Maquis on July 12, 2008 at 6:55 PM

I suspect that with their food problems in the past that North Korea has no war reserve with which to feed their army. It’s doubtful that they intend to attack the south. That would really be the end of Kim.

All indications point to a Chinese client state that is barely hanging on by coercing aid from the outside world.

{^_^}

As far as pressuring them to free political prisoners, well thats kinda nice, but I think we need to put our efforts into cleaning up our own problems first.

Ill little Kim is nuts for Presley.

…Koreans are removing the world’s largest minefield along the DMZ.

Limerick on July 12, 2008 at 10:52 AM

Poetic justice would require the top party officials do it themselves.

- The Cat

P.S. This ‘Principled Consensus’ sounds very wiggle roomie.

Ares at 11:20AM

Some of us care about people, no matter where they happen to live.
It is my job to do good, & to encourage others to do good.
I’m not calling for a military action. The US gov’t can pressure the Kim regime in other ways.
I pity you if you don’t think that’s a worthy enterprise.

Would you rather go down in history as a dictator, or a liberator?

(WoosterOh)

A sane person? Liberator.

Lil’ Kim? Not sane. Dude has absolute power, all the goodies he could want, free babes, an adoring AND terrified populace, and he has lived his ENTIRE life in that place.

The same goes for his military leadership. They have nothing to gain and everything (including their heads) to lose from even a small move toward openness or freedom.

The only “change” that CAN take place there is by force. And it will probably be a generation AFTER that that anyone could call the country “liberated,” we’re talking about someplace ten times worse than East Germany, and they’re still recovering from the legacy of Soviet domination.

North Korea isn’t a state or a nation, it’s a prison camp run by a bunch of mountain bandits who live by shaking down their neighbors. All we’re doing with this agreement is facilitating it.

(irishspy)

True dat.

Unfortunately, we’re fighting a war on two fronts (nearing the end, it seems), and this one is on China’s doorstep – which is the only reason the “Prison Camp Nork” even exists.

I’m not saying the Chinese will ever help free the North Koreans, I’m just saying that without at least their approval it isn’t going to happen.

Both the North Korean “bandit kings” and the Chinese party power elite are responsible for the degradation and near-destruction of an entire people, and right now there isn’t a thing we can do about it.

The “talks” are kind of useless but it does allow as a small boost in monitoring ability.

Is our goal to ‘free’ DPRK and every other person living in a failed state?

Nice goal, totally unrealistic, but nice all the same.

The people of DPRK eat dogs, but it isn’t fair to call them dogs Limerick

Ares on July 12, 2008 at 11:34 AM

Kudo’s on the twist. Wiping the beer off my face now.

You give your dog a rabies shot so it doesn’t end up killing you, or you it.

which resulted in the earlier destruction of its Yongbyon reactor

I thought that the only thing verified destroyed so far was the cooling tower.

Disarming North Korea of its nukes peacefully would be a tremendous victory for the US and its partners, but it’s not the end of the issue.

Right now, it’s just a piece of paper. North Korea has broken every agreement they’ve made, so why should we expect them to change now? They’ll either find ways to stall the verification regime while making demands for further concessions (which we’ll grant) to get them to agree to live up to the agreements they’ve already made, or they’ll simply continue with a parallel secret program. (Recall the trace uranium that was found on documents North Korea turned over. Pyongyang claims it doesn’t even have a uranium program, of course. So, where’d the uranium come from?)

North Korea isn’t a state or a nation, it’s a prison camp run by a bunch of mountain bandits who live by shaking down their neighbors. All we’re doing with this agreement is facilitating it.

I give dog a rabies shot because he is my responsibility.

I don’t give every other dog on the planet one.

Maybe that should be my ‘aim’?

Yes we can?

Why should our long term goal be to ‘free’ the people in the DPRK from their regime?

Ares on July 12, 2008 at 11:20 AM

Why do you give your dog a rabies shot?

Isn’t that there job?

I don’t think you logic scales, and that is only one issue you have.