what should be done

[Swimmer]

China is not going to buckle under for us anymore. If it wasn't for China picking up our bonds the USA would probably be bankrupt. It is coming to the point where we will cater to China in some ways shortly.

If we let N. Korea think they are significant then they will think they are significant. I think we should trade Deval Patrick for the two reporters and call it a day.

[Joe]

His youngest son and his older son are at odds with each other, with the younger one being chosen as successor. That's good news for the world.
I say play the games and wait them out - soon, they'll be an internal power struggle and things will unravel. At the very least, the regime will weaken significantly and the opportunities for diplomacy will increase greatly. In the end, NK will moderate out of necessity.

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Joe

His youngest son and his older son are at odds with each other, with the younger one being chosen as successor. That's good news for the world.

Berry GooT

If it wasn't for the hundreds (thousands?) of Chemical/Bio warheads on many thousands of hidden/buried artillery pieces pointed at Seoul I think the South Koreans would run roughshod over the North after taking a beating for a few days. Seoul would be a mess for a long time, even without nukes. It is obviously believed the Norks can build a nuke but can they build it as a deployable weapon? And if not, for how long?

What little NK has to trade with is pretty bad; missiles or nukes, nukes or missiles. Stopping their limited shipping to search for embargoed goods really needs to be done.

If they decide to a lob an ICBM at Hawaii, shoot it down with Aegis ships and THAAD. This is what those billions of (wasted?) dollars was designed for. Then bomb them further into the stone age.

Russia and especially China are not happy with losing the Norks as a buffer between South Korea (and her allies) so expect China to lean on Kim some more, and not for our benefit. China probably benefits most from the status quo, a bug in our butt and a buffer zone.


** Warning, Not Safe For Work or in front of little kids **

[spence]

Originally Posted by Swimmer

China is not going to buckle under for us anymore.

Why do you think this is a "US" problem we need China to help us out on?

China has a lot more to loose from a North Korea problem than we do. If things go downhill China stands to see millions of North korean refugees as well as serious regional disruption that they do not want.

North Korea has little to nothing to gain from a real conflict, they do have a lot to gain from the rest of the world thinking they're nutty though.

It's the exact same game that Iran and other countries play with the USA day in and day out. Fact is they know we're really very limited in how much influence we can exert without international cooperation, so they play the "we're about to loose it" card and laugh while we squirm.

Iraq has shown than if and when we do go in long, it can be a massive headache that the public doesn't want to repeat.

This is perhaps the lasting damage from Bush's blunder, and something Obama dare not repeat.

What's not been noted in this thread is that the new sanctions which allow inspection of North Korea bound ships suspected of moving military materials was heavily endorsed by both China and Russia.

Even North Korea's old friends have become weary of their erratic little sibling.

-spence

[Backbeach Jake]

I'm sure that we have a sub or two just waiting for him to get froggy.