Panic?!?

      12 Comments on Panic?!?

Who knows what the reality is — Fog of War and all — but if initial reports are accurate, this seems like, er, a big f***ing deal:

SEOUL (Reuters) – A South Korean naval vessel with more than 100 aboard was sinking on Friday in waters near North Korea and Seoul was investigating whether it was hit in a torpedo attack by the North, South Korean media said.

Broadcaster SBS said many South Korean sailors on the stricken vessel were feared dead.

South Korea’s YTN TV network said the government was investigating whether the sinking was due to a torpedo attack by the North, and Yonhap news agency said the Seoul government had convened an emergency meeting of security-related ministers.

Yonhap also reported a South Korean navy ship firing toward an unidentified vessel to the north.

North Korea in recent weeks has said it was bolstering its defenses in response to joint South Korean-U.S. military drills that were held this month.

More here and here.

12 thoughts on “Panic?!?

  1. Sandy Underpants

    Nobody cares about North Korea. If it were Iran that did this, we’d already have deals cut with Chevron.

  2. dcl

    And as we all know, the Korean war “ended” in a armistice/ceasefire agreement. A breach of that agreement could mean that the war is “back on” under the original UN declarations. (You know the ones when China was boycotting the UN security council).

    Ahh fun times… Let’s party like it’s 1952… I like IKE…

    Okay, not likely, but if you aren’t going to pull out the obscure trivia for this kind of a thing, when are you going to pull it out? I mean Nuclear proliferation talks with Russia are back in the news too…

  3. B. Minich

    Like I said, the space time continuum has collapsed thanks to my bracket NOT collapsing, and events from the past are creeping into our lives!

  4. Charles Fenwick

    Seems likely to me that the vessel hit a mine. Would be a BFD if the ship were in international or South Korean waters, (but perhaps slightly less so than if it were a submarine attack).

  5. Joe Loy

    dcl, what’s so Obscurely Trivial about it? I DO like Ike! ;} I can remember watching his (later, 2nd term) press conferences on black-&-white TV. His syntax was incomparable. :> Somewhere I still have a wistful GOP lapel button, circa mid-1962, declaring: “I Miss Ike. (Hell, I even miss Harry.)

  6. Joe Loy

    David K – no but it might mean that in 2012 Obama will proclaim “If re-elected, I shall Go to Korea.” (Hm! Just might work! 😉

  7. Doc

    It wasn’t the Chinese who were boycotting, it was the Russians. The Nationalists still had the Chinese seat on the UNSC (which was why the Russians were boycotting). I’m pretty sure that was the last time anyone with a veto skipped a session.

    Instead of “BFD”, I’m just going to call it a Biden. I suspect Joe won’t mind being synonymous with BFD.

  8. Sandy Underpants

    Remember that one time when Bush was president and the Iranians drove speed boats around a US battle ship in the Persian Gulf, and the Republicans were talking about going to war with Iran as a possible response? That was crazy. Now North Korkea torpedoes a submarine and the West’s official response is to blame it on a pothole in the road.

    The times they are a changin’.

  9. Joe Loy

    Sandy, yes they are but don’t speak too soon
    For the wheel’s still in spin
    And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s naming…

    ;}

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