On the Morning of the Day They Did It

[Carnacki]

[QUOTE=Count Blucher]
I may have said this before, but perhaps not in this thread. It is understood that a ground war in Asia is not winnable by the US under any circumstances, even using tactical nuclear weapons, right?

The only way to win really is not to play.
[/QUOTE]

Only slightly less well-known is this classic blunder: never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line!

[Squink]

[QUOTE=Oakminster]
It’s a political failure, not a military one.
[/QUOTE]
Well then, lets see the military turn it around for the politicos. Does anyone think they could do that?

[Muffin]

[QUOTE=Squink]
Well then, lets see the military turn it around for the politicos. Does anyone think they could do that?
[/QUOTE]
Iraq is in a civil war. Trying to hold it together by USA military force is a lost cause. Better that the USA direct its efforts in establishing separate nations within what is now Iraq.

[Steve_MB]

[QUOTE=kaylasdad99]
From here:
And anyway, I think it’s dikes. I’m not going to get involved with the other spelling…
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that’s something to watch out for…

[cckerberos]

[QUOTE=Count Blucher]
Yes, but NK Hates Japan. Hates. They had a naval battle less than 10 years ago in which the NK’s ship was sunk, but the Japanese destroyer was so badly damaged it barely made port. With NK having the bomb, do you think that, maybe, Japan just might want the bomb now? They have a proud culture and have already rebuilt their military because of arrogant rantings by know-nothings in Washington complaining about ‘paying for their defense’. Well, now they’ll be going nuclear…literally.
[/QUOTE]

I don’t think so. This event will do even more to ensure that Abe becomes Prime Minister when Koizumi steps down, and likely increase support for the LDP’s proposed consitutional revision plan. However, I think that at his point any politician who made any kind of public statement even suggesting that Japan consider investigating the possibility of going nuclear would be gone by the end of the day.

[Tuckerfan]

[QUOTE=kaylasdad99]
I thought the sugar cookies were Danish.

Chocolate, now that’s Dutch. Also, cheese, tulips, rijstaffel, cigars, and paint.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve always heard them referred to as “Dutch Sugar Cookies,” but then again, when we’ve been eating 'em, we’ve been pretty gassed up on coffee and, uh, “herbal medicine” yeah, that’s it!

[rayh]

China has urged the UN to take “appropriate” action, but both China and South Korea have ruled out military force.

Meeting in New York, the UN Security Council has strongly condemned North Korea over its claimed test.

On Tuesday the Security Council will continue to weigh up options for punitive action, and is considering a 13-point draft resolution proposed by the US, seeking targeted sanctions. The proposals include:

* Halting trade in material that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction

* Inspections of cargo going in and out of North Korea

* The ending of financial transactions used to support nuclear proliferation

* A ban on the import of luxury goods

US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said that while the US would never rule out the use of force, they were seeking a diplomatic solution to the crisis through the UN.

China urges UN action on N Korea.

[slaphead]

[QUOTE=DiosaBellissima]
is there some tie between the two nations that would stop China from laying the proverbial smack down? Logic tells me that we should leave it to China, if they’re inclined to handle such a situation.
[/QUOTE]

The main factor is probably that even though China (or the US, or Russia, or probably even Japan) could smush NK into rubble in fairly short order using air power alone, not even China have the stomach to try invading a mountainous, rugged, smashed-up country filed with paranoid loons - it would probably look like the battle for Okinawa on a grander scale. So laying the smackdown would result in them either leaving a failed state on their border (potentially with nuclear material unaccounted for) or taking the genocide option (not that attractive either).

Imagine if Cuba looked like some kind of Afghanistan/Iraq hybrid with bits of nuclear, chemical and missile programs scattered all over it. Not an exciting prospect to have sat on your border.

[RTFirefly]

[QUOTE=Oakminster]
Apparrently, you weren’t paying attention. We beat the snot out of Iraq. Destroyed their military and toppled their existing government. From a military perspective, we kicked their ass. Where we failed was in having a plan for what happens after the ass kicking. For some reason, the current administration expected us to be greeted as liberators. Instead, we’re seen as an army of occupation. It’s a political failure, not a military one.
[/QUOTE]
The problem is, war isn’t like football, where the game’s the thing. One fights wars for political reasons, and how ‘good’ your army is depends on the political goals of its country.

In the case of Afghanistan, a ‘win’ would have involved either the dismantling of al-Qaeda or the denial of Afghanistan to al-Qaeda as a base for the duration of the GWoT. In the case of Iraq, a ‘win’ would involve a handover to a government capable of governing Iraq on its own.

Our military, as presently constituted, is not able to meet those goals. You can argue over whose fault that was, and whether it was fair to ask this army to fight these wars, but that doesn’t change the reality.

[Tuckerfan]

UN Security Council votes 15-0 in favor of sanctions on NK.

The UN Security Council has voted to impose tough sanctions on North Korea after it claimed to have carried out a nuclear weapons test.
All 15 members of the Security Council co-sponsored and voted for the resolution, which demands that North Korea ends all its nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes.

The resolution passed on Saturday declared that North Korea’s purported nuclear test posed “a clear threat to international peace and security”.

A travel ban has been placed on North Korean weapons programmes officials and funds belonging to people or businesses connected to them will be frozen.

Naturally, NK isn’t happy about this:

North Korea’s ambassador to the UN responded by saying that Pyongyang “totally rejects” the resolution and accused the security council of “double standards”.

“If the United States increases pressure on the Democratic People’s Republic of [North] Korea, the DPRK will continue to take physical counter-measures considering it as a declaration of war,” Ambassador Pak Gil Yon said.

[Firebringer]

I’m sure the UN will resolve the problem through diplomacy… :rolleyes: