nicky10013

I doubt it. South Korea has already said that it won't reunify with North Korea until there's less of disparity in terms of wealth. They saw what happened with Germany and the billions of Marks and Euros Germany is still paying to bring the east up to western standards and they want absolutely no part of that. Bombing NK into rubble only makes that disparity worse. North Korea wouldn't be a market for anything. As they are right now, NK citizens are too poor to even afford food at their government frozen rates. Goods on the blackmarket are many times more expensive. If they're too poor to even buy food, they won't be a market for anyone. Which is why there just won't be a war.

Ah, so it's the LIBERALS fault that the Conservatives are hypocrites? Wow, is there ANYTHING Conservatives EVER take responsibility for?

They will have leadership, though. The North Korean military has a LOT of say in the government and are just as hardline as the Kims are. If the Kim's go away, NK goes from a totalitarian dictatorship to a military junta that acts in the same manner anyhow.

The Iraqi back was broken by airpower as they had no where to hide. Air power will still be effective in North Korea, but not nearly as much. The entire DMZ are lined with nuclear proof bunkers.

That's what the NEP was about. Oh wait, Conservatives hate that.

They're not going to stroll into a war when China holds a gigantic amount of US debt.

The US would certainly respond. China wouldn't. At most, China would station troops along the northern border to prevent refugees from crossing the border.

Which treaties?

It would draw in South Korean Allies, but escalate off the peninsula? I highly doubt it. That being said, even the cost of war ON the peninsula would be so high that it wouldn't make sense for the South. Eventually the North would lose and the Kim's would lose power, which would make sense for them.

There are roughly 13,000 artillery pieces within range of Seoul. 60% Korea's population lives within firing range of the border. A lot of people will get killed.

That won't happen until the Kims die and the cult of personality is destroyed. It's hard to know what people believe or don't, but considering some of the video footage of the death of Kim Il Sung, it's not hard to believe that these people are completely brainwashed to believe what they belief. After the death of Stalin, people cried in the same way. Talk to anyone who lived through the period and they'll say after knowing what we know now, it's disgusting how we could've felt that way about a man so heinous, but they did.

NK knows the risks, their risks are just different than ours. Instead of human losses, their risks are the loss of power. They aren't necessarily worried about how many people die. Especially considering that of a population of around 23 million, 500,000-1,000,000 are currently imprisoned in corrective labour gulags which duplicate those of the USSR in the 30s, 40s and 50s.

China is certainly in a position to project force anywhere in Asia. Don't think otherwise. As for the North only doing what China wants, don't be so sure. They did this without Chinese support, they tested nuclear weapons against the expressed wishes of Beijing. Hell, they attacked South Korea in 1950 without the prior blessing of eithe China or the Soviet Union. If they're backed into a small enough corner I could see them attacking without support. This supposes China will support them. That won't happen. I've said this multiple times but people keep ignoring this; the fact that China has actually been cooperating regarding North Korea. The Chinese don't see North Korea as an ally and a country within it's orbit. It sees North Korea as a nuissance which it has to put up wit due to the shared border. Do you really think the Chinese enjoy paying out welfare to a country that can't get its act together? China props up the regime for one reason and one reason only: refugees. Thousands already flee over the Yalu river into China to escape the regime. If the KWP were to collapse the only way out of the North is into China as the DMZ is the most heavily mined area on the planet. If there were a way to depose the Korean regime with a more stable government in a way that doesn't cause a complete collapse, behind closed doors China would support it.

I highly doubt it. After the sinking of the Cheonan, the president, just like he did a couple of days ago, promised widespread retaliation if it happened again. To me it looks like a member of the government falling on their sword to make up for the fact that they can't.

There have been rumours that North Korea wants to resume the 6 party talks. They always pull this kind of thing before negotiations.

Paris, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Krakow, Warsaw.

Was it Fiat and Chrysler? I originally had it as Chrysler but second guessed myself. I googled fiat and Ford popped up so I figured that's who they took over and why there has been such a turn around. My mistake. As for Europe being a basketcase, the economic situation isn't anywhere near as bad as everyone thinks it is. Furthermore, chances it's going be horrible also isn't going to happen. With Greece, everyone predicted the demise of the Euro but alas those projections are way off. The Euro lost some value, a little ripple if you will, and has appreciated in value since. There's been another ripple with Ireland but it won't be nearly as bad as everyone thinks. The EU will never allow it to come to waht people are predicting. Everyone was predicting doom but I was telling my friends if I had cash on hand I'd be buying Greek bonds. They were forcing to give out big interest rates because no one wanted them as everyone was thinking Greece was going to default on it's debt. But of course, the EU to the rescu with billions of euros.

Iraq didn't have the power to destroy a staunch Allie's capital city. Nor, despite desperate attempts to make people believe otherwise, did Iraq have nuclear weapons.

North American automakers do equally terribly in Europe. It's not because of operating costs but because of design. Nobody in North America wants to buy the small little vehicles that buzz around the tiny streets of European cities. On the other side of things, no one in Europe wants gigantic cars due to high fuel taxes and congestion fees. It's a completely different culture. What I do know is for the most part, the European car companies are better off fiscally. Fiat had to rescue Ford. GM was desperate to sell opel for liquidty as it was the only good asset it had left.

What do question marks have to do with anything? Furthermore, why would the answer change? Nothing happened to undo what has already been done and Bob Rae in this matter, just doesn't matter.

It's not inevitable, though.

You posted it. It's your data.

I think everyone would like to think they call the shots. In the end, that's not the case. Korea is free to do what they want. Allies don't consult each other all the time. It was a complete surprise to Hitler when Japan attacked the US...a glaring oversight. Most recently, in an attempt to get peace talks off the ground, the US asked Israel to halt settlements. Of course, they didn't listen. In the end, if the South is so upset by what the North does, there could be a heavier response. However, since the stakes are so high, I don't really believe ANYONE wants a wider war. Seoul would be destroyed, the US would be drawn in after trying to get out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and in the end, the likely fate of the Kim family is along the lines of what Hussein went through. Lots of tough talk on all sides, not much action and for a lot of good reasons.

None of that has changed.

I doubt it. South Korea knows the score even better than the US does. After all, any of it's activity directly impacts South Korea. Any provacative retaliation and the resulting war would most likely see Seoul completely destroyed. After every attack, the South talks tough, but that's about it, becasue really, that's all it can do.