Putin warns North Korea situation on verge of 'large-scale conflict'

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Putin warns North Korea situation on verge of 'large-scale conflict'

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a news conference after the G20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany, July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Alexander Zemlianichenko/POOL/Files

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that the tense standoff between North Korea and the United States was on the verge of large-scale conflict and said it was a mistake to try to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear missile programme.

 

Putin, who is due to attend a summit of the BRICS nations in China next week, wrote in an article published on the Kremlin's web site ahead of his trip that he favoured negotiations with North Korea instead.

 

"It is essential to resolve the region's problems through direct dialogue involving all sides without advancing any preconditions (for such talks)," Putin wrote.

 

"Provocations, pressure, and bellicose and offensive rhetoric is the road to nowhere."

 

The situation on the Korean Peninsula had deteriorated so much that it was now "balanced on the verge of a large-scale conflict," said the Russian leader.

 

North Korea has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States and has recently threatened to land missiles near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

 

On Monday, Pyongyang, which sees joint war games between the United States and South Korea as preparations for invasion, raised the stakes in its stand-off with the United States and its allies by firing an intermediate-range missile over Japan.

 

"In Russia's opinion the calculation that it is possible to halt North Korea's nuclear missile programmes exclusively by putting pressure on Pyongyang is erroneous and futile," Putin wrote.

 

A road map formulated by Moscow and Beijing, which would involve North Korea stopping work on its missile programme in exchange for the United States and South Korea halting large-scale war games, was a way to gradually reduce tensions, wrote Putin.

 

(Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-09-01

[Guest]

This time, I must admit, Putin speaks words of wisdom.

 

When there is so much tension between these parties, a small accident can trigger huge conflict. 

 

[ELVIS123456]

North Korea is officially in dispute with the UN - it is only USA (and Sth Korea) that is talking tough. NK has ignored numerous UN sanctions, has reneged on several deals made in return for stopping, and is making more and more aggressive statements and actions (like firing a missile over Japan). The USA is demanding the UN take a harsher stance and is refusing to financially support any more UN or bilateral deals. NK is a pariah State who has reneged on every deal (after taking the money).  And only the USA is trying to force China into taking some real actions to get NK into line. 

 

The danger is that NK does launch an attack on SthK, or a missile hits Japan, or makes some other stupid action, and then the proverbial will hit the fan.  The question is - does USA/UN/SthK/Japan keep letting this develop and take the risk NK will go too far one day - or do they take pre-emptive action and take them out - before they develop a large nuclear arsenal.

 

Israel has the same dilemma with Iraq/Iran, but they are both clearly a long way behind NK.

 

[nausea]

Yeah, in my ignorance I was thinking tactical strikes might be an option, buI I just read an article by Geoff Shares (https://warisboring.com/why-there-are-no-military-solutions-for-north-korea/ ) and, wow, it is scary; we're talking WW2 scale casualties and God knows what impact on the global economy. So it seems a military solution is just fantasy, and I have to agrèe Putin is right, however much kowtowing to Kim Fatty the Third might stick in the craw. 

[balo]

Putin trying to look like the good guy in the media now that the mad men Trump and Kim takes too much attention . 

It's all a silly game anyway. 

 

[Nilats]

Putin may be right. The rising tensions could be used as preparation for the conflict in that part of the world.

 

But according to my calculations - NK is just a distraction. The main target in the coming months will be Iran, so this is just preparations for that. It will be harder for China and Russia to intervene on behalf of Iran with all the noise happening around NK - both countries have to shift strategic and military attention to an entirely different part of the world - away from Middle East. Also NK definitely has WMDs but Iran doesn't, so Iran is a much easier target for US military.

[Thunder26]

40 minutes ago, Nilats said:

Putin may be right. The rising tensions could be used as preparation for the conflict in that part of the world.

 

But according to my calculations - NK is just a distraction. The main target in the coming months will be Iran, so this is just preparations for that. It will be harder for China and Russia to intervene on behalf of Iran with all the noise happening around NK - both countries have to shift strategic and military attention to an entirely different part of the world - away from Middle East. Also NK definitely has WMDs but Iran doesn't, so Iran is a much easier target for US military.

What has Iran done wrong to be targeted by US?

[Nilats]

12 minutes ago, Thunder26 said:

What has Iran done wrong to be targeted by US?

They have been targeting Iran for decades - ever since the 1979 revolution. Many reasons. In the last decade there was a lot of noise around Iran with US and/or Israel preparing to strike Iran at least 3 times in the last 5 years - it was called off at the last minute.

 

One campaign Trump made in regards to foreign policy - he was going to go after Iran. So this is I think what he's going to do. So NK is just a distraction - I think every sane person understands that this was escalated just for the sake of escalating - the problem wasn't really there. The noise around NK is being artificially created - part of a bigger plan down the road.

[sweatalot]

1 hour ago, Nilats said:

NK is just a distraction ..... - the problem wasn't really there

So a criminal dictator with nukes and threatening other countries is not really a problem?

