Guest Post by Steve Candidus
“…When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right…” — Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926)
Korea:
All of this hype and fear about North Korea having nuclear weapons and now ICBM’s is a lot of bluff and bravado, but probably won’t lead to war – at least not between the US and Korea. Possibly between China and Korea, but that will come later – during the more likely US War with Iran.
Our crooked and lying politicians together with what passes for a news media in this country bombard us with dire warnings day and night. They are relentless…
Sometimes we need to just push back from the TV and computer screen for a moment and think about all of this.
If North Korea or any other country for that matter decided to launch a pre-emptive ICBM strike against the US, we would have thirty minutes to an hour’s notice and we would be able to see clearly where those missiles originated.
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Our SLBM nuclear submarines would be immune to the attack and could launch a retaliatory attack and turn that country into a wasteland in minutes. Not a good scenario for either party.
It makes more sense that Kim Jong-un sees these as a retaliatory weapon if attacked. Sort of a final death throw. To use them first even with an EMP, which US submarine launched, SLBM’s would be also be immune to would result in North Korea being turned into a sheet of glass in minutes.
So why does Kim pursue these weapons?
Probably because he learned from what we did to Gaddafi in Libya that if he gives up his weapons of mass destruction it leaves him open to be assassinated and/or destroyed. Gaddafi made the fatal mistake of trusting us and gave his up and that’s what we did to him. Threatened retaliation gives Kim Jong-un a strong hand.
We can pin Libya’s lesson for North Korea on Clinton and Obama. “…We came. We saw. He died…” — Hillary Clinton
It should also be noted that neither China nor the US (or more precisely the US military industrial complex) wants a united Korea. They make too much money keeping them apart and as a threat.
Moreover, we only hear about North Korea. Why not Pakistan or India? Both have nuclear weapons and have had them for decades. When was the last time we read an op-ed about the dangers of those?
North Korea has no love for the US after the destruction that we unleashed on them in the Korean War, but they seem to mostly want to be left alone. Yet we constantly antagonize them with our war games on their back porch, our troops still stationed in South Korea a half century after the end of the Korean War, and now our sanctions against their economy.
Pakistan would seem a much more serious threat. They have a few million Muslims (96.4% of the population of 212 million people) many of whom believe that it’s a great religious honor to murder infidels so they can claim however many virgins they’re supposed to get in the afterlife. I suspect that Satan will have other ideas when they arrive. Methinks they are in for big disappointment.
In addition, why would an aggressor use an expensive, difficult to produce, possibly unpredictable and easily traceable ICBM against us? It would seem much easier and far more efficient to just send a nuclear bomb over in a crate full of machine parts or something, put it in a truck (some will even fit in the trunk of a car) and drive it to the exact spot they want to detonate it. No advanced warning. No mistakes in targeting or machinery. And POOF, target destroyed and all traces of its origin are vaporized at ground zero.
If our crooked politicians and lying news media actually wanted a peaceful settlement to all of this, they could just let former President Jimmy Carter make some overtures to Kim Jong-un. He has met with the North Koreans several times and he would be a sort of neutral party.
North Korea would probably want a treaty with the US guaranteeing North Korea’s right to exist and a promise for us to never invade it. That doesn’t sound too harsh. He will probably also want all US troops stationed in South Korea removed and although I personally would be all for it, I suspect that most of our lying politicians wouldn’t. Therefore, it could be negotiated. Perhaps a reduction in troops or a scheduled withdrawal of US troops. Most off all Kim Jong-un likely wants us to STOP PROVOKING THEM!
On our side of the ledger we could get an agreement that North Korea gets to keep their existing bombs and missiles, but agrees to stop building and testing new ones.
Such a treaty would have a good chance of getting the required two-thirds vote in the Senate. All of the Democrats would be for it because Jimmy Carter negotiated it. All of the Never-Trump RINOS would also jump at the chance to humiliate Trump with a Jimmy Carter negotiated treaty.
This option has about as much chance of actually happening though as Hillary Clinton taking responsibility for losing the election. In other words none.
Why?
Because it is in direct conflict with the people that have been manufacturing this latest crisis in the first place. The US military industrial complex.
It’s always all about the money. Scare the daylights out of people and Lockheed-Martin sells another couple of billion dollars’ worth of their F-35 Turkeys (South Korea now wants to buy them). Northrup-Grumman sells another couple billion dollars of ships that don’t work and have to be towed back to port by commercial tugboats that do. It’s to keep us safe ya know. And if that doesn’t work the old fallback is always, “It’s to protect the children – waaaaaaaaa!”
