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| Kim Jong Un meets with Moon Jae In (Source) |
The Missus Herself is skeptical.
Korea has been divided since 1945 when the Russians occupied the northern half of the peninsula and the United States occupied the southern half, ostensibly to disarm the Japanese occupying the country. Japan had annexed the country in 1910 making it a part of the Japanese empire.
Hard as the Japanese tried, they could not destroy Korean culture. Koreans are a tough bunch.
Some of you may recognize that raised strip of concrete behind the two Korean leaders. It marks the border at Panmunjom. A border separating two countries which are technically still at war.
I am keen to see where this goes, but I remain cautious.
Hopes for peace have been dashed before.
We shall see.
Share your wife's sentiment, don't trust the rocketman as far as I can throw my house. Hmmmm, isn't it odd that Dear Leader is the only overweight Northerner that I've seen. Guess supreme rank has supreme privilege.
ReplyDeleteOf course it does, just like every other tinpot dictatorship that has ever existed.
DeleteI am wary in spades, but hopeful too. It would be nice to see that rift healed once and for all.
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
DeleteBTW....did you notice rocket boy's breathing while the band was playing? That was one VERY nervous person.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are those on his side who aren't real happy with this move.
DeleteOr maybe he's been told by someone, Oh say of Chinese heritage, not to screw it up or else! Having never been told that before and not having the experience negotiating with someone who's not terrified of him, he's concerned the "or else" is a likely outcome.
DeleteGood!
I wouldn't be surprised if there are folks, let's say for argument's sake, of Chinese heritage behind this. That makes me nervous as well, I do NOT trust those folks. Not as far as Nylon12 can throw his house.
DeleteTo quote a VERY wise American...."Trust but verify". I certainly hope this works out. But I agree with your wife's skepticism.
ReplyDeleteWe shall see.
DeleteAhhh. That old curse, " May you live in interesting times ".
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post.
Paul L. Quandt
Indeed. We live in very interesting times.
DeleteThe entire quote, I am told, Is may you live in interesting times, and come to the attention of the authorities.
DeleteIndeed. I am told that it isn't Chinese at all.
DeleteA young man I know has some interesting memories of the DMZ. The NORK's were paticularly brutal and devious. I'm not holding my breath. I wonder how a massive change would affect the North? For all their lives they've been fed their religion of "Worship the King!", and everyone else is the horrible enemy. How will they cope with a change like this?? He's been out in the wild world, they haven't. I wonder how resilient they are?
ReplyDeleteDid you see this? USS Jimmy Carter flying the 'Jolly Roger'....
Hmmmm......
I did see that bit about the Carter.
DeleteAnd the NORKs are brutal and dangerous, at least the ones on the DMZ. Who knows what the people really feel? We do get defectors who indicate that all is not well in the North.
looking with long eyes of the matter. what is the chinese goal in this deal? number one is remove US influence in the Asian co-prosperity sphere, as the little sons of Nippon used to say. how do you do that??? build air bases in the islands. remove any reason to have UN troops stationed in Korea. work your way down to the PI but ever so slowly. reduce the threat level to Japan and use economics to convince the Japanese that the US forces there are not needed to ensure their survival. approach India diplomatically to reduce perceived border threats and penetrate Indian industry as much as possible.help pakistan to increase political and military pressure on the Indian government to create internal strife in the region as a distraction at least. would allow china to come into the region as the great hope for peace and stability readjust economic internal policies to once again become a net exporter of durable goods. cash out the US bonds they hold and drive the US economy into the sewers. drive the criminals running russia to spend even more money on border defense and increase their paranoia to unprecedented levels. play USA against russia with NATO as the catspaw. The complex goal is to retake Siberia which china has always held a historical claim too. they really want it and its resources it contains. absorb the Taiwan chinese into mainstream china. not really a goal, it will just happen eventually.
ReplyDeleteanyhow, that is what i see down the road and not a damn thing we can do about. we are short sighted and can't seem to look further than the next election cycle.
Exactly. The Chinese stand to gain a great deal here. I don't trust them, not at all.
DeleteThough I look at this cautiously, it seems more realistic than any Peace Plan between the 'Palestinians' and the state of Israel (that involves all the Jews in Israel remaining alive, that is.)
ReplyDeleteI think that there is somebody, who won't be given the proper recognition for his work, who finally stood up to the 'Little Rocketman' and more significantly stood up to 'LR's' puppeteers.
I am sure that Japan voting to be more, ah, aggressively militaristic helped, and that the Japanese are working more with South Korea against NORK and Chinese interests (what a visual, the Japanese crane and the Korean Tiger, warily walking in circles around each other... (Though that little issue of the southern Japanese islands that Korea thinks belongs to them is going to make any friendship between the two a tenuous one in that whole Argentinian-Great Britain Falkand Islands-Malvedas way...))
Now the real question is will this put the brakes on the Chinese Co-Prosperity Sphere thing that is going on right now? Hmmm, let's see, the two Koreas unify, within 5 years they ask us to leave, within 10 years political leadership is controlled by ex-Norks (much like Germany has been controlled by ex-East German commissars.)
I... think your wife is the go-to for the way the winds will blow on this. If she's skeptical, then that's how I will be.
Though it would be nice if the Korean War was finally over and all the ghosts of active and cold eras could finally rest.
The Chinese are the wild card here. I don't like it.
DeleteThe Chinese, really the central section of China, only cares about what the world can give the central section of China. Has been for, oh, since the consolidation of the main kingdoms under the 1st Emperor (who was a brutal nut-bag if there ever was one.) The names have changed, the overall goal of China hasn't.
DeleteAnd now the Chinese have basically voted for Emperor-for-Life with their premier. Things never are good when you get a ruler-for-life.
But... Some of the less reported stories from the land of Han are quietly talking about potential serious economic issues, serious hatred between the outer provinces and the central ones, and other social issues that have been festering for, oh, since the 1st Emperor...
Interesting times... very interesting times...
Don't like what they are doing with all the islands in the Pacific. That right there scares the ever-living carp out of me.
As I have written several times before, sooner or later we are going to have to fight the PRC.
DeletePaul
I have read/heard discussions that the hollowed out mountain test site the Norks used suffered an internal collapse seconds after the last test. Also, that there is now a hole near the summit likely leaking radio active fallout. The Chicoms are definitely not amused. I am most interested to hear LL's take on this.
ReplyDeleteHe's been on top of that for a while.
DeleteIf it holds, think of the money we can save on defense in the region. We might actually be able to afford to maintain our ships and aircraft. I remember when I was stationed in Japan, 30 hours was the average monthly flight time for my squadron. We laughed at the fact that our enemies only got 30 hours in a year, if that. Now? We're closer to that 30/year if not deployed. Something's gotta give and fortunately, the potential for depressurizing things out there might be some needed relief.
ReplyDeleteWe need the relief, that's for sure.
Delete