http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41878123 😯

Hardly rocket science to work that out though, is it?

I imagine that the cost of doing it would be, as they say, hundreds of thousands of lives lost, on both side, unless the government capitulated. Best just leave alone, as I imagine (hope) will happen.

Change will eventually come.

The second an american boot hits NK, Seoul gets decimated by an artillery barrage resulting in close to 100,000 dead

Its never going to happen, we just have to ride out the game until a reset and a new one starts

Add chemical and biological warheads to that

I read it as ground invasion the only way to do it but also too costly, so the politicians need to find another way.

I fear that, by demonstrating that the US does not have the capability to force its will upon North Korea, they will encourage their leadership to prove them wrong 🙄

Rachel

Yeah, I’m with slowoldman, this is the military washing it’s hands of any map cap plans Trump might be cooking up to get rid of the nuclear facilities.

I saw a video on the web some where about the first 5 days of a ground invasion into the north it clearly predicted the south being turned to dust on day one. by day 5 the north have ran out of food and ammo and unless Kim is gone by then it’s nukes from him and not fussed where they land as he will know it’s game over.
No one wants to be involved in that cluster f&&k

Squirrel!

Sadly, there appears to be no way to totally disarm the USA.

List of countries invaded by the USA since 1950:
North Korea
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Vietnam
Cambodia
Laos
Grenada
Panama
Iraq
Haiti
Afghanistan

List of countries invaded by North Korea since 1950:
South Korea

The US have history.. don’t forget Vietnam.. or Iraq for that matter.

Both predictions were for a swift invasion, both lead to drawn out gorilla/tribal infighting and good old party political propaganda bullshite..
And plenty dead or maimed or disabled or traumatised.

Bloody warmongers, sooner they die off the better the planet will be.

Old ignorant halfwits.

Wonder how many lives they’re prepared to sacrifice 500,000 1,000,000….better foreigners than US citizens eh?

To anyone who thinks this will end well I suggest they go and visit the Korean War memorial in DC on a cold snowy day. (

As you get to walk around a set of bronze figures on Patrol… you get a small taste of the misery of war)

It’s v low key but I found it far more poignant than the WW2, Vietnam memorials or Arlington.

All these assumptions based on the fact that NK won’t strike first ..?
I wouldn’t be so confident of that not happening / Trump hoping that it does ..he seems to like stirring the hornets nest .

Everyone but the Donald knows there is no military solution to this

“Their assessment underscores what we’ve known all along: there are no good military options for North Korea,” the statement said.

hodgynd – Member

All these assumptions based on the fact that NK won’t strike first ..?

Will never happen. Or rather, will only ever happen if NK feel that they’ll be destroyed anyway. People through around “insane” but their government knows perfectly well they can use the stalemate to stay in power but they can’t survive a shooting war. They’re mad enough to take other people down with them, I reckon.

indeed all he wants is to be left alone in his fiefdom

He can control NK but he knows he cannot win a war so he wont start one. Its suicidal and he knows this. He wants everyone to think he might be mad enough to do so but he wont. However he can take South Korea with him and possibly drag China into one as well.

China also want a buffer state between them and the west [ south Korea] and NK serves this function.

I get the impression that Trump wants a war, all the best, most spectacular leaders have their war, he wants his, you’ll see.

If he gets persauded not to attack NK. My money is on Iran, or maybe Canada…

I agree with you BigEared..up to the point where you said ” all the best, most spectacular”..( he is far from being either ) but I do get the impression that he is a deranged warmonger ..pretty much like his NK counterpart

I think a war is the only chance Trump has of being seen as a “good” President.

I wonder if this resurgence in the media is led by the US because talks though ‘the back channels ‘ aren’t going anywhere?
China and or Russia will invade if it kicks off anyway, neither wants the west to control the North.

T1000 – Member
To anyone who thinks this will end well I suggest they go and visit the Korean War memorial in DC on a cold snowy day. (

As you get to walk around a set of bronze figures on Patrol… you get a small taste of the misery of war)

It’s v low key but I found it far more poignant than the WW2, Vietnam memorials or Arlington.

POSTED 2 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Wow that’s amazing. 😯

Difficult situation. Doing nothing (as per Obhama etc) was not working either. IMO sooner or later North Korea is going to launch a strike against someone, either the South or Japan.

I don’t believe he will, he must know that would be the end for him.
He wants nuclear weapons to feel safe and as leverage to get sanctions removed
The US is fubared, they have said they won’t allow him the capability and they will never feel safe. How can they stop it though without starting what would be the most horrific war in modern times

why would they do that ? what have they to gain except their own destruction?
he want one thing to preserve his power in NK and an external war assures its end.

the only difference between trump and obama is trump will trash talking pubic, which will appeal to his easily led core voters, and do exactly the same privately

US troops haven’t fought a proper ground war since WW2 (Infact no county has thank goodness)even in Vietnam they had air control and lost out to the vc if trumps thinks taking on a huge ground battle just before winter in North Korea is a good idea then I pity his armed forces. As funny as the North Korean army look on the parade grounds they will be trained and willing to a large degree.
I don’t think the general public will stomach marines coming back from Korea in boxes for long but trump seems devoid of any empathy for the public that put him in power.

