MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
A note to Dagblog readers - this is one of my first attempts since college to do analytical political writing of some kind. Given having lived the Guam experience for several months, I thought I'd try to use my experience and apply it to the current North Korean crisis. I am posting it here instead of trying to sell it to a print publication because I am very open to constructive criticism at this point. Thank you.
Seen above: US military airships and fighter jets right outside of Guam's waters.
There is something strange a brewing in Southeast Asia and it involves the 100,000 person tiny island of Guam, a territory (and hopefully future state) of the United States, and the upward northern part of the Korean peninsula.
I still have quite a few Chamorro friends on my Facebook feed, despite (or maybe because of) having had a nervous breakdown on that island. Many of them seem fairly freaked out about it. Kai Kai, who is a very well known tattoo model, DJ and public icon on the island, has joked about stocking up on gas masks on her Facebook account. Likewise, this image has popped up in the Guam newspaper Pacific Daily News several times:
They may have reason to be freaked:
(Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday its strategic rocket and long-range artillery units have been ordered to be combat ready, targeting U.S. military bases on Guam, Hawaii and mainland America after U.S. bombers flew sorties threatening the North.
"From this moment, the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army will be putting into combat duty posture No. 1 all field artillery units, including long-range artillery units and strategic rocket units, that will target all enemy objects in U.S. invasionary bases on its mainland, Hawaii and Guam," the North's KCNA news agency said.
The North previously threatened nuclear attack on the United States and South Korea, although it is not believed to have the capability to hit the continental United States with an atomic weapon. But the U.S. military's bases in the Pacific area are in range of its medium-range missiles.
There is something really strange about North Korea bearing its chest like this. Saddam Hussein did the same thing for years and, when the Iraq war happened in 2003, his government was literally brought out of commission within months. The Iraq war continued and escalated because of jihadis and other hostiles coming in once the floodgates had been opened by the United States, not because of conflict engagement with Iraqi military forces.
What would happen if the same thing played out with North Korea?
Unlike with Iraq, North Korea is surrounded by countries largely friendly to the United States. Instead of "Death to America" being yelled on street corners, you are more likely to see a McDonald's or KFC. Capitalism seems to have taken off like wildfire in Asia, possibly too much - money seemed to easily turn alot of people I met from Dr. Jekyl in to Mr. Hyde and without the social cloaks and masks we wear over ourselves to mask our intentions stateside.
In an American liberated (for lack of a better word) North Korea, who would really go and engage the United States? It could be that you would see the cities that show themselves hauntingly empty on Google Maps would soon turn in to huge commercial centers. That depends on what North Koreans are like, which I'm not sure many know.
Comments
Why are you worried about North Korea when China's 'Little Emperors' are rising?
Game of Thrones: China’s Military Hawks Go On The Offensive | Via Meadia excerpt:
by EmmaZahn on Tue, 03/26/2013 - 1:54pm
There is something really strange about North Korea bearing its chest like this.
No there's not. They do something similar every time sanctions are going on. It's their way of negotiating.
From the New York Times report on the topic published today, North Korea Calls Hawaii and U.S. Mainland Targets:
Bill Clinton explained the real problem with North Korea nukes & missiles very well back in 2003 on the teevee, I'll never forget it, and I think the explanation still works well. Not that they can hit the US, but that they can sell the nukes. (BTW, his opinion on what to do about Saddam Hussein at the time is also in the interview:)
The relevant excerpt, my bold:
Edit to add: you titled the post well.
by artappraiser on Tue, 03/26/2013 - 4:44pm
The North Korean populace has basically been raised to facilitate this system. For a visual example, I remember posting an image of this North Korean poster on a thread on North Korean propaganda that I started (on a now defunct forum) back circa 2004, and I think is from well before that time:
Caption: Poster showing missiles destroying the U.S. Capitol building was on a shoe-factory wall in the North Korean city of Sinuiju.
by artappraiser on Tue, 03/26/2013 - 5:02pm
For some reason I am more frightened this time.
