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US To Deploy Ballistic Missile Interceptors In Response To North Korean Threats
New submitter dcmcilrath sends this quote from the NY Times:
"The Pentagon will spend $1 billion to deploy additional ballistic missile interceptors along the Pacific Coast to counter the growing reach of North Korea's weapons, a decision accelerated by Pyongyang's recent belligerence and indications that Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, is resisting China's efforts to restrain him. ... The missiles have a mixed record in testing, hitting dummy targets just 50 percent of the time, but officials said Friday’s announcement was intended not merely to present a credible deterrence to the North’s limited intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal. They said it is also meant to show South Korea and Japan that the United States is willing to commit resources to deterring the North and, at the same time, warn Beijing that it must restrain its ally or face an expanding American military focus on Asia."
Go, NK. Stand up to those capitalist lackeys.
Millions of people regularly resorting to eating grass to ward off starvation is socialism at its finest?
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
My theory:
These missile interceptors aren't for North Korea. That is the excuse. They are actually a bargaining chip for China. If China reels in North Korea, then these missile interceptors near their borders will be removed. Until then, Obama can simply claim that he is trying to defend against an aggressive North Korean threat to nuke the US (even if North Korea doesn't actually have the capability to do so).
Kim Jong Un overstretched his threats and gave the US the perfect opening to do this. He is obviously much stupider than his father. At this point, he has given the US an excuse to build up its military power right on China's borders (including the deployment of more ships). And he has scared Japan and South Korea enough that they won't resist the continued US presence on their shores. China is NOT going to be happy about this. Not one bit. If I were Kim, I would be worried about the possibility that China might have him kidnapped or assassinated for this stupidity.
Suddenly, the hairy finger of a familiar monkey tapped me on the shoulder. It was time.--G. T.
"Its the brainwashed "minority" and leader that is the problem."
If you had watched recent videos of people visiting North Korea, you would know that the brainwashed are not the "minority" there. For generations now they have been constantly inundated with propaganda about how the United States is the epitome of evil, and apparently the majority actually believe it.
Having government-regulated economies is different than having government-regulated political systems. Right-wingers tend to mix these two up in their heads, but in fact they are orthogonal traits.
Singapore has a more or less capitalist economy, but has heavy gov't control over political decisions (no democracy), which demonstrates that economic control and political control are different things both in theory and in practice.
Table-ized A.I.
Not unlike propaganda in the US made the majority of americans think Sadam Hussein was behind 9/11...
To write such a thing is an insult to oppressed North Koreans. You can watch CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Al-Jazeera and YouTube. You can listen to Rush & NPR, read blogs, The New York Times and The Onion You can go to a rally or fly to London and visit on Speaker' Corner in Hyde Park. You can call your friend on the phone and say "Man, the government sucks, doesn't it?"
North Koreans can do NONE of those things. NONE.
It's a stretch to call what they have in Europe, Australian, Canada, Japan or even China socialism. Those are capitalist economies with varying amounts of socialist elements. The same is true of the USA. North Korea is a whole different thing and the system they have there is very broken.
I prefer to use a wheel rather than a line for the political spectrum, because at the extreme "ends" (fascism/communism) it basically looks the same.