The 21st Century Satan

[Big_John]

Don't let the doom-sayers getcha down.

uhh.. did you just tell Tuff to assume some sort of optimism? mmm.. he don't roll like that.

[Geoffrey S]

Just can't stop attacking wind-powered spinning things?

[Tachikaze]

The death of the US will come from within, not without.

[Big_John]

The death of the US will come from within, not without.

mtv?

[Banquo's Ghost]

It should be noted that anyone who endures reading an opinion piece from the Daily Mail is bound to become depressed.

Crikey, the paper's masthead is "And Get Off My Lawn!"

[Kaidonni]

It should be noted that anyone who endures reading an opinion piece from the Daily Mail is bound to become depressed.

This really explains a lot of what is going on in my life at the moment...A LOT...*yes, I read the Daily Mail, much to my detriment - call the funny farm, one of their inmates has escaped and is posting in this post*

[Tribesman]

It should be noted that anyone who endures reading an opinion piece from the Daily Mail is bound to become depressed.

Come on its funny , people stealing manholes
Amatuers what you do is go down the motorway and steal the railings off the bridges , its easier and has a much better return .

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

China also has a much bigger demographic problem than the West, as well. What's the ratio man to woman now? 8:1, once the currect generation start to die off there will be a massive population crash much worse than anything going on here right now.

We just have to hang on for thirty years or so.

[Strike For The South]

We have coal! and baseball!

[Marshal Murat]

And Texas.

[TevashSzat]

Why? Vietnam and Korea waere at war with the United States, even though we had nuclear power. Argentina - United Kingdom. People know that we will most likely not use it against them, at least not when our 50 states aren't threatened.

Would that stop China from moving into the Middle East or South East Asia? They don't have nuclear weapons (for the most part) and we wouldn't be likely to use any to deter them.

What then? Massive war.

Well, Vietnam and Korea still had a tentative backing from the Soviet Union. Even though the Soviets didn't help alot, a nuke from the US would have probably be met with nukes from the Soviet Union and no one wanted that.

Furthermore, China has no quarrel with SE Asia nor the Middle East. Trade is strong in both areas and there aren't strong anti-China governments there. China really has no big advantageous in invading these countries.

Seriously, just because China is growing in power and may rival the US in superpower status in the future, doesn't mean that we're all going to conquer the world. Just look at the US when it rose to the superpower status. Did it grow in international influence significantly? Yes, but the US certainely didn't start invading countries for world domination.

[Furious Mental]

A non-nuclear power can start a war with a nuclear power if it doesn't threaten the latter's vital interests. North Korea and North Vietnam correctly bet that the US would not use nuclear weapons because to do so would be to invite international condemnation and of course create a very dangerous situation with the USSR. However if two nuclear powers confront each other over anything the risk of escalation to nuclear conflict makes it not worth starting a war in the first place. This is why the US never officially fought a "war" in North Korea and North Vietnam, to declare a war would be very risky.

[Redleg]

Yes a non-nuclear power can start a war with a nuclear power if it doesn't threaten the latter's vital interests. North Korea and North Vietnam correctly bet that the US would not use nuclear weapons because to do so would be to invite international condemnation and of course create a very dangerous situation with the USSR and China. However if two nuclear powers confront each other over anything the risk of escalation to nuclear conflict makes it not worth starting a war in the first place. This is why the US never officially fought a "war" in North Korea and North Vietnam, to declare a war would be very risky.

A generalization, . One needs to delve deeper into the circumstances of the Korean conflict and how nations came involved in the fighting. A little research will find you this quote. Truman Liberary is an excellent source on United States thoughts and involvement in Korea.

Washington first learned of the attack in Korea at 9:04 Saturday night, when the UP called the state department to confirm that an attack had in fact taken place. President Truman was home in Independence, Missouri for vacation when the war began. Secretary of State Dean Acheson first notified him by phone at 9:20 Missouri time. He told Truman: "I have very serious news. The North Koreans have invaded South Korea." Truman believed from the moment he heard the news that this might be the opening round of WW III. Truman approved of getting a vote from the Security Council condemning the attack. As the word from Korea worsened, Truman hastened back to Washington. On the way, Truman reviewed his options and concluded that he would not allow another "Munich" to occur on his watch. If Hitler had been stopped in Czechoslovakia, maybe WW II would not have occurred; thus, if WW III was to be averted, the Communists must be stopped in Korea. His thinking, which was mirrored by his advisors, was that the Soviet Union was behind the attack. The United States was successful, thanks to the Soviet boycott of the Security Council, in obtaining a resolution calling for the North Korean withdrawal. Truman gave the green light first for speeding arms to South Korea and then using the Airforce to attack the North Koreans in the South. Under Acheson's direction, the US went back to the UN and had the Security Council vote on a resolution which called on member states to "furnish such assistance as may be necessary to repel the armed attack and to restore international peace and security in the area." Thus, the US was armed with authority to act on behalf of the UN to intervene in the Korean conflict.

Now one can look into why war was not offically declared by the United States against China and North Korea but one has to take into account that the United States went through the United Nations before making anyother assumption. Now MacAurther was fired because he wanted to expand the war because he did not want it to end in a stalemate. So worries about expanding the war did play a part in the decision making process during the fighting, but it would be incorrect to assume that it was initially the major reason.