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I don’t understand this. If North Korea collapses, what effect would that have on anything? The North Korean economy is the size of a small town in Podunk, USA.
Terrorists are a whiney bunch of piglets and they all have one thing in common —blackmail.
Bomb the northern part of North with food. Would the military continue to press its attack southward or turn back to the feeding frenzy? ... for either restoring control or for the sustenance
Good article, TLR. Thanks for posting!
The transition will surely produce turmoil, perhaps not at first, but eventually.
North Korea may possess a big military, but it will not have the resources for a sustained effort. It has no operational experience and even though the top generals are weighted down with medals, they are merely window dressing. Once begun, an invasion of the south will be headed toward failure because there is not adequate leadership to pull it off.
Once begun, the intramural enmities will produce a failed effort
Best thing for North Koreans would be if S. Korea took control of it and significantly would reduce mass pverty if even if phased in over time.
Bah - The primary concern for the world would be the continuation of the NK regime, not the failure of it.
Of course, success and good things in general have a price but the free world is resilient enough to absorb and correct the problems arising from the collapse of another fascist regime.
Far worse would be the endless continuation of a dangerous, unpredictable, isolated communist state that has actively spread nuclear weapons and tech around the world.
Help the damn thing die already.
1. Rigidly maintained isolation from the rest of the world.
2. A rigid state-controlled system.
3. A leadership dependent on the cult of personality.
4. Continue the economic mismanagement which has caused acute food shortages killing two million people.
5. A totalitarian state which stands accused of systematic human rights abuses such as forced abortions and infanticides.
6. While the North Korean constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press, the government prohibits the exercise of these rights in practice. Only news that favors the regime is permitted, while news that covers the economic and political problems in the country, or criticisms of the regime from abroad, is not allowed. The media upholds the personality cult.
7. The North Korean constitution states that freedom of religion is permitted. Nevertheless, Buddhists in North Korea reportedly fare better than other religious groups, particularly Christians, who are said to face persecution by the authorities. According to Human Rights Watch, free religious activities no longer exist in North Korea, as the government sponsors religious groups only to create an illusion of religious freedom.
8. North Korea has a national medical service and health insurance system. Many hospitals and clinics in North Korea lack essential medicines and equipment, running water and electricity.
The question becomes whom to appoint as the North Korean Czar, someone who has experience carrying out such policies, someone who has the personality to fill the shoes of Kim Jong-il (figuratively, not literally), someone who the world loves...........there is only one person for the position......Obama!
Military officers should stick to warfighting, a vital skill at which they excel. But the armed forces thrive in what is necessarily a socialist environment (guaranteed funding, tax-free allowances, subsidized this, free that) and military leaders have little knowledge of economics beyond making the best use of their respective budgets. How and from whom the dollars are sourced is not a military concern.
That said, the Norks' present condition reminds me of Cleavon Little's character in Blazing Saddles. When Sheriff Bart is cornered by the bad guys, he points his own gun at himself and shouts Ki>"Hold it! Next man makes a move, the [black guy] gets it!" This is exactly what Pyongyang is doing -- and many in the West are dumb enough to believe it.
Really now...by all conventional standards they collapsed a long time ago.
They’re only a threat if they sell nukes to Arab terrorists... and we all know BO needs a catastrophe to gain traction for his socialist agenda.
Sure, it might, but apparently not as much of a crisis as some nut in Florida burning a pile of paper with words on them.
Oh, another crisis? You will have to take a number and stand in line...
Hey Tiger what latest on Chia Pet number three son when they going announced he is going be next leader of NK
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100909/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_the_next_kim