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what's important to remember is that it is the south that's primarily invested in the status quo---their concern has been a flood of people moving from north to south (among other things). if you keep this in mind, you start to see it more as a high-stakes game of chicken than a door opening onto nuclear armageddeon. at the same time, speed of response is of the essence, and that from the united nations. the complaints are clear in here too: nk doesn't think that the obama administration is moving away from the bush policies fast enough; it wants apparently some kind of negociations that bypass south korea altogether (face-saving); and it's built weapons systems so it can get paid to dismantle them.
meanwhile, there is a moment of political confusion in south korea following on the suicide of the ex-pm a couple days ago.
the alarming developments in this include:
nk claiming that it does not see itself as bound by the 1954 armistice. the trick here is that it is the south that doesn't want to get into a military fight with the north---nk has nothing to loose by saying this nonsense then---what this translates into action-wise is anyone's guess.
china does not seem to me to be in any position to get dragged into a fight involving the united states in any way. nothing about their actions indicates they're willing to do it. maybe nk sees itself as becoming increasingly irrelevant...
the problem, obvious, is nukes.
great fucking idea, proliferation. great fucking idea developing nuclear weapons systems, setting them up so that having nukes made you part of the Big Penis Club in the great diplomatic game. but we're stuck with them, with this.
that's a partial take....
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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