.Why North Korea Is So Dangerous Beyond Nukes

Today, much of the talk about North Korea is in regard to its nuclear weapons program and the concern that they could reach Japan, or even the U.S. with ballistic missiles.  But one aspect of North Korea's military prowess is that its army could threaten South Korea's relatively weak one.

NorKor has the 4th largest standing army in the world with 1.2 million members. Even larger than Russia's; and just 300,000 shy of all of our U.S. forces.  However, unlike the U.S. military which is stretched all over the world, NorKor's army is singularly focused on South Korea.  More importantly, NorKor  has the world's largest paramilitary reservist force of  nearly 6 million that could easily supplement any conflict with South Korea. 25% of its entire population!

But, the real problem is that South Korea's army stands at just 500,000.  Add to this the 28,500 American soldiers in the "South" and, as anyone can see, NorKor is a very intimidating force to deal with.  In addition, the "North" has steadily built up its conventional weapons while the "South" focuses less on its military and more on economics.  In other words, without additional and extreme intervention by the U.S.,  South Korea would be a sitting duck in a war with North Korea.

References:

North Korean Army: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_People%27s_Army#People.27s_Army_Air_Force_and_Air_Defence_Forces

List: Largest Standing Armies in the World: https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&q=largest+standing+armies&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6rvW9g7vTAhVDwGMKHXkUDLgQvwUIIigA

United States forces in South  Korea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Forces_Korea

South Korean Army: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Korea_Army

Why North Korea is Becoming More Dangerous

With all the presidential politicking consuming our daily intake of news, one event, that should have been front and center, went by with little notice.

On August 24, North Korea launched a ballistic missile from a submarine.  The missile flew more than 300 miles towards Japan before falling into the sea.  Experts believe that, had the arc been higher, it  could have reached a distance of over 600 miles.

This is a very dangerous move by North Korea.  Subs are silent killers that are difficult to detect without airborne magnetic anomaly detection (MAD).  And, then, only if the sub is within a narrow range and shallow depth for detection.  A sub with a nuclear tipped missile could easily roam off the West coast of the U.S., be undetected, and put many of our cities at risk like Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco.

While it is highly unlikely that North Korea has currently achieved the miniaturization of nuclear technology to place a nuke on a sub launched missile, it probably is just a matter of time before they have that technology.  Add to this the obvious irrational behavior of Kim Jong-un, and our allies such as Japan could be facing a very dangerous future.

References:

North Korea fires submarine-launched ballistic missile towards Japan: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-idUSKCN10Y2B0

Magnetic anomaly detector: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_anomaly_detector

Echoes of Clinton's North Korea Nuke Deal Haunt the Iran Deal

When North Korea announced its detonation of a hydrogen bomb, many of us were reminded of the nuke deal struck by then-President Bill Clinton in 1994, when North Korea supposedly agreed to "freeze and dismantle its nuclear program".

In so many ways, the words of Bill Clinton are nearly the same as President Obama regarding the Iran nuke deal.  This is why so many people on the political right believe that lightening will strike twice and Iran will get the bomb quicker than the President  would have you believe.

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Obama's Weak-Handedness In Foreign Policy Has Gotten Us Nowhere

When Obama took office he extended his hand to Iran under the assumption that they were only negatively responding to the heavy-handedness of the Bush Administration.  Now, more than 3 years later, Iran is still as much an antagonist as they were during the Bush presidency.  As result, our pussy-cat role towards them has been abandoned and Obama has had to, once again, resort to those same heavy-handed measures of the prior Administration.

Then, there's Russia.  We supposedly "reset" our relationship with that former Cold War foe.  In essence, we said we'd play nice and, in return, Obama expected Russia to be our "BFF".  But, friendship was nowhere to be found.  They haven't played nice on missile defense; even threatening to launch air strikes against any  system we would deploy in Europe.  Then, too, they've attempted to block us on every move against Iran and its nuclear program.  They fought us, too, on our move to support Libyan rebels and dethrone Gaddafi.  And, now, we find out that Russia is providing helicopters to Syria and Assad to trample the rebel, democracy uprising.

When Egypt successfully forced Hosni Mubarak to step down, Obama called it "a beginning" for democracy.  Well, in the year that has passed since then, Egyptians have voted for the anti-Israel Muslim Brotherhood and, then, just recently, the military conducted a coup, of sorts, by dissolving the current parliament and by putting themselves back in charge.  So much for that "beginning".

Israel has suffered greatly under Obama.  That tiny state is now as close to serious war as it has ever been.  If Iran successfully develops a nuke, Israel realizes it could be in serious trouble.  As a result, they may be forced to take a preemptive strike against Iran.  The once-friendly Egypt is looking more like a hostile Islamic neighbor.  The U.N. and President Obama's support of the Palestinians and a Palestinian state, is creating an extremely awkward relationship between the U.S. and Israel.

And, let's not forget North Korea.  Upon taking office, the President had all but declared six-party talks with North Korea a failure.  Instead, he decided to reinstate the previously failed bilateral talks between North Korea and the U.S.  Obama, once again, felt this up-close and personal negotiations would work with his guiding hand. Now, three years later, North Korea is still a nuclear power and, over time, has now developed nuclear delivery systems that could threaten the United States.

