North Korea anger at US-South Korea war games
Ri Tong-il said the naval exercises by the US and South Korea posed a threat to regional security

The US and South Korea’s plans to hold joint military exercises pose a major danger to the region, North Korea says.

Some 20 ships and submarines and 100 aircraft are to take part in four days of manoeuvres in the Sea of Japan from Sunday
The first of the exercises, to be conducted from Sunday to Wednesday on the Sea of Japan, to the east, is to include an American aircraft carrier — the nuclear-powered George Washington, one of the largest warships in the world — 20 other ships and submarines, and 100 aircraft. It will involve 8,000 men and women from the American and South Korean armed services.
Perhaps for all the wrong reasons, I'd love to be on-board that carrier watching these full scale war games unfold.

Wach out for any N.Korean subs torpedoing an American vessel-for no reason whatsoever-.Far fetched?
Think The Tonkin incident at Vietnam , 9/11, pearl harbour ,Iraq car bombs,and you will understand my drift.

?

The North Korean leadership most likely perceives the present US administration as weak and slow to act , and although threats have been waged in the past, this one just might be acted out. Should US ships be damaged and lives lost , I believe that although Americans are a bit worn out with war, that they (we) will demand it . Just my two cents worth...........Al

I know what the north has warned, but in reality, they are just beating thier chests. Kim will broadcast some threats on his state run media and then will later brag about how his threats keot the South and the US away.

But should anythign happen rememebr this. 3 of the 4 SSGN subs are for sure in the Pacific ocean. Only USS Georgia is not accounted for. All 4 of these subs are at sea, the first time ever.

When all is said and done the games will go on and nothing will happen.

In 1991 I did take part in a massive NATO exercise called North Star 91. It was a war simulation involving a Russian attack on Norway. we even got over flown by some Bear Bombers. And, the "seas were angry that day my friend."

Back in the early seventies my ship was often overflown by Bears and Badgers. Soviet ships followed us around within about halfway to the horizon. One time they got in front of us to try and disrupt our flight ops and our captain almost rammed them . They got out of the way just in time. Most of us were just kids and we really never thought much about all the politics. We just did our jobs and got on with our day...........Al

I agree with Alfred.
However i also think that US responce in any case is largely if not solely based on how much potential profit will be there for the US after it engages,and comes out at the other end from that conflict.
At this moment i dont think there is much oil there but you never know.And any conflict against the S.Korean army wont be easy.At least on the ground.
The only thing they can complain about the west, is the S.Korea nukes arms.But who is to say who and how much one should have?Certainly not Russia or US and that makes them loose credibility enough , not to be able to justify a conflict based only on that reason alone.Then it is China , which owns half the States, and Russia which i dont think they would be too happy having been surrounded with American bases all the way from the Eastern to their Western borders.One thing is for sure, nobody will miss the current regime in P.Yang .
I would say that it is flexing of muscles from one side and barking without biting from the other.The end result the same for now.Iran has much more potential for the US to engage.Soon as they feel that Iraq or Saudi oil runs out , Iran will be the next in their list one way or another.But for now they have secured enough oil for the next couple of decades , albeit at a cost , and with a very messy way so i dont expect anything to happen there either.But preparing the way is what happens.Isolation of the country, victimisation of an entire country ,sanctions that affect everyone etc ,.Oil is running out on a global scale --buy as many plastic kits you can haha-- production is declining while demand is rising.This is the only true reason and logic which US and other countries like Britain and France and Russia in a lesser extend base their foreign policy and act uon it accordingly.Energy dependency ,will be the single most crucial fact that will determine crossborder relations from now on.

Sorry sea of Japan - not to be confused with the oil rich South China Sea that Japan is constantly trying to claim as their's, and while the war games will proceed under the ever watchful eye of China, I dare say the US will have yet another excuse to leave behind a huge armed fleet.

Mr Kim Jong-Illmatic must be super pissed off over the United States and South Korea war drills. According to the NY Times, “The United States and South Korea began their largest joint war games in years on Sunday, with a nuclear powered American aircraft carrier prowling off the east coast of South Korea while North Korea threatened to retaliate and reportedly put its military on alert for war.”

