So what should we do with NK?

[Tahoe]

Thoughts? Comments?

Hopefully we can leave the ... Clinton screwed everything up so bad...and the ... Bush screwed everything up so bad that we now have limited options.

So knowing where we are today (whomever put us in this position) how do we go forward?

Do we need Europoe behind us? China? WTF r we gonna do now? And we have to protect Japan, don't we? Do we help Japan go nuclear?

What a fucking mess this world has become.

[JS]

Honestly there is not much we can do. We would be destroyed in Korea, the terrain alone is 180 degree change in what are troops have been trained to fight in. Secondly The troops are already spread too thin, we do not have the troops to fight on two fronts and still try to protect the homefront. The last war (conflict) with Korea was the bloodiest war in our country's history in terms of death and length of the conflict . The logistical issues alone are a huge uphill climb. I am hardly an expert in combat strategy but I do know right now are Army is the weakest it has ever been. Before I take hits for that last comment know that I have a military family. We have an active army of less than 600k.

If anything we should cut our nuclear program, that would garner more support than being the world police.

[geerussell]

We've already been through this routine before.

[Uncle Mxy]

No one's really had a good idea of what to do about inscrutible North Korea since the fall of the U.S.S.R. I've wondered about information warfare tactics, using cult deprogramming tactics, embarrasing Kim Jong Il, etc., but he has managed to brainwash people there very, very well.

[Taymelo]

So knowing where we are today (whomever put us in this position) how do we go forward?

Do we need Europoe behind us? China? WTF r we gonna do now? And we have to protect Japan, don't we? Do we help Japan go nuclear?

What a fucking mess this world has become.

I read today that we are cooperating with Japan on missile defense systems. I think we need more of that - more money devoted to technology to shoot the missiles out of the sky or redirect them into sea or something, and more cooperation with Japan and other clearly pro-western asian and european countries.

I know we're not supposed to bash Bush here, but this is appropriate. Appointing John Bolton as US ambassador to the UN doesn't help us in this situation. He's probably sitting at a negotiating table right now, telling our friends in Japan that they smell like crap and have ugly slanty eyes, and then telling them what they WILL agree to do "with" us, OR ELSE!!! (Mind you, I'm only paraphrasing. I don't know the exact words he's using to insult and bully them into letting the US do whatever it wants without repercussions.)

[Hermy]

ignore them.

[Glenn]

Is "NK" actually TK's significantly more debonaire 1/2 brother?

[Uncle Mxy]

Ultimately, North Korea exists because China has its back. Why? AFAICT, China mostly doesn't want to see NK melt down. Otherwise, they end up with millions of refugees and a backyard mess. We tried a similar "we give them life support and they don't go nuclear" tactic with the Carter-brokered deal a decade ago. The difference is -- we tried to commit the other neighboring friendlies (SK and Japan) to pour resources into NK with us, when it wasn't widely supported even within the U.S. We didn't honor the Carter deal, NK spiraled further down the tubes, and Bush was asleep at the wheel (when he wasn't hiding intelligence on NK's nuclear escalation as it would distract from support for the war on Iraq).

My stab at a plan: China (with assistance) puts the financial squeeze on NK. When the NK folks cross the Chinese border, they intercept and export back to SK. If NK tries to mobilize big troops along both borders, just wait awhile and watch them fold. Of course, you don't need food to nuke. <sigh>

[Cross]

Just dont do anything stupid such as threaten NK or anything because first, all the american soldiers in SK would die...

[b-diddy]

kind of off the wall, but i'd slash military spending and pour money into our intelligence agencies. with the hundreds of billions we're spending on the war in iraq, $30 billion annually seems pretty slim for the guys who tell us who the bad guys are and what theyre doing... and wasnt it 'bad' intelligence that got us in the iraq mess, in the first place (allegedly)?

i'd also reinstitute the draft, but thats not necessarilly here nor there.

and oh yea, i was just thinking: its only been roughly 15 years since the fall of the USSR, and since then, the US has been the only world superpower. everyone freaks out about china becoming one, but maybe thats a good thing. not another cold war, but just a country to challenge US dominance. maybe we'll go back to a time where its more important that programs/policies work, rather than just appear to work and give you a political advantage. can atleast hope, right...?

wow, i must be high or something.