# If Middle Eastern terrorists attacked Costa Rica or North Korea **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 16, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741 "2015-11-16T21:58:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/1 "2015-11-16T21:58:09Z")
I know, you’re reading the thread title and thinking, “What…?” Suppose that Middle Eastern terrorists carried out a deadly attack in Costa Rica. (Don’t fight the hypothetical; just go with the scenario.) Costa Rica has no military and is far from the Middle East. How would it avenge the attack - ask the international community to do it for it? Would the international community oblige? Now, for a crazy hypothetical: Suppose that Middle Eastern terrorists carried out a deadly attack in North Korea. (Don’t fight the hypothetical; just go with the scenario.) If Pyongyang asked the international community for assistance against terrorism, would the international community just laugh and ignore? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/2 "2015-11-16T22:02:27Z")
To the second question, no doubt China alone would be enough to retaliate on North Korea’s behalf, I can’t imagine Pyongyang looking for help from anyone else, nor needing it. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/3 "2015-11-16T22:09:29Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I know, you’re reading the thread title and thinking, “What…?” > Suppose that Middle Eastern terrorists carried out a deadly attack in Costa Rica. (Don’t fight the hypothetical; just go with the scenario.) Costa Rica has no military and is far from the Middle East. How would it avenge the attack - ask the international community to do it for it? Would the international community oblige? > > Now, for a crazy hypothetical: Suppose that Middle Eastern terrorists carried out a deadly attack in North Korea. (Don’t fight the hypothetical; just go with the scenario.) If Pyongyang asked the international community for assistance against terrorism, would the international community just laugh and ignore? Well, a couple of things. First off, I seriously doubt that the NK government would admit to any such attack. They would cover it up the way they do everything. So, if they came right out and said there was such an attack it’s not going to be believed (for one thing, how would ME terrorists from ISIS/ISIL get into North Korea in the first place?? You said don’t fight the hypothetical, but it’s going to be a huge issue in other countries even buying there was an attack). My guess is that, even leaving aside the believability issue, they wouldn’t get a ton of international support. China would probably not even support them wrt engaging in military operations in Syria (this assumes they could, which I doubt). Russia isn’t going to even support them wrt them engaging in Syria (they might say some of their attacks are for NK, but they would be attacks they would be doing anyway). And the countries currently engaged in Syria would still be engaged as they are today with no real meaningful change outside of, perhaps, some lip service about how terrible terrorists and terrorist attacks are. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/4 "2015-11-16T22:25:23Z")
Middle Eastern terrorsts have already carried out several deadly attacks in a Sout American country. > **[AMIA bombing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMIA_bombing)** > > The AMIA bombing occurred on 18 July 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and targeted the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; transl. "Argentine Israelite Mutual Association"), a Jewish Community Centre. Executed as a suicidal attack, a bomb-laden van was driven into the AMIA building and subsequently detonated, killing 85 people and injuring over 300. To date, the bombing remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history. Argentina is home to a Jewish community of 230,000 Over... > **[1992 attack on Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_attack_on_Israeli_embassy_in_Buenos_Aires)** > > The attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was a suicide bombing attack on the building of the Israeli embassy of Argentina, located in Buenos Aires, which was carried out on 17 March 1992. 29 civilians were killed in the attack and 242 additional civilians were injured. > On 17 March 1992, at 2:42 pm (UTC−3), a pick-up truck driven by a suicide bomber and loaded with explosives smashed into the front of the Israeli Embassy located on the corner of Arroyo and Suipacha, and detonated. The... ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/5 "2015-11-16T22:26:12Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Suppose that Middle Eastern terrorists carried out a deadly attack in Costa Rica. (Don’t fight the hypothetical; just go with the scenario.) Costa Rica has no military and is far from the Middle East. How would it avenge the attack - ask the international community to do it for it? Would the international community oblige? If there were a terrorist attack here in Ireland, we simply would not avenge the attack in any military sense because it wouldn’t be an option for us - we don’t have the military capability to bomb or invade any location in the middle east. Domestically, it would be dealt with as a criminal act. I imagine that is the case for the majority of the world’s countries. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/6 "2015-11-16T22:34:43Z")
