Posted on 01/02/2012 4:52:23 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
BLITZER’S BLOG: Nervous about North Korea
By Wolf Blitzer, CNN
Atlanta (CNN) - Even while I’m here at the CNN Election Center in Atlanta getting ready for the Iowa caucuses, I’m hearing disturbing murmurings from my national security sources in Washington about North Korea.
They clearly don’t know what the new leadership in Pyongyang is going to do, but they are bracing for a possible provocation on the Korean peninsula.
The U.S. fear is that the new leader, Kim Jong Un, is going to orchestrate some risky act against South Korea to create tension. The goal would be to help consolidate his position by rallying the North Korean people around him.
Any sense of external threat from South Korea, Japan or the United States – North Korea’s three main adversaries - supposedly has a tendency to unify the North Koreans.
His father, the late Kim Jung Il, and grandfather, the late Kim Il Sung, used to do the same thing.
/snip
One final note: While watching the Iowa caucuses and the presidential campaign, think about all the Republican candidates and President Obama and ask yourself with whom you would feel most comfortable if there were a crisis on the Korean peninsula.
(Excerpt) Read more at situationroom.blogs.cnn.com ...
Isn't it rather unusual for Wolf, a career CNN man, to inject this comment? This does not sound like a charitable comment on Obama.
China is the reason NK exists after ‘50-'53.
China is the reason NK exists after ‘50-'53.
My thoughts exactly.
“The U.S. fear is that the new leader, Kim Jong Un, is going to orchestrate some risky act against South Korea to create tension. The goal would be to help consolidate his position by rallying the North Korean people around him.”
I fully expect this. Pray for North and South Korea...and the world.
Wow. Wolf commits a random act of journalism.
This may be one of the things that has raised the risk level a notch. If recent DPRK provacations are any indicator - Kim Jong-Il made a habit of showing up at key military installations just prior to the last few DPRK provacations before his death. Like father, like son? Hopefully not, but something sure has grabbed the attention of the US/ROK.
“Kim Visits Ryu Kyung Su Tank Division”
“According to reports carried by Chosun Central News Agency, Kim Jong Eun greeted 2012, the first full year of his rule, with a visit to No. 105 Tank Division.
...This particular tank division is more widely known as ‘No. 105 Ryu Kyung Su Tank Division’, because, commanded by Ryu Kyung Su, it was the one which first occupied Seoul during the Korean War and raised the North Korean flag on the top of the central governmental building there. The number 105 is the number of the tank with which the unit advanced south.
The division was subsequently re-named by Kim Il Sung. Highly symbolic, the North Korean authorities also cite August 25th, 1960, when Kim and son Kim Jong Il carried out a joint onsite inspection of the division, as the birth of military-first politics.”
Based on their past behavior; isn’t this pretty likely?
Wow this coming from Wolfman Blitzer LOL!
It really can’t be otherwise. NK is the bad cop to the chicom’s moderately good cop.
Yes, it is. On the other hand, his comment makes it sound like more than usual precaution.
Actually it reads to me like Wolfie (-$4600) is implying that the Republican pack are unstable, nutty and unreliable poseurs and that his lord Obummer is a steady, Nobel Prize winning smart guy at the helm.
Yes, when I read that I thought “WOW! Maybe a sense of security trumps the lefty agenda for Wolf. Hope other leftys think the same way.”
Given CNN’s obvious bias pro Obama and anti-almost every Republican, I take his comment to be pro Obama, that “we” would be better off with Obama handling this (potential) crisis and that none of the Republican are capable of handling such a momentous crisis.
Chalk this up to sensible precaution.
The NorKs have demonstrated flaky behavior in the past; bellicose threats, belligerent acts, etc. What makes it difficult is the lack of any reliable intelligence on what they’re contemplating. From a certain point of view, it would make sense for the new Beef Supreme Leader to attempt some provocation or another to show his mettle, and to rally the military (and the people) around him.
Unfortunately, as we really have no way of knowing what he, or the military brass, might be cooking up, it becomes difficult to be proactive. One must wait (to some extent) for Kim Jong-un to make his move. Of course, there are potential signs; troop movements, relocation of key armored and artillery divisions, repositioning of aerial assets, that sort of thing, which might provide a clue as to what’s up, and to take necessary counter-measures. But then again, he could just order a fleet of rockets launched toward Seoul.
This makes the Korean peninsula a jumpy place. Of course, we must also consider as to whether he would do something truly bats**t insane without telling the PRC first......he might. We just really don’t know that much about him personally, and therein lies the crux of the problem.
If that is the case, it was a big mistake on Wolf’s part. Back channel apology to White House is due. Even so, White House could view it as a Freudian slip.
“This does not sound like a charitable comment on Obama.”
We’re talking Wolf Blitzer here. He probably thinks it’s high praise for 0’s “experience”.
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