Edited September 1, 2017 by sweatalot

[craigt3365]

4 hours ago, Nilats said:

Putin may be right. The rising tensions could be used as preparation for the conflict in that part of the world.

 

But according to my calculations - NK is just a distraction. The main target in the coming months will be Iran, so this is just preparations for that. It will be harder for China and Russia to intervene on behalf of Iran with all the noise happening around NK - both countries have to shift strategic and military attention to an entirely different part of the world - away from Middle East. Also NK definitely has WMDs but Iran doesn't, so Iran is a much easier target for US military.

NK a distraction?  Too funny. They launch missiles over  their neighbors, threaten to nuke a major city, and that's a distraction?

 

Why didn't Putin work with North Korea back in 2006 to resolve these issues? He was part of the direct dialog then and nothing was achieved. Why does he think talks will work now?

 

Why would China and Russia intervene on the behalf of a nation that's a major supplier of funds and weapons to various terrorist organizations? North Korea has nothing to do with Iran. And some feel Iran either has now or will have soon WMDs.

 

https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat

Quote

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the institution charged with verifying that states are not illicitly building nuclear weapons, concluded in 2003 that Iran had undertaken covert nuclear activities to establish the capacity to indigenously produce fissile material.

They've covertly pursued WMDs in the past. Hard to say they aren't doing the same thing now.

[craigt3365]

3 hours ago, Nilats said:

They have been targeting Iran for decades - ever since the 1979 revolution. Many reasons. In the last decade there was a lot of noise around Iran with US and/or Israel preparing to strike Iran at least 3 times in the last 5 years - it was called off at the last minute.

 

One campaign Trump made in regards to foreign policy - he was going to go after Iran. So this is I think what he's going to do. So NK is just a distraction - I think every sane person understands that this was escalated just for the sake of escalating - the problem wasn't really there. The noise around NK is being artificially created - part of a bigger plan down the road.

They? You mean the international community trying to contain nuclear weapons? LOL

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

Why didn't Putin work with North Korea back in 2006 to resolve these issues? He was part of the direct dialog then and nothing was achieved. Why does he think talks will work now?

Let's get back to the way we play RISK game. 

Putin's interest for years has been a troublesome North Korea, which defies the western order. 

 

It has never been Russia's nor China's interest to shut down North Korean aggression. Why would it have been?

The world doesn't circle around USA and USA is about to learn it. That's why so many larger countries have resented the US politics recently. For these other powers, North Korea is not a big foe, North Korea is a way to diminish USA power.

That is unless there is a real nuclear war... which will end all our societies, and power.

[tonray]

2 hours ago, sweatalot said:

So a criminal dictator with nukes and threatening other countries is not really a problem?

Don't worry we plan on dumping him in 2020

[ilostmypassword]

4 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

 

https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat

They've covertly pursued WMDs in the past. Hard to say they aren't doing the same thing now.

We're back in Donald Rumsfeld land: "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

[Scott]

Troll post removed.  

 

[rijb]

Put large food stands on the NK/SK border.  Free food for NK military defectors.

  

[craigt3365]

6 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

We're back in Donald Rumsfeld land: "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

Never said they had them now. Just said they've hidden activities like this in the past. And considering the nature of the country, entirely possible they'll do it again.

[ilostmypassword]

43 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

Never said they had them now. Just said they've hidden activities like this in the past. And considering the nature of the country, entirely possible they'll do it again.

Really?"They've covertly pursued WMDs in the past. Hard to say they aren't doing the same thing now."

Now you're putting it in the future tense " And considering the nature of the country, entirely possible they'll do it again."

And there is a very strict enforcement regime in place. And even  Israeli intelligence says the Iranians are in compliance.

Nothing in what you've written would put you at odds with Donald Rumsfeld's statement and the kind of thinking that led to the Iraqi fiasco.

 

Edited September 2, 2017 by ilostmypassword

[BuaBS]

23 hours ago, oilinki said:

This time, I must admit, Putin speaks words of wisdom.

Come on now , Putin nearly all ways speaks words of wisdom.

 

 

[GOLDBUGGY]

It was Russia's fault to begin with, and there Communism Block, that split Korea into two countries after WWll in the first place. Had that not happened they would have remained to be just one country and none of this would be going on today. 

 

The biggest mistake the allies ever did was to give Russia all this control over all these other countries, when the Americans had the Atomic Bomb, and the Russians didn't yet. Even Churchill said that.

[ilostmypassword]

4 minutes ago, GOLDBUGGY said:

It was Russia's fault to begin with, and there Communism Block, that split Korea into two countries after WWll in the first place. Had that not happened they would have remained to be just one country and none of this would be going on today. 

 

The biggest mistake the allies ever did was to give Russia all this control over all these other countries, when the Americans had the Atomic Bomb, and the Russians didn't yet. Even Churchill said that.

Even Churchill? The guy who wanted to hold on to India after WW2?

[Krataiboy]

10 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

NK a distraction?  Too funny. They launch missiles over  their neighbors, threaten to nuke a major city, and that's a distraction?

 

Why didn't Putin work with North Korea back in 2006 to resolve these issues? He was part of the direct dialog then and nothing was achieved. Why does he think talks will work now?