We do not have Rummy and Cheney running our military any longer; so my fear is less than it has been in the past.
I recently read an article on Gates and according to the sources listed therein, he was the one man who kept us out of Iran in 2010.
I did have an uncle who fought in Korea and a few other older friends and we lost some 38,000 soldiers and my understanding was that Ike just floated the idea of nuking North Korea and the war was over!
China cannot be happy about what is going on and certainly does not appreciate our military 'presence' in the area--see Huffpo.
But I am scared right now.
by Richard Day on Thu, 03/28/2013 - 4:18pm
Why would the United States invade North Korea? There's no oil there.
by Saipan Brad (not verified) on Tue, 03/26/2013 - 5:45pm
Well also we already tried it.
by artappraiser on Tue, 03/26/2013 - 6:35pm
That is a naive post. Based on the name too, I think this may be the result of some of the Guam folks I networked with.
North Korea is full of millions of people who have never had a Big Mac, a Frappucino or ate fresh at Subway. All those things alone are enough for an interest by the United States. Then there is all the rebuilding that goes on in any country that gets bombed in to pieces, etc.
by Orion on Thu, 03/28/2013 - 3:17pm
Okay, I hereby render unto Saipan Brad the Dayly Line of the Day Award for this here Dagblog Site, given to all of him from all of me.
hahahahahha
by Richard Day on Thu, 03/28/2013 - 4:19pm
The main threat of the North Koreans is they have thousands of artillery tubes, many in range of Seoul, the capitol of South Korea, which has a population of 10 million, 27-35 miles from the armistice line. The artillery are among hills, dug in and mobile. See MAP OF THE DAY: How North Korean Artillery Could Level Seoul In Two Hours.
NK, and China, likely know that if NK goes nuclear, it will be wiped off the map.
by NCD on Tue, 03/26/2013 - 7:45pm
The U.S.'s answer:
by artappraiser on Thu, 03/28/2013 - 5:31pm
by EmmaZahn on Fri, 03/29/2013 - 1:17am
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/28/no-north-korea-cant-h...
North Korea's announcement via state TV that it was preparing to target Guam, Hawaii and the continental United States – and had readied its “rocket and long-range artillery” forces for the purpose – has inspired a cacophony of speculation across the globe.
But the fact is that despite the bombast, and unless there has been a miraculous turnaround among North Korea’s strategic forces, there is little to no chance that it could successfully land a missile on Guam, Hawaii or anywhere else outside the Korean Peninsula that U.S. forces may be stationed.
North Korea doesn't appear to have the capability to carry out its latest threat to attack U.S. bases in Hawaii, Guam or the U.S. mainland. From what we know of its existing inventory, it does have Scud derived missiles that could complicate the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and they could likely reach Japan. But anything further is probably an empty threat.
by ocean-kat on Fri, 03/29/2013 - 5:46am
there is little to no chance that it could successfully land a missile on Guam, Hawaii or anywhere else outside the Korean Peninsula that U.S. forces may be stationed.
Not really all that reassuring. It recalled a phrase we sometimes used as kids: Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear war.
by EmmaZahn on Fri, 03/29/2013 - 8:20am
We always stopped at horseshoes, and since I didn't know how to play horseshoes I didn't understand what I was saying. But hand grenades and nuclear war I get. Who knew?
by Bruce Levine on Fri, 03/29/2013 - 9:05am
Again, this is all about South Korea and Japan, not Guam (and need I add that the real problem is that China and Russia do not like the U.S. policing that hood?)
Furthermore, from other reading, I get the impression that what the Obama administration is trying to do here is say to Kim Jong-un: if you want to continue to play the same game your daddy did and get away with it, you're going to have to learn to play it exactly like he did or not at all, because we can easily show you out as a bluffer in front of your people.
P.S. Where's Dennis Rodman?
by artappraiser on Fri, 03/29/2013 - 5:38pm
I put the Guam touch in there just for personal reasons, artappraiser. Heh heh. Of course you are right. =P
by Orion on Fri, 03/29/2013 - 6:09pm