So…if North Korea didn’t act like North Korea and allowed middle east terrorists to infiltrate and attack, then didn’t act like North Korea and admitted to the attack, then didn’t act like North Korea and asked for support, would the world lend a hand? One question: Is the rest of the world acting the opposite way it usually does in your scenario, too? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/7 "2015-11-16T23:24:54Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > If there were a terrorist attack here in Ireland, we simply would not avenge the attack in any military sense because it wouldn’t be an option for us - we don’t have the military capability to bomb or invade any location in the middle east. **Domestically, it would be dealt with as a criminal act.** Yes, but suicide bombers can’t be prosecuted when dead. The masterminds in Iraq or Syria would remain at large. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/8 "2015-11-16T23:44:21Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Yes, but suicide bombers can’t be prosecuted when dead. > > The masterminds in Iraq or Syria would remain at large. And there’s not a damn thing we could do about it. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/9 "2015-11-20T23:26:16Z")
Costa Rica has no military, but is not as strictly neutral as Switzerland, it has standing defense treaties with the United States (i.e. the Rio Treaty of 1947). And like most countries without a military, has some heavy tactical police forces. North Korea - at best - might get China’s support. If North Koreans indeed are supportive of Syria and Iran, then they certainly could be a target of a Salafist group. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/10 "2015-11-21T00:11:10Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > To the second question, no doubt China alone would be enough to retaliate on North Korea’s behalf I’m not necessarily disagreeing, but why do you think China would do this? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/11 "2015-11-21T00:54:00Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The masterminds in Iraq or Syria would remain at large. So they’d seek InterPol’s assistance, or work with an ally. A large majority of the world’s nations lack power projection or dark ops capabilities with which to retaliate/avenge in the manner that the Security Council Five or Israel would. Being able to hit back in strength is the exception. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/12 "2015-11-21T02:06:55Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > I’m not necessarily disagreeing, but why do you think China would do this? Whatever the Chinese feel towards North Korea (Hint: The Chinese aren’t much fonder of Kim Jong Un than we Americans are), they have their own issues with Islamic extremists and don’t want them on the Manchurian border. Yeah, I think they’d help out. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/13 "2015-11-21T03:24:52Z")
If North Korea suffered a verifiable terrorist attack, they’d probably blame and retaliate against South Korea and the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Grsz11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grsz11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grsz11)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/14 "2015-11-21T03:40:19Z")
An attack in Costa Rica would no doubt kill at least some Westerners. ---
**Author:** ![Stoneburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/15 "2015-11-21T04:07:28Z")
Costa Rica does not have a military, but they have a police force. So the only option that is not available to them is to illegally launch attacks against targets in other nations. That seems like a good thing. I don’t think there’s any rule saying that if a terrorist attacks your country, you have to go bomb whatever country they originated from (or you know… just some country with a Q in it’s name or whatever). So I assume the response would be an outcry of national grief, police investigations and heavy international condemnation against a group that would attack a non-aggressive democracy. There was an (admittedly pathetic) terrorist act committed in Sweden and I never heard anyone even mention the military. Regarding the NK scenario… there’s no such thing as an “international community” yet. It’s not like the reaction from China and Germany is going to be the same. Either way the scenarios are crazy, since there is no rational reason any ME terrorist group would spend a single cent attacking the most peaceful or the most isolated nations in the world. And I don’t see why the terrorists have to be from the ME. Why not have NK be attacked by South Korean terrorists? And the people I talked to in Costa Rica weren’t worried about the Middle East attacking, they’re worried about the US starting wars. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/16 "2015-11-22T20:56:29Z")