The US military industrial complex makes their money by keeping us scared.
H.L. Mencken summed it up well:
“…The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed – and thus clamorous to be led to safety – by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary…” — H.L. Mencken
The truth is that keeping both North Korea AND South Korea intact and at each other’s throats is good for business. The people that manipulate these things have no souls (they’ve already sold them) so just follow the money.
China is no better. They have a vested interest in keeping an intact North Korea as a buffer zone (read that as China considers Koreans to be expendable) between themselves and US military bases in South Korea.
It always comes down to same tired old garbage doesn’t it? Money, power, greed, and the big one – control. The ability to stand as lord and master over other sentient beings – us, the unwashed masses. ‘Libido Dominandi’ – The lust to dominate. It doesn’t matter if it’s Trump, McCain, Kim Jong-un, Pelosi, or Clinton. They’re all the same.
Don’t listen to them. Sit back. Take a deep breath and think about what they are saying and doing.
There will be a lot more fear and loathing to come. Our lying politicians and what passes for a news media in this country will make sure of that, but I think the US will probably sit this one out.
Iran:
Iran is a different story. We need to be more than just be watchful on this one. We the people are going to have to get actively involved if we want to prevent a war with them.
Some thoughts on going to war with Iran:
First the ‘who benefits’ review would be appropriate.
Israel sees Iran as a threat to their power base and would love to see them gone – preferably by the US so they don’t have to do it themselves.
The neo-cons want Iran eliminated because they see it as an opportunity to extend US hegemony over more of the world. Plant the US flag and all the rest of that infantile nonsense.
The deep state, or the bankers, or the globalists, or whatever you want to call them has a different agenda though.
What does Iran have that they would want? The second largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world that’s what.
Russia has the largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world at 49.541 billion cubic meters or about 24.5% of the world total. Iran is second with 33.500 billion cubic meters or about 16.6%. Qatar is third with 24.299 billion cubic meters or about 12% and the US is fourth with 11.011 billion cubic meters or about 5.5%.
Together these four countries make up 53.2% of the world’s proven natural gas reserves. Look for Qatar to be sucked into supporting their friends in Iran.
An additional 42.642 billion cubic meters or about 46.8% is divided among everyone else.
That is what they want. The natural gas. If not all of it, at least the controlling amount!
I think that the US may very well start a war with Iran for three reasons.
1) Because Israel tells them to. (Israel will probably not fare well as a result)
2) Because the neo-cons think that they will be in charge. (They probably won’t be)
3) Because the globalists will use the neo-cons and an owned and operated news media to bring down the US and at the same time take control of the natural gas reserves.
I suspect the meeting that Trump had with Henry Kissinger a few weeks ago (it was his third such meeting) was to make sure that Trump understood his instructions.
Europe will probably hedge their bets and try to stay out of it and let us do the fighting. Our military is probably not going to be up to the task. It is already overstretched in personnel and equipment. Our high tech and maneuverable destroyers can’t even get out of the way of large lumbering freighters. They would likely not do so well against actual combat ships.
Crewed by poorly trained and sometimes even incompetent officers, the US Navy inevitably meets head on with the results of political correctness…
There is a fundamental shift in power at the root of this.
We have had our turn as the world’s most powerful nation both militarily and economically just as Great Britain did before us. I expect that it is about to be China and Russia’s turn. A changing of the guard.
China is now paying for its oil imports in their own currency redeemable in gold. They have completely cut out the US dollar as the currency of choice. That is a HUGE change and a necessary one for the transition to take place. Other countries will follow.
If war comes Russia will likely side with Iran and be supplied by China, much the way the US used its huge manufacturing resources to supply our allies during WWII. Many of those manufacturing resources are now in China.
If this scenario actually happens, Russia would probably end up controlling most of Europe and China would control Asia and the Pacific.
With the Globalists pulling their strings of course.
The play is written and now it is time for the actors to perform.
Once the hostilities commence well intentioned, but misinformed and misled Americans will be putting yellow ribbons on their cars and waving the flag as they are fed as cannon fodder for the benefit of a ruling elite that cares not a whit for them.
If this all comes to pass, we will be in for a rough ride. It will not be pretty and things will be very different for us afterwards.