Well that is just great. The USA is nearly broken all on all levels, and we are spending our time pissing off a man with nothing to lose. Good call everyone!

Oh, and the article continues with “On Saturday, North Korea vowed to start a “sacred war” against the United States and South Korea at “any time necessary” to counter their “largest-ever nuclear war exercises” with its own “powerful nuclear deterrence.”
Looking very busy -------------

Hi,

I don't think that Kim is dumb enough to relight that war, especially not with a nuke. He has everything to loose and nothing to gain. All bark and no bite....

As a side note I think it is really sad that the whole world wants to continually villify the US... no matter what we do we are the jerks... real nice

The whole world , whether for ulterior motives or just plain kindness has been constantly bailed out of their troubles by the US. US, has provided food jobs goods and protection , unrivaled by anyone else. Even with our own economy in trouble, the US still lends a kind hand to others. Some of it by the government and some of it privately funded.............nice........not all of the world is jerks, just a few. As for the N Koreans, the whole world would be better off if this is just their usual rant and no more.

It has nothing to do with villifying or taking sides.
It has to do with understanding the motives and the real reason for the action , we the public are being told by the heads of the state and how critical/sceptical/analytical or in the contrary naive/simplpistic/short-sighted have become of evaluating it.
I dont think US or any other country in that sence would do ever anything other than what is the absolute minimum in any case to protect and promote their own interests FIRST.
The fact we talk about the motives of US , is that US at the moment , like many other countries in the past seems to have a slight advantage in power ,being that power economic or military, and uses it accordingly as i stated above.
Thats fine and understantable , but when someone talks about bailing out (WW1?,WW2? ) and then milking it out for their own interest up to present , its called differently.Not something that i would nessesary condemn but not something i would hand out a metal either.Just the way of things and i can accept that.By the way , i think the term bailling out is a bit insulting to the rest of the participants in that effort , dont you think?Why is it the Americans think they won the war on their own ?I would say they helped a LOT more than anyone else probably but still everyone played their part to get there and probably again , everyone would have to.
Unless you talking about another instand of bailing out someone without
a)being fully or partly responsible for it in the first place
b)taking or demanding something equal or more in return.
Never happened and never will.

You must be very naive to say the least to think that nations act uppon and from motives and notions like humans in indivindual level do.Sacrifice , compansion, sympathy etc.Empathy which is a key instict of the human simply doesnt exist in that level.They do so only if it serves their interests which at our age they are synonymous with profit and profit only.Recent example is the release of the Lockerby bomber from their closest allie in the world , G.Britain(American plane wasnt it?) which surprise surprise had everything to do with BP getting the oil from Libya--and to think that most victims were US sitizens --.And thats how much the current heads of the states , the big coorporate interests behind them and seemingly what we see as the nations that once helped the fight against facism , think of and cherish the values you talked about, in front of the opportunity for profit and also the realisation of the real needs of the todays society we have become.
Sad but true.And as i say this (A Greek) i am even more disgust with the mokery that democrasy has become of, not only in your country but even more in mine.US,Greece ,G.Britain as states have in my opinion very little in common in terms of values and character as they did 50 or 150 years ago.Borders today exist only on maps and money draws the real borders.
In any case as history shows we can talk about US today , but we were talking about Germany 50 years ago, G.Briain 200 years ago, Greeks 2000 years , simply bacause everyone seeks an opportunity to get at the top, and those who do occasionally write the history of human kind as we know it.

Thank you, Kostas for your very articulate reply. Did not mean to suggest that The US alone has been the savior of the world. I do appreciate you for giving some credit though. Mistakes and corruption is a part of every government on the planet. A recent deed for the good for others was the US response to the earthquake in Haiti. Haiti has very little to offer for itself much less for the US. No nation need kiss up to the US. Nations that are good to their people and their neighbors will always have the support and friendship of the US. More people leave their own countries to come to the US, than do Americans leave to live their lives and move their families to other countries. There must be a reason for this..............Al......sorry to go a little off topic, and by the way , I have been to Greece many times and feel that the culture and the people are awsome............How about we beat our swords into olive oil presses.

