The scary scary North Korea missile that got Obama whipped up into a frenzy turns out to be dud. It landed right in the Pacific Ocean. Mises might have expected this: the commies talk a big game but this nation is a backward basketcase in every way. Economically and technologically, they have no capacity to threaten anyone. It is hard to know what is more pathetic: the absurd bragging by the government there or the attempt by government here to portray this as a great source of alarm and fear. It was Rumsfeld, as the NYT reports, who warned in 1998 that North Korea’s amazing missile program threatens U.S. even without testing. Wrong again buddy.
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/9738/missile-a-dud/
Missile a dud
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Apolitical Political Commentary!
Monday, April 6, 2009
North Korea Is Only A Tiny Blade Of Grass!
Oh-oh, a tiny blade of grass has stirred in the wind! Call out the Army and the Marines!
The unConstitutional coup is failing on every front – the domestic economy, international bullying, total control of the media sources – so it has to try to use its most muscular arm, the military industrial complex.
The problem is Americans cannot stomach more Iraq or more Afghanistan. Invading Iran has become way too outlandish. Boogeyman, boogeyman where are you?
A blade of grass called North Korea has stirred! Use the puppet pulpit to inflame the world with propaganda about a nuclear holocast simply because a blade of grass spent its precious resources on a big fireworks display while its citizens starve.
These diversionary tactics designed to camouflage the economic terrorism of the unConstitutional coup in the United States simply expose the people who are its slaves, and who are the mindless agents of its military industrial complex. Listen to what the politicians say. If a politician voices any of this diversionary rhetoric then that minion may as well shout at the top of his or her voice “I am a traitor against the Constitutional Republic called the United States of America.”
From what I’ve seen (which isn’t everything, I admit) coming out of SecDef Robert Gates, he said we’re not going to do a thing about it (militarily).
And I think Mr. Gates wisely left out, “because N. Korea couldn’t fire a store bought model rocket successfully.” No need to point out N. Korea’s failures when they’ll do it all by themselves. After all, very few like a braggart.
From what I’ve seen (which isn’t everything, I admit) coming out of SecDef Robert Gates, he said we’re not going to do a thing about it (militarily).
And I think Mr. Gates wisely left out, “because N. Korea couldn’t fire a store bought model rocket successfully.” No need to point out N. Korea’s failures when they’ll do it all by themselves. After all, very few like a braggart.
Libertarians always seem to forget, that overall economic and technological abilities are not equal to military abilities.
E.g. my homecountry germany still ranks among the most wealthiest in the world far above russia for example. But the german military would be in no shape to fight the russian alone.
So while North Korea is close to straving to death, they are still powerful enough to kill hundreds of thousands south koreans and maybe even conquer them and bring them the blessings of communism, ignoring the US in the matchup. So do not claim that north korea is no threat, at least locally it is one and as long as south korea is an ally of the US, the US must worry about north korea.
“Libertarians always seem to forget, that overall economic and technological abilities are not equal to military abilities.”
Florian, its not that we forget. That understanding is common-sense; what we do is ignore them as a threat on the premise that adherence to a constitutional foriegn-policy would warrant them nothing more than a pimple on our butt. The fixation of our government on a bunch of Marxist incompetents half-way around the world is distracting at least, and constitutionally ignorant at worst.
“Economically and technologically, they have no capacity to threaten anyone.”
Tell that to the millions of North Koreans who have been oppressed and god knows how many killed by that Stalinist regime. Nevermind the fact that they have the 4th largest army in the world and the highest percentage of military personnel per capita of any country.
Oh yeah, there was that little thing called the Korean War that began when the North invaded the South in 1950.
So you’re right, they are no threat to anyone.
@ Mike
I’m by no means an intellect in regards to war. But it seems to me that in today’s day in age, body count has very little to do with the strength of your army.