“…If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy…” — James Madison (1751-1836), 4th U.S. President and author of the U.S. Constitution
Steve Candidus is a writer and a history buff that works as a product and application specialist of large AC electric motors in Spring, Texas.
OK, rough-and-tumble TBP’s, heeeeeeeere ya go.
This one should start a shitfest as you call them.
I have posted some comments over the past few weeks and even an article on the F-35 so you have seen that I at least have some writing skills.
And, like you guys (and gals) here I think for myself.
BUT
Am I tough enough to bark with the big dawgs on TBP?
I am a big believer in earning your way.
So I guess we will see.
May the shitfest begin.
Steve C.
Spring, Texas
Hey, Stevie, as the moderator of your own article, your job is to keep the bar stocked and be polite as folks tear your article apart. That’s the way it works.
You mean like Stucky?
Steve C.
Spring, Texas
Stuck’s in a class by himself, remedial class.
I mean like Bob Gore, FM, HF, BB – ok, not BB -Uncola.
OK, I will comment, but try and behave myself.
Thanks for the advice.
Steve C.
Spring, Texas
I just can’t get into spanish. We have this new guy, a Puerto Rican, whose name is Jorge. Calling him Whore Hey just doesnt work for me. It doesnt translate well into english. I call him George.
I’m in “remedial” class, eh?
Blow me ….. EX-friend!!
I see Stucky as being in the special education class that gets to go on field trips to the zoo and the museum and make arts and crafts to sell to raise money for Admin’s real research excursions through the 30 blocks. And, by the way? If you haven’t sent money to support the blog, at least buy one of the glitter encrusted pine cone corsages Stucky and the others will be selling to raise money during the holidays.
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I’m glad to see this article here for a number of reasons. First of all, it may lead to a really necessary discussion about the imbeciles running our military AND it touches upon the fact that the military industrial complex doesn’t really have any loyalty to any country. They sold out long ago.
I may even get my husband to read it and see if he wants to add anything from his own background experience. Most likely, since the monkeys here can’t miss an opportunity to splatter shitballs all over the place with absolutely NO provocation on my part, I’ll tell him about it and let you know what he thinks. I’ve got him working on my lovely rock walkway these days and he really doesn’t have time to do a lot of reading.
Martha,
After the beatings I suffered for my people in both the Wicca and Fake Moony threads … I have but ONE NERVE left.
And, you’re getting on it !!!
Walk softly, my dear, for I carry a big ……
Dearest Stucky,
I was defending you! EC put you in remediation and that suggests you need remedial training. I, on the other hand, recognize auggest you are simply differently-abled, thus require special education methodology and an appreciation for your special talents, which you will be able to practice a lot more when Ms. Freud gets you that hands-free device for the Winter Solstice holiday revered by Warlocks such as yourself.
In other news…
Look who came to visit me a couple hours ago. Bambi’s Dad! Am not planning to shoot this guy. YET. I think this is the young buck I’ve been watching the last couple years.
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Stuck, it was a joke, buddy. It was meant to convey the idea that new contributors have to work their way to the top and not try to be too much like you, your unmatchable. Did I tell you about the time I went to Austin HS and old lady Patterson had stuck all the new beaners in remedial classes? I went from 6th grade class president to 9th grade flunk-out. I’m so ashamed to reveal that but this is TBP where we are not afraid to show the warts.
Steve, this is a great article. However, that alone does not make it shitfest-worthy. Lemme give you a quick lesson in the raw basics.
Before I begin, let me CONGRATULATE you on fully typing “shitfest”! Previously, you typed “s**tfest”. Yikes! Upon seeing that ridiculous convention people will think, — “Dahum. This guy’s a pussy!!” You don’t want that. Pussies generally can’t get shitfests going …. bb is the exception.
So, by way of actual examples;
1. The topic must be unquestionably controversial. Like Maggie’s post about fake moon landings. We’ve had many fake-moony discussions here yet, it worked as a shitfest stimulator once again. Sure, you might feel like a cheap whore for taking such an easy route to work. It’s the price we shitflinger-in-diapers suffer for the greater good. Controversy! Like, Building 7 !! IOW, any conspiracy! We have an ample supply of both Nutters, and anti-Nutters to fuel such shitfests for another 10 years.
2. Know your audience, especially what pisses them off. Like, my Wicca article. I know we have a lot of Believers here, including a few rabid Holy Rollers (you only need one of them to piss off to get the ball rolling) Word sculpt the article to give the impression (YOU don’t actually have to believe your own bullshit) that Witches trump Jesus and … voilla!! Once again, you might feel like a cheap whore. Again, we do it anyway for the greater good.
