111–118 of 118 posts
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You essentially said we're not grown up because we don't live in some kind of magical world where nations don't have competing interests that manifest in these sorts of displays. Competition is inherent to life, and, if anything, growing up means accepting that.
Please don't troll. I'm happy to engage, but not with trolling.
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My favorite in particular in this line of "geopolitical I'm not touching you" is what we call "freedom of navigation exercises". The US runs through the South China Sea on them all the time. Basically, China says it's their territory, the US says it is international waters. And so we "prove" it by regularly traveling through it with US warships for no other purpose then to prove we can.
> China says it's their territory, the US says it is international waters. And so we "prove" it by regularly traveling through it with US warships for no other purpose then to prove we can. Suppose the US claimed that the entire Gulf of Mexico was US territory. Would people be as sympathetic to that as they appear to be to China claiming that the entire South China Sea is Chinese territory? (Note that the South China…
Since China is a long way from the Gulf of Mexico, and has no need to sail there, I'm confident that China couldn't care less about this.
On the other hand, The South China Sea is very important to China, and very far away from USA -- why does USA care so much about it?
Perhaps you could also comment of USA claims over the Northern Sea Route (which lies within Russia’s Exclusive Economic Zone) ? [0], [1]
[0] https://www.rt.com/business/423913-northern-sea-route-us/?
[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/geopolitical-conse...?
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> don't do something dumb > he stole a poster How are we certain that he did in fact steal the poster? For all we know he could have been entirely innocent and any other tourist could have been arrested and tortured for forged reasons too.
Well in this case there is a video.
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It's hard for me to understand why someone would want to go after reading about the case of Otto Warmbier[1]. There are plenty of interesting and exciting places to visit in the world that don't put you at the mercy of DPRK officials and their reaction to geopolitical events. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Warmbier
Is it also hard for you to understand why someone would go to the US after reading about the case of Eric Garner[1]? There are plenty of interesting and exciting places to visit in the world that don't put you at the mercy of police officers and their reaction to selling cigarettes. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Eric_Garner
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> China says it's their territory, the US says it is international waters. And so we "prove" it by regularly traveling through it with US warships for no other purpose then to prove we can. Suppose the US claimed that the entire Gulf of Mexico was US territory. Would people be as sympathetic to that as they appear to be to China claiming that the entire South China Sea is Chinese territory? (Note that the South China…
> Suppose the US claimed that the entire Gulf of Mexico was US territory Since China is a long way from the Gulf of Mexico, and has no need to sail there, I'm confident that China couldn't care less about this. On the other hand, The South China Sea is very important to China, and very far away from USA -- why does USA care so much about it? Perhaps you could also comment of USA claims over the Northern Sea Route (wh…
First, many Chinese flag ships sail through the Gulf of Mexico, so I think China does care.
Second, even if China didn't care, many other countries do. And the US, unlike China, respects the rights of other countries to freedom of the seas.
> The South China Sea is very important to China, and very far away from USA -- why does USA care so much about it?
First, because many US flag ships sail through the South China Sea. We trade with many countries other than China that have coastlines on that sea. You know that, right?
Second, because, just as with the Gulf of Mexico, many other countries have ships that sail through the South China Sea, and there are internationally agreed rules about international waters and freedom of the seas, which, as noted above, China does not respect the way the US does. The only way to enforce such rules is for countries that uphold them to take action against countries that do not.
> Perhaps you could also comment of USA claims over the Northern Sea Route (which lies within Russia’s Exclusive Economic Zone) ?
This case is an excellent illustration of the proper way to negotiate rules regarding freedom of the seas: to notify other countries of something you would like to see happen, and then have a diplomatic dialogue with them. As opposed to, oh, say, just asserting that a huge chunk of ocean is your territorial waters, in contravention of international law and treaties.
Also, since you mentioned Exclusive Economic Zones, you will note that the US is not saying it wants to exploit resources in this zone; it is only saying it wants it to be a transport corridor. Which, according to current international agreements, it already is everywhere outside 12 nautical miles from Russia's coast.
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I imagine the DPRK classifies all Americans and Europeans as simply "Western imperialist dogs", or something like that. The last thing I'd be worried about when planning a trip to Pyongyang is whether the US is cool with it. I would go to nearly any other country than go to North Korea. Just doesn't seem worth it. Wouldn't feel right putting my tourist $$$ directly in the pocket of the fascist Kim regime, for that.
> I imagine the DPRK classifies all Americans and Europeans as simply "Western imperialist dogs", or something like that. They classify them as people that will pay good money to be taken on a Disneyland tour through their Potemkin villages.
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> I imagine the DPRK classifies all Americans and Europeans as simply "Western imperialist dogs", or something like that. They classify them as people that will pay good money to be taken on a Disneyland tour through their Potemkin villages.
I went in 2012; all the villages I saw exhibited poverty, failing and non-existent infrastructure, evidence of food scarcity and some interesting evidence of long-term solid fuel shortages. That said, we didn't specifically visit them. Drove by and through