Is North Korea pushing too far?

[Oldguy]

Thomas Donilon, the White House National Security Advisor had some unusually blunt words for North Korea Monday. In diplomatic-speak, it amounts to drawing a line in the sand.

“We will draw upon the full range of our capabilities to protect against, and to respond to, the threat posed to us and to our allies by North Korea,” he said.

Donilon added that while the United States would like better relations with North Korea, it “refuses to reward bad North Korean behavior.”

“The United States,” he said, “will not play the game of accepting empty promises or yielding to threats.”


U.S. officials warn N. Korea after it scraps armistice - The Washington Post


While provocative statements from the North are nothing out of the ordinary, the risk of a miscalculation this time is exceptionally high. The new "Dear Leader" only assumed power a little over a year ago and nobody knows enough about him to fathom what he might be up to or how far he will go. It's also a given that North Korea will do something to test any new South Korean President and they have one, Park Geun-hye who just took office last month. She's the first woman to head that country and Kim might challenge her to see what she's made of.

But, if he pushes the Obama administration, he'll find that this President is not afraid to pound North Korea into the sand. For all his faults, Obama has shown a willingness to use military force whenever it's necessary and if Kim thinks he's a pushover, or President Park either, such a miscalculation could lead to tragic results for everybody.

 

[The Rabbi]

The incompetent liberals running the US defense and diplomatic apparatus are wetting themselves over this challenge, which they are totally unprepared for. Look for more cave ins to North Korea. Perhaps even a visit by Jimmy Carter.

 

[waltky]

Gettin' ready for lil' Kim's missiles...

US to beef up missile defense against NKorea
15 Mar.`13 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon announced Friday it will spend $1 billion to add 14 interceptors to an Alaska-based missile defense system, responding to what it called faster-than-anticipated North Korean progress on nuclear weapons and missiles.

In announcing the decision, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he is determined to protect the U.S. homeland and stay ahead of a worrisome North Korean missile threat. He acknowledged that the interceptors already in place to defend against potential North Korean missile strikes have had poor test performances. "We will strengthen our homeland defense, maintain our commitments to our allies and partners, and make clear to the world that the United States stands firm against aggression," Hagel told a Pentagon news conference.

He said the 14 additional interceptors will be installed at Fort Greely, Alaska, where 26 already stand in underground silos, connected to communications systems and operated by soldiers at Greely and at Colorado Springs, Colo. The interceptors are designed to lift out of their silos, soar beyond the atmosphere and deploy a "kill vehicle" that can lock onto a targeted warhead and, by ramming into it at high speed, obliterate it. Hagel also cited a previously announced Pentagon plan to place an additional radar in Japan to provide early warning of a North Korean missile launch and to assist in tracking its flight path.

A portion of the $1 billion cost of the expanded system at Fort Greely will come from scrapping the final phase of a missile defense system the U.S. is building in Europe, Hagel said. The system in Europe is aimed mainly at defending against a missile threat from Iran; key elements of that system are already in place. Tom Collina, research director at the Arms Control Association, applauded the decision to scrap the final phase of the European system, calling it an addition that "may not work against a threat that does not yet exist." Anticipating possible European unease, Hagel said U.S. commitment to defending Europe "remains ironclad."

The decision to drop the planned expansion in Europe happens to coincide with President Barack Obama's announced intention to engage Russia in talks about further reducing each country's nuclear weapons arsenal. The Russians have balked at that, saying Washington must first address their objections to U.S. missile defenses in Europe, which the Russians see as undermining the deterrent value of their nuclear arms. Collina said the Russians may be more willing to talk about nuclear arms reductions now that the Obama administration had decided not to go forward with the final phase of its European missile defense system.

More US to beef up missile defense against NKorea - Yahoo! News

See also:

UN: 28 percent of NKorean children malnourished
Mar 15,`13 -- More than a fourth of all North Korean children are stunted from chronic malnutrition, and two-thirds of the country's 24 million people don't know where their next meal is coming from, the United Nations said Friday.

The report illustrates a major domestic challenge for North Korea's new young leader, Kim Jong Un. A team from the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reporting from North Korea, found that 2.8 million North Koreans "are in need of regular food assistance amidst worrying levels of chronic malnutrition and food insecurity." It said 4 percent of North Korean children are acutely malnourished. The report did not directly mention North Korea's recent threats against South Korea, its threat of a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the U.S. or Pyongyang's claim to have abolished the Korean War armistice as of Monday. But the report said humanitarian aid should be neutral and impartial "and must not be contingent on political developments."

