Re: The Much-Vaunted US Military

I agree with Ken: if North Korea were so unimportant then the U.S. would not
have made an issue of it, naming it as part of the "axis of evil" etc.,
moreover, it wouldn't maintain a state of war, a DMZ, U.S. troops in S.
Korea, and so on. I think that sometimes individuals confuse the world
systems meaning of "peripheral" with "insignificant", which is incorrect.
Even in old geopolitical terms of international relations, N. Korea occupies
a strategic location, can inflict damage presumably on parts of the U.S.
itself, and sells weapons to various regimes that the U.S. either does not
trust or actively opposes. It doesn't need to be have El Dorado to be
considered significant.

Cheers,

Max.

----- Original Message -----
From: KenRichard2002@aol.com
To: Damian.Popolo@newcastle.ac.uk
Cc: wsn@csf.colorado.edu
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2003 2:43 PM
Subject: Re: The Much-Vaunted US Military


Russia doesn't provide weapons to those it believes should stand up to the
US; Russia has in the past provided weapons to those who were in the act and
process of standing up to the US.  If it is true that Russia provided some
military systems or anti-military systems to the Iraqis,  then it's clear
that the US was deliberate in targetting the Russian *diplomatic caravan* on
it's way out of Iraq.  But if Russia or any other state, such as Syria, are
neutral in the conflict then they have a right to provide cash or hardware
to whichever party in the conflict they care to.  North Korea is not a weak
and meaningless country, providing no threat to the US. North Korea is a
country which has stated it will not permit the US to strangle it
economically as the US has done to so many other countries around the world
which have refused to go along with US extra-territorial economic strategy.
If North Korea refuses such treatment,  aimed at generating social explosion
whose end is the demise of the government,  then N. Korean officials end up
in conflict with the US, economic conflict leading to political conflict and
possibly military conflict.

KR