what should be done

[spence]

Originally Posted by Swimmer

China is not going to buckle under for us anymore.

Why do you think this is a "US" problem we need China to help us out on?

China has a lot more to loose from a North Korea problem than we do. If things go downhill China stands to see millions of North korean refugees as well as serious regional disruption that they do not want.

North Korea has little to nothing to gain from a real conflict, they do have a lot to gain from the rest of the world thinking they're nutty though.

It's the exact same game that Iran and other countries play with the USA day in and day out. Fact is they know we're really very limited in how much influence we can exert without international cooperation, so they play the "we're about to loose it" card and laugh while we squirm.

Iraq has shown than if and when we do go in long, it can be a massive headache that the public doesn't want to repeat.

This is perhaps the lasting damage from Bush's blunder, and something Obama dare not repeat.

What's not been noted in this thread is that the new sanctions which allow inspection of North Korea bound ships suspected of moving military materials was heavily endorsed by both China and Russia.

Even North Korea's old friends have become weary of their erratic little sibling.

-spence