Rev Dark Wrote:Blackaeronaut wrote
"an amateur is the worst thing a master can have for an opponent"
This axiom is more suited to the salle or dojo floor than modern warfare. The capability range of the human body is wide, but only within a limited framework (reflex, aggression, strength, skill, etc.) In examining the capability of modern military technology, the gap in the capability range is staggering.
This is posturing on the part of North Korea; when the latest missile test dunked so spectacularly I was waiting for the press release declaring the great victory over herring. Amateur doesn't mean stupid - they know that if they truly start some shit, the capability gap will flatten them; and they are not in the position economically or socially to close that gap in the short or even medium term.
But how much of their capaility can NK's opponents afford to use against them?
The US can't dedicate the full might of American military to confront the NK menance... not by a long shot. Can the US dedicate enough capability to handle the DPRK, while also handling Afghanistan (Iran?) and struggling against budget issues at home?
While the DPRK is able to dedicate all of it's capability towards whatever ends it desires as it only really needs to worry about what's happening on the same peninsula.
Of course, the US does have ICBM's capable of making Pyongyang into a glowing glass sculpture.... but would *anyone* have the political will to turn that particular key even if the DPRK manage to shoot off a single nuclear warhead? Because once the N-word gets involved things get hairy pretty quickly, and you have to start wondering about the slim possibility that cinderising part of North Korea would provoke a Chinese response.
Not to mention how much of a disaster it'd be on the international stage. The DPRK really doesn't have to worry about that... they're already the world's bogeyman... they can afford to be the bogeyman. They might even be capable of thinking they can set off one of their barely functional nuclear warheads and their enemies might be paralysed into not responding. Or might not be able to afford to afford with the consequences of responding in force.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?