N. Korea, not Iraq is the REAL threat

[Warthog]

What does Iraq do? What military do they have? Sure, before '91, they had the 4th largest standing army in the world....now? lol, no way.....Saddam is just the bully on the corner.....

I just read this outstanding article today in US News & World Report.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/0...ws/18korea.htm

Specifically, focus on these facts:
- The regime has supported terrorists
- 5,000-ton stockpile of biological and chemical weapons–including anthrax, sarin nerve gas, and the plague
- North Korea has tested and developed medium- and long-range missiles; capable of hitting the USA in about 15 years
- enough plutonium to fashion one or two crude nuclear bombs.
- Army is third largest in the world @ 1.3 million

The Army is nothing...probably uses 1950's era tactics and has outdated weaponry...an air force is probably non-existant or would be in the case of a conflict.

What worries me are the WMD's and the fact of supporting terrorists.

Sure, we could get into the same predicament as during the Korea War of the '50s, with China and all.....but IMO, China is smart enough NOT to get invovled. They've realized the economic sucess is how you conquer on the world stage, and messing with the USA, their primary economic partner, would be pure suicide. Heck, they need us a lot more than we need them.........empose a trade sanction on China and within a short amount of time, US companies will have their products made in Malaysia or Singapore....or any other Asian country..

What do you guys think?

Warthog

[FreakyOCR]

China buys a lot of US product too...

I dunno.. it's a mess....

[Warthog]

I do know Boeing just had a pretty good sized deal with China last year...

But I think that the ratio of products bought from China is far great than products bought from the USA.....I mean, clothing, toys, little parts, trinquets,etc.,etc.

[ryogenetic]

Let us look at a brief history of war. (or perhaps conspiracy theories) The Iran /Iraq wars of the seventies was nothing more than two super powers having a contained fight. on the one side you had The USSR suppling Iran on the other you had the US suppling Iraq. Now with that in mind If we were to attack the N Koreans China could sit back and fund the war and on the other side of the coin we could fund S Korea. The problem here is that we would not only provide weapons and money but our sons and daughters.

Now to your comments. China would lose little from backing Korea. The ability of America and its allies to sanction china would be limited. China would gain in several departments. 1. they would gain veteran fighters. 2. They would find out how the US stands up to an all out war. I can see that Korea would not be as easily defeated (in respects to all wars before) as Iraq had been.

RYO

Where do they get the dollars to pay for that large army? Or is it voluntary?

Long run they're (N.Korea) a dead duck. No way they can survive. But its a closed far off place and getting in there won't be easy - maybe a lot more casualties than in Afghanistan.

[ben-the-slacker]

Wart,

A vast majority of products sold in the US comes from China. Think of all the products that would disappear if China separated relations w/ the US. Malaysia and Singapore have producing powers, but their productivity can never equal that of China's. Look at yourself and tell me if you don't own something that's made in China. Also, Japan's economy is slumping rapidly...their depression is gonna be a REALLLLY hard one to get out, so you can't depend too much of Japan. The fact is, US can survive without foreign imports, but its economy will definitely NOT be as strong as it once was. More than 50% of the world's leading businesses invest in China. If China and US severed ties, would you be glad to pay a s***load of money to buy something that was once soooooo cheap...? Just look at Japan. Their economy has been steadily going down for the last decade. Why? Because they depended heavily on US. Now that demand in US has gone down, the people of Japan are getting laid off because the need to produce isn't as great as before. (No disrespect to the Japanese people...)

Sure, we could get into the same predicament as during the Korea War of the '50s, with China and all.....but IMO, China is smart enough NOT to get invovled. They've realized the economic sucess is how you conquer on the world stage, and messing with the USA, their primary economic partner, would be pure suicide. Heck, they need us a lot more than we need them.........empose a trade sanction on China and within a short amount of time, US companies will have their products made in Malaysia or Singapore....or any other Asian country..

If that's the way you think, then so be it. I can't make you think differently. You think the world is supposed to be a servant to the US or something? and then, when the US doesn't need a country anymore, it just disposes of it?... The US is still the imperialistic bas**** it has always been, except it shoves its ideals down other nations' throats now with more finesse.



Just my $0.02...

[lost]

Now to your comments. China would lose little from backing Korea. The ability of America and its allies to sanction china would be limited. China would gain in several departments. 1. they would gain veteran fighters. 2. They would find out how the US stands up to an all out war. I can see that Korea would not be as easily defeated (in respects to all wars before) as Iraq had been.

China has backed away from N Korea already. North Korea would be easier than Iraq, most of their weapons are older, same with China. During the Korean war China had to fight most of the war for N Korea with the help from USSR and the weapons then were about equal on both sides. Now much of the weapons China has is 1950 to 1970's era. In the 1950's China economy did not depend as much on foreign trade, now it does. Most of what is made in China can easily be made somewhere else, it is made in China now because it is very cheap to do so and the China is making it easier to do. The US has had to help N Korea out in the last few years because they have no economy and their population starving. They may have a large mil but how well is it trained? Not very well. Would have to help S Korea in war yes, but not like in the 50's. S Korea is a much stronger country now with modern weapons and trained very well (at least in the 80's they were).

[kenyg]

A big part of North Korea's money comes from selling missile and other weapons technology to the third world - they've sold to Iraq and Iran. They've also undergone famine in recent years, yet still managed to continue funding their military.

They are the last vestage of 1950's communism - it's a very bizarre society.

While certainly not on the same footing with US military technology, - they have a lot of brute-force - lotsa (millions) of people in uniform. Seoul, the capital of South Korea (population 12million+) lies not all that far the DMZ. It wouldn't be as "clean" a war like the Afgan campaign or the Gulf war (casulty wise).


Ken

[sKiT]

I really hope to never go to war with China.

[lost]

Here is some info on North Korea
Here is some info on South Korea
P.S. here is info on Afghanistan