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Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

By Arthur Webster of Ask Old Coot

We all know the sense in letting sleeping dogs lie but why won't some politicians take on board even this little piece of common sense?

The sleeping dog that is having its dreams rattled is no less than North Korea. To promote the despicable efforts of USA to instil even more fear into an already unstable area, Hilary Clinton has been deliberately inciting civil and military unrest in the region by braying about 'blame' in the sinking of a South Korean war ship.

For once we must look to the Chinese as the ideal example of how to deal with a local spat between two parts of a divided nation. The restraint and common sense displayed by the Chinese government puts the rabble-rousing USA to deepest shame. Once again the terror machine of the USA is being brought up to full power to kid 'the home folks' that Obama is tough enough to get the job done.

Mrs Clinton's various journies (sorry, junkets) to the very attractive holiday areas of China, Japan and South Korea have been used to stir up the rabble and create the air of fear and confusion that reigns in the USA when the administration decides to 'up' the terror status to yellow or even red.

The terror campaign by America has achieved its aim and the marine base on Okinawa will now not be closed down - thanks in no small part to the verbal terror campaign so ably mounted by the Clinton/Obama axis. The embarassing climb down of the Japanese government on this issue should please any new president but, like Oliver, Obama says "Please sir, I insist on more!"

The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabo, has been trying to ameliorate matters but this evil and unnecessary interference by USA in a small local squabble is creating waves that could sweep around the world if loyalties become strictly polarised and the sabres start rattling.

North Korea is suffering a huge famine and the machinations of the USA are ensuring that there will be no international aid going there. There is nothing to gain from poking this dog except yet another conflagration being caused by the ignorance and ineptitude of a race that still believes in 'reds under the beds' and 'gung ho - lets shoot the cr*p out of them'.

Stop poking this dog!

Let this sleeping dog lie!

Or are you really wanting to start another war? (Stupid question? I don't think so.)

Hhmmmmm - Another war? Well, there are certainly
enough arms dealers in many countries who would profit
from one......

Hi, Jean,

The trouble is that if this war is created by the USA there will be nobody prepared to supply arms to North Korea - they would never get paid.

It would be like another Iraq where the USA aggravated troops will invade an infinitely weaker, smaller country BUT the consequences of such an act of extreme folly don't bear thinking about.

Even the South Koreans who are in the direct line of fire are trying to play this down. When you include a country in the "axis of evil" they will begin to behave that way.

This very true.

It is the unilateral intent of USA to create a conflict out of a local disagreement that the whole world is looking at with sheer incredulity.

Nobody can see what USA hopes to gain by this act of insanity.

You may be right. But I suspect North Korea has some domestic problems that can be covered up by some sabre-rattling of its own. Let the sleeping dogs sleep alright!

If North Korea had a sabre I think it is the one country that would have attempted a military solution a couple of months ago.

When a small, starving country sees itself demonised by the wealthiest country in the world, would it be such a surprise if the hard-core (well fed) military decided to carry out the rôle that has been created for them? After all, what have they got to lose?

Ain't that the truth!

Hilary Clinton has been deliberately inciting civil and military unrest in the region by braying about 'blame' in the sinking of a North Korean war ship.

Hmmmm I didn't hear about this. I did hear about the North Koreans (sleeping dogs) sinking a South Korean warship. Perhaps the sleeping dog shouldn't be biting someone while it's sleeping.

There is still doubt about the reason the Korean war ship sank. The joint chiefs of staff did not give credence to the theory that North Korea was responsible.

Extensive reviews of satellite overviews of the area in which the sinking took place failed to reveal any other mulitary presence in the vicinity of the war ship.

It is only the strident accusations of the USA (reminiscent of the screams about WMDs in Iraq) that have created this debate about why the warship actually sank.

At the same time, there is no clear explanation as to the targets that the warship was shelling shortly before she sank. 'Flocks of birds' was one theory - mind you, nobody is asking, especially not the USA.

I don't think even the USA thinks it was a North Korean ship that sank. I suppose that if it was a British warship that sank you would still feel we should give North Korea the benefit of the doubt.

This reply simply demonstrates the pathetic news coverage in America.

Nobody ever said a North Korean warship sank - it was a South Korean warship! The Security Council was informed at the time that there was a possibility of North Korean involvement although there was absolutely no evidence to support this - and there still isn't. USA latched on to this allegation and is now trying to create a situation that will benefit no-one since USA has already achieved her military aims in the region.

There has never been an explanation of why the South Korean warship was firing shells shortly before sinking nor any indication of what the shells were being fired at - nor was any reason given for the ship being in such a sensitive area.

North Korea does not need the benefit of the doubt but it would be really helpful if people were given facts rather than rabble rousing rhetoric by people who should know better.

I don't know what else to call this campaign.

I see that some Americans are so ill informed that my own slip of the pen in saying a North Korean warship was sunk was accepted at face value.

I love people not to disagree with me because it can give me a different view point on issues.

Simply pulling up the drawbridge and saying "it is so because I said so" is not an argument nor will it lead to a fruitful discussion.

With what do you disagree? My conclusions about USA sanity or the facts in this particular case?

It sounds to me like most of the accusations are coming from South Korea itself.

It sounds to me the UK was stoking tensions with North Korea and the US as far back as 1999 in This article

Unlike England the USA doesn't wait for the "evidence" of Luftwaffe overhead before taking action.

That's an interesting five year old article but "The reports are the latest in a spate of alarming rumours to have emerged from Washington, Tokyo and Seoul in the past fortnight." only confirms who the major rabble rousers were then and the axis that existed. The UK was not mentioned in the article.

It is rather startling or maybe even terifying that you support action based on rumour.

