North Korea is only a threat to implode on itself from starvation of its own people. It’s army is still stuck in 1953, and their only asset is sheer numbers. Advances in munitions nullify that (see MOAB, J-SOW, and J-DAMS), plus our intellignece-gathering abilities mean we know what they’re doing and they can’t do squat about it. Kim Jong-Il launching medium-range dud missiles that were not only easily tracked but were ready to be shot down at a moment’s notice by the Japanese forces on alert using our technology on their Aegis cruisers (including the SM-3 missiles we sell them and the SPY radars), doing that is the equivalent of the Ethopians against Mussolini in the 1930s.

Technologically he’s not a threat, and mentally he’s not a threat either, just a the biggest boy in his small sandbox–kinda like Castro but sillier.

easy solution to national debt: end the currency, allow private currencies and foreign currencies to replace the usd. this would wipe all debts clean to China and would make the IMF and any other creditor powerless to do anything about it. Of course, however, that would mean the US govt would be making dramatic cuts in just about every area.

Well I I think the sanctions in this instance have largely been successful. Not in the way you think though. It made North Korea completely dependent on China which has allowed the Chinese to basically have de-facto control over the actions of Kim. If the Chinese wield that type of influence over his decisions he probably would have attacked the South a long time ago.

But yeah, in general I agree with you about sanctions. The “truths” we known usually don’t work with irrational people like Kim. Which I can’t really think of many more in the world like him.

Then why prop him up with sanctions? The US gov’t went down that road with Castro, and kept him in power for decades. Did the same with Hussein for a while. Why repeat the same mistake? Sanctions hurt the people of a nation and, by and large, HELP the dictator.

http://www.votenader.org/weagree/

Paul is 100% dead wrong if he believes North Korea poses no threat. Kim is the most irrational leader in the world and does not play by the standards of the world community. I could go into a long list of reasons why North Korea poses a threat (being the worlds #1 exporter of terrorism the biggest). True they have no air force or navy, but I’d suggest reading up on their army and potential to cause havoc. Even with that aside, the simply fact that a North attack on the South would launch a regional war makes them a tremendous threat. So when Kim decides to launch a rocket over Japan it is worrisome.

To be clear so some don’t misconstrue my point, I’m not saying we should take any type of military action against North Korea. I’m only saying that claiming they aren’t a real threat is quite ignorant.

Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) was the presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party in 1988, and appeared on the 2008 general election presidential ballot as a Taxpayers and Constitution Party in Louisiana and Montana, in addition to running in the Republican primary. He is a life member of the Libertarian Party, and has spoken at numerous Libertarian Party and Constitution Party events over the course of many years. He has many supporters in the Libertarian and Constitution Parties, and has endorsed many of their candidates, including Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Michael Badnarik in 2004 and Constitution Party Presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin in 2008.