Why no comment on North Korea?

[Shakey]

I'd have thought there would have been some debate about North Korea by now.

Anyone?

 

[Deckhead_Inspector]

Well, we have Trident.

 

[SILVER_FOX]

Possibly because we all think they're a bunch of fuckwits who don't give a stuff what the rest of the world thinks so debate is pointless, or, maybe we're just waiting on George Bush Junior to give us our opinion before we invade.

SF

 

[Lingyai]

I say if they want Nukes, give 'em some.... mwhaaa mwhaaaaaa

 

[SILVER_FOX]

You're a bit close though Lingyai. What about the fallout?

SF

 

[WarMonger]

I must admit it does seem a bit hypocritical that we "UK/US" etc are dictating to other nations irrespective of who they are about the development of nuclear weapons when we are sat on a nice array of nukes ourselves...!!!

However the development of such weapons by countries that do not follow the book with regard to acceptable behaviour either politically or morally is a major concern.!!

And before any one states the obvious we too i.e UK/US especially Uncle George and Tony have been guilty of lapses in both politically and moral behaviour we do have a small safeguard in "democracy"...something that cant be said of Korea!

It is quite clear that military action would be disastrous..I think we need to try some serious talking to sort this one out...but having people like George leading the so say free worlds opinion could be just as much of a disaster..!!

 

[SILVER_FOX]

Good points Warmonger but difficult to hold a serious conversation / debate with a nation that doesn't want to listen. There seems to be bugger all we can do to put pressure on them either.

SF

 

[Lingyai]

You're a bit close though Lingyai. What about the fallout?

SF

Not that bothered really, I don't want to further damage this world by bringing my evil offspring into it and it would save money on contraception, and I my hair is scarce as it is.......... bring on the sunshine :twisted:

 

[asst_dep_to_dep_asst]

You can't hide behind "Democracy" when you are talking about giving the button decision to a twat like Dubya, even if you do believe that the last US election wasn't fudged.

I would prefer it if NK did not have access to nukes, but Israel has and it's not exactly the most stable democracy in the world. This is just an inevitable consequence of Julius Oppenheimer not being smothered at birth.

 

[WarMonger]

You need to start getting worried when the usual fence sitter countries such as China come out and condemn this behaviour as quickly as they do, especially China who were for a long time the same ilk as the North Koreans although they are improving slowly!!

A large amount of that might be self serving on the basis that the chinese quite fancy themselves as a nuclear super power and any other country in the region with a nuke degrades that claim but Im sure they probably know better than anyone else the dangers that the regime in N.Korea presents to both the west and the local area...!!

My feeling is that it should be left to the Chinese, Russians i.e. the locals etc to try and broker a deal in the first instance with George and Tony keeping their size 9's firmly in gob at this stage. Our diplomacy should be directed at the locals and any advice to be aired through people like the Chinese rather than the US State Department mouth piece "Radio Tomahawk"..!!!

 

[SILVER_FOX]

Warmonger wrote: You need to start getting worried when the usual fence sitter countries such as China come out and condemn this behaviour as quickly as they do.

Yes that is bloody worrying, although maybe the Chinese are the only ones who can exert pressure on this twat.

SF

 

[RAMIUS]

Don't even know how to start with the north korean question...

I suspect the N Korean leadership believes in the age old tactical and strategic doctrine of "getting your retaliation in first" which means the old mutually assured destruction theories probably don't apply.

We just don't know if the North Korean people are capable of bringing about internal change for themselves, we don't know if the country was invaded if they would obediently accept any new authority or turn into a nation of insurgents...

A Rumsfeld style "shock and awe" "surgical strike" campaign will only make them more paranoid...

Can't think of anything except that probably the worst thing is to do nothing.

 

[mophead]

Anyone taking bets on the end of the world?......because it just moved a whole lot closer now the N Koreans have the bomb.Bush and co will probably decide to try to remove the threat and bang!!! there goes the world.

 

[snorko]

With a country like North Korea I dont think that we can realistically hope that change will come from the inside like it did when the Iron Curtain fell. All dissent, of any kind, is ruthlessly suppressed, there are tens of thousands in forced labour camps, a large proportion of the population is undernourished and there is no access to news of the outside world. Most of the population has been brought up believing that the whole world is out to kill North Korea, led by the imperialist Yankee dogs. China doesnt want North Korea to collapse as that would bring a western leaning, capitalist country onto its doorstep, so what may happen, is that NK will continue to slowly haemmhorage (?). The risk is that as a final throw of the die, when it realises it is collapsing it decides to go all out and attack Japan, SK or the USA - god forbid!

 

[hobbit]

There was no hesitation to flex the muscle with the relatively harmless Iraq but with the new threat to world peace there is a distinct hesitancy as the big boys resort to hiding behind the skirts of the UN. One of the questions must be who is the maddest of the two, GB or the other emerging nut case. Mental health seems an issue here as the suicidal maniacs play chicken with the people of the world at risk and the global ecology likely to suffer if the SHTF. Seems this issue will not be solved by diplomacy and some form of conflict is likely. All that will remain is for someone to clean up the mess and count the cost. All so bloody pointless apart from power crazy leaders trying to outdo each other, sad,
'

 

[Maxi_77]

Good points Warmonger but difficult to hold a serious conversation / debate with a nation that doesn't want to listen. There seems to be bugger all we can do to put pressure on them either.

SF

We can cut of their food, power and oil aid, which mainly come from China. The fear is that the regional chaos that will be caused by that could afect the stability of the Chinese government.

Peter

 

[SILVER_FOX]

Yes but haven't we tried lots of that already over the years. The only effect it has is to punish the average joe in the street - poor bastards.

He'll still get what he needs through those countries which ignore sanctions ... like the French.

SF

 

[WarMonger]

How about a chinese led annexation of North Korea with US backing...sounds proposterous but stranger things have happened!!

The Chinese appear to be pretty pissed off as North Korea have made them look like a bunch of monkeys f**king a football politically by all accounts.

My concern is that if we push them into a corner we create an axis of new nuclear powers hell bent of the destruction of the West....North Korea and Iran for starters..!!

 

[Shakey]

Dunno what the silly buggers are thinking of, I'm sure the US are really scared of their 0.5kt firecracker.

 

[bunnyjumper]

Dunno what the silly buggers are thinking of, I'm sure the US are really scared of their 0.5kt firecracker.

It might be a little fart in comparison to the trident, but it could still cause a heck of a lot of death and destruction in the wrong hands. Plus it's only the first - they'll soon be up to a good few megatons.

My concern is that the North Koreans are probably the most likely to use the bloody thing in anger (apart from the Yanks of course who lead the field in that respect!). Think of it - 2 nuclear powers, one who has used them in anger, and the other who would like nothing more than to wipe out the former.

Hmmmm. Survive to Fight could become a best seller after all.