Let us not forget the North Korean sinking of a South Korean corvette last spring. Military exercises in this region are anything but routine.

--Karl

Debeating doesnt mean we fight as i understand it so dont feel attacked or the need to become friends with me anymore or less than you felt before.
I just like a discussion a bit different than -what was the bloody color of the turret on USS Arizona-- every now and then.Of course no need for personnal attacks or insults.Its the argument that matters.
So first of all am not saying Americans or US are evil or jerks or anything like that.Just happen to talk about US because others can't do what they (US) do right now(be the dominant force that is ) , even though they would like to do so if they could ,as they also did or tried to , in the past .I dont think they are bad and good people in terms of nationalities or clever /jerks etc within the law of average of course.
Haiti like actions its something that doesnt fall in the pre-determined path/route a policy of a state is drawn upon and hence , although certainly are welcomed and appreciatted , are also not indicative of the official policy when it comes to inter states relations and agendas.And in any case i dont suggest that US is the evil empire either but I mean we did send out resque teams (the first to do so ) to Turkey when they had the big earthquake a few years ago and they did so as well when we had a need , but to suggest in a nation/state policy level we have a friendly kinda agenda in relation to them and vice versa it would be something completely ludicrous.It is just shows that the ordinary people in all of the countries, as i perceive it at least , go through the same problems in life and do understand each others agony ,and have nothing to seperate from each other in that level.And the countries are forced from that realisation to act when the pain and suffering is too obvious to hide or pretend its not there.How many other continuing disasters going on as we speak for weeks , months or years that none is doing nothing at all or very little to help?I am sure the mighty US alone could bail out quite a few of them -not just patch them up-if only they really wanted to do so in the state level always.But they dont.Why?
Its about priorities , Haiti responce incidents are exemptions from the rule unfortunately .And that goes for all the developed countries, not just US.

Also economic emmigration does not suggest that i fancy your country more than mine .For the ordinary people it does give ,US for example more prosperous ground due to economic growth , civil liberties protection etc as any developed country does to a degree, but you need to look also at what cost it has secured those benefits for itself all those years, not so through their domestic but foreign policy since none is completely autonomous on their resources .And then you get the full picture.
Am not blaming US here or appeassing N.Korea or anyone else for that matter .All am saying is what we see today is not what it is 99% of the time , thats all.The world is not so simple as it was 100 or even more ,1000 years ago.It is a lot more competitive and everything you do now must be calculated to achive maximum result with minimum effort possible.Countries are managed like a coorporation is , to get maximum profit from every action/interaction with anyone ,be friendly or foe.There is simply very little or no room for idealists and ideals to be chased like in the past.

What color was the turret of the USS Arizona ?.........

The color of Arizona's turret tops are known--it's the color of the ship itself that incites riots!

Getting back to the plot, as I said, China and her ever watchful eye !
July 28, 2010|By Barbara Demick and John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Beijing and Seoul — China views the military exercises in the Sea of Japan as a threat to its territorial integrity. Beijing's indignation appears calibrated to push back at U.S. dominance in the region.

As far as Beijing is concerned, the U.S.-South Korean joint air and sea military exercises that took place this week in the Sea of Japan were a direct threat to China's territorial integrity.

I can understand the Chinese reaction a bit. I can imagine what the American feelings would be if the Chinese or Russian navy were to have exercises off the US coast. But how then can the US train with their allies in the area if not in the general area of the allies sovereignty? Could the same quality of training be achieved if the US invited S Korea and Japan to train near the US instead ? I think not. The chinese know that the US would not attack them by air and ground. They know that the US would not launch a nuclear war as that would escalate leaving the entire planet in ruins. To me North Korea and China (government) have been masters of intimidation and they should be prepared to take it as well as dish it out. I know that what is right or wrong is sometimes a matter of which side you were born to but at any rate I say exercise all you want but all parties keep your finger off the trigger. Again , just my two cents worth......Al