Posted on 07/06/2006 3:04:07 AM PDT by IrishMike
Yes, a good comparison - some of the street scenes do look frozen in time. But unlike a static museum there are millions of North Korean's fates adversely affected by the whims of their 'Leader'.
I imagine that, just as in 1950, they'd sustain as long as they were moving forward without any serious checks -- which would mean a few days, most likely. Just like any other army, morale isn't that big a problem if you're advancing.
Once the check comes, I think it's all down to a test of the effectiveness of NK's brainwashing, and that's a complete unknown. Worst-case would be that individual ideas of self-preservation have been suppressed.
The Japanese in WWII, and the Chinese in the Korean War, showed us that it's entirely possible to do that pretty effectively, and I think North Korea has probably gone far beyond what they were able to achieve.
My pessimistic view is that the crumbling will end up taking place for military reasons -- supply chains, destruction of assets and units, etc., and not because the NK soldiers just give up.
And neither did Kim Jong Il's fireworks do that ... the oil prices were driven up by nervous commodities traders.
Interesting assessment!
Air drop AK-47's and ammo into N-Korea, let the peasants get the party started themselves...
...The fireworks in your back yard didn't drive oil up over $75 per barrell
And neither did Kim Jong Il's fireworks do that ... the oil prices were driven up by nervous commodities traders.
And missiles heading for Japan, the second largest economy didn't make them nervous !!!!!!
An Iraq with about 1/3 of the world's population. Not a good thing.
An Iraq with about 1/3 of the world's population. Not a good thing.
Holy cat! I just e-mailed this to Xena's Guy.
LOL - the Iraqis talk kind of like that when they get all wound up about something. They get real emotional and start all this gesticulating. I sometimes have to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
And therein is the problem.
Talk.
You cannot "talk" with vermin.
It's not like either NK or Japan have any direct bearing on oil production, which is the typical excuse for increases in oil prices whenever Middle-Eastern news gets messy.
Nah ... it's just a case of commodities guys making money on general nervousness.
Commodity traders .... ya gotta love'em. An outbreak of psoriasis in Oregon and sow belly futures go teats up!
The problem:
North Korea has hundreds (thousands?) of artillery pieces pointed at Seoul - a major world-class city, and home to 1/4th of the South Korean population. Levelling Seoul would take about a half hour, and have repercussions across the globe.
NK also has nukes and the means to drop them on Japan. Japan also has nukes and delivery systems. Needless to say, the economic consequences would, er, get the world's attention.
JKI just has to give the word and Seoul and Tokyo disappear (at least in viable theory). The general plan seems to be: wait for the NK system to collapse entirely, which shouldn't take too long. Just wait 'em out.
"The general plan seems to be: wait for the NK system to collapse entirely, which shouldn't take too long. Just wait 'em out."
That's are strategy now, but we've been waitng about 50 years. It does not not look like things are getting any better, only worse. Of course we've been waiting on Cuba for about 40 years. I guess it took about 60 years for the USSR to fall. Maybe we haven't waited long enough yet.
So long as they stay contained, fine. It's up to their citizens to make change happen internally; we just have to make sure the beasts stay in their cages. Saddam looked like he was going to get out, so we did what we did - a lesson to the others.
I just heard on Fox news that NK may have just fired yet another missle (05/06/06 5:10PM EST roughly)
No confirmation or headlines yet, however.
Ah, yes, good old MilitaryPhotos.net. That URL has definitely been making its way around the net. People on other forums have said they go back a long way at that website. They signed on years ago when they let anyone join, but have gone to an all ex-military membership. Now its claimed to consist of nothing but blow-hards...a lot of ex-spec ops forces who treat non SF people like dirt...
Specifically, one person said they were in a cav regiment....and they had to post one of their army documents to prove it, otherwise they wouldn't be believed...funny enough, they say, all that's left there now are stupid Euro-trash students (most of them Germans), SF wannabee/pretenders, mod arse-lickers (usually from Canada), air-softers, terrorists (jihadis) and Chinese spies who spread silly photoshopped pictures and the odd Iranian....
...used to be good. Not anymore
Another person was told that on the basis of their KP experience, not to bother applying for membership (as it wouldn't be accepted).
That being said, why doesn't somebody airdrop a bunch of Crayolla multi-color crayon packs all over the country, looks like they could use enhancement to the local ambiance. The 32 color pack, mind you, not the 64-pak, as we'd not want to overdose the populace too quickly.
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