While I may not agree with everything GI and USinKorea write about the military in Korea or the nature of the North Korean threat, I find them both to be intelligent and reasonable and their well informed views are hardly reflective of what you term " praetorian minded jingoists." Nice turn of phrase to be sure but that type of gratuitous insult adds nothing to the discussion and says more about your prejudices than it does about the views of those you seek to critique.

Too bad. You seem like an intelligent guy on a number of issues but your prejudices and bigotry when it comes to the military detract from your message.

What an idiotic assumption on your part "Calebrisi."

You have done nothing but perform a "Copy/Paste" campaign at an attempt to try & convince who know's…that you have a grasp on the N. korean threat.

Well, the dregs of American society, who have protected the American way of life for centuries, have what is commonly referred to as "Boots on the ground experence…" something you obviously do not have, nor have any grasp of.

Yes, we "Dregs" have actually picked up a book, or two throughout our over half-a-decade of life and have combined history, which we do not desire to repeat the mistakes of, with our vast experience spent on the ground and behind enemy lines…to come up with a sound knowledge of war & our detest of it…unless it is absolutly necessary, in order that our children will not have to experience it.

You, on the other hand seem to have loaded up on all of the web sites that have enabled you to spout the DPRK party line for who knows what agenda.

Go for what you know, Stud…

Having said my piece, I'll adopt sage advice and "Never argue with an Idiot!"

Also, your point is well taken that down the road, the US is going to find it more and more difficult to sustain the sort of military projects and ventures that is so wildly and enthusiastically supported by GI, USinKorea and other praetorian minded jingoists who are culled from the dregs of American society.

Hopefully a fellow soldier such as yourself will be able to more effectively relay this reality-based message.

In response to the nuclear threats Chris Hill quickly booked a flight, flew to North Korea and made sure the North Koreans knew that we do indeed take them seriously and that they matter and "please don't throw a tantrum and endanger the stability of the region." That worked out well for the North Koreans so they are also doing the only thing they can do to appear a little more threatening by testing some missiles.

I really wish we would just follow the Chinese example. They tend to calmly recognize that North Korea is an irritating little country run by an irritating and insignificant little man that doesn't threaten China in the least because if they were to really do so, China would lose their patience and the North Koreans would feel some pain. China remains engaged and will, from time to time send a strong message for the North Koreans to scale it back but unlike the US, China does not lose perspective and given that they share a common border with North Korea, they clearly have more skin in the game. I have had a number of Chinese diplomats patiently explain over the years that they cannot understand why we take the North Koreans so seriously from thousands of miles across the ocean or why we care what the North Koreans do to their own people. Obvioiusly we come at the question from different cultural and historic perspectives but I have to admit that the Chinese do have a point.

But regardless of what you think about the North Korean threat, the reality is that the United States is in an economic crisis and we have some huge challenges facing us at home and aborad. The loss of tax revenues we can anticipate in the next few years together with the requirements to recapitalize the force as well as continue our modernization programs while continuing to pay the bills for Iraq and Afghanistan will demand that no matter who is the next president, dramatic strategic changes will have to take place that match our ability to pay and something somewhere has to give.

While I would never deny that the North Koreans have the capability to create great mischief and do great damage in the region, the next US administration is going to have to come to grips with the notion that if the South Koreans across the heavily armed DMZ don't believe that the North Koreans are the enemy, American taxpayers probably should not be picking up the bill for the defense of their "safe" backyard.

In the very near future, the fiscal implications for future budgets at the Department of Defense are going to drive many of these decisions. America can no longer afford to do business the way we have in the past. It may be shortsighted in a number of ways for us to radically change our strategy toward Korea but we may not have a choice. We are going to have to understand that when the North Koreans threaten to blow up the region, the only option we may be able to afford in the future may be to politely turn to the Chinese, the Japanese and the Republic of Korea and suggest they might want to take care of their own neighborhood.

To reiterate again, I AM NOT DEFENDING THE NORTH. I just feel that it's necessary for individuals to move beyond myopic, Manichean characterizations of it.

The obsession of certain individuals to constantly demonize and paint the DPRK with warmed over hyperboles isn't so much an indication that one isn't a DPRK fellow-traveller, but rather an indication that the indvidual suffers from "enemy deficiency syndrome".

Just wondering?

Sounds to me like those reports from Reuters and Yahoo are pretty much in line with the sort of shallow depth reporting that you think is rampant. They're both conform to the meme of North Korea as "evil Asiatic, totalitarian despotism."

I'm not denying the repugnant and deplorable atrocities that occur in the DPRK, but the atrocities aren't the whole story.