3. JOOs!!!!! Guaranteef. Pro Joo. Anti Joo. Doesn’t matter. There are enough supporters for each position to start an epic shitfest, regardless. And you WON’T feel like a cheap whore.
That’s it for now … never before revealed secrets. I should charge you $500 for this. But, I won’t, as long as you agree with me on all my future posts. A small price for Steve, a big benefit for Stucky. I might even give you more secrets in the future.
I pray you learned something today.
Blessings.
“We’ve had many fake-moony discussions here yet, it worked as a shitfest stimulator once again. Sure, you might feel like a cheap whore for taking such an easy route to work.”
Steve, Stucky means well, but as I pointed out above, he’s very special. And, since he hasn’t gotten his Winter Solstice gift from his wife, I’d sterilize anything that comes from his hand, even free advice.
Stucky, I like this topic but agree Steve was a bit hestitant to really stir the pot concerning the USA! Military! Industrial! Complex!
By the way? If you don’t mind, take a minute or two and tell me what you think about this commenter below… He seems a bit too prolific to be believable.
Andrea Iravani says:
November 7, 2017 at 8:23 pm
Not sure if you were asking Stucky or me.
I’m up to my ass in alligators reviewing a new technical specification this morning, but I gave Andrea Iravani’s links a quick look for you anyway.
This fellow certainly jumps all over the place doesn’t he.
One sentence he is coherent and even thoughtful and the next he’s with the saucer men.
People are following him. Unknown Russian musicians are writing songs about him. He attempted suicide by overdose and now goes to his AA meetings.
His links are either just Wikipedia or to himself so it’s hard to get a good reading on him.
Perhaps you should ask ‘KeyserSusie’ or ‘Billah’s wife’. They are probably friends.
Gotta get back to work…
Steve C.
Spring, Texas
Perhaps you should ask ‘KeyserSusie’ or ‘Billah’s wife’. They are probably friends.
Bazinga!
Thanks Steve… I assumed he followed you from ZH, but I appreciate your observation. I’m being more careful about encouraging potential crazies. I thought that KaiserRoll guy was a gal and now he just craps out all kinds of stuff everywhere and I feel it is all my fault.
I wrote a few articles for Lew Rockwell a few years back, and Daisy Luther at The Organic Prepper asked me to write something for her a few weeks ago, but other than that I am just your basic Joe Shmoe nobody.
I have never written anything for ZH and I’ve never heard of this guy.
I like it here at this free-for-all at TBP though. You sometimes get a bit rough around the edges, but most of the writers and commenters show an intelligence that I don’t see on other knee-jerk sites.
You just take a little getting used to…
Steve C.
Spring, Texas
I knew that was coming my way, not so Anon.
“Are We Headed Towards War With Korea Or Iran?”
Yes!
I don’t believe it. The US picks on countries that cannot fight back. Both N Korea and Iran can do that, in different ways. The advantage right off begins to Iran. They are ringed by US bases, all of which are in easy reach of its missiles.
If this is what’s planned, China will handle Korea while we are bogged down in Iran.
Iran’s terrain is very different from Iraq. The advantage is definitely to the home team.
And the US will do as it’s told…
Steve C.
Spring, Texas
A land invasion of Iran is completely ridiculous. It would take a mobilization on a WW2 level to accomplish this. Iran’s major inland cities are on a high plateau, over 4,000 ft above sea level. It is a mountainous country, ideal for defensive positions. Not even Saddam Hussein at the height of his power and Iran in post-revolutionary anarchy could advance much beyond the lowlands around Abadan.
Iran is not a great military power. It’s offensive forces are antiquated, but in defensive terms it is very formidable. What it lacks in tanks, it excels in anti-tank weapons and so on and so on…
Of course in any aggression against Iran, Russia and China will be on their side. The entire prospect is insanity, especially given that Iran is no threat to the US in any form and even under the Ayatollahs would like to have better relations with it.
Hilarious, but true is that despite all the lies directed it by Israel, some of the gulf states and the US, all Iran really wants to be recognized as a normal country pursuing policies it perceives are in its national interest.
You are applying logic to something logic doesn’t apply to.
Hubris 1941 – “We can wipe the Japanese off the map in three months,” wrote Navy Secretary Frank Knox.