“Tell that to the millions of North Koreans who have been oppressed and god knows how many killed by that Stalinist regime. Nevermind the fact that they have the 4th largest army in the world and the highest percentage of military personnel per capita of any country.”
Kim and his underlings could still be removed from power in a heartbeat if the people of North Korea stood up for themselves. But the people are all poor (by design) and brainwashed.
What part of the USA would that rocket supposedly be able to reach? The Aleutians?
I read that this rocket could carry about 20 kg payload. The kind of nuke the North Korean maybe will be able to build would be a copy of the ones first built in 1945 of around 4 tons. They’d need a rocket 100 times as powerful.
And then, how ever could the North Koreans be able to hit a city??? A nuke of 10 kiloton blowing up in a wasteland or at sea, spreads much less radioactivity than Tjernobyl did. If you’re not killed by the heat or blast wave, and don’t walk over ground zero afterwards, then it won’t hurt you.
An old Korean I new, told me that he thought that the Russians, the Chinese, the Japanese and the Americans all conspire to support the North Korean government, because they want to keep Korea divided, weak and occupied. Well, that sound a bit self overrating, but as inefficient as all the “efforts” of the “world community” to get rid of North Korea has been, I guess there might be motives around for maintaining status quo. If nothing else, then in order to scare up the world like this with bogus “missle threats” as a pretext for introducing more fascism.
Florian Kren says….my homecountry germany still ranks among the most wealthiest in the world far above russia for example. But the german military would be in no shape to fight the russian alone.
So Germany obviously has the wherewithal to pay for its own defence, by your own admission. Why aren’t they paying for it? Does it have anything to do with our troop presence in Germany? I have a similar question along those lines with regard to South Korea.
“So while North Korea is close to straving to death, they are still powerful enough to kill hundreds of thousands south koreans and maybe even conquer them and bring them the blessings of communism, ignoring the US in the matchup.”
Yes, on paper NK has an impressive army. But when you consider that NK can’t even fuel its rather old tanks, it becomes obvious that they won’t be conquering anyone. The only real card that NK has is the conventional artillery positioned north of Seoul, which can cause massive damage in the initial stages of a conflict. But those positions would also be the very first targets of any SK/US operational plan, so it’s not even certain how many barrages they could fire before meeting the business end of US missiles.
Why are some people deliberately dense? It boggles the mind.
“E.g. my homecountry germany still ranks among the most wealthiest in the world far above russia for example. But the german military would be in no shape to fight the russian alone.”
What’s that got to do with economics though? Germany has various other restrictions on it.
Florian & Mike,
The principal point which is obviously being missed is, at what point did it become incumbent upon the United States to become entangled in these foreign issues? The suffering of the people in the North, though it may sound heartless, is not of issue to us. Furthermore, if they’d like that suffering to stop, they are, as Brent mentioned above, more than capable to rise against their government. In addition, the regional threat imposed by the North Koreans should be handled by that region, if the threat is indeed serious.
To expand on Christopher Lewis’ comment, it would indeed be much better if the nations in the region decided how to deal with North Korea. North Korea, if it represents any sort of threat to anyone it’s to the South Koreans and the Japanese. Since they’re the ones who would suffer the brunt of the consequences of a war, it’s hardly right for the U.S. to stick its beak in.
Regrettably, many of my fellow Americans think that the U.S. government is entitled to start wars that are to be fought on other people’s land, while the Americans just watch on TV. I don’t hold with that.
@Kevin Hall
Of course, but currently US troops are there and currently there might be some treaties requiring those troops to act in case of north korean aggression. So even if today Obama would say “Fooled you, i’m a libertarian.”, north korea could still not be ignored in the near future.
@S Andrews
Yes, we should pay for our own defense. But most germans think, that germany is so likeable, that it doesnt need a military or they do not think at all, so my vote cannot change much.