North Korea has been a thorn in the side of our democratic nations for a long as I can remember.
Wepushed them back to the 49th parallel long ago. But they have even been digging tunnels to get under the DMZ since then.
North Korea professed to being satisfied with their lot for many years now.
It is no surprise to me that they have been proved to have sunk a S.Koream navy vessel inside S Korean waters.
I am shocked that any halfway intelligent person should believe tha N Korea is an innocent victim in all of this.
The Chinese of course are not blameless here either.
Arms and ammunition have been flowing to the North since the Korean War and continues to do so.

The South have negotiated to open up the borders so that relatives on each side could visit. This has become easier and we were all becoming used to the idea tha North Korea wanted peace, and now this.
Take off those rose tinted glasses everybody and recognise the real dogs of war - North Korea.

There is absolutely NO proof that N. Korea is responsible for sinking the war ship - only unsupported rumours that were dismissed at the outset by the joint chiefs of staff.

The Chinese have done all that they can to keep this affair low key and interference from outside is not helping. While N. Korea can point to an organised propaganda attack, she is being given something that she feels is far more valuable than food for her starving millions.

It is interesting that you think that a failed USA military action, costing thousands of lives, 'pushed them back to the 49th parallel' is sufficient cause for self promotion. A job that is half done is no job at all but the sort of war fare that these two countries have been fighting is something, we in the west, have no experience or training in. Only massive use of enormously destructive weapons allowed a reasonably orderly withdrawal by USA troops.

History books tell what happened and why it happened. Current news tells you what is happening and why it is happening. Currently, despite attempts by China and South Korea to have this matter resolved, USA seems determined to cause mischief.

Evidence for NK involvement is very strong, like holes made by torpedoes of chinese/n k origin. Bits of the culprit torpedoe/s
I think you must be chinese or NK to believe NK and China over this matter.
I read the history books when in the 1950's, pretty clse to the Korean War. You are insulting my intelligence assuming I do not know the difference between fact and fiction.
I was in the UK Military 20 years after this fracas and knew the sort of intereference that coulb be run by both sides.
"NO proof" is a specious argument, you are obviously a confirmed pacifist with no awareness of reality.

I will be making no further comments on this subject, because I feel you have inserted yourself inside some kind of cocoon of non-reality.

Finally I have always set myself up with RSS feeds for BBC World News and Science News
So I guess I can say I stay well and currently informed.

I suppose Reuters are lying in their report:-

South Korea (Reuters) - South Korea on Saturday all but ruled out the chance that North Korea was involved in the sinking of one of its navy vessels near their disputed border.

"Given the investigations by government ministries so far, it is the government's judgment that the incident was not caused by North Korea, although the reason for the accident has not been determined yet," a senior government official was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

If you were in the UK military you also know the sort of interference that can be run in any domestic squabble - Northern Ireland, for example.

I am not a pacifist but neither do I condone rabble rousing by people who should know better. Korea has been left in a limbo by the lack of a clear resolution of the war and, like any divided country, has found that the division was neither productive nor pacific.

Please do not reduce this to a childish squabble by casting personal aspersions for which you have no basis. If my grip on reality is so frail, why not provide facts to support your stance on the subject?

Incidentally, the ship sank because of a hole but no parts of any explosive device have been discovered, nor is the hole indicative of a torpedo attack.

You are plain wrong, other news sources say the contrary.
You are trying to falsify history and the present and I for one am now closing my ears to your bigoted opinions.
Over and out permanently!

As I said, please do not reduce this to a childish name-calling squabble.

If you have nothing to support your assertions, don't make them. The current efforts to prevent another war between North and South Korea are at a very interesting stage and I suggest that you look at the statements being made by all 'involved' sides.

The BBC and BBC World Service are my main sources and they are the best in the World. Don't justify your views with sources that are often erroneous. And don't insult my intellegince, I have proved myself with higher educational performance, I don't need to be told by anyone how to research subject matter, thank you.
As I said before I think your arguments are overly liberal and not in step with modern thinking.
Political science can be a difficult subject so I suggest you read up on it a bit more and expand your sources further.

I am bored with your line of argument and now refuse to follow up on any of your comments.

I suppose facts are overly liberal.

I care not for your 'higher educational peformance' since it is probably on a par with my own.

I am not aware of telling you how to research a subject.

Political science has nothing at all to do with the rabble rousing that is shaking the security of the Far East.

As for the BBC - since the Blair years and the introduction of distinctly left wing sympathisers into positions of power, the BBC can no longer claim to be the unbiassed news source that it was once proud to be.

biblefreeorg May 31, 2010 12:28

I really don't know all that much about this latest event, although in all probability it was the North Koreans who sank the South's ship. Taking up one of the points mentioned in a reply though it does seem strange that the US gets involved in wars which, as the mightiest nation on earth, they don't win. They got involved in Korea, look at the situation now, split in half. They got involved in Vietnam, and that country is now all one country run by the old north who the US was fighting against. What a disaster. And now they are in Iraq and Afghanistan - enough said!

Everybody seems to have missed the point that if North Korea really had sunk this ship, they'd be crowing from the roof tops and making great capital out of it. Not only did N. Korea not make such a claim, it made no official complaints about the ship shelling the N. Korean mainland (for which there has still been no explanation).

Your point about not winning is a very valid one. Even now, there really is little chance that the coalition troops will be victorious in either Iraq or Afghanistan because there isn't a common belief in a 'just' war. I'm sure it won't be long before the call for troops to be brought home will be simply impossible to deny.

Meanwhile Iraq and Afghanistan can see their valuable assets being 'administered' by USA so that the indigenous population continues to create problems by having the sheer temerity to try to claim back what is their own property.

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