Didn’t that work out well for us.
Hubris 2012 – “U.S. Central Command believes it can destroy or significantly degrade Iran’s conventional armed forces in about three weeks using air and sea strikes, according to a defense source familiar with the discussions.” – The Washington Times – May 1, 2012
Take your pick of the war mongering morons itching for a war with Iran now.
It’s nuts, but since when has that ever stopped them?
Steve C.
Spring, Texas
Hitchens claims the Zulus, Sikhs and Afghans proved unconquerable. I guess the Persians are pussies.
Yes, but doesn’t the U.S. have to weaken and destabilize Lebanon before going after Iran, which I think is starting now?
The Profit Motive Broke the System! – Andrea Iravani
Operation Central Bank, Pigs Fly! – Andrea Iravani
Why Would Anyone Believe the CIA About Iran?! – Andrea Iravani
Syria is still the #1 hot spot; the US has multiple bases within Syria, illegally . Technically, the US has declared war on Syria.
The SAA, Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah are already planning to take back every bit of land taken by the invaders-terrorists (US/I$ISrahell-al Qaeda.ISIS). They would be foolish not to remain united else they will be destroyed piecemeal.
And as usual, we’re on the wrong side.
Steve C.
Spring, Texas
Changing of the guard? More like “meet the new boss, SAME as the old boss”…and the one before him, and before him, and before him, and before him, and before him, and before him……..
You are right. The boss will remain the same.
But things will be a lot different for us – the unwashed masses.
Steve C.
Spring, Texas
Excellent article without question. The US is so inept and under the control of Israel, the little piss ant country who has bought and paid for support from our so called representatives against the national interest of America. Washington, Monroe and Jefferson, along with TR must be rolling over in their graves about the inept foreign policy of this once great nation known as America.
Talk about leverage! A few hundred K. in a reelection fund can gain control of a multi trillion dollar GDP nation.
U.S.A. !!!! (United States of AIPAC).
An article on ZH suggests our interest in Korea is a strategic build up of defenses, even re-arming Japan with missiles in a further containment of China. Sort of a re-play of Khrushchev’s installation of missiles in Cuber.
The Chinese gambit to replace the petro-dollar turns this into a game for all the marbles. It’s no surprise Trump ran on a promise to re-arm Japan. Meanwhile, the Germans are prepping for a breakup of the European Union; the German empire.
Funny how NK began really popping off missiles and nuke tests right after Zero gave Iran all those nice bank notes on pallets and other payments amounting to over a billion dollars.
Coincidence? I doubt it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_Korean_missile_tests
The money was not giving to them ,it was their money stolen by the US.
If you want normal relations with people you do not steal their property.
The return of the Thule and the Hyperboreans…
No Armistice has ever been signed ending the Korean “war” (police action). Congress never declared war as specified in the Constitution. The big bad wolf (US) will huff and nothing will change. The DOD will be funded to protect us from the “devil”.
Our owners want us take out Iran so they can expand their territory to the area of King David and remove all Arab threats. They also want water and crude oil. Methane can be converted into electricity or used in internal combustion engines neither of which can match the power and versatility of diesel engines. Diesel fuel can only be distilled from conventional crude oil. Tight light oil yields only condensates and gasoline.
The only way Trump can make America great relatively is to asset forfeiture every nation on the planet except one.
America cannot win a conventional war against Korea or Iran since Russia and China would ally with either. A nuclear war would eventually lead to the sixth extinction from atmospheric radiation. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were air bursts with the real destruction done by fire bombing. If they were ground bursts the ground would be contaminated and neither city could or would be rebuilt. The radiation from air bursts is diluted and spread world wide. A large nuclear exchange would increase the concentration to the point where eventually all life would cease.
All parties know a nuclear exchange would be suicidal so the charade will continue as a method of transferring wealth and real physical assets to the top x percent so they can rule the remnant when industrial agriculture ends with the dispersion of diesel fuel.
Be nice if the writer had some idea of the issues and interests involved.
In North Asia you have the 2nd and 3rd largest economies in the world. South Korea has a bigger economy than Russia. The US has openly declared that it will not allow North Korea to threaten the US mainland with ICBMs.
Iran is a nothing burger compared to the situation with North Korea.
Another fine article, Steve.
One very minor quibble. You wrote — ‘All of this hype and fear about North Korea having nuclear weapons”
The wording (to me, anyway), makes it seem that you’re saying NoKo does not have nukes … that it’s all hype and fear.
