Steven Vincent Johnson wrote: >thomas sez: > >I just heard Fox news say that the NK did detonate an atom bomb. Last >night Hal Lindsey mentioned the 550 ton yield. Since the critical mass
>>We can speculate till we're all glowing blue with radiation regarding Kim >>Jong's alleged predilections. Perhaps he does like his Scotch and wine. >> > I was making the point that Kim's decision to shoot off an atom bomb > or two, seems like the action of a lunatic. For one thing while our > ground forces are tied up, our naval and sea forces aren't. For > another thing, the Japanese Samari were sound asleep, and he woke > them up. OTOH, as long as the Chinese are willing to tolerate his > nonsense, I doubt that anything will be done. I would agree that China most likely holds the important cards. We shall just have to wait and see how tolerant and/or intolerant "the Dragon" chooses to be. > BTW, Kim's behavior is well documented. Have you ever heard about > his having people kidnapped and forcing them to acquiesce to his > whims? This includes young women, and a film producer. . You are likely referring to film producer, Shin Sang-ok. If you can believe what is printed in Wikipedia here are the more salient facts: ******************************************************************* >From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Sang-ok North Korean period (19781986) In 1978, actress Choi Eun-hee, recently divorced from Shin, was kidnapped from Hong Kong to North Korea. When Shin traveled to Hong Kong to investigate, he was kidnapped as well. The kidnappings were on orders of future dictator Kim Jong-il, who wanted to establish a film industry for his country to sway international opinion regarding the views of the Workers' Party of Korea.[4] The North Korean authorities have denied the kidnapping accusations, claiming that Shin came to the country willingly. Shin and his wife made secret audio tapes of conversations with Kim Jong-il, supporting his story." Shin was put in comfortable accommodations, but, after an escape attempt, was placed in prison. He was brought to Pyongyang in 1983, to learn why he had been brought to North Korea. [4] His ex-wife was also brought to the same dinner party, where she first learned that Shin was also in North Korea. They re-married shortly afterwards, as suggested by Kim Jong-il. >From 1983 Shin directed seven films with Kim Jong-il acting as an executive producer. The best known of these films is Pulgasari, a giant-monster film similar to the Japanese Godzilla, which can be seen as a metaphor for the effects of unchecked capitalism. In 1986, eight years after his kidnapping, Shin and his wife made a daring escape in Vienna[4], before eventually fleeing to the United States, seeking political asylum.[1] ******************************************************************* I bet there is a movie worth making here! In the meantime there are plenty of less documented rumors circulated among Kim's harshest critics for which the content appears to do nothing more than attempts to paint Kim as a degenerate nincompoop. Most of those rumors remain unsubstantiated, discounted, and unsupported. It might help to keep in mind the obvious fact that most nincompoops are not likely to be intelligent or wily enough to maintain political power, and particularly for as long as Kim has shrewdly managed to do so. There also appears to be little evidence to suggest the possibility that Kim is in danger of being replaced anytime soon, unless, of course, he drops his nuclear shoe. At that point all bets are off. Personally, I don't think Kim is deliberately planning to drop a nuclear shoe on anyone, and for obvious reasons. I suspect Kim has a far more convoluted "contingency" plan of action in mind, one that actually might work. FWIW, as I had speculated previously, Kim's political behavior resembles that of a martyr. His behavior of continued nuclear provocations suggests, at least to this observer, that in a cool, conscious, and calculated way he is deliberately trying to provoke the superpowers, (specifically, the United States!) into attacking his country FIRST in what he hopes will turn out to be a haphazard, ill-thought-out, and limited military campaign. He may be basing that reasoning on what he has seen happening to the United States and its continued debacles over in Iraq Land. From a leader with a martyr's POV, to be able to successfully provoke such an ill-planned military engagement originating from a hated superpower against his poor and starving county would quickly legitimize his regime and simultaneously bring condemnation and shame expressed from of the rest of the world on the doorstep of the belligerent Superpower. IOW, since Kim's options and resources are quickly dwindling to zilch, I suspect a major contingency plan he has had in place for some time is to attempt to provoke the United States into in a limited military campaign against his country. Instigating a limited military campaign would be the only way he and his regime could hope to survive the risky ordeal. The best way to provoke a superpower is to behave AS-IF you really ARE going to drop a nuclear bomb, but with no rational intention of actually planning on doing so. The point is to PROVOKE one's enemy into ACTING OR REACTING FIRST SO THEY CAN BE BLAMED FOR STARTING THE WAR. And as the military campaign unfolds, Kim could then expect to quickly garner significant sympathy for all the trials and tribulations brought upon his ravaged country. Remember, the United States instigated the latest military campaign against Iraq, a fact that I'm sure has not been lost on Kim within his martyr calculations. And also remember, martyrs love to garner as much sympathy as they can possibly get from others - meaning the rest of the world. But more importantly, global sympathy would eventually translate into all sorts of reparations for his country, and of course his regime. It's good to be the "Kim". It's risky. It's exceedingly dangerous. It's also very clever and shrewd. Considering the collective intellectual & emotional IQ of the current administration behavior towards "evil" nations, I would say that Kim might actually have a shot at achieving some level of global martyrdom, and possibly even surviving a limited military attempt to nail him and his regime to the cross. God! I hope not! Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.Zazzle.com/orionworks
