At 17:08 13-8-01 -0500, Dan Minette wrote:
>What fraction of its GDP does Germany commit to its armed forces? What
>fraction of its GDP does North Korea commit? Germany commits about 1%;
>while North Korea commits 25% to 33%.
Where do those figures come from?
>Doesn't that tell you something
>about intent? Why spend yourself into the poorhouse on your armed forces
>unless you intend to use them?
It tells me that the North Korean leaders are scared shitless, and I can't
really blame them. They have the US military at their border, with an awful
lot of firepower, and the capability to rapidly deploy more weapons and
troops if necessary. Given the fact that communist countries don't exactly
see the US as a nice, friendly, non-agressive country, I believe that North
Korea, at least from their POV, has plenty of reason to spend a lot of
money on their military.
>There is an old saying "when you ain't got nothing, you ain't got nothing to
>lose." Things are bad enough in N. Korea for the leaders to think that they
>have nothing to lose.
Wrong. They have their *power* to lose. The North Korean leaders know very
well that if they should attack South Korea:
(1) the US and South Korean forces will stop them before they can get very
far, and
(2) the US and South Korean will retaliate by invading North Korea, and
won't stop till they have effectively taken over the country.
Jeroen
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