A couple of days ago, I got an e-mail from Robert, a reader who took issue with a number of conclusions drawn by Stanley Kurtz in his National Review articles that I posted here. Robert then asked Steven De Beste of USS Clueless to give his commentary on the Kurtz pieces, and commentary he did give. Check out both Mr. De Beste's analysis and Donald Sensing's comment towards the end - both give some pretty interesting opinions concerning North Korean intentions and capabilities. Just to give you a sampling:
Keep this in mind in what I write below. NK winning is a non-issue; no one on either side is thinking in those terms. Our ability to devastate NK in the war is also a non-issue; they know it and don't care. The question is whether they could cause damage to the South we would find intolerable. Think of it as an entire nation strapping on an explosive belt and trying to die in an attack against their enemies. You can't deter a suicide bomber by threatening to kill him after he makes his attack; he's already decided to die because he hopes to hurt you when he does. If they decide to go postal, and commit suicide while trying to hurt us as much as possible, would we consider the result acceptable? What are we willing to do to prevent that from happening?
Like I said, check it out - it's good. And thanks a lot, Robert! (Now, if only you can get Mr. De Beste to explain how to get XCONQ to run properly on Windows 98 :) )
PS: Concerning Mr. Kurtz, I got another e-mail from a reader who apparently knew the good Hoover Institute scholar before he made it big. Seems Kurtz had a thing for ska, which makes him OK in my book.