mercedo's Journal: Negative Peace

I received a lengthy reply from Japanese Slashdotter von_yosukeyan for the first time regarding his positions about nuclear utilisation in North Korea. Personally I don't know him, I just know he is much younger than I, in his mid twenties probably and he is one of the most intelligent Japanese Slashdot Users. He's educated in Kyoto judging from my previous reading. Here's a reply to his comment.

The reason is first off we have had no detente in history by holding nuclear weapons. -von_yosukeyan

I don't raise any questions as to your assertion. All right, but can't we say that you see we have had war in history by not holding nuclear weapons?

Even if North & South