North Korea declares War on South Korea

[Silent Hunter]

It's a cause for concern, but until concrete auctions are actually taken, not excessive ones.

[Silent Hunter]

While the North would lose, don't most experts anticipate that the North shelling Seoul alone would potentially make it the bloodiest war that the world has seen in decades?

Worse than the Second Congo War? Not likely.

[Silent Hunter]

Harvest is middle of this month, correct? Once that's done, things might get really serious.

I'm seriously thinking this will end in a clash at least. Also, never underestimate the delusion of a dictator when going up against the US... Milosevic, the Taliban and Saddam all should have known that going up against the most powerful military force on Earth was going to end up with them in a cell, dead or both.

[Silent Hunter]

Harvest is middle of this month, correct? Once that's done, things might get really serious.

I'm seriously thinking this will end in a clash at least. Also, never underestimate the delusion of a dictator when going up against the US... Milosevic, the Taliban and Saddam all should have known that going up against the most powerful military force on Earth was going to end up with them in a cell, dead or both.

Milosevic, the Taliban, and Saddam were uo against America whether they wanted to be or not...

And they all could have avoided their fates.

[Silent Hunter]

At the moment, I'd say the DPRK is trying to do everything military and political it can without doing anything pretty much irreversible e.g. call up reserves.

[Silent Hunter]

I see parallels between this and the July crisis (1914). No one really expects anything serious, but once the rhetoric and military mobilization reach a certain point, it becomes harder and harder to climb down. It is really impossible to imagine what is going on internally inside North Korea, what the top leadership is thinking. A war would certainly lead to the death of all of them.

I had a similar thought about 1914. As for a war leading to the death of all of them, I doubt it. There are usually some survivors from dictatorships that lose wars - and many dictators end up in exile rather than dead.

[Silent Hunter]

This is one of the dumbest, most cowardly, shameful moves I've seen from our nation's leadership in history...

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/06/176455606/u-s-delays-missile-test-over-tension-with-north-korea

Delaying a missile test to "cool tensions" is ing moronic... as if the North Koreans are reasonable people who will then reciprocate. This shows weakness I haven't seen our nation display perhaps ever...

Soviets blockade Berlin- we airlift supplies
Soviet missiles in Cuba- we blockade
North Koreans threaten us with nuclear weapons- we cancel missile tests


I was very pleased and proud of our government's response to the crisis until now... Now, I am ashamed

It's because the North does not appear to be reasonable that the US does not want to give them an excuse. The Cuban blockade in 1962 came pretty close to triggering war as well.

[Silent Hunter]

The UN Secretary General's concern over this is quite understandable - he is from South Korea.

[Silent Hunter]

Seems like that missile test is getting closer - worse case scenario there is a failure of the launch resulting in the missile heading for Japan...

[Silent Hunter]

Benj, you're just parroting the guy in the video Mikado posted; as I said above, I saw the video already and agree with it. That's why I don't think demanding that North Korea end it's nuclear program right now should be a prerequisite to talks. This is not about Kim portraying the US as an enemy, the content of North Koreas propaganda is not why this crisis is worrying. In fact, the precise need to give Kim a legitimating cause besides belligerence is why we should negotiate. The Norths justification for being will never be solely economics, but that doesn't mean that making North Korea richer wouldn't help them. The regime would like to be able to make the argument 'we can develop economically and remain the " pure race" at the same time.'

Why not giving them all the gold in Fort Knox or all Pacific islands if they ask them?
That willingness to surrender to terrorists is disgusting.

I'd give them all the gold in the world if it would prevent a nuclear war from breaking out. Show me a terrorist with his hand on the nuclear trigger, and I'll negotiate with him any day.

That just encourages more terrorists.

[Silent Hunter]

Anyone who is scared of NK should get help. because we are talking about a tiny POS island where people eat each other vs The USA where we could turn NK into a china house buffet.

North Korea isn't tiny, isn't an island and does not practice cannibalism.

Also, it is now Tuesday in Korea and no missile test.

[Silent Hunter]

When is the last time the U.S. has picked off a North Korean missile, or for that matter any foreign missile? Name one time.

2003 - Patriots bagged a number of SRBMs fired by Iraq.