yeah, it someone here actually defending the Kim regime?

Have you been reading some of the arguments about this topic?

Person a): The US has no real reason to attack North Korea, you bigoted racist hypocritical crumb of the mob-mind.
Person b): You are praising Juche, you bigoted racist hypocritical crumb of the mob-mind.

I think a more fair representation of this weird argument is:

A: It's racist to post videos critical of NK and none of the criticisms anyone has ever leveled against NK have any validity. How dare you level criticism at other nations when you're guilty of genocide and terrorism, you yankee doodle dumbasses.

B: What!?

B:

Yeah, but I would point out the timing of posting a bunch of critical-of-NK-videos right around when the US is getting jingoistic about them. It's almost like we're trying to pre-rationalize the necessity of war.

I don't know where you guys hang out, but I've never heard anyone ever defend the North Koreans. I'm with poorwill here.

There are good reasons we can't march on Pyongyang, but there is no shortage of reasons to be critical of the Kims. This is not a new thing, nor is it necessarily a replay of 2003 and Iraq.

The first clip posted showed the peak of Kim's celebration, with footage of the US being destroyed by Korean atomic bombs. That seems relevant to this site, no?

The follow on clips were posted in an attempt to answer critics that there is no proof that North Korea does awful things. But your would need to ask the posters themselves for their reasons, I'm just speculating based on the timeline and what's been posted.

I think you will find few Americans, including in our military, who think attacking North Korea is a good idea, or something we should be considering. I certainly don't think it is a good idea, for any number of reasons. Remarkably, that also includes a large number of Donald Trump's supporters, those who elected him on the basis of his promise that he wouldn't be doing the exact thing he is doing. I don't even thing Donald Trump thinks it's a good idea, given that he lied about the big armada of ships heading to North Korea last week. It wasn't. What does that tell you?

What we are seeing is two weak leaders pounding their chests for domestic political consumption. Frankly, I'd be shocked if either side actually did something other than symbolic. Our great attack on Syria is a perfect example. Nothing was done other than to destroy some expensive hardware on both sides. Now it has been forgotten entirely. That said, weak impulsive and stupid leadership can sometimes do great harm, so I hope I'm not just whistling past the graveyard here.

@ Miss Hensons: Let me introduce you to one of our longtime posters, Chocolate Jesus. He's been vociferous in his defense of the Kim dynasty these past few days. Go look at his comment stream.

"Our great attack on Syria is a perfect example. Nothing was done other than to destroy some expensive hardware on both sides. Now it has been forgotten entirely."

According to multiple sources, in addition to the soldiers killed in the Sharyat attack, nine civilians including four children were killed.

It also represents big change in the way we articulate policy / goals concerning Syria. When Obama was president he used fairly judicious language in trying to goad the US into war with Syria, suggesting that our mission there was not about regime change, but was instead focused on very narrow humanitarian objective (an obvious lie).

Trump and his administration are making it more plain. They intend to take out Assad, and destabilize the region (in their own words no less, spicer keeps stupidly repeating the phrase).

From wiki/2017_Shayrat_missile_strike:

Seven or nine Syrian soldiers were killed,[2][3] including a general;[38] Russian military personnel were also present at the airbase at the time it was attacked.[39] According to Syrian state news SANA, nine civilians were also killed in the attack, including four children. SANA also stated that five of the civilians were killed in the village of Shayrat,[41] outside the base, while another four were killed in the village of Al-Hamrat, and that another seven civilians were wounded when a missile hit homes in Al-Manzul, four kilometers (two and a half miles) away from the Shayrat air base.[42]

I'm guessing there are a lot of people in Syria who has not forgotten this attack, and to them, it looks explicitly like a declaration of war -- you do understand that the rest of the world is a place with people in it, right? Not just some dream America is having?

I'll go back to fighting you all in the korea threads asap, I just couldn't let this Syria comment slip by while I was at work.

According to one source, the syrian state run news agency. The soldier deaths were also reported by another agency, and I can believe that, although we did call ahead before we bombed. Very polite of us, don't you think? Do you believe SANA when they say that the sarin that killed all those civilians was something being brewed in the basement by rebels?

A few hours later, syrian aircraft were bombing civilian targets from the very same airfield we struck. Because nothing of military merit was done in the attack. And, there has been no followup. I don't think anyone thinks this is a declaration of war, except you. It's pure bullshit is what it is.

You know, I glad that you're skeptical of the US, so am I. But for you it stops with the US. That's the crazy part. Why can't you take that next step? Can't you conceive of the fact that other nations behave in the same way we do?

Oh wait, just in the headlines today. We just declared some new sanctions against Syria. SANCTIONS! Assad must be quaking in his boots, it's total war. Thousands of civilian babies were killed in the sanction strike, according to SANA.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctions_against_Iraq#Estimates_o f_deaths_due_to_sanctions

Jesus Christ. I'm done for the day.

Accidental double post.

I'm with you. You can't be neutral on a moving train, but you can just say "fuck it" and wait for the drink cart to come down the aisle.

Just to be clear, in the discussion between one side saying America is a more totalitarian state than North Korea and the other side saying that's shockingly stupid, you find it hard to completely agree with one or the other. Is that correct?

I see the way things are going and there's nothing I can do to change them, so I'm gonna have a drink and enjoy the view as best I can.

I see best korea and murika as mirror opposites in totalitarianism.

best korea is extremely totalitarian to its own population but hardly does anything outside its borders.

murika is extremely totalitarian in other countries, but is very freedom loving within its own borders.

"Hooker
Just to be clear, in the discussion between one side saying America is a more totalitarian state than North Korea and the other side saying that's shockingly stupid, you find it hard to completely agree with one or the other. Is that correct?"

No, I'm talking about the details of the argument, not the basic theses. Between the totally nuanced and definitive arguments "NK is a Bullwinkle style evil empire" and "poor, misunderstood NK is just trying to mind its own business but the USA keeps bullying it" there is far more truth on the Bullwinkle side.

*****

Camp 22 sucks. Came with a defective water chip, hence having to carry water for Kim Jong Un.

I'm perfectly content with Love Camp 7, myself.

In camp 13, they cosplay Hogans Heros.

***** for you Oscar.