05-07-2009, 11:34 PM
Quote:No, they're blackmailing us and everyone in the region because they know we won't do anything about it. Because the repercussions of us taking out the control structure of the country is one hundred times worse than placating a maniacal despot.Yes. They threaten to kill their own people if they don't get oil/food/whatever, and usually that's enough to allow North Korea some minimum bargaining power. It's pretty much the most horrifying negotiating tactic ever. But the threat of slow suicide through mass starvation is only so powerful, and they only get so much out of it.
Quote:Of course it doesn't make sense to you, because North Korea isn't playing by the rules you operate under. Maybe you missed the link i posted earlier. North Korea is more than willing to do what we deam "socially horrific". Much like a man that walks into a bank with a bomb strapped to his chest and demands cash or he will blow up everyone and everything in the building. Only in North Korea's case they aren't bluffing. And you can be sure that if they go down, they will take everything and anything they can with them.I think you are mistaking "inhumanly cruel" for "insanely lacking in self-preservation". North Korea would have no problem strapping bombs to one (or one million) of its citizens, and walking *them* into a bank. But anything that seriously challenges the continued dominance of Kim Jong Il and his cronies is simply off the table. I doubt they even spend a moment's time considering it.
-Jester