h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As I said before, increased Chinese involvement previously got the Gloucesters in a stickey situation on Gloucester Hill.

From experience I know the Chinese, and undoubtably the North Koreans as well, respect is a show of strength. We are not to be bullied, nor threatened and intimidated. We should have the confidence to state quite unequivocally, that if provoked we WILL use all the weapons at our disposal. Who has the job of pressing the knob? I would without a shadow of conscience, just give me time to drink a can of coke and thumb my way through a porny mag before the first retaliatory strikes please

Hillary Clinton, who can't keep a rogue husband and his cigars under control

Hmm. I'm not specifically *advocating* Chinese involvement - just being realistic. China has 'soft' influence that we don't.

Obviously China has its own agenda. *However* recent noises from them have suggested they're getting pissed off with North Korea - and conflict in the region isn't in their interest. Too many commercial interests at stake.


>>We should have the confidence to state quite unequivocally, that if provoked we WILL use all the weapons at our disposal. Who has the job of pressing the knob? I would without a shadow of conscience

Would you feel different if you lived in Seoul, though?

NO! Just bring it on. Win some, lose some. To date I have been a winner, I'm alive the opposition went off to which ever deity they happened to support Am I afraid, hell no, just have a different view on life and death than you It is the one thing we can all be certain of, as I said, I would liike the opportunity for a can of coke and a porny mag before I go, and enjoy the unique experience of coming and going at the same time

Hmm. In the event of a nuclear warning, I imagine *most* of us are planning to have sex with someone else.

I just take what ever is at hand

My wife worked with the Observer Corps during the 80s. The three minute warning was a myth. It was never going to happen. The plan was to quietly spirit away government to the secret shelters and leave the rest of us to it.

No surprise. Nobody really expected a warning:

'We now interrupt the broadcast for a special announcement. WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!'

> The plan was to quietly spirit away government to the secret shelters and leave the rest of us to it.<

What even the Windsors?

< At the end of the fireworks’ display the crowd streamed on as a huge wave to Buckingham Palace, and my father and I eventually found ourselves standing among this solid mass of humanity that covered the space around the base of the Victoria Memorial, where the flowerbeds now display their seasonal blooms. There were no neatly laid out flowerbeds in 1945. Suddenly the lights came on in all the rooms of the Palace; the blackout curtains had been taken down and it was an extraordinary sight to see the light streaming out from the windows when every building had been in darkness at night for so many years. Thousands upon thousands of thankful people shouted out “We want the King — we want the King”. Time and time again King George and Queen Elizabeth (the last Queen Mother) appeared on the floodlit balcony together with the two Princesses, and everyone roared and cheered even more heartily. >
For effers - An extract from :- http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/30/a3545930.shtml

For AB

As a young 'un in 1977, Silver Jubilee year my brother and myself arrived at the Mall with our parents, hours and hours before the Royal coach was due to come past and then the Windsors popped indoors..and then a few minutes later they popped out onto the balcony..the crowd surged forward and we were at the front. I was squashed against the railings, and a policeman pulled me down, and then it was, 'We want the Queen' and her maj finally appeared on the balcony with the rest of the clan..we all cheered and then gasped in awe at the fly past of the RAF planes. I'll never forget it. Or really understand how much my feelings have changed about them. Maybe it was finding out the truth? I remember St. John Stevus saying something about..'You shouldn't let too much light in upon magic..'

just back to the op subject:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia_pacific/10156834.stm

"North Korea is to cut all relations with South Korea, Pyongyang's official news agency reports."

and

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704026204575266274070314374.html?mod=wsj_india_main
which has several interesting bits in it about the north ramping up the tension.

@Ed

>I'm assuming that The Dear Leader is little more than a figurehead, for all the cult of personality.

I don't agree. Since its foundation, North Korea has always functioned as an autocracy and autocratic states genuninely *need* someone to lead them or they can't function and fall to infighting and political instability. What *is* quite likely is that, either through illness or possibly from a certain unwillingness - think Emperor Tiberius - Kim Jong Il isn't fully discharging his role as leader and the country is essentially running on autopilot. Another possibility is that Kim Jong Il has a designated successor who is running the state on his behalf in the manner of a regent but whose regency is kept out of the public eye (and therefore the West's knowledge) for political reasons.

The way North Korea itself functions is bizarre anyway which is why I think the regional powers and the USA tend to be so nervous around it. Despite it being lazily referred to as the "last Stalinist country" its political culture is utterly bizarre and quite different from the European and East Asian communist states. "Juche ideology" is a fusion of Marxist-Leninism with Isolationism and Korean Traditionalism and the way the state functions internally seems markedly different from other communist countries. For one, the "Party" seems unimportant beyond its official status within the state and North Korea more resembles some kind of isolated monarchy, steeped in loyalty, its own traditions and leader-worship.

>leader-worship.<

Well taking the idea I mentioned in my last post..we need to let light in on magic..Drop millions of leaflets showing The Dear Leader actually going to the toilet..it might just break the spell.

Or get them angry and push them into an irrational response. Which is the fear with North Korea.

well, Dear Leader has apparently told his military to 'finish the korean unification process..' should the south start anything. The south starting anything seems to include anything that sets the dear leader off, regardless of actual intent.

So, Korean peninsula for a US/China showdown anyone?

>>So, Korean peninsula for a US/China showdown anyone?

I very much doubt that. They're not particularly hostile towards the US just now - they're using US sales to lift themselves out of poverty. In fact they've been somewhat open to the idea of reining North Korea in.

This is rather good:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/opinion/26iht-edzimmerman.html

I tend to agree, but all that's coming out of China at the moment is distancing language positioning themselves well away from it all and suggesting that both countries should agree things amicably. Which just isn't going to happen without China playing a part.

Of course, we don;t know what they are up to behind the scenes and no public criticism may well be a condition of NK listening to China. But giving the aggro language coming out of both Koreas, I sure do hope China is up to something.

My favourite Dear Leader story:

http://www.newser.com/story/1105/kim-jong-il-ate-my-giant-bunnies.html

North Korea isn´t really that bad, just look how everybody is smiling in these paintings.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10134478.stm

I must say I preferred the Soviet propaganda, it looked much better.

China claims that a North Korean guard shot and killed three people in the Chinese side of the border. Wether it´s true or not, it´s something new to have China complain like that about North Korea.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10263325.stm