Of course you dispel that notion in the article.
So, why even comment on it? I have no fucken idea, actually.
And yet, when I comment on the nuances of VV’s syntax, I get called ‘jerky’.
EC
At least I didn’t call you “jerkoff”. ?
At least I don’t stab you in the back with backhanded compliments.
I think there is a good chance all the bluster is just a lot of blow, for the purpose of securing and directing a lot more loot to the Pentagon and its contractors. If that’s the actual goal, it is working very well.
I don’t THINK there will be a war with either country, for the very good reasons Steve and others (esp Zara) have given.
Yet, I’m not 100% convinced. The trump card is Trump.
He is quite unpredictable. He’s told enough lies, and broken enough promises, and makes wild exaggerations … that I no longer trust him.
But, the bigger issue is; WHO is mostly in control? Him? Or, his warmongering Generals on his staff? If it’s the Generals, all bets are off. Since when do warmongers do anything that makes sense? God help us!!
I found the warning of the governments job to keep the populous alarmed to be a truism, but then made me wonder to the conclusion of your article with the very real possibility of armed conflict with Iran. I’m not disagreeing with you, it’s just a pattern I’ve seen in doom porn where the possibility of war is minimized until the last sentence; with the last sentence being to head for the hills, we’re about to die! The only thing missing was “prepare with food, ammo and precious metals”.
Unfortunately, I’m sad to say I do agree with your conclusion, as a country on the ropes, we are due one more chest beating (and we have the right man as Commander in Chief to do it), “We are America! Who dares question our leadership?!” Right before we get schooled. So with that in mind, its best to be prepared with food, ammo and precious metals. There, I did it for you!
Edit: Here’s a thought, if we will eventually engage with China in a conflict with Iran, would it not be more advantageous for the US to engage China directly via NK; China’s back door? It must be the neocon coming out in me.
Populous is a tree, maybe you mean populace. Maybe I should shut up.
EC
Great article, Steve.
Iran has never not been the target, going back to the when we “lost” it in 1979 (wow, the hubris of our Washington overlords!). I’m resigned to this war happening.
Love the comments on the US Navy. I believe they really do not grasp the threat to their fleet represented by thousands of cheap surface-to-surface missiles. I used to be in the Navy. Don’t worry, boys! Our Phalanx systems will shoot them all down!
I don’t think we will go to direct war with Iran. I am almost 100% certain we will never go to direct war with North Korea. I believe we’re at what could be termed a “Chinese Standoff” there. I think our best course would be to announce victory, promise the ROK support, and come home.
That won’t happen.
I think our best strategy is to dump tons of data and propaganda and free radios and memory devices and cell phones on them so the people can get access to the outside world. Information seems to be the greatest weapon against the NORKs and their paranoid Stalinist prison country.
Iran, on the other hand, may be weaker, but not that weak. They’re certainly not the podunk backwards-ass exploding mohammeds they used to be. (BTW- did the recent release of Argo seem like a subtle way to propagandize Americans against Iran? After all, most Americans today have no memory of the crazy events of the late 1970s and the Ayatollah and little reason to think about Iran.) I think we could get much more mileage out of the same tactics I’ve suggested for North Korea- information. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Iran Feed them propaganda, western fashion, “pornograpic” western films and TV, music, and print media. Send them CDs and DVDs and thumb drives and cheap electronic devices to get onto the internet without whatever state controls they might have. Give them all the corrupting “cool” western stuff you can. Feed them Christianity and political propaganda of all stripes. Nourish and encourage all the stuff among their public that scares the weirdbeards shitless.
Islam, just like Communism, doesn’t seem to work well when people have free access to information. I think it’s better to flood them with all the stuff they hate and fear and let the system creak under the weight of its own contradictions. With the proper support and manipulation, we wouldn’t need to do anything aggressive. Also, it sort of fits in with the whole Persian mentality of chess, not checkers that informs their approach to the world.
