North Korea’s official newspaper carried the announcement today. The armistice is no longer in force. We are once again in a state of active war with North Korea.
It is not just us, by withdrawing from the armistice, North Korea has reignited conflict with:
South Korea
USA
Canada
Turkey
Australia
Ethiopia
Philippines
New Zealand
Thailand
Greece
France
Colombia
Belgium
South Africa
Netherlands
Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Italy
India
Luxembourg
Since the armistice was signed by a North Korean general on behalf of China, somebody should probably ask China what its position is regarding the armistice and its obligations.
Now, was the basketball player-in-a-wedding-dress the emissary that gave the wink, wink, nod, nod for fun-da-mental trans-for-mation, or is this just another post 2008-coincidence?
As soon as they can scrape up the cash to put gas in the trucks, they will launch the invasion.
There’s only one worrisome aspect to the entire business.
The Dictator is both in desperate straits and young.
They may get the gas money put together … but will the leading Nork units make it past the first fully-stocked Sork grocery store? The Magic 8-ball says … probably not.
VXXC – Agreed but I have an additional worry. I don’t think that the ICC and the human rights complex will allow for a pragmatic exit with comfortable exiles for those who would fight to the finish. That increases the likelihood of war.
Sgt Mom – I suspect that the DPRK population, military as well as civilian, has foraging down to a science.
They might well indeed have the foraging down to a science – but will unit discipline hold together, faced with warehoses of plenty; food, and electronics and everything. It might very well turn out to be like the stories of those old Soviets, visiting an average American grocery store.
Hell, a couple of times that I came back from overseas, I was seriously wigged out by American malls and grocery stores. There was so much – I just had to leave.
There’s a way out of the ICC Human Rights complex.
1. The International Community is in fact – the US State Dept. For anything to actually occur. The same is true by the way of the UN. Nothing happens thru these agencies without at least the tacit approval of USG.
2. South Korea can offer them all the amnesty, national reconciliation and graceful exit they need. As can for that matter China or Japan.
If war happens due to a lack of graceful exit options, we may look to USG as somewhat culpable.
Of course the NORKs may not want a graceful exit, they may want their regime to survive. Rather tough to surrender being God.
VXXC – Work through things with me. You’re a DPRK high official and you accept exile and immunity and a quiet life somewhere free to spend your ill gotten gains in exchange for no longer troubling the people of North Korea. 5-10 years down the road, can you depend on that deal holding up? Your capacity to make trouble is gone. You’re in Marseilles, or Sheboygen, or London. What is to stop a movement from being ginned up to get you into prison at that point? This was my concern with Pinochet’s attempted prosecution via Spain/UK. It is as if nobody on the left thought things through on how much harder it made future climb downs by dictatorships harder.
The Nk sees the US as exhausted and being led by a pushover. Of course they’re going to try some bluster and bluff. It’s worked an unfortunate number of times in the past.
They expect, not without past history as a justification, that the west and the south will buy them off.
Watch for the deal to develop.
Now that Korea is a war zone, Obama will immediately withdraw U.S. troops stationed there and then congratulate himself. South Korea and the entire pacific rim will test new nukes. All this in 3 months after the troops leave.
Extortion is NK’s biz model. I agree with VR. NK doesn’t want war, it wants to be paid off to keep quiet for a while.
}}} Hell, a couple of times that I came back from overseas, I was seriously wigged out by American malls and grocery stores. There was so much – I just had to leave.
Yeah, I go into GiBox stores and just look around, smiling, because there’s just SO much stuff out there… and I’m thinking about Soviet citizens standing in line just to buy a couple rolls of industrial grade TP and some scraggly, fugly looking carrots.
WTF is with these pinheads who can’t grasp the value of being able to go out and GET ANYTHING practically on a whim? No, let’s BITCH about how MUCH the OTHER guy has. Better to give up my own riches than to allow the other guy his greater riches… *IDIOTS*.
}}} Nothing happens thru these agencies without at least the tacit approval of USG.
Ahhh, yeah. Ah-huh. That’s why there’s so much being done to stop Iran from getting nukes — even when Bush was in charge, and wanted to stop that.
I think you vastly overestimate the USA’s power in international circles… because we won’t generally do anything more than yammer, and everyone knows this.
No I understand who established those international circles, where the UN, IMF and World Bank Headquarters are..New York and Washington DC.
Bush couldn’t get sanctions on Iran.
Um…Bush checked Iran while he was in from 03-07. Then he needed them to abstain from interfering with his precious surge in Iraq. Which they did.
We could end Iran’s nuclear ambitions in one evening. We simply don’t judge it worth the cost. We being the foreign policy community. Most certainly not We The People.
I think in fact you may be overestimating the Presidents power in USG circles, especially if he’s Republican.