Obama: U.S. will defend South Korea

[MA-Caver]

Someone said every President has their war... I guess inheriting Bush's Afghanistan's war isn't the same as having one to call your very own. That China wants to be rid of it's annoying neighbor was also echoed by several folks I know. I don't know about that... it seems that China would want to keep NK as a means of advance troops for an invasion should they have a mind. Somewhat like Cuban Auxiliaries for the Soviets back in the day. Cannon fodder if you will. I've been seeing North Korea as a young bully throwing it's weight around trying to be as bad-*** as the big boys. China being it's older brother, quietly sitting in the background largely ignoring it's kid brother as he postures and acts all big. Should kid brother actually get into a fight China might help out... provided kid brother picks on someone his own size (i.e. South Korea)... however when the little guy starts messing with the bigger kids on the block, China will either do, IMO, one of three things... 1. Let North Korea get it's *** kicked and do nothing, so to protect it's relations with the rest of the planet as they're beginning to see how profitable it is to do so. 2. Help out and get into WWIII and possibly a nuke confrontation which would result in a mell of a hess. 3. Grab North Korea by the back of the collar, and make them apologize and behave themselves or all the toys will be taken away and they're left on their own. Saber rattling isn't what it used to be. Imagine some guy coming into your Dojo and just talking crap... you probably wouldn't take 'em seriously would you? But the same guy coming in and pushing your students around roughly... (basically looking for a fight)... that's the best analogy I can think of. If we do go into war with Korea (again ) hopefully it'll just STAY conventional. All the nasty stuff that was invented after the first time will stay locked up. Biological and chemical as well as nuclear. Odds are it'll be a brief conflict, with losses on both sides. That's just my guess. Likely it's a bad one at that. Oh also read somewhere there'll be a remake of Red Dawn using China and Korea as the invaders this time around. How timely is THAT?

 

[Tanaka]

It worked for Bush
I can see why SK wants the US around, but what is the US getting out of it?

ChosonNinja's

 

[Blade96]

MacArthur was right.

Huh?

MacArthur was a bonehead. Against Truman's advice (and i hate the guy but he was right here) when macarthur wanted to invade china and drop bombs on them after pushing NK out of SK, chinese invaded and helped create this situation we have today, otherwise we might be looking at an actual peace treaty instead of simply a draw.

 

[Empty Hands]

MacArthur was a bonehead.

About this topic, absolutely. However, Big D would rather 20 cities full of innocent people be exterminated so we could avoid an uneasy stalemate end to the war rather than "win." Not to mention normalizing the use of nuclear weapons in warfare, something we've managed to avoid since WWII. Thus, he was "right."

 

[WC_lun]

Sinking a ship and killing 48 sailors
Artillery attack killing 2 S. Korean marines (as well as being the first artillery attack on S. Korea since the Armistice in 1953)

Is this what we now consider saber rattling?

I'd hate to see what it takes for an attack to to amount to be something of substance.

You do have a point. The US has entered wars based upon far less. The issue is that the US does not WANT this war. If we did, we would already be across the demarcation line. The fact is, there isn't much profit in unifying Korea and a heckuva lot of down side.

 

[Archangel M]

I doubt that the N. Koreans have enough fuel or supply train to get very far actually. And they are armed with com-bloc crap. Anybody who remembers how Iraq 1 went (one of the largest armies at the time) with "quantity vs quality" will recall that that old saw aint that accurate anymore.

 

[MA-Caver]

You do have a point. The US has entered wars based upon far less. The issue is that the US does not WANT this war.

We didn't want WWI and WWII either...

 

[Bruno@MT]

Someone said every President has their war... I guess inheriting Bush's Afghanistan's war isn't the same as having one to call your very own. That China wants to be rid of it's annoying neighbor was also echoed by several folks I know. I don't know about that... it seems that China would want to keep NK as a means of advance troops for an invasion should they have a mind. Somewhat like Cuban Auxiliaries for the Soviets back in the day. Cannon fodder if you will.

+1.
They share the same ideology (up to a point), and China has around like a pitbull, just in case Japan or Korea gets unruly (again). They have a very strong defense force that they don't need to pay for.

1. Let North Korea get it's *** kicked and do nothing, so to protect it's relations with the rest of the planet as they're beginning to see how profitable it is to do so. 2. Help out and get into WWIII and possibly a nuke confrontation which would result in a mell of a hess. 3. Grab North Korea by the back of the collar, and make them apologize and behave themselves or all the toys will be taken away and they're left on their own.

Difficult choice. I wouldn't presume to know. It would depend on who would be seen as the aggressor. China needs export or their country will melt down internally. So they can't really lose that goodwill. Not until their internal market has grown enough to support their industry.
Otoh, if SK should stage an invasion of the North, then China could 'support' their allies.
Then again, that would mean opposing the US directly in a military manner.

To be honest, I am stumped for an answer.
But so is probably the rest of the world, because noone has dared breaking the stalemate for 50 years. Let's hope it stays that way. Perhaps the the tensions will thaw after Kim Jong Il has kicked the bucket.

If we do go into war with Korea (again ) hopefully it'll just STAY conventional. All the nasty stuff that was invented after the first time will stay locked up. Biological and chemical as well as nuclear. Odds are it'll be a brief conflict, with losses on both sides. That's just my guess. Likely it's a bad one at that. Oh also read somewhere there'll be a remake of Red Dawn using China and Korea as the invaders this time around. How timely is THAT?

Small chance imo. Let's discount the nukes on the chinese and US sides on the assumption that neither of them want that exchange to happen. The people in power in NK know that whatever happens, they end up dead or poor. For them it is a poker game with only 2 options: bluff or all-in.

I am not too worried about their nukes atm, but they do have a large arsenal chemical and biological weapons at their disposal. Especially the chemical weapons are something they might use. I don't see them using bio weapons because of the proximity. Except of course if it is do or die. In that case I would bet on them throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the SK / US forces.