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Originally Posted by funkychinaman
But that's the thing: how many times are we going to allow them to poke us with a stick before we (as in the west) retaliate? How far does this go? How much does South Korea tolerate? (And after a sunken warship AND shelling, the answer so far is: A LOT.) Will they be dumb enough to go after us ? (as in the US.) And what happens if they do?
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Seriously, I don't know how much we can tolerate. The only thing I can say is that we know what the DPRK wants and why they do what they do (two words:
regime survival). As long as we know this is the case, it makes no sense for us to allow (or participate in) an all-out war, given the consequences to us. That gives the Kims some leverage against us, but it also won't necessarily allow them to do what they really seek to do, which is to get concessions from us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by funkychinaman
I don't think anyone wanted to invade Afghanistan before fall 2001 either, but we felt we had no choice.
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Afghanistan is not North Korea. The consequences of invading Afghanistan were not nearly as serious as going to war with North Korea would be.