South Korea Should Defend Itself

So saith Doug Bandow in the American Spectator. (BTW, how far has the American Spectator come in publishing a piece like this?) Why hasn't the South put its resources to better military effect? Because it doesn't have to. So long as America offers a security guarantee, maintains a tripwire troop presence on the peninsula, and …

Sunday Morning Quotation

Apropos of North Korea's bluster, the following from Kenneth Waltz - the arch realist - in his co-authored book The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate: Deterrent strategies lower the probability that wars will begin.  If wars start nevertheless, deterrent strategies lower the probability that they will be carried very far.  Nuclear weapons lessen the …

Is This a Credible Threat?

From the AP: "If the (South Korean) enemies try to deal any retaliation or punishment, or if they try sanctions or a strike on us .... we will answer to this with all-out war," Col. Pak In Ho of North Korea's navy told broadcaster APTN in an exclusive interview in Pyongyang.

More Cheonan Stories

Update: This (see below left) is something the South Korean government does not want to disrupt with a war: The LA Times has an article in yesterday's paper discussing the possibility North Korea used a submersible suicide bomber.  Five day mourning period begins for South Korean sailors. China says it was an "unfortunate incident."  But …

More on the Cheonan Incident

In case you miss it in the comments, Rob Farley at LGM responds to my post and adds more thoughts on North Korea and the Cheonan Incident. In case you are wondering, Rob is not one of my senior colleagues on my P and T committee.  He's just an interesting guy, hence all the links!

More News from North Korea

North Korea distributes rice from military storage facilities.  So, is this related in any way to the Cheonan incident?

Is North Korea angling for a diversionary war?

The UK Times suggests that the apparent North Korean attack on the South Korean naval ship on March 26 may have been an attempt to provoke war with South Korea.  Specifically: In some ways, a limited war might be exactly what the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, is hoping for. After decades of economic decline …

Cheonan Incident

I'm with Rob at LGM on this issue: if the North Koreans torpedoed South Korea's Cheonan, doing nothing is not an ideal response.  As Rob notes:  "indicating that North Korea is allowed to sink South Korean ships in internationally recognized South Korean waters seems problematic."  However, if I'm remembering my Robert Jervis correctly, we should be …