I don’t think we can or will attempt a direct confrontation with Iran. They are not Iraq. In fact, thanks to Bush, they actually own Iraq. Thanks to the Barry Soetero regime, they are directly connected to Syria now. An attack on Iran could easily become a conflict involving the new Shiite crescent. Also, I think the time to justify a war with Iran has slipped by long ago. In the 1980s, I think the average American would have welcomed it. Now? What have they actually done to us, aside from embarrassing us with what I assume are very carefully planned provocations? They know we are constrained in our responses, while they have little to lose from poking us. We didn’t react with violence to their direct assault on the US Navy a few years ago. We didn’t respond with violence to their inexplicable capture and exploitation of our recon drone. So what will we respond to? With the direct threat to our Sunni allies and the vital oil shipping lanes, perhaps we’re at what we could call a “Persian Standoff?” Also, it would be a tough sell to get Americans on deck to fight a country that hasn’t actually done anything to us and even supported us after 9/11 up to the point Bush made his Axis of Evil speech (did you know nobody read that thing before he did? I think Galbraith stated that in End of Iraq or Unintended Consquences.).
I don’t know and couldn’t judge if the military is strong enough after nearly 20 years of war and the Barry Soetero regime to fight a real country. I know when I was in we seemed strong, but I also know all the vehicles I was issued sucked sweaty ballsack. I remember a pre-deployment all-company motorpool vehicle inspection and servicing with our attached mechanics. Upon inspection, my piece of shit hummer had 3x lines of handwritten deadline (serious failures) issues across a large butcher block pad of paper; The absolute worst vehicle in the company! In 2005, that one had a dataplate stamped 1982. When I turned it into Big Army for re-issue to some other unit, I had to get a jumpstart and keep it idling til’ the very last second, lest the inspectors realize it couldn’t start on its own. I just barely got away on that one! In Iraq, another hummer I was issued was the last absolute cast-off piece of shit they could find-an abandoned 2nd ID hummer with a decaying and torn-up medic shell on the back (I called it The Lobster) with holes in the floorboards big enough to see the road underneath. It was also constructed of deadline failures holding hands and barely ran, but my experiences weren’t everyone’s and I’m sure all the Strykers and MRAPs and tanks are in perfect order.
Additionally, I know most of the guys I served with got out as soon as they could. They didn’t think 20 was worth it. Neither did I. Many of them got out and immediately went back as contractors for the money. Others ran as far as they could. Reenlistment NCOs taunted us with threats we would immediately be called right back from the inactive reserve, but I don’t think that happened. So I think the war years have spurred a bit of a brain drain, especially with the comparatively lucrative contract world waiting for ex-military people. Like the saying about Bad Money chasing off Good Money, the lure of contracting was, and probably still is, too good to keep people in. We envied the ex-military contractors from Mantech and others who were making nice salaries doing the same work for which we got paid very little.
I don’t know what it’s like now, but I doubt it’s better. I imagine morale is somewhat lower, seeing as the biggest criminals and traitors are getting off with slaps on the wrist or graduating West Point as 2LTs. It might be another 10-20 years, like the post-Vietnam recovery era, for the military to recover from the War on Noun. Worse, I don’t know if the military has enough time to recover before the next major crisis. And our leaders will continue to mis-manage the military with useless weapons, impossible missions, and constant deployments. Some day, we’re going to realize we’re too weak to do what we’re being asked to do and it’s going to be a shock.
Just my .02. Your mileage may vary.
Problem is it would require the US or South Korea to violate North Korean air space or territorial waters to deliver radios, propaganda, thumb drives, videos etc even if your average North Korean had computers. North Korea would fire on any aircraft or ship entering its territory and the war would be on.
Probably better to do what is being done now. Preparing the diplomatic ground with China ( and to a much lesser extent Russia) for a military strike by a date certain and, if North Korea has not surrendered its arsenal, take it out. If North Korea retaliates by firing on Seoul or Japan, we take out North Korean food stocks and cause a famine.
No, there’s a documentary on youtube I watched where they show South Koreans sneaking the stuff in to border guards who spread the stuff. There is actually a 2-way trade in laptops, thumbdrives, DVDs, cellphones, and radios going in and secret videos coming out. The NORKs are getting more and more outside culture in and it’s so out of control, the govt has started house-to-house searches and executed people with western media. They also put it in balloons and send it over the border to anyone who can find it. We could saturate that place if we wanted. Imagine the disaster it would be if we were sending tens of thousands of balloons over, 1-way drones or drone-delivered packages full of that stuff, “message-in-a-bottle” packages washing up on their coasts, and full-on smuggling across the river from China. I bet we could even revive the Castro-era practice of trying to beam messages and images on the clouds over North Korea. Imagine them looking up to see us filling the skies with K-pop videos and shit.
This is still timely, Steve.
Great stuff Steve and all agreed. I will be emailing you soon! Cheers.