 

Why would China and Russia intervene on the behalf of a nation that's a major supplier of funds and weapons to various terrorist organizations? North Korea has nothing to do with Iran. And some feel Iran either has now or will have soon WMDs.

 

https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat

They've covertly pursued WMDs in the past. Hard to say they aren't doing the same thing now.

If my homeland happened to be on a well-publicised hit list of countries lined up for regime change courtesy of the worlds largest and most aggressive military superpower, I would want a credible deterrent. Wouldn't you?

 

Perhaps Iran and North Korea have learned the lesson of Saddam Hussein and Muhammar Ghaddafi, who paid for voluntarily giving up their WMD programmes with their own lives, the death and and displacement of millions of their fellow citizens and the dismemberment and plunder of the thriving nation states they had created.

 

One can only hope that Putin's intervention will persuade the new incumbent of the White House to ignore the baying of the mindless dogs of war and the military posturing of the increasingly paranoid North Korean leadership and give diplomacy a chance.

 

Incidentally, contrary to assertions made on this Forum, North Korea has on a number of occasions actively sought negotiations with the US over its nuclear aspirations - notably, when George Bush Jr was orchestrating his War on Terror - and been rejected. Now all too obviously in the cross-hairs of a hawkish American administration, what can a desperate Kim Jong Un do but flex all the military muscle at his disposal as a deterrent?

[craigt3365]

1 hour ago, ilostmypassword said:

Even Churchill? The guy who wanted to hold on to India after WW2?

What's India got to do with this?

[craigt3365]

1 hour ago, Krataiboy said:

If my homeland happened to be on a well-publicised hit list of countries lined up for regime change courtesy of the worlds largest and most aggressive military superpower, I would want a credible deterrent. Wouldn't you?

 

Perhaps Iran and North Korea have learned the lesson of Saddam Hussein and Muhammar Ghaddafi, who paid for voluntarily giving up their WMD programmes with their own lives, the death and and displacement of millions of their fellow citizens and the dismemberment and plunder of the thriving nation states they had created.

 

One can only hope that Putin's intervention will persuade the new incumbent of the White House to ignore the baying of the mindless dogs of war and the military posturing of the increasingly paranoid North Korean leadership and give diplomacy a chance.

 

Incidentally, contrary to assertions made on this Forum, North Korea has on a number of occasions actively sought negotiations with the US over its nuclear aspirations - notably, when George Bush Jr was orchestrating his War on Terror - and been rejected. Now all too obviously in the cross-hairs of a hawkish American administration, what can a desperate Kim Jong Un do but flex all the military muscle at his disposal as a deterrent?

Ghaddafi wasn't done in due to WMDs. He was a brutal dictator and his people got tired of it. Nukes wouldn't have saved him. Just like they can't save Kim if his people turn on him.

 

North Korea did have a chance to stop all this years ago. They decided to end the negotiations. Several times. Not 100% the fault of all the countries involved in the negotiations.

[ilostmypassword]

Just now, craigt3365 said:

Ghaddafi wasn't done in due to WMDs. He was a brutal dictator and his people got tired of it. Nukes wouldn't have saved him. Just like they can't save Kim if his people turn on him.

 

North Korea did have a chance to stop all this years ago. They decided to end the negotiations. Several times. Not 100% the fault of all the countries involved in the negotiations.

Aren't you forgetting about the role the Bush and Cheney played in this? Or as is more likely the case, given your remarks, you don't know anything about it.

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/may-2004/rolling-blunder-2/

 

 

[craigt3365]

1 hour ago, ilostmypassword said:

Aren't you forgetting about the role the Bush and Cheney played in this? Or as is more likely the case, given your remarks, you don't know anything about it.

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/may-2004/rolling-blunder-2/

 

 

Russia originally started North Korea off with their nuclear program. They were well down the path before Bush ever came along. Only one person to blame for all this. Currently, it's Kim. Previously, his father.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction

[gigman]

16 hours ago, Thunder26 said:

What has Iran done wrong to be targeted by US?

Nothing. 

[johnarth]

No matter what way you look at it it is scary, when you have a mad man playing with nukes, sooner or later he is going to drop one, it is in his mind that this will give him world power, this is a good thing to do, no thought that he will be attacked in return. Iran is a real pain to Israel every day they say they going to wipe Israel off the map if they do try they are not far away from Israel so they themselves will get caught up in their own fallout.

[craigt3365]

1 hour ago, gigman said:

Nothing. 

Nothing other than supply money and weapons to a variety of terrorist groups. Here are a few they supported here in Thailand. Great country.  LOL

 

http://time.com/67985/bangkok-arrests-possible-hizballah-setback/

Quote

Bangkok Terrorism Arrests Could Mark Latest Setback for Hizballah and Iran

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Israeli_Bangkok_Embassy_hostage_crisis

[Bundooman]

Putin scares the shit out of us - but isn't he terrific? I wish he was sorting out Brexit and that <deleted> POTUS for us Brits and Yanks! Mind you, he's probably doing that already.....................