The Mali situation is instructive. Some Al-Q affiliate attacked a Hotel in the capital, killing 19. The country is too poor to launch an assault on Syria or even for the possibility to cross their minds. But they would like to round up the actual perpetrators. Which is what they are working on. NYT: The locals are stoical. They quote their saying: “You never know when lizards will start fighting.” Also, "We’ll keep going with life. You shouldn’t expect people’s way of life to change. We fight for the future, not the past.” > **[Defiance and Necessity Spur Mali Back to Normal After Attack (Published 2015)](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/23/world/africa/spurred-by-defiance-and-necessity-life-goes-on-in-mali-after-attack.html?_r=0)** > > Most in Bamako returned to their normal lives after the terrorist attack on a hotel despite little evidence of increased security. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/17 "2015-11-22T21:15:47Z")
> [@Grsz11](#): > > An attack in Costa Rica would no doubt kill at least some Westerners. No duh. Costa Rica is a western country. ---
**Author:** ![Stoneburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/18 "2015-11-22T23:26:37Z")
> [@The\_Niply\_Elder](#): > > No duh. Costa Rica is a western country. But… but… they are brown!! _mind explodes_ :eek: ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/19 "2015-11-23T02:38:57Z")
Do Not Taunt: > [@](#): > > I’m not necessarily disagreeing, but why do you think China would do this? Because China has pretty much been North Korea’s best friend since the country was created. I don’t know if there’s a formal treaty between the two governments, or if it’s simply an informal alliance of mutual interests, but if pretty much anyone were to strike at North Korea, it seems natural to assume that China would have their back. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741/20 "2015-11-23T16:23:49Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Suppose that Middle Eastern terrorists carried out a deadly attack in Costa Rica. (Don’t fight the hypothetical; just go with the scenario.) Costa Rica has no military and is far from the Middle East. Costa Rica **has** a military, it just doesn’t call it one for political reasons. After wining the civil war there in 1948, President José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer abolished the military for its role in supporting the other side in the civil war. Instead of a ‘military’ Costa Rica maintained a [_Guardia Civil_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Guard_(Costa_Rica)) that was trained, organized, and armed exactly like military light infantry and performed the exact same function as a military without having the political baggage of being ‘the military’. > [@](#): > > The Civil Guard was an all volunteer force commanded by a Colonel as Director. The Civil Guard acted as a municipal police and a military force. There were over 6,000 men in the Civil Guard and they were organized into seven small battalion-sized companies, one per province > … > There was also a 3,000 man National Reserve, the General Staff and enough equipment, mostly small arms, for 10,000 reservists. It has fought off [invasion from Nicaragua](https://books.google.com/books?id=ASPds6gT1CsC&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177&dq=nicaraguan+invasion+of+costa+rica+1955&source=bl&ots=o7By8EJHYc&sig=XYaU4C2LLVec_MgEzyggKPgWp6o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjG8_Cm9qbJAhWJ1h4KHcFTBh8Q6AEIVTAJ#v=onepage&q=nicaraguan%20invasion%20of%20costa%20rica%201955&f=false) [in 1955](https://www.onwar.com/aced/chrono/c1900s/yr50/fcostarica1955.htm) by the son of a former president of Costa Rica who was being backed by then President Somoza of Nicaragua, Contras trying to use Costa Rica as a safe haven during the 70s and 80s and Sandinistas trying to hunt Contras across the border. After 1996 the Ministry of Public Security reorganized the Civil Guard, Rural Assistance Guard, and Frontier Guards into a single force, the _Fuerza Pública_ or Public Force. Costa Rica having no military is somewhat analogous to Japan not possessing a military but rather Self Defense Forces that are constitutionally a part of the police forces; albeit Japan’s non-military is a great deal larger and more heavily armed than Costa Rica’s non-military. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-middle-eastern-terrorists-attacked-costa-rica-or-north-korea/737741.md?page=2)