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It might have something to do with NK’s erratic and aggressive leadership.

doublerabbit 3y ago
And what about Russia's erractic and agressive leadership, or China's erractric and agressive leadership? Russia - Ukraine China - Hong Kong, Tibet, spectulating Taiwan.
- 35208654 3y ago
  Many eyes have been batted over Russia’s erratic leadership. One one extended instance was called The Cold War. As for China, if you can’t hear the war drums being beat over the threat to Taiwan, get your hearing checked.
  - doublerabbit 3y ago
    Right, so how is that any different to NK developing ICBM's? This is just as the same level of war mongering as Isreal going to war for not wanting Iran to build nuclear. It's okay for other countries to have bombs, but not if..
    - fnordpiglet 3y ago
      Seems legit. If I were a country faced with a belligerent other country avowing my nuclear destruction once they get the capability I wouldn’t be super eager to see that happen. That’s not warmongering that’s taking serious explicit threats explicitly seriously.
    - 35208654 3y ago
      Not if they are totalitarian and have plans to invade a sovereign nation it borders. You cannot ignore the values of these states in this discussion.
    - bayouborne 3y ago
      Because Russia and China's occasional hyperbolic rhetoric notwithstanding, one gets the sense that behind the posturing, the people with their hands on the nuclear machinery are cold-eyed professionals. North Korea doesn't appear to have a layered command structure - it just has a succession of paranoid, isolated, all-powerful individuals, and almost directly underneath them, terrified administrators who feel that if they put a foot wrong they'll be disappeared. On the nuclear stage that's a terrifying dynamic. The US plays games, same for Russia and China - in a sense they're all veterans and they've been opponents on the same pitch for forever. Pakistan and India are going to be involved in their own private drama (from a global perspective) for the foreseeable future. I agree that Israel/Iran has disturbing potential, but North Korea? They're the damaged kid who had a .22 two decades ago, then got a 9mm, and now is about to take delivery of a Kalashnikov - that's why it's different.
- wkat4242 3y ago
  China is not erratic. They are the most long-term managed superpower out of them all. They don't have to worry about the next election nor bickering with their oligarchs. They just continue slowly and steadily with their plans made years in attendance. Geopolitically they are often in conflict with us but they are really predictable. Kim Yong Un is the total opposite of that, he has a similar stable position but many internal challenges like food supply that destabilize. And he uses his nuclear ambitions as a distraction. This nut should really have been cracked before he got his hands on nukes. I know the thousands of artillery shells pointed at Seoul were a problem but it's nothing compared to what it is now. It would have been better for their own population too which is living in a hellhole.
  - red-iron-pine 3y ago
    The Chinese would have never let NK get "cracked". This is their rabid attack dog, and it keeps the US, Japan, and SK off kilter.

And what about Russia's erractic and agressive leadership, or China's erractric and agressive leadership? Russia - Ukraine China - Hong Kong, Tibet, spectulating Taiwan.

35208654 3y ago
Many eyes have been batted over Russia’s erratic leadership. One one extended instance was called The Cold War. As for China, if you can’t hear the war drums being beat over the threat to Taiwan, get your hearing checked.
- doublerabbit 3y ago
  Right, so how is that any different to NK developing ICBM's? This is just as the same level of war mongering as Isreal going to war for not wanting Iran to build nuclear. It's okay for other countries to have bombs, but not if..
  - fnordpiglet 3y ago
    Seems legit. If I were a country faced with a belligerent other country avowing my nuclear destruction once they get the capability I wouldn’t be super eager to see that happen. That’s not warmongering that’s taking serious explicit threats explicitly seriously.
  - 35208654 3y ago
    Not if they are totalitarian and have plans to invade a sovereign nation it borders. You cannot ignore the values of these states in this discussion.
  - bayouborne 3y ago
    Because Russia and China's occasional hyperbolic rhetoric notwithstanding, one gets the sense that behind the posturing, the people with their hands on the nuclear machinery are cold-eyed professionals. North Korea doesn't appear to have a layered command structure - it just has a succession of paranoid, isolated, all-powerful individuals, and almost directly underneath them, terrified administrators who feel that if they put a foot wrong they'll be disappeared. On the nuclear stage that's a terrifying dynamic. The US plays games, same for Russia and China - in a sense they're all veterans and they've been opponents on the same pitch for forever. Pakistan and India are going to be involved in their own private drama (from a global perspective) for the foreseeable future. I agree that Israel/Iran has disturbing potential, but North Korea? They're the damaged kid who had a .22 two decades ago, then got a 9mm, and now is about to take delivery of a Kalashnikov - that's why it's different.
wkat4242 3y ago
China is not erratic. They are the most long-term managed superpower out of them all. They don't have to worry about the next election nor bickering with their oligarchs. They just continue slowly and steadily with their plans made years in attendance. Geopolitically they are often in conflict with us but they are really predictable. Kim Yong Un is the total opposite of that, he has a similar stable position but many internal challenges like food supply that destabilize. And he uses his nuclear ambitions as a distraction. This nut should really have been cracked before he got his hands on nukes. I know the thousands of artillery shells pointed at Seoul were a problem but it's nothing compared to what it is now. It would have been better for their own population too which is living in a hellhole.
- red-iron-pine 3y ago
  The Chinese would have never let NK get "cracked". This is their rabid attack dog, and it keeps the US, Japan, and SK off kilter.