The march eastwards begins
Gateway Pundit has a report that illustrates the consequences of Germany's intransigent, obstinate opposition to US policy in Iraq the past three years.
The United States has reached an agreement with Romania to establish military bases near the Black Sea.
Such a move has been a long time coming. Last year President Bush said troops would be redeployed, particularly from Germany and South Korea.
(There has been opposition in South Korea as well to the presence of US troops. To the youths in South Korea who think they know everything, I say fine, you can face the North Korean army all by your little lonesomes.)
These bases would put the US closer to likely trouble spots, and is a very important change. I now sit back and await the media to explain the implications of this change.
The United States has reached an agreement with Romania to establish military bases near the Black Sea.
Such a move has been a long time coming. Last year President Bush said troops would be redeployed, particularly from Germany and South Korea.
(There has been opposition in South Korea as well to the presence of US troops. To the youths in South Korea who think they know everything, I say fine, you can face the North Korean army all by your little lonesomes.)
These bases would put the US closer to likely trouble spots, and is a very important change. I now sit back and await the media to explain the implications of this change.
11 Comments:
At Wed Dec 07, 10:54:00 AM, jngriff said…
Jeff, 2 interesting points. First, you mention the South Koreans. Sometime in the last 2 years, there was a news story about SK students en masse in a 'peace' protest. Holding ineffectual symbols such as flowers, they demanded the cessation of the 'dispute' with N.Korea. FLOWERS against the bristling armies that just north of Seoul!
Was this a staged display or a mere sign that the Korean Left is also insane?
2--Canadian TV and others have made the point that very much of the opposition to the US, in Iraq especially, comes from Germany's trouble area, that is the East. East Germans bear the resentment of unrequited Communism. They were reared hating America. Many benefitted from that slave state and were perhaps economically better off then. More disquieting is an illusion that as Communists they thus cleansed themselves of their Nazi history.
Where for a troubled Germany, an emancipated East, a struggling Russia? It's a tale the blogosphere must follow. The MSM will not.
At Wed Dec 07, 02:16:00 PM, Jeff said…
Flowers against guns, isn't that a telling symbol. I confess I don't know much about internal South Korean politics. I don't know what drives these kinds of protests.
And interesting point about anti-American sentiments in eastern Germany. When you read about what Russia did to eastern Europe and Germany in 1945, it's a wonder any German could embrace Communism.
At Thu Dec 08, 06:17:00 AM, Karlo said…
Considering the fact that South Korea has twice the population of the North and that the economy dwarfs that of the North (one of the poorer countries in the world), I find it odd in the extreme that it somehow can't fend off the North (with the added consideration that defenders have an inherent advantage).
At Thu Dec 08, 10:13:00 AM, Jeff said…
Here is a major threat South Korea is worried about. This is from Global Security.
"According to one report, a South Korean security analyst suggested that DPRK artillery pieces of calibers 170mm and 240mm "could fire 10,000 rounds per minute to Seoul and its environs." The number of Koksan guns is not publicly reported, but it is reliably reported that North Korea has about 500 long-range artillery tubes within range of Seoul, double the levels of a the mid-1990s. Large caliber self propelled artillery pieces typically have a sustained rate of fire of between four and eight rounds per minute. This suggests a total rate of fire of artillery alone of between 2,000 and 4,000 rounds per minute. The DPRK's two hundred 240mm MRLs fire either 12 or 22 rounds, providing a maximum single salvo of no more than 4,400 rounds."
South Korea is worried about having its capital reduced to rubble, with countless casualties.
At Thu Dec 08, 06:39:00 PM, jngriff said…
The specter of a troubled Germany is worrying some EUROPEAN left of center MSM. See this BBC article with links about the rise of Ostalgie.
---excerpts
thanks to a wave of nostalgia for everyday life in the now defunct communist state that has enveloped Germany in recent months
---------
the debate as to whether it is appropriate to be sentimental about life under a regime which shot those who tried to escape its clutches, and persecuted those who disagreed with its ideology.
"It's very difficult for some people that the GDR is being glorified in this kind of way," says Theo Mitrup, head of a Berlin support group for those who were persecuted under the communist regime.
---
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3077054.stm
At Thu Dec 08, 09:53:00 PM, Karlo said…
"According to one report, a South Korean security analyst suggested that DPRK artillery pieces of calibers . . . "
No matter what anyone does (U.S. included), the North is going to kill a hell of a lot of people in any future war. The guns are build into hillsides and can't be taken out and Korea's a small country with Seoul within artillery range of the DMZ. This hardly proves that the North could overrun the South. The stats (part of U.S. propaganda) are based on completely false assumptions. Most of North Korea's "army" spends the majority of its time farming (bases are self-sustaining!) or in work projects. Most of the reserves are starving old women who have never fired a gun. Any invasion would have to be successful within weeks since the North's ability to resupply would be completely nonexistent. Canada has a better shot at conquering the U.S. (At least they might have people like myself helping them.)
At Thu Dec 08, 11:19:00 PM, Jeff said…
Oh, I'd agree that North Korea would have a hard time completely overrunning South Korea. But I think you correctly point out the problem with NK's artillery. It would be hard to knock out, and NK could do a lot of damage in a short period of time.
My view is that though it might be a war South Korea could win, they aren't willing to suffer a huge number of casualties just to prove the point.
At Fri Dec 09, 09:51:00 PM, Karlo said…
Seoul has what--10 million people? Probably 15 million if the Satellite cities are included. I hardly see how American forces are going to do much to save these people from artillery attacks when the bullets start flying. The strategic reasons for SK to favor American occupation have nothing to do with the North and more to do with China.
At Fri Dec 09, 09:57:00 PM, jngriff said…
The December 7 issue of the New York Times Magazine features an essay from Peter Schneider titled 'The New Berlin Wall.' It opens with a horrific episode of a Muslim being attacked as being too German. It's the story of Muslims in Germany.
It is the story of the Paris riots that have not happened in Berlin. Yet.
Multiculturalism, he details, has allowed a parallel society to grow in Europe, one which hates its home. One which brutalizes women in particular. And Germans do not know the answer.
Those who try to help are fighting 'the relativism of the majority society' as well as the 'guilt-ridden tolerance of liberal multiculturalists.' (p.71)
A different look at Germany and the European "problem." Find a copy of the Magazine and check out what you don't expect to find in the New York Times.
At Fri Dec 09, 10:00:00 PM, jngriff said…
Jeff, that should be the "December 4, 2005" issue of the New York Times Magazine.
It also featues a interesting look at college football's Mike Leach, ala Passing Is the Only Way Period.
At Sat Dec 10, 04:25:00 PM, Jeff said…
The American troops along the DMZ (and some will now be relocated farther back) have been called a "tripwire". Perhaps some gallows humor referred to them as "speed bumps".
I think part of the reason for being there is North Korea would have to know that if they attacked US troops, they would risk a massive response, so NK would have to make that part of any calculation to attack SK.
A Muslium attacked for being too German? That's not a good sign.
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