Comments on: Obama, Tested?

By: Ralph Hitchens

Ralph Hitchens — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:51:52 +0000

It’s all posturing. North Korea is not a serious threat to anyone except its own people. Its army is strong in numbers but weak in nutrition; they could not handle the stress of sustained military operations. A missile shot means nothing. This is all a lot of hooey intended to convince the regional powers and (more important) the nervous North Korean leadership cadre that Kim is a real leader of a real country, a myth if there ever was one.

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:02:30 +0000

Like different in that McCain’s approach might have been to edge Japan, South Korea and even China away from the policy of international extortion that NK has embarked upon. IMHO, NK’s nuke program is as much about the concept of deterrence as it is about bilking the resources requisite to maintaining a semblance of existence that it cannot produce or buy from the countries that, in turn, heave these same resources upon them to pacify their want for nukes.
You might call it Attila and Rome Lite.

By: Eddie

Eddie — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:02:24 +0000

One could perhaps reasonably argue he is already being tested by Russia getting us kicked out of our only base left in Central Asia at the time when we need it more than ever.

By: Just An Australian

Just An Australian — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:23:19 +0000

Like, different, how? Like we wouldn’t get thuggish brinkmanship from them whatever? McCain would bluster and fluster, and Obama, hopefully, will choose a course and quietly stick to it (just like the elections). But their overall goals and strategies sounded similar – a mix of carrot and stick, a mix of one:one and group therapy, with the same goals: goodbye to nuclear NK, hello to a more co-operative trading state.

By: Curzon

Curzon — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:00:31 +0000

Read the last link — they are entirely different. Although it’s based on a now defunct issue, of delisting the DPRK from the list of terror sponsors (supported by Bush and Obama, opposed by McCain), we are now getting exactly what we should expect from doing anything nice for Pyongyang — thuggish briksmanship.

By: Just An Australian

Just An Australian — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:29:04 +0000

I’ve got to say, once I take out all the double speak, and the posturing, the only substantiative difference between McCain and Obama in the reference is about tactics: does delisting Korea before or after help. They seem to share the same end goals and general plans