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" his biggest fear was and continues to be North Korea." Can you go into why? The sentiment runs at odds with Bush's obsession with Iraq/Iran.
by niggler 14y ago
" his biggest fear was and continues to be North Korea."
Can you go into why? The sentiment runs at odds with Bush's obsession with Iraq/Iran.
- mayneack 14y agoNot really an ideal frame of reference
- SoftwareMaven 14y agoIt really comes down to the country's leadership. All of the other points in other comments here are certainly valid, but he feels that NK's leaders are more likely to be willing to push the button and the US is in range. What I can't say is if this belief in NK's leaders is based on actual intelligence or some sort or just his opinion. Given their willingness to take pot-shots at SK, I know I'm concerned about this.
- niggler 14y agoHas that sentiment changed since Kim Jong-un ascended to power?
- SoftwareMaven 14y agoHis view hasn't. My reading of it is that is because Kim Jong-un was raised in the same megalomaniac environment and the supporting power structure hasn't changed.
- Volpe 14y agoBut we're safe right? Those defence satellites worked?
- SoftwareMaven 14y agoThat part I have no real knowledge of. I'm guessing whatever information he has about it is still classified. However, the fact that he is worried says something to me about the answer to the question.
- streptomycin 14y agoThe Axis of Evil included North Korea along with those two countries.
- niggler 14y agoIf I recall correctly, the Bush administration's list of countries in the Axis of Evil, sorted by perceived evil from most to least evil, was : 1) Iran 2) Iraq 3) North Korea North Korea was not the top threat at the time.
- mhuffman 14y agoNorth Korea was not the top threat that we could realistically do anything about.
- streptomycin 14y agoIf I recall correctly, the list was unordered. But practically speaking, it was obvious that Iraq was the easiest target to attack, and North Korea would have been the most difficult. That has nothing to do with perceived evilness, though.
- InclinedPlane 14y agoBecause the regime has always been crazy, even as it passes through different rulers. The best case scenario of North Korea is that the world is faced with a humanitarian crises on a shocking scale that will cost tens of billions of dollars to correct. The expected lower limit of the results of foreign action working to take down the North Korean regime would be the deaths of hundreds of thousands or millions of South Korean civilians (in a matter of hours) due to shelling from thousands of DPRK artillery positions. The possible upper limit of badness would be the North Koreans hitting Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Taipei, Tokyo, and Seoul with nuclear and/or chemical weapons on ICBMs, IRBMs, aircraft, or smuggled onto commercial cargo ships.
- brownbat 14y ago> The best case scenario of North Korea is that the world is faced with a humanitarian crises on a shocking scale True. Reintegration would compare very unfavorably to that of East Germany: http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/04/09/comparing-north-korea-to-east-germany/ http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/04/09/comparing-north-kore... Every aspect is much worse. Larger population, lower relative GDP, lower workforce skills...