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Yes, and Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo to make a specific point, the point had nothing to do with the war we ended up with. It's naïve to say "

Yes, and Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo to make a specific point, the point had nothing to do with the war we ended up with. It's naïve to say "we were just trying to make the point X, we didn't think it would escalate" when the actors involved have the resources and incentive to react with interest.

mytailorisrich 6y ago
Full-scale wars are not started by accident, certainly not when 3 or 4 countries involved have nuclear weapons, not least North Korea itself. If anything North Korea developing its own nuclear arsenal took war off the table. That was the point, although full-scale war was probably already off the table, but a more limited action to topple the regime probably wasn't. It's borderline madness to suggest otherwise.
- free_rms 6y ago
  mdiesel just gave you an example of one of the most destructive wars in history, a dozen-nation pileup, being started by accident. so far, MAD has kept that from happening again. But it's not borderline madness to observe something that definitely actually happened.
  - mytailorisrich 6y ago
    It was an irrelevant example, and an incorrect one. A war on the Korean peninsula already happened in the past and it went quite badly for all involved. Now it is 2020, with very interconnected economies between all involved and with the US, China, Russia, and North Korea having nuclear arsenals. Therefore it is indeed borderline madness to suggest that anyone might decide to start a full out war on the Korean peninsula, it is even more ridiculous to suggest that this might happen "by accident" (like it is ridiculous to suggest that WWI started by accident). In the real world of today one might look at Chinese-Indian relations. Probably 10s of soldiers on both sides died recently. Are the nukes flying yet? Of course not, no-one is suicidal and both sides won't attempt anything beyond their skirmishes in one or 2 remote valleys. It's only sensationalist news channels that peddle the risk of war with North Korea.
chefkoch 6y ago
The main difference is that before WW I the countries wanted a war and military leadership didn't fully comprehend what had changed in last years.
- jacobush 6y ago
  Are you sure we have fully comprehended the current situation?

mytailorisrich 6y ago

Full-scale wars are not started by accident, certainly not when 3 or 4 countries involved have nuclear weapons, not least North Korea itself. If anything North Korea developing its own nuclear arsenal took war off the table. That was the point, although full-scale war was probably already off the table, but a more limited action to topple the regime probably wasn't. It's borderline madness to suggest otherwise.

free_rms 6y ago
mdiesel just gave you an example of one of the most destructive wars in history, a dozen-nation pileup, being started by accident. so far, MAD has kept that from happening again. But it's not borderline madness to observe something that definitely actually happened.
- mytailorisrich 6y ago
  It was an irrelevant example, and an incorrect one. A war on the Korean peninsula already happened in the past and it went quite badly for all involved. Now it is 2020, with very interconnected economies between all involved and with the US, China, Russia, and North Korea having nuclear arsenals. Therefore it is indeed borderline madness to suggest that anyone might decide to start a full out war on the Korean peninsula, it is even more ridiculous to suggest that this might happen "by accident" (like it is ridiculous to suggest that WWI started by accident). In the real world of today one might look at Chinese-Indian relations. Probably 10s of soldiers on both sides died recently. Are the nukes flying yet? Of course not, no-one is suicidal and both sides won't attempt anything beyond their skirmishes in one or 2 remote valleys. It's only sensationalist news channels that peddle the risk of war with North Korea.

chefkoch 6y ago

The main difference is that before WW I the countries wanted a war and military leadership didn't fully comprehend what had changed in last years.

jacobush 6y ago
Are you sure we have fully comprehended the current situation?