kittyinthedark said:
^pretty much my concern. To all of you saying that this isn't a problem, wtf? Kim Jong Il is fucking nuts, and he's proven it time and time again. To state that the situation is okay because he "probably won't launch anything" is absurd. Hasn't anyone ever heard of erring on the side of caution?
No, what’s absurd is suggesting that the best thing we could do would be to plunge into a war that would-undoubtedly-cost thousands-to hundreds of thousands-of lives. A war, which would not only pose the real risk of a military response from China but would also destablize the world even further, all for the sake of some remote
possibility of
something happening at
sometime, is what's insane.
Has N Korea actually threatened to attack any nation unprovoked? No. Do they even have the bomb? No. Do we know if they are really even close to being able to develop the bomb? No. For all we
really know, their nuclear weapons program might be 20 years away from producing a weapon. Has N Korea attacked any other country since the end of the Korean War? No. Plus (as previously mentioned) do they have a reliable delivery system? Not really.
Now even if they developed these weapons the bombs would be very few, very small and very primitive by standards. Jong might be crazy, but he still realizes what the consequences of his actions would be, and while he might not care about the welfare of his people I’m sure he cares a great deal about his own life and grip on power. I doubt he wants to die anymore then anyone else. Does anyone
really believe that did the N Koreans
actually develop a couple of small primitive nukes and managed to place them on some of their unreliable missiles that-for no reason at all-they’d just decide launch them at
somebody one day for absolutely no reason? Just like the Soviets were going to do? It's not out of the question, but it is
highly unlikely.
Jong and his crazy father have existed in their little bubble for the last 50 years, rattling their sabers from time to time, but that’s all it’s ever been, why would they suddenly and unexplainably change that now? Is there any solid evidence to show that it has changed? No, there isn’t. The best thing to do, is what we’ve been doing for the last 50 years, just sit back and don’t threaten him, ignore him, eventually he’ll die or be assassinated.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the idea of N Korea possessing the bomb either, and as far as I’m concerned, the less countries that possess nuclear weapons the better. But, considering all the variables and “what ifs” in this particular situation I certainly don’t believe that the “rewards” of any military action would outweigh the risks.
