When I was overseas in 1970, I often pondered the concept of war and peace. The Viet Nam conflict, which was very active at that time, had been going on (seemed like) forever .Two of my cousins, Richard and Jim had been involved in Korea which (seemed like) happened immediately prior to our involvement in Viet Nam, which another one of my cousins, Walt was involved in. War, it seems, often comes from short sighted acts of national leaders which usually are regretted when lives are ruined and countries are sullied. Once the line is crossed, there is no going back. Normalcy, if possible to regain, may take years or even decades. Now here we are again, living in a dangerous world made this way by some very bad actors. The nuclear genie is again out of the bottle. Only this time it is Pakistan, North Korea and Iran all either have the bomb or very close to obtaining it. For the purpose of this post, I will focus on North Korea even though the current events taking place in Iran are daunting. Just to make sure the history of this region is somewhat correct, the following is what Wikipedia recalls about the Korean conflict from the early 1950's:
The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korea (officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea) with major hostilities beginning on June 25, 1950, pausing with an armistice signed on July 27, 1953. North Korea has since unilaterally withdrawn from that armistice, having announced its intent to do so on May 27, 2009. The conflict arose from the attempts of the two Korean powers to re-unify Korea under their respective governments. The period immediately before the war was marked by escalating border conflicts at the 38th Parallel and attempts to negotiate elections for the entirety of Korea. These negotiations ended when the North Korean Army invaded the South on June 25, 1950. Under the aegis of the United Nations, nations allied with the United States intervened on behalf of South Korea. After rapid advances in a South Korean counterattack, North-allied Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war and ultimately leading to an armistice that approximately restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea.
At 67 and in declining health, North Korea's "Dear Leader" (Kim Jong il), is getting ready to hand off power to his youngest son, Kim Jong un ("Brilliant Comrade" ). However to set the stage for his son, the "Dear Leader" has announced that North Korea will not abide by any United Nations sanctions, WILL weaponize any uranium or plutonium that resides in North Korea and worst of all, launch a nuclear strike against any country that takes part in an embargo or aggressive sanctions. Right now, with the entire Korean Peninsula destabilized, it is unclear which country (Japan, South Korea or United States) is in greater peril. I have said for years the only type of person I fear is one who has absolutely nothing to lose. In a country that is plagued by starvation, has very few utilities and endures chronic human rights abuses, North Korea truly has nothing to lose. They are the desperate thug who suddenly acquires a handgun. Due to the selfish, short sighted "leadership" in North Korea, we could be standing on the precipice of yet another world changing event. Besides having a fully functioning nuclear device, North Korea has also perfected the multistage Taepodong-2 missile, which could reach Alaska, Hawaii or the west coast of the United States. In addition, it is believed that North Korea has anywhere from one to three dozen single stage No-dong short range missiles that could easily hit South Korea, Japan or our bases in Okinawa or Guam. Finally, it is not going to take much of a technology leap to come up with a longer range missile that could reach any target in the United States. Should the North Koreans ever be able to light off even a low grade nuke at high altitude over the United States, it will be "lights out" - literally. The EMP effect of this type of detonation could wipe out most of our electric grid, everyone's stored electronic data as well as numerous other essentials (By the way, the Heritage Foundation has a video out called 33 Minutes which also addresses the North Korean threat to our homeland). In other words, should North Korea ever achieve this evil deed, our country would look very much like North Korea for years, if not decades.
As I wrote in my journal in Okinawa in 1970, the following poem is still germane:
Here I stand a man among men,
I know no evil, I practice no sin.
I burn, destroy, kill and maim,
Its' funny I don't even know my name.
I cover the path that peace had trod,
Some call me man, but I call me God..
This poem I now dedicate to the Dear Leader and his son the Brilliant Comrade. They need to read it and understand it - now, more than ever.
The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korea (officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea) with major hostilities beginning on June 25, 1950, pausing with an armistice signed on July 27, 1953. North Korea has since unilaterally withdrawn from that armistice, having announced its intent to do so on May 27, 2009. The conflict arose from the attempts of the two Korean powers to re-unify Korea under their respective governments. The period immediately before the war was marked by escalating border conflicts at the 38th Parallel and attempts to negotiate elections for the entirety of Korea. These negotiations ended when the North Korean Army invaded the South on June 25, 1950. Under the aegis of the United Nations, nations allied with the United States intervened on behalf of South Korea. After rapid advances in a South Korean counterattack, North-allied Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war and ultimately leading to an armistice that approximately restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea.
At 67 and in declining health, North Korea's "Dear Leader" (Kim Jong il), is getting ready to hand off power to his youngest son, Kim Jong un ("Brilliant Comrade" ). However to set the stage for his son, the "Dear Leader" has announced that North Korea will not abide by any United Nations sanctions, WILL weaponize any uranium or plutonium that resides in North Korea and worst of all, launch a nuclear strike against any country that takes part in an embargo or aggressive sanctions. Right now, with the entire Korean Peninsula destabilized, it is unclear which country (Japan, South Korea or United States) is in greater peril. I have said for years the only type of person I fear is one who has absolutely nothing to lose. In a country that is plagued by starvation, has very few utilities and endures chronic human rights abuses, North Korea truly has nothing to lose. They are the desperate thug who suddenly acquires a handgun. Due to the selfish, short sighted "leadership" in North Korea, we could be standing on the precipice of yet another world changing event. Besides having a fully functioning nuclear device, North Korea has also perfected the multistage Taepodong-2 missile, which could reach Alaska, Hawaii or the west coast of the United States. In addition, it is believed that North Korea has anywhere from one to three dozen single stage No-dong short range missiles that could easily hit South Korea, Japan or our bases in Okinawa or Guam. Finally, it is not going to take much of a technology leap to come up with a longer range missile that could reach any target in the United States. Should the North Koreans ever be able to light off even a low grade nuke at high altitude over the United States, it will be "lights out" - literally. The EMP effect of this type of detonation could wipe out most of our electric grid, everyone's stored electronic data as well as numerous other essentials (By the way, the Heritage Foundation has a video out called 33 Minutes which also addresses the North Korean threat to our homeland). In other words, should North Korea ever achieve this evil deed, our country would look very much like North Korea for years, if not decades.
As I wrote in my journal in Okinawa in 1970, the following poem is still germane:
Here I stand a man among men,
I know no evil, I practice no sin.
I burn, destroy, kill and maim,
Its' funny I don't even know my name.
I cover the path that peace had trod,
Some call me man, but I call me God..
This poem I now dedicate to the Dear Leader and his son the Brilliant Comrade. They need to read it and understand it - now, more than ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment