Tim Blair

But but but ... evil Amerikkka also gases prisoners, don't they?

you see the kindlypeacelovingearthtoned north koreans are for to do this by zionistbushoil conspiracists. it's really quite simple tim.

oops...please read 'forced' where your humble servant typed 'for'...

So who's going to lead the charge for war against this evil regime? Before the Iraq war, I often heard Europeans make the argument: "How can you go into Iraq when North Korea is actually a more dangerous country?" I suggest these Euros be taken at their word: Jacques, Gerhard - lead the charge!

but you surely don't believe this do you Tim? Its coming from the BBC, who can't possibly be trusted.....

An excellant book on the horrific situation in North Korea is "The Aquariums of Pyongyang" by Kang Chol-Hwan http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465011020/qid=1075647267/sr=5-1/ref=cm_lm_asin/103-5443483-4355038?v=glance

The author was sent to the N.K. Gulag for 10 years from the age of 8, which tells you all you need to know about the Communist state.

Tom: it is indeed unfortunate that the Hutton scandal has undercut the BBC's reputation for truthfulness. That doesn't mean that every single thing they put out is a lie; it means that every single thing they put out will be tarnished by association. And that is too bad, because obviously there is still a lot of good (and true) reportage coming out of the BBC. But the higher ups at the BBC have no one to blame but themselves, and they are the ones who should be held accountable for the disservice they have done to journalism, not the people who pointed it out.

Ah, who cares? It's foreigners gassing other foreigners. They don't know any better. It's only when the US keeps a bunch of Islamic killbots in cabins on a tropical island that it's a crime against humanity.

Secular Octopus --

Unfortunately, China's government certainly wasn't/isn't going to let us mass troops for an invasion on the China-NK border. Russia certainly wasn't/isn't going to let us mass troops for an invasion on the Russia-NK border. South Korea certainly wasn't/isn't going to let us mass troops for an invasion on the SK-NK border*. And we don't have the amphibious and airborne capability to launch a successful invasion of NK without massing troops in one of the three.

The best-case scenario is, IMO, for the rest of the world to focus on keeping NK tech out of the hands of other rogue states, and build anit-missile systems to protect themselves from NK weapons. Eventually the crisis of the NK regime will come to a head, and the Chinese and South Koreans will have to come up with a way to handle it. If they ask for the help of the rest of the world then, then the rest of the world will be able to do something.

No, I don't like that answer. I just don't see what else can be done. Any deals with NK will merely let the regime brutalize its people longer, and air power short of nukes can't overthrow governments. Nuking the country in order to save it would be a somewhat ridiculous solution.

(Maybe we should airlift in vast quantities of AK-47s, ammunition, and the other Soviet-type gear that the reservists in the populace are familiar with, to give the citizenry tools to overthrow the regime itself. None of the neighbors would like that solution, I expect, but it is possible to do without their permission.)

*Despite my dislike of Roh's pandering to NK and hostility to the U.S., this is quite reasonable given how close Seoul is to North Korea's artillery, and would be true no matter who was in charge there.

China holds the leash. The world community could do something about this if it was not so busy looking the other way.

Personally, I would tell SK, Japan and Taiwan to get nukes and pull all US troops out of SK. That ought to wake some people up and get on the ball.

"How can you go into Iraq when North Korea is actually a more dangerous country?" I suggest these Euros be taken at their word: Jacques, Gerhard - lead the charge!

France and Germany will LOVE North Korea. It's completely devoid of jews.

Somebody call Jimmy Carter! The title of this program is a huge foreign relations disaster!

Tom, the thing is, the BBC is probably putting the best possible spin on this situation. Therefore, anyone familiar with their reporting on Iraq must guess that not only are these people being gassed to death, their remains are then ground up an used for dog food and the dogs then provide the main course for international visitors/supporters of the NK regime. This would be more in keeping with the Beeb's most recent efforts at covering "The Axis of Evil."

Of course, in all probability, if the BBC ever uses the word evil in the above case, it will be scare-quoted: "evil" suggesting no right-thinking bien pesant would ever for one minute believe that there's not a truly magnificent reason for gassing those unfortunates (who probably don't exist, anyway, it all a plot by the US to discredit the warm, loving Kim Il Sung).

"Nuking the country in order to save it would be a somewhat ridiculous solution."

Warmongering Lunatic -- It might be more effective to do a massive airdrop of Sear's and Whole Food Market catalogs, along with Visa Cards. Hell of a lot cheaper than a war. I can't think of a faster way to bring down a Stalinist regime.

I say we go in and liberate the poor bastards.

If not - why not? Bring it on!

After all, it seems that these bastards actually do have WMD, quite apart from being particularly nasty to each other.

(That's assuming we can believe anything we read anywhere. I'm afraid between the administration in Washington on the one side and the BBC on the other, we have to doubt everyone on every side from now on).

It wasn't a bad documentary to be honest. I've blogged about some of the incredibly stupid reactions to it at my site.

North Korea: Have your say.

I agree with Reid . . . . pull all US troops out of South Korea and Japan so they can defend themselves. If it means going nuclear, then it's China's problem, and they can do something about the North Korean threat.

Fer cryin' out loud, why does anyone want to abandon Japan?

I say we go in and liberate the poor bastards.

If not - why not? Bring it on!

For once I agree with you Nemesis.

If we can take Pyongyang in the time it took us to take Baghdad, lets go. Plus there's the added bonus of no islamic-nutjobs streaming across the border to join in the Jihad.

Fer cryin' out loud, why does anyone want to abandon Japan?

One word: Hentai

(Fucking creepy tentacle sex)