What fascinates me even more is that a vast majority of german people and part of german geovernment were convinced that Bush was a imperalistic cowboy trying ready to force his cruel policy upon the rest of the world by any means. But at the same time, there was zero discussion about asking the US soldiers to leave. And when some US soldiers left due to redployment inside europe, the mood was, that this was negative.
Do people have no brains?
If i’m convinced that some foreign nation is from time to time lead by some cruel imperalist(and counting Reagan, its not unusual for US), then i do not want a single soldier of that nation inside my territory. That few germans draw that conclusion, although they have such thoughts about Bush, just shows, that they barely think at all.
@Inquisitor
The blogpost contained the statement:
“Economically and technologically, they have no capacity to threaten anyone.”
That is wrong, they have capability to threaten someone, at least inhabitants of Seoul.
If one does not count a few thousand dead south koreans and a few ten thousand dead north koreans and a few hundred dead US soldiers as damage in any way, then the statement is correct.
But i thought that part of libertarian thought is about individual rights and therefore even the risk for a single dead US soldier due to north korean arms is a threat, that even a libertarian US government could not completely ignore. So any US governemnt would have to mind what north korea is up to, at least as long as there are US soldiers nearby and treaties exist.
Oh yes, brainwashed North Koreans are more than capable to rise against their government. If they were truly capable, then it would have happened already.
But I do agree that this is mostly a regional problem (for now) and should by handled by her neighbors, mainly China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia.
I think you’re all missing the point. The reason why North Koreans put up with their regime is because they feel it provides them protection from the outside threat. And that they view as America, and particularly American military presence right under their very eyes. South Koreans are after all, their countrymen and kin, China are allies, and it’s unlikely that the NK government can successfully sell the notion of an imminent threat from Japan to the public. Therefore, the people in North Korea, raised up hearing about the supposed atrocities committed by US troops during the war, feel that the only thing keeping their nation safe from them is their government. The more hostile the US policy is in the region, the more justification the North Korean government will have to stay in place, and that’s why its trying to provoke a reaction from the West every time.
However by itself, DPRK poses little military threat to its neighbors. Don’t forget that the majority of their army uses WW2 era weaponry and has little fuel and supply to wage a conventional war. Compare that to South Korea, which has one of the best trained and equipped militaries in the world backed by a powerful industry, and I think you’ll realize there’s no contest here. It’s highly unlikely that even the generals in Pyongyang would be mad enough to cross the line between threats and action.
Overall, there’s a lot of things to consider here, the most important being the validity of US presence in that area.
Let’s not forget that the only reason North Korea’s still on the map is because of the Chinese. Of course, the only reason South Korea’s still on the map is because of the US, but the difference is that South Korea can hold its own these days. As long as we maintain good relations with China, I doubt that the politburo’s going to let the Dear Leader off of the short leash they’ve invariable got him on.
Keeping troops on the DMZ (so called tripwire theory) has done nothing to reduce the threat of the DPRK. If the ROK is afraid of the DPRK, let them handle it. If the German Federation is afraid of the Russian Federation, let them handle it. It is not America’s business. It has never been. Our constitution does not permit such things.
I see no reason to preserve world peace at the loss of American liberty. The statist/expansionist actions of the American neoconservatives since the Marshall Plan has led to nothing but the creation of a warfare state. The right advocates the warfare state while the left advocates the welfare state. Individual liberty and private property suffers.
Let us not forget, Imperial Japan attacked us as a result of a trade embargo.
I have been living in China for several months and not too long ago, there was a CCTV production showing a group of medical personnel that went to NK because there is a very high percentage of people with cataracts. They somehow managed to bring cameras with them and recorded a number of operations that successfully restored the vision of those patients. At the end, the patients got up and tearfully thanked their god (Kim) for curing them. It seems to me, the reason that this government is still in power, is the population lives in complete fear. The view from this production was very stark, no modern medical facilities, almost no cars, no international news; a completely closed society.