I’m not belittling any conflicts from the last 50 years or the loss of life with the sentence above but going into the north will mean digging trenches and fighting for meters

Pk13.
There won’t be a ground war ..if there is a war it will be Nukes from the start ..it can’t really be anything else ..( just a personal opinion )

Wonder how many lives they’re prepared to sacrifice 500,000 1,000,000….better foreigners than US citizens eh?

https://www.iraqbodycount.org currently stands at 268,000 dead since the 2003 invasion (between 179,438 and 201,062 of which were non-combatants)

And that was a “successful” campaign with mostly conventional weapons against a relatively small military force.

I agree with you BigEared..up to the point where you said ” all the best, most spectacular”.

Apologies, I should have made it clear that was sarcasm based on the way Trump see things & talks 😳

Good leak/release from the pentagon, it tells people before Trump gets going what the options are and how futile they are. It takes the wind out of Trump. Nk know they can rattle him and along with Iran are playing tunes on him.

IMO sooner or later North Korea is going to launch a strike against someone, either the South or Japan.

As Junkyard says, why on earth would they do that? They gain absolutely nothing and have a 99% chance of losing everything. The issue in the west is that we’ve been fed the “they’re irrational and mad dictators” propaganda for so long that some of us actually believe it. You don’t get to be in charge of a country without at least being a canny and shrewd operator who knows which way the wind blows. Which is exactly why Trump will huff and puff and do **** all. He’s an idiot, but not quite as big an idiot as we like to believe.

..if there is a war it will be Nukes from the start

Scenario 1 – NK nukes somewhere (s korea, Alaska, wherever). USA obliterates them with nukes as ‘they shot 1st’, which will legitimise the use of nukes in the American publics eyes.
Scenario 2 – US nukes NK in a preemptive strike. NK still manages to obliterate Seoul with conventional means. American public is horrified (unless the rhetoric against NK has got ridiculous) and would never vote whoever ordered it back into power.*

Both scenarios gain the aggressor nothing – NK matters very little to the US in real terms, they’re not threatening any oil wells or major US interests, they’re just a convenient target to rail against whenever it’s politically expedient to have an enemy.

*barring some sort of horrific terror incident which could be linked to NK preceding the nuking

The US has a long history of wars in IndoChina against communism, none of which were won, or even could be won(you can’t fight an idea with tanks, bombs and guns)

Revolution in NK will come from within imo. As SK and the rest of Indiochina flourish under more tolerant, less idealistic regimes (and i include China itself in that group now) the people of NK will increasingly want the modern life, it’s high standards of living, it’s freedoms, and just as Russia fell itself, not to Capitalist states directly, but to the idea of Capitalism, a time will come where the communist old guard will find themselves levered out of power.

and at the moment NK is using the easily manipulated Trump to boost his power and control – we need to be ready, they are coming for us, they are being the aggressor etc.
As above if the highly policed communist states in eastern europe fell NK will fall, it may not be a clean transition but it will be a lot smoother than any kind of attack.

@ebennet because they are completely nuts and devoid of reason. The whole country is hugely impoverished due to their leadership and the nuclear programme. That makes no sense to chose that direction but they do. Once they have ballictic missiles with nuclear warheads they will use them. That’s my view.

Mike NK is winning precisely nothing. China has started to put real pressure on them, they did not do that under Obhama who’s “lets try not to get involved” policy in ME and Korea failed.

they are completely nuts and devoid of reason

few would disagree but you would need to argue that he is so nuts he wants to die and take his country with him for no gain – despots want power they dont want to die pointlessly

Once they have ballictic missiles with nuclear warheads they will use them. That’s my view.

Again for what purpose? What does he gain apart from his own death and the ending of his regime? If he is nuts why does he not attack South korea now ? Why wait either way he dies and his regime end

You really are not thinking this through nor are you attempting to explain why he would do this.

That makes no sense to chose that direction but they do.

See India, Pakistan and most of the eastern bloc in the 80’s
The people in power are not starving and they are the ones making the decisions. They know the cost of engaging with them in a military way, all they need to do is just enough to be provocative but not enough to kick off. Trump has promised everything and will be able to deliver nothing except an increase in the tensions.

As even the most idiotic commanders know firing a nuke means you lost. Having one is the biggest game changer in the world. There is no win in a fight with NK – they know that, the Pentagon know that and Trump won’t listen.

i think there is a win [ for the west /South Korea/China ] its just the cost is so high no one wants to pay it.

conversely there is no win for NK as they are certain to lose even with nukes
Nukes dont hep them win anything they just make the cost to the rest even higher so no one invades

they have no offensive use for them whatsoever except to ensure their own destruction hence they will never use them whatever jamby thinks

Nothing the west do will frighten them a single bit as they will fight to last person standing.

See the documentary on Vietnam war? NK’s attitude is just like that perhaps stronger. Even if it means them loosing the battle but they will fight to win the war even at a great expense of their people.

The Only country they will listen to is China.

But then China will only say a few words because NK is the buffer zone for China to the world. It is the ONLY way to enter China by land because Non of the surrounding nations will let the West set foot on them again. Therefore, the world can shout as much as they like etc but nothing will come of it.

If there is war then it will be a war unlike all the previous wars because this will burn hard. Very hard.

The world want to win the war? Then let time does its job.