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11th April 2017, 10:12 PM | #81 |
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12th April 2017, 04:37 AM | #82 |
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Yes, and the rational response is sending them some rice and kicking the can down the road.
It's probably best to wait until the NK's rise up and hang the Kims. However, Kim's nuclear brinkmanship is concerning. There is a logic to hasten his demise before he has a nuclear rocket that can reach the US. I think Kim might have been better off holding SK hostage with his artillery. The way he's going, even China might be getting sick of his ****. |
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12th April 2017, 05:00 AM | #83 |
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12th April 2017, 05:08 AM | #84 |
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The pop starts were about to lead a coup?
I think it's fair to call Stalin a madman. His paranoia was legendary. He slaughtered millions of people in a BELIEF that they would seize power from him. The North Korean Dynasty exhibits those same traits. I would call folks like that "Madmen," but if you have a different term, fine. The fundamental point is that their decision making process is going to be a bit perverse. |
12th April 2017, 05:18 AM | #85 |
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12th April 2017, 05:43 AM | #86 |
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I'm not sure if there is any way for us to know the truth about the pop star story given the nature of North Korea.
Anyway, Stalin held on to power until he died a natural death. So did Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Un is trying to do the same thing. I don't think that trying to do this by whatever means necessary is irrational, especially if it works. Just evil. |
12th April 2017, 08:52 AM | #87 |
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12th April 2017, 08:57 AM | #88 |
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I think our disagreement is just semantic. By "Madman" I don't mean a guy that sees fairies and hurls his own poo around a padded room. I mean that he exhibits the cruel paranoia of classic strong men. That may keep him in power, but world history is replete with these sorts of folks vastly overestimating their power and launching ill-advised military missions.
I do think it's entirely possible that North Korea believes it has a path to gobbling up South Korea. These sorts of strong men typically have a vastly over inflated notion of their own power and the strength of their military. I also doubt Kin Jong-un receives reasoned, well-researched intelligence about his potential adversaries. My guess is that the official telling Jong-un, "Yeah, bro, if we attack South Korea we are going to get stomped into dust," would find himself next to a couple of pop stars in a shallow grave. So, even if you think he has a rational self interest and is reasonable gifted at consolidating his rule in North Korea, he can still be making ridiculous decisions based on bad information. |
12th April 2017, 08:59 AM | #89 |
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12th April 2017, 09:02 AM | #90 |
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12th April 2017, 09:05 AM | #91 |
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I do know that the birth of Kim Jong-il was heralded by a talking ice-berg:
Quote:
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12th April 2017, 09:07 AM | #92 |
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12th April 2017, 09:11 AM | #93 |
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Indeed.
There is something about the specific stories the North Koreans tell that I find infinitely amusing, though. Like, if you wanted people to think you were a demi-god, wouldn't you claim that you invented computers not ... the cheeseburger? It would be a deeply entertaining place if wasn't for all those pesky human rights violations. |
12th April 2017, 09:13 AM | #94 |
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12th April 2017, 09:25 AM | #95 |
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12th April 2017, 09:28 AM | #96 |
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14th April 2017, 03:57 AM | #97 |
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14th April 2017, 03:58 AM | #98 |
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14th April 2017, 04:01 AM | #99 |
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Let's hope the NK generals freak out so badly by Trump's war drums that they send Un's head in a box to Washington to appease the US.
But even if that happens, Trump will be emboldened and just move on to the next hornet's nest to kick. |
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14th April 2017, 02:36 PM | #100 |
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Trump just announced a strategy of North Korea of 'Maximum Pressure and Engagement" which sounds a lot like Obama's strategy of dealing with NK, just with more macho rhetoric.
The more things change... |
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8th August 2017, 04:06 PM | #101 |
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So, Trump has now threatened North Korea with "fire and fury like the world has never seen" while NK says it has a missile capable warhead and plans to fire a missile at Gaum if the US doesn't stop provoking them.
With dumb and insane in charge, is this rhetoric likely to end peacefully, or are we about to spiral out of control? |
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8th August 2017, 04:32 PM | #102 |
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Watching Trump and Kim is like watching two insane narcissistic, megalomaniac bad guys out of one of the older James Bond movies.
Neither of which as an outsider I draw a huge amount of sympathy for |
8th August 2017, 05:26 PM | #103 |
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Failing to deal effectively with NK in the past has lead us here. The Kims have been in charge for 3 generations now and the human rights violations and rhetoric have just gone up and up. Now we really can't ignore it anymore. So what are the real alternatives?
And what's this I heard about Pop Tarts giving power to NK? |
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8th August 2017, 05:30 PM | #104 |
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8th August 2017, 05:35 PM | #105 |
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Can you imagine if they had a resource we wanted? They'd be the 51st state by now.
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8th August 2017, 05:38 PM | #106 |
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8th August 2017, 05:52 PM | #107 |
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8th August 2017, 06:00 PM | #108 |
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8th August 2017, 06:10 PM | #109 |
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This is very dangerous. Most administrations find ways to get North Korea to understand that what we want most is to ignore them. Trump is bucking that trend. Strategic Patience was another way of saying, "if you shut up, we will leave you off of our list of countries to do". It's worked until now.
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8th August 2017, 06:34 PM | #110 |
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Trump is desperate about his Russian scandals. He might start a war just to try keeping power.
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1. He'd never do that. 2. Okay but he's not currently doing it. 3. Okay but he's not currently technically doing it. 4. Okay but everyone does it. 5. He's doing it, we can't stop him, no point in complaining about it. 6. We all knew he was going to do it which... makes it okay somehow. 7. It's perfectly fine that's he's doing it. |
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8th August 2017, 07:11 PM | #111 |
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8th August 2017, 07:47 PM | #112 |
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Let's check back in a week to see how many of you were able to predict the future.
Betting the under. |
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8th August 2017, 07:52 PM | #113 |
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1. He'd never do that. 2. Okay but he's not currently doing it. 3. Okay but he's not currently technically doing it. 4. Okay but everyone does it. 5. He's doing it, we can't stop him, no point in complaining about it. 6. We all knew he was going to do it which... makes it okay somehow. 7. It's perfectly fine that's he's doing it. |
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8th August 2017, 08:01 PM | #114 |
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"If we get Gorsuch and avoid nuclear war, a lot of us will count this as a win" The fact that the Republican party was so craven to pretend they weren't supporting an unstable, slow witted, dementia added racist for norm breaking partisan gain really sucks for everyone else on the planet.
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8th August 2017, 08:04 PM | #115 |
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8th August 2017, 09:09 PM | #116 |
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8th August 2017, 09:10 PM | #117 |
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Will Trump be riding on a horse?
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We do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy. Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos |
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8th August 2017, 09:38 PM | #118 |
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This is nuts: there is simply no way NK can miniaturize a nuke and build ICBMs without foreign support, be it Russia or the Khan network or both, this quickly.
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8th August 2017, 09:47 PM | #119 |
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8th August 2017, 10:41 PM | #120 |
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