The North Koreans aren’t so much of a basket case they can’t develop nuclear weapons (with help) or sell missiles to others like Iran. This missile wasn’t a threat unto itself. It was part of a process that is a real threat.
North Korea wants us to think they’re a threat to us, because they know we have never invaded a country that had nukes or was of any kind of threat to us. North Korea wants to convince the U.S. government that it’s a threat, but I don’t buy it. Kim is a threat solely to his own oppressed people.
Apparently, the launch of a North Korean satellite into low orbit was successful.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/05/content_11134510.htm
So I must wonder: whose media are lying this time?
EVER WONDER WHAT YOU WOULD DO if you heard the Emergancy Broadcast System
air on radio warning that a foreign nuclear missile was headed your way? You turn on the
television, and a special news bulletin is already advising the public to evacuate the city
and get “as far away as possible and as quickly as possibly if you still can”. In a hurry,
you gather your family, everyone gets into the car, leaving everything behind. You notice
your neighbors speeding away in their cars at speeds up to 85 mph in a 35 mph zone,
running down everyone and everything that gets in their way, and some of them ramming
past other cars in a mad rush to get ahead of one another. You didn’t take notice when
they began, but off from the direction of downtown you hear air raid sirens blareing
away. As you speed out of your driveway, one of your friends from down the street comes
speeding on his way to leave town in his SUV at 75 mph and rams your mid size car out of
his way. Your family is now injured and your car disabled, and your use to be friend
continues speeding on his way in his damaged SUV, trying to save his own family and self.
And no one else will stop to offer you any help. They just keep speeding by, and would run
you over as an obstacle in their way if you tried to waive somebody down. After a while, you
notice far off in the western sky, the appearance of something re-entering the earth’s
atmosphere. You and your family were left behind in what rocket scientists call the
“KILL-ZONE”. MOST LIKELY, THAT SCINARIO WILL NEVER HAPPEN. In the event of a
nuclear attack, your government will not panic it’s people who they cannot save anyway.
THERE WILL BE NO WARNING. Hence if you are not a spiritually born again christian, you
will not have warning that you better make that last minute repentence. The flash will hit.
You’re suddenly in Hell. You don’t know what happened. You just know it’s to late to accept
Christ as your saviour by then. Meanwhile the thurmosphere explosion is scortching away
the ground where your hometown was only seconds before. If you are a christian, your next
concious thought will be you in Heaven. The enimy who fired that missile will have done
themselves more harm than they’ll ever do to you. But if you are NOT a christian, that
enimy will do more harm to you than they’ll do to themselves. That is because as long as
they are still in this life, they still have a chance to accept God’s free gift of salvation
through the blood of Jesus…That is if their heart isn’t to hardened to do so. The nonbeliever
who dies in a nuclear strike (or of anything for that matter) has his chance of being saved
from Hell taken from him for ever. Think of what it would be like to spend eternity in Hell
with the dictator of a country who sent a nuclear strike against your people and killed you.
Here’s even a worse irony…After you died in a nuclear attack as a nonbeliever, The dictator
of the country who sent that nuclear strike, by some unlikely miracle, realizes where he
stands spiritually, his heart is not quite to hardened, and accepts Christ and becomes a
christian. On Judgement Day, you will watch that former dictator be welcomed into Heaven
while you are being bound up to be cast into the Lake of Fire. SOUNDS UNFAIR???
ACTUALLY, IT IS FAIR AND JUST. That lost soul in Hell has had every opportunity to turn
to Jesus Christ and have his or her sins forgiven as anyone else had. One’s own self
rightousness will not make it into Heaven. Someone depending on self will not make it into
Heaven either. Only the rightousness given by Jesus Christ can get you into Heaven. The
invitation is open to everybody. There is nothing unfair about it. The only thing that will make
the difference between Heaven and Hell is if you were a born again christian before you left
this life. If you go to Hell some day, you will remember every time someone spoke to you
about your spiritual condition…including your memory of this comment.
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