Thread: North Korea shelling populated South Korean Island

Originally Posted by CDogg

Russia is not in the same situation, and therefore has less to lose. Which, IMHO, makes them scarier to me than China.

As far as i could think of, why would Russia back up NK? Less to lose is no way a good reason.

Originally Posted by CDogg

Becasue China actually has something to lose by upsetting the apple cart. They own a third of US debt, and export almost all of their goods to Western countires for consumption. Their economy is so strong because of the Western consumer, so they'd probably be a little easier to work with if it came down to it. China has also openly admitted to being embarassed by North Korean actions, yet not enough to sever all ties.

Russia is not in the same situation, and therefore has less to lose. Which, IMHO, makes them scarier to me than China.

Good point... China does have a lot to loose. But it would have a lot to win, as well. Why not upset the apple cart and taking advantage of a possible victory to reshuffle the equilibrium of power to their side. They do say they are embarassed by the North Korean actions and, ndeed, Mao Tse Tung and his lunacy is long gone. Despite having been replaced by other kinds of lunacy... On the other hand, this would mean TOTAL WAR. And what would be there to rule and own after a total nuclear war. They would be rulers of a world of cinder and ashes... and so would the western powers.

Originally Posted by Sailor

As far as i could think of, why would Russia back up NK? Less to lose is no way a good reason.

Russia, having nothing to lose, has nothing to win. There is not longer the problem of ideology. Communism no longer exists in Russia and the USSR is lobg gone now. If there is a nation that might help put an end to this in diplomatic terms might actualy be Russia.

If this breaks out into war - a war of anihalation - we are all buggered now!
If we equate what each of us has to lose and what we have to win, we do have a lot more to lose... lives, homes, friends and family. This will not escalate. The international community will simply carry on and ignore the looney bin has it has done for the past 57 years.

There be dragons there.
China is trying to pull the rare earth supply plug out from
under Japan. While China holds a massive bit of the
world debt it is not clear that they are worried about loosing it
or wielding their economic club.

The economy in N. Korea is very different when compared
to S. Korea.

I do believe they will sort it out, but my Uncle fought in
the Korean war and having listened to him and my Dad
(WW2-pacific) on the rare occasions that they did talk
it was clear that we do not grock the history and emotional
politics in that part of the world. Listening to them made
the decisions regarding Viet Nam by their generation "obvious".

N. Korea has been stagnated and isolated from the world for decades
and who knows how they consider their risks.

Originally Posted by Sailor

As far as i could think of, why would Russia back up NK? Less to lose is no way a good reason.

I'm not suggesting Russia enter into a conflict simply because it has less to lose than China - I'm only suggesting that if Russia were to enter, they may be unpredictable, while China may be more cooperative.

Don't forget that Russia helped create the People's Republic of North Korea, and even installed Kim Il-sung as the first leader of the country. They've maintained their alliance ever since, despite international pressure and UN pleading.

I'm not saying the two governments are the best of friends, either, just worth keeping an eye on. Again, I'm hoping for the best, and will be keeping an eye on the news.

Originally Posted by CDogg

I'm not suggesting Russia enter into a conflict simply because it has less to lose than China - I'm only suggesting that if Russia were to enter, they may be unpredictable, while China may be more cooperative.

Don't forget that Russia helped create the People's Republic of North Korea, and even installed Kim Il-sung as the first leader of the country. They've maintained their alliance ever since, despite international pressure and UN pleading.

I'm not saying the two governments are the best of friends, either, just worth keeping an eye on. Again, I'm hoping for the best, and will be keeping an eye on the news.

Good points you have here,

Russia has not much to gain with NK, even more than 50% of its foreign trade is with the west these days. I have no exact numbers here (i'm currently at work with poor network connections). Only think i can imagine that Russia would try to gain some diplomatic points here if it manages to setlle down this situation via negotiations. I'm not trying to symphatize our eastern neighbor here, but i'm quite sure that it doesn't do anything that would risk its own interests.

However we've taken a step too far here, as the situation is already calming down there (according to news).

But it is sort of funny: all it takes is a few lunatics on the other side of the globe, and people are already preparing for the WW3.

It's going to be alright, they're your allies now.
YouTube - Sarah Palin "we gotta stand with our North Korean allies"