grober
MB Master
I had forgotten Russia has an 11 mile border with North Korea. It would appear that Russia and China are treating NK a bit like the spoilt child that's turning into a horrific teenager they can't control anymore but still somehow retain a sense of loyalty to them. This might be deduced from their troop deployments when things first kicked off being terrified any US strikes would result in a stream of refugees into their countries.
One thing is certain without Russian and/or Chinese support [ particularly oil ] the regime would have collapsed by now. In terms of NK 's rapidly developing nuclear technology I wouldn't be surprised if rather than being developed "in house" its more an "off the shelf " item in whole or in part from sources unknown.
History would tell us that the 20th century ideological struggle between capitalism and communism [ East v West ] was conveniently "localised" into a series of proxy wars be it Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia or Afghanistan with the major players just cheering from the sidelines - maybe this is the next one? The key to getting out of the ideological regime change game would be appear to be the possession of nuclear weapons and its argued this why NK's ruling regime want's to develop a nuclear capability.
One thing is certain without Russian and/or Chinese support [ particularly oil ] the regime would have collapsed by now. In terms of NK 's rapidly developing nuclear technology I wouldn't be surprised if rather than being developed "in house" its more an "off the shelf " item in whole or in part from sources unknown.
History would tell us that the 20th century ideological struggle between capitalism and communism [ East v West ] was conveniently "localised" into a series of proxy wars be it Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia or Afghanistan with the major players just cheering from the sidelines - maybe this is the next one? The key to getting out of the ideological regime change game would be appear to be the possession of nuclear weapons and its argued this why NK's ruling regime want's to develop a nuclear capability.