re: #91 Sharmuta

Hard to deal with since China’s involved.

Indeed. Although China may very well prove to be the solution, as well as the problem.

As things now stand, this is yet another in a long series of shakedown attempts by NK. They threaten nuclear developement; we give them stuff in exchange for them halting development; they get pissed off and go back to development; repeat indefinitely. And the US has the deep pockets in all of this. No one else is providing any aid.

One possible response this time around: the US could give NK the finger, and very loudly say, “Fuck you. You’re Asia’s problem, not ours,” while rather pointedly leaving Japan included as part of Asia. This could provide all sorts of motivation to China to step on Pumpkin Boy; the very last thing China wants is a nuclear-armed Japan. They aren’t at all happy with a nuclear-armed NK, and would much prefer to remain the only nuclear power in the region. If we make it clear that we are not only not going to dick around with NK anymore, but are also going to stand aside in the event that Japan wants to start beefing up it’s military, it will certainly get China’s attention.

China has bluntly stated that they want to exert leadership over the region. Here’s an opportunity for them to start putting their money where their mouth is.