One of the opinion articles in the WSJ today perfectly illustrates why the ruling class of so-called experts is despised by the masses.
Aid North Korea's Victims
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204612504576610551421032670.html?mod=WSJAsia_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Third
The article advocates the US set up a refugee program in Beijing to help escaping North Koreans reach freedom and thereby hasten the collapse of the Hermit Kingdom.
I agree. NGOs should help escaping North Koreans as they pass through China. And yes - if vast numbers were to begin escaping - it would weaken the regime.
BUT and here's the point this idiot has not considered: If such a policy were openly publicised, and it DID have the intended effect...
It could very well lead to a full-scale invasion by the North. An invasion that could likely set off a regional war involving the Six Parties (US. China, Russia, Japan, North & South Korea) at the very least.
I think anybody proposing a strategy that would threaten the North Korean dictator better sit silently and patiently consider the kind of maniac they're dealing with and prepare for the consequences.
There are only a few ways to bring him down -- and none of them is very palatable. From most aggressive to least:
1. An all out invasion by the US, Korea and Japan.
2. A CIA-coup like the one in Tehran in 1953. Or
3. ---and this seems to be the path North Korea's neighbors have chosen--- let conditions get so bad inside North Korea that A. the the people finally rise up and overthrow their dictator or B. the system finally collapses under its own weight when it can no longer even feed the army.
Is such a strategy a terrible thing to do? Yes. Absolutely, but the consequences of being more aggressive might mean a war that could consume Asia, set it back a generation and end life for 100,000,000 people or more!
So much for the opinions of so-called "experts"....
Aid North Korea's Victims
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204612504576610551421032670.html?mod=WSJAsia_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Third
The article advocates the US set up a refugee program in Beijing to help escaping North Koreans reach freedom and thereby hasten the collapse of the Hermit Kingdom.
I agree. NGOs should help escaping North Koreans as they pass through China. And yes - if vast numbers were to begin escaping - it would weaken the regime.
BUT and here's the point this idiot has not considered: If such a policy were openly publicised, and it DID have the intended effect...
What would such a madman do if he felt his grip on power slipping away? (Not to mention relations with China - if the US embassy in Beijing were a known asylum and transit point for North Koreans to the US)
It could very well lead to a full-scale invasion by the North. An invasion that could likely set off a regional war involving the Six Parties (US. China, Russia, Japan, North & South Korea) at the very least.
I think anybody proposing a strategy that would threaten the North Korean dictator better sit silently and patiently consider the kind of maniac they're dealing with and prepare for the consequences.
There are only a few ways to bring him down -- and none of them is very palatable. From most aggressive to least:
1. An all out invasion by the US, Korea and Japan.
2. A CIA-coup like the one in Tehran in 1953. Or
3. ---and this seems to be the path North Korea's neighbors have chosen--- let conditions get so bad inside North Korea that A. the the people finally rise up and overthrow their dictator or B. the system finally collapses under its own weight when it can no longer even feed the army.
Is such a strategy a terrible thing to do? Yes. Absolutely, but the consequences of being more aggressive might mean a war that could consume Asia, set it back a generation and end life for 100,000,000 people or more!
So much for the opinions of so-called "experts"....