The OCHA team also found that much of North Korea's support structure is crumbling under the third generation of Kim family rule. "Supplies of medicine and equipment are inadequate; water and heating systems need repair, and the infrastructure of schools and colleges is deteriorating rapidly," the report said. With little arable land, harsh weather and chronic shortages of fuel and equipment, North Korea has struggled for decades to feed its 24 million people. Its new leader, who took over in December 2011, has made improving the economy a priority and has pledged to improve North Koreans' standards of living.

Last autumn, a U.N. team visited all nine agricultural provinces of the communist state during the main cereal harvest and estimated that North Korea would need to import 507,000 metric tons of cereals to meet its basic food needs in 2013. That U.N. team's report recommended that North Korean farmers be allowed to sell or barter their surplus food at market, rather than turn their excess over to the state. Such incentives should encourage farmers to boost production, according to the joint report last year from the World Food Program and U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. But the survey also made clear that the problems that have long kept North Koreans undernourished remain: insufficient and inefficient tractors and chronic shortages of fuel, spare parts and tires necessary to run them.

Agriculture is North Korea's lifeblood, contributing a quarter of the nation's economy and engaging a third of the population. But many northern farms rely on ox and manual labor because there aren't enough tractors and equipment to go around. Foreign food aid and imports make up for the shortfalls. North Korea also suffered a severe famine in the mid- and late-1990s. The country's food problems date to the division of the country in 1945 between the more industrialized north, with more coal and iron, and South Korea, which had most of the arable land and rice paddies. North Korea's isolation and restricted trade under the Kim dynasty has stunted its ability to develop normal import-export trade to meet its food needs.

Source

 

[RandallFlagg]

The incompetent liberals running the US defense and diplomatic apparatus are wetting themselves over this challenge, which they are totally unprepared for. Look for more cave ins to North Korea. Perhaps even a visit by Jimmy Carter.

I have long been afraid of what might "potentially" hapen if there was (God forbid) something like an attack on the West Coast were to take place. (1) I believe that North Korea is saber rattling and nothing more (2) In the unlikely event that the impossible were to happen, Barry would (most likely) decide to play a round of golf, take Air Force One and MOOchele on a date to Miami, take a quick vacation to New York and THEN deal with the "Problem" by telling us that this hapened because of the sequester cuts brought on by "evil republicans". Lastly, Barry would blame the inaction on George Bush.

 

[Dubya]

The incompetent liberals running the US defense and diplomatic apparatus are wetting themselves over this challenge, which they are totally unprepared for. Look for more cave ins to North Korea. Perhaps even a visit by Jimmy Carter.

Besides the President, who isn't hands on, what liberals run the US defense?

 

[LordBrownTrout]

Every time they fire a rocket it peters out 200 meters later. They have no delivery system. Let doughboy keep yapping.

 

[Oldguy]

Every time they fire a rocket it peters out 200 meters later. They have no delivery system. Let doughboy keep yapping.

Peter's out? Maybe. That one they fired last year across the Yellow Sea was most likely shot down by one of the Ageis missile frigates the Obama administration sent there just days before.

 

[Lakhota]

Is North Korea pushing too far?

I think so!

 

[The Rabbi]

The incompetent liberals running the US defense and diplomatic apparatus are wetting themselves over this challenge, which they are totally unprepared for. Look for more cave ins to North Korea. Perhaps even a visit by Jimmy Carter.

Besides the President, who isn't hands on, what liberals run the US defense?

Hagel, Kerry.

 

[RandallFlagg]

The incompetent liberals running the US defense and diplomatic apparatus are wetting themselves over this challenge, which they are totally unprepared for. Look for more cave ins to North Korea. Perhaps even a visit by Jimmy Carter.

Besides the President, who isn't hands on, what liberals run the US defense?

Hagel, Kerry.

Damn..........there's a scary proposition........

 

[nitroz]

I've been waiting to watch north korea get pummled into the ground and beg for mercy infront of it's people.

 

[Wehrwolfen]

Is North Korea pushing too far?

I think so!

Like sharks smelling blood in the water, or red ants keying in on dead meat. North Korea sees or smells something about Obama's weakness and incompetence.

 

[Dubya]

The incompetent liberals running the US defense and diplomatic apparatus are wetting themselves over this challenge, which they are totally unprepared for. Look for more cave ins to North Korea. Perhaps even a visit by Jimmy Carter.

Besides the President, who isn't hands on, what liberals run the US defense?

Hagel, Kerry.

The Secretary of State doesn't run the US defense or have anything to do with it's chain of command. The only liberal in the chain of command is the Commander-in-Chief Obama and Presidents follow the advice of the military, because they are the experts.

