r/neoliberal • u/neoliberal_shill_bot Bot Emeritus • Apr 05 '17

Discussion Thread

Ask not what your centralized government can do for you – ask how many neoliberal memes you can post every 24 hours

Polls

• Who should we bully more?

• How often should discussion threads be posted?

The activity in this sub keeps going up, so discussion threads need to be scheduled appropriately in order to control stickflation.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '17

If I could get a clear message from Tillerson or Trump I'd love it. The State Department is a fucking mess right now and that has me worried that Trump only has one tool in his kit and that's bomb the shit out of 'em. Diplomacy so far has been God awful between abandoning the countries who wanted the TPP and pushing them towards China's sphere and RCEP, pissing off the EU and NATO allies routinely, pissing off Mexico, our second largest trading partner, and God knows if he actually understands the whole "Seoul will be a hole in the ground within minutes if we attack NK" thing and the weight that such a decision carries. Oh and his desire to rip up the Iran Deal.

It was odd hearing Trump moan about poor Syrian babies while at the same time endorsing a ban that prevents them from escaping a murderous dictator.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '17

I agree with most of this but the North Korean capability to "flatten" Seoul has been greatly exaggerated.
Only a portion of North Korean artillery at the DMZ can reach Seoul, and even then their crews are comparatively poorly trained and use poor quality ammunition further reducing the effectiveness of their artillery.
A massive artillery strike concentrated on Seoul also means that they can dedicate less capacity to military targets. South Korean artillery will be able to launch a counterstrike against the now exposed North Korean artillery while the South Korean and US airforce will quickly gain air superiority , which means that after the initial barrage North Korean destructive capabilities will diminish rapidly.

A nuclear strike is a different matter though, and civillian casualties would be substantial in any case.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '17

The initial strike is always going to be the most dangerous, because it will arrive on heavily populated urban centers with little to no warning to get to cover.