Lastly, there's that elephant in the room -- China, and a near trillion dollars in debt that we owe to that country.  The president-elect Obama promised change with China.  Change that would include better trade relations; China's support in negotiating with North Korea; freer human rights for all Chinese people; support of global warming initiatives; and, most importantly, convincing them to allow its currency to "float" in international trading so that U.S. products would be less expensive in China.  Of course, in typical fashion, China balked on these issues.  The once confident Obama seems as helpless as Bush when it comes to that country. 

When I see polling that gives the President high marks for foreign policy, I just have to laugh.  Things are no better today than they were under Bush.  If anything, foreign relations have only suffered. They've suffered because by Obama looks weak; and, no one ever wins in negotiations by looking weak.

A Foreign Policy In Tatters

Amid all the talk about health care over the last year, nobody seems to be worried that Obama has been allowing the Middle East situation to get totally out of hand. Iran has gained another year in its drive to get nuclear weapons. Korea is still on its path to nukes and a long range deliver via missiles. The Israel/Palestine situation is deteriorating quickly as Obama sides with Hamas and continues to publicly admonish Israel over settlements. Chavez is threatening his neighbors; especially Columbia. The Mexican border situation has exploded into bloody violence with Americans dying at the hands of the drug cartel. Russia is in bed with Iran and that relationship has only gotten stronger since the President took office.

So, where is all this respect and peace that Obama promised before taking office? I guess they went to that same black hole that jobs, the economy, and improving the deficit went.

Obama: Our Talk,Talk, and Keep Talking Paper Tiger

For all of Obama's boot-licking at the G20; his bowing to the Saudi King (Click To See Video); and, his laying prostrate before the world by accusing America of past arrogance and apologizing for a variety of other ills, it certainly didn't buy him anything.

The G20 didn't buy into his call for his Obama-style, stimulus-to-bankruptcy, plan that he went begging for. Instead we will probably give control of our banking system and securities markets to some yet-to-be-determined world entity. The dollar may stop being the world's reserve currency because Obama may be toying with some asinine world currency concept; a move that could result in a weakening, not strengthening, of our economy and our balance of trade.

Also lacking, as a result of Obama's apology tour, the NATO countries wouldn't cough up any more troops or support for the War in Afghanistan. When he needed support on a tough resolution against North Korea, Russia and China told our newbie Prez to, figuratively, pound sand. Furthermore, Russia hasn't moved an inch in its support of nukes for Iran; even though Obama gave in to Russia for that very reason. Therefore we won't be installing an Eastern European missile defense system. Also, Pakistan has shunned his request for joint operations on the Iraqi border (See Full Story). What a great track record!

Groveling is unbecoming of a U.S. President; but, apparently not for this amateur. I personally view Obama's trip as a weakening of America's dominant position in the world. I think our foes on the world stage only see a guy who is a always ready to "give-in" and carrying a bag full of carrots and nary a stick. This constant apologizing for America's past ills without standing up for the great things that this country has done for the world is just stupid and makes him look weak. This is the JFK scenario all over again (See my past blog entry: Are We Ready For the Mistakes Of J.F.K., Again).

During the campaign, Michelle Obama said: "For the first time in my life, I am proud to be an American." I'm just waiting for Barack Obama to, somehow... somewhere, make that same statement; hopefully, sans the unbelievable "for the first time in my life" commentary. Maybe now it is clear why he had such a close circle of blame-America friends like Reverend Wright and William Ayers (See Ayers posing while standing on our American flag). How can anyone forget Reverend Wright's "God Damn America" screed! (See this very telling video montage)

North Korea Update

On Sunday in Prague, with guidance from President Obama, an emergency meeting of the United Nation's Security Council was called to condemn the launching of North Korea's latest long range missile. After 3 days of wrangling, it now looks like a harsh rebuke of North Korea will be issued by the United Nations. The only problem now is whether or not words lsuch as "We're not happy with what you've done" or "Please don't do it again" will be used in the opening text of the communique to North Korea. The only sticking point now is that some members, like China and Russia, are concerned that "not happy" and "Please don't" represent too severe of a reprimand.

Of course, I'm being a bit sarcastic but it highlights the fact that the United Nations is totally worthless when it comes to world security. The fact that the United Nations can't come together shows how useless Obama's huff and puff is when it comes to the U.N. getting tough with anything or anybody. Obama's charm and sucking up to world leadership isn't going to get him anywhere when you are dealing with the likes of China and Russia who both have veto power in the Security Council and a strong trading relationship with another country like North Korea.

In my opinion, the United Nations is just a black hole that takes in money -- mostly from the United States -- and produces little more than can be achieved by the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and Save the Children. Their peace keeping operations work fine as long as they don't have to actually keep the peace. At the first sign of gunfire, those blue UN helmets are flying off the heads of their wearers as those armed peace keepers throw down their guns and literally run to the safety of their own home countries. The only time anything has ever been successfully done under the U.N. banner was when the United States did it; and, mostly when the U.S. did it on their own.

Liberals should wake up to this fact!