Doesn't NK have an overpopulation problem? Could be a win-win. /s

(June 26, 2024 at 8:07 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: It's important beyond whatever ideological differences exist.  If nk troops were expected to be effective, for example.  Well supplied, well trained...with military rather than political goals to achieve...that would be one thing.  Cannon fodder...another.

In Ukraine or DPRK, those grunts -- and I use that word loosely -- are indeed toast. Whether on the Korean Peninsula or in the flatlands of Ukraine, they will be hungry and carrying outdated weaponry, led by General Shoeshine who gives not one fuck about them, with an air force that can not or will not give them honest CAS/BAI, with rounds that may or may not fire when triggered, with civilians who are sullen if not actively opposed, and with drones chasing them down into the trenches they've dug themselves for convenient burial. Just add lime.

Military vs political goals, well, Clausewitz pointed out that its much of a muchness. Kinda like energy and matter being equivalent and transferable, so too are political and military goals. If the military fails, the political end goes south. If the politics succeed, the military need not be used at all.

Boru

I'm afraid of world war 3. Anybody else?

(June 27, 2024 at 11:30 am)Disagreeable Wrote: I'm afraid of world war 3. Anybody else?

Not me.

Boru

(June 27, 2024 at 11:30 am)Disagreeable Wrote: I'm afraid of world war 3. Anybody else?

Nah. Russian bluster is just that: bluster. Putin wants his legacy to be the conquest of Ukraine, not the destruction of civilization.

(June 27, 2024 at 12:24 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(June 27, 2024 at 11:30 am)Disagreeable Wrote: I'm afraid of world war 3. Anybody else?

Nah. Russian bluster is just that: bluster. Putin wants his legacy to be the conquest of Ukraine, not the destruction of civilization.

And even if the war does expand, it’ll be a European war, not a world war. Why? Because it won’t go on long enough. It’s taken Putin ten years to achieve a stalemate in Ukraine. How long does anyone think he’d last against the combined might of NATO?

Boru

(June 27, 2024 at 12:56 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(June 27, 2024 at 12:24 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Nah. Russian bluster is just that: bluster. Putin wants his legacy to be the conquest of Ukraine, not the destruction of civilization.

And even if the war does expand, it’ll be a European war, not a world war. Why? Because it won’t go on long enough. It’s taken Putin ten years to achieve a stalemate in Ukraine. How long does anyone think he’d last against the combined might of NATO?

Boru

The "combined might of NATO" is what makes it a world war. Australia is a NATO partner, remember?
And that "might" is basically nukes and then game over.
I think we should all fear this escalation.

(June 28, 2024 at 3:36 am)pocaracas Wrote:

(June 27, 2024 at 12:56 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: And even if the war does expand, it’ll be a European war, not a world war. Why? Because it won’t go on long enough. It’s taken Putin ten years to achieve a stalemate in Ukraine. How long does anyone think he’d last against the combined might of NATO?

Boru

The "combined might of NATO" is what makes it a world war. Australia is a NATO partner, remember?
And that "might" is basically nukes and then game over.
I think we should all fear this escalation.

A war between Russia and NATO would be over before Australia could join the fray. Not that that matters - European NATO could defeat Russia handily without the US. let alone the other non-European partners.

No one is going to use nukes. I wish people would stop saying that like it's a thing.

European countries have a long and storied history of hating each other's guts. Yet only three of the countless wars that started there have spread far enough beyond Europe to be considered 'world' wars. I'm not fretting this one.

Boru

(June 28, 2024 at 3:36 am)pocaracas Wrote: I think we should all fear this escalation.

Yep, thats exactly what Putin counts on. That why you hear nuclear war mentioned in general every.single.time someone breaks some wind west of Russian borders. The constant nuclear threat from Moscow makes it less and less likely to happen, in case someone didnt notice.