According to David Boaz, during the Bush administration, Hagel maintained a "traditionally Republican" voting record, receiving "a lifetime rating of 84 percent from the American Conservative Union and consistent A and B grades from the National Taxpayers Union."[31] On the Issues describes Hagel as a "libertarian-leaning conservative."[32] According to Boaz, among his most notable votes, Hagel:

Voted for the Patriot Act;[33]
Voted for the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts;[34][35]
Voted against No Child Left Behind;[36]
Voted against Bush’s Medicare prescription drug bill;[37]
Voted against McCain-Feingold.[38]

Source: Chuck Hagel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hagel is not a liberal. Nothing ever is what it is when there is a lying ass right-wing extremist around. You live with your head up your ass, fool! You call everyone a liberal who isn't a whacked out wingnut like yourself. As far as the rest of the military goes, liberals are rare in the military, but I'm sure a fool like you can find them everywhere.

 

[Dubya]

I've been waiting to watch north korea get pummled into the ground and beg for mercy infront of it's people.

I'm not anxious to see a bunch of people get killed for no reason. NK is always running it's mouth, so I don't take what they say very seriously, but I'm sure the military keeps a good eye on them.

 

[RandallFlagg]

Is North Korea pushing too far?

I think so!

Like sharks smelling blood in the water, or red ants keying in on dead meat. North Korea sees or smells something about Obama's weakness and incompetence.

The "new" comrade in North Korea is facing a dilemma that every dictator from Adolph Hitler to Stalin to Mao has faced. At some point, he has to PROVE to his "people" that he is the "badass" that he claims he is. His people are starving. His people are dying. And like all communists has only "ideals" to throw back at them. Eventually, if he doesn't prove to these same people that he can "force" the world to give him "entitlements" (take that you lefties) that the people will rebel and he will be a footnote in history.

This clown knows what the world TRULY thinks of Barry. Just like Jimmy Carter - a weak, crap talking "pie-in-the-sky orator" with nothing to back up his empty suit. The world understands one thing - force and Obama AIN'T the guy that portrays that.

Right now, we are the 100 pound weakling on the block.

This kid will continue to push our buttons and, if he sees an opening, just "might" do something incredibly stupid. Regardless of how weak we appear to the world - even the idiot Barry can use his index finger to enter the codes into the football.....

 

[Oldguy]

Just like Jimmy Carter - a weak, crap talking "pie-in-the-sky orator" with nothing to back up his empty suit. The world understands one thing - force and Obama AIN'T the guy that portrays that.

I expect the senior leadership of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Somalia pirates, Muhammar Khadaffi, the terrorists hiding out in Yemen and Pakistan and the Lord's Resistance Army, among others, would disagree with that assessment of our President.

 

[RandallFlagg]

Just like Jimmy Carter - a weak, crap talking "pie-in-the-sky orator" with nothing to back up his empty suit. The world understands one thing - force and Obama AIN'T the guy that portrays that.

I expect the senior leadership of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Somalia pirates, Muhammar Khadaffi, the terrorists hiding out in Yemen and Pakistan and the Lord's Resistance Army, among others, would disagree with that assessment of our President.

Now I can't help but imagine that you are smarter than that. You fought Charlie just like I did......for every one you killed - 30 replaced him.

That 15 year old kid in Yemen right now, will be "Senior Leadership" in 2 or 3 years. You know damn good and well that we are fighting a war of attrition. They NEVER give up. Hell, you ought to know that......

 

[Oldguy]

Just like Jimmy Carter - a weak, crap talking "pie-in-the-sky orator" with nothing to back up his empty suit. The world understands one thing - force and Obama AIN'T the guy that portrays that.

I expect the senior leadership of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Somalia pirates, Muhammar Khadaffi, the terrorists hiding out in Yemen and Pakistan and the Lord's Resistance Army, among others, would disagree with that assessment of our President.

Now I can't help but imagine that you are smarter than that. You fought Charlie just like I did......for every one you killed - 30 replaced him.

That 15 year old kid in Yemen right now, will be "Senior Leadership" in 2 or 3 years. You know damn good and well that we are fighting a war of attrition. They NEVER give up. Hell, you ought to know that......

So..what are you saying? Because the enemy is resilient and fights back, we ought to just quit and go home?

In any case, the point is that Obama isn't a President to take lightly, not matter what the uber-right thinks.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

What a ******* shallow ass bullshit thread.

Two weeks ago when the threat was first made the right took it seriously enough to post about it while most of the morons 9n the left micked them for taking it serious. But now that "OBAMA" has respinded in a serious manner its suddenly worthy of serious discussion.

Bunch of ******* mindless hacks. Not necessarily the op but most of the rest of you.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

They MURDERED 4 Americans in Libya while we watched from a drone. To this day we have done NOTHING.

Terrorists nor world leaders have witnessed anything to slow their insanity. Obama is a proven weak leader.