[pnh102]

Time to thank Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter for North Korea having nukes. They literally could not have done it without them.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Sheesh. Pipe Dream.

Good luck on implementing any of these above.

Three words are appropriate here in this sense are appropriate.

Barack.

Hussein.

OBAMA.

[Carry_Okie]

Beijing knows this, which is why its nuclear missiles function only as a deterrent force; if a nuclear exchange did take place at current warhead levels

I START-ed to say something about this, but I guess it wasn't pertinent. /s

[Bean Counter]

Grim reading, and I think the author is right. What’s required to settle this once and for all is the strongest possible actions against the North, and real sanctions on the Chinese to bring down the Kim Dynasty.

I also believe that we will either be pulled directly into a new Korean war one way or another. Either we act preemptively as the author suggests, or we wait until North Korea attacks the South and probably Japan as well. No matter what, there will be numerous civilian deaths involved and once the Kim Dynasty goes down in flames there is no telling how bad of a humanitarian disaster will ensure on the entire peninsula.

But given the state of American foreign policy these days, there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that the US will do anything of significance to preempt anything. Premier Hussein has already called for restraint on both sides and unless NoKo takes a shot at one of our planes or ships, this will continue to simmer until America is placated yet again, and our forces depart the area.

[headsonpikes]

Non-nuclear decapitation would be the policy of a sane US government.

Tomorrow, if possible.

[Non-Sequitur]

In that article I was struck by Parker's seeming lack of concern of what South Korea might think of any of those actions. The fact of the matter is that South Korea has the most to lose in all this. The U.S. at this point should limit itself to supporting what South Korea feels that it needs to do in response to North Korea's provocation and not dictate a response to them.

[Sola Veritas]

I’m inclined to see something more devious in all of this. China is going to stay on the sideline and only do token things to discourage North Korea. However, when North Korea attacks, and it is a real possibility they will, then China will stay conveinently neutral with some minor posturing.

The U.S. will be obligated, rightfully so, to send troops to shore up South Korea....a substantial force. With us already deep with commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, we will be compleltely engaged with no reserves to commit elsewhere.

China will then use the opportunity to invade and conquer Taiwan....which is what they really want. We will be in no position to prevent it.

Anyway, that is my “analysis.”

[zeestephen]

“.....serious pressure on mainland China to intervene with Pyongyang.”

---

China holds roughly $850 billion in USA Treasury debt.

Inform China we will default on those debts if they block our attempts to de-nuke North Korea.

[AlanGreenSpam]

This is precisely why we need an OBAMA/CARTER ticket in 2012! So we can show the MoFo NoKo’s what real men can do. /sarc

[justa-hairyape]

Excellent article, but John McCain ? The man who suspended a winning political campaign just to vote on the emergency stimulus package. A man who claimed Obama would be a good President. If that is the best man we have to pull this off, it is not gonna happen. At any rate, any good plan can be wrecked by one simple mistake.

South Korea accidentally fires shell, military says

(CNN) -- The South Korean military accidentally fired a shell during a land-based military exercise Sunday afternoon, a South Korean military spokesman told CNN.

The country's defense ministry declined to provide details about the land exercise.

[Cvengr]

Increase our nuclear stockpile by an order of magnitude and nuke N Korea into the stone age. Simple solution.

[bert]

——the U.S. will not wait for an investigation before retaliating directly and massively ——

That is a joke. Our government is controlled by a cabal of lawyers who will never act without an in depth investigation separating the pepper from the birdseed and throwing out all of the evidence on technical legal grounds.

The technical legal grounds being the means to maintain power are more important to the cabal than the well fare of the country