Quick take on the situation in Korea
Posted By Russ Emerson on May 25, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Having been a Korean-linguist-slash-intelligence-specialist in the Army, I’m the closest thing most of my friends and family have to a “go-to guy” on such things.
To be honest, I haven’t given a lot of thought to the situation following the sinking of the Cheonan. Were I the President of the US, I’d be tempted to order the sinking of every surface vessel in the North Korean navy, but that’s just me.
Earlier today my brother dropped me a line asking what I thought of the recent doings on and around the Korean peninsula. I was getting ready to go to the dentist to have some stitches removed, so I banged out a quick reply. So quick, in fact, that I got the date of the tree cutting incident wrong — it happened in ’76, while Ford was president.
Re: How about whats happening in Korea???
I suspect it’s the usual pattern of provocation – like the 1979 axe murders – wherein they do something outrageous, everyone raises their readiness levels, and then nothing happens.
The difference this time is that not even Jimmy Carter in ’79 was as weak-willed as Obama is. I have no confidence, none at all, that he would commit additional forces to the defense of South Korea.
Look, when I was over there we knew – *knew* – that if the s*** had ever hit the fan we were just going to be speedbumps to slow the Norks until more forces could be brought in. That was a steep potential price, but we knew that ultimately it would preserve a friendly nation and its people. Most of those people loved us, absolutely loved us. It was strange, being in the countryside, meeting people who nearly worshipped the ground we walked on.
Now? I don’t think Obama gives a damn about the guys over there, or about our allies, and would leave them to be overrun if he thought he could get away with it, politically.
I have zero confidence in this administration, and I am sure that all of our enemies know now what a pantywaist Obama is… except when he’s criticizing his fellow Americans. So, I figure they’ll try to extract some sort of economic concessions.
I might have refined it some or done some fact checking, given time. Otherwise, I’m good with that as a rough “first pass.”
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