Worth. The local congressmen and Senators twisted the arms of the Defense Appropriation Committees and kept their plant, even though the Air Force didn't want it.

We are also usually #1 or #2 in the world when it comes to military exports.

A large chunk of the budget goes to military spending. If you cut off the teat, there are going to be a lot of people out of work and screaming at politicians.

Ken M

Mountain climber

Los Angeles, Ca

Mar 19, 2013 - 01:29am PT

I think an attack by NK south, would be very problematic for the US.

First, we have a treaty to defend them.

Second, we have a lot of troops there, and we will certainly start taking casualties immediately. I don't think we can ignore that.

On the other hand, NK does not have the capability of fighting a sustained war, in any manner. They have artillery. Quickly, they will learn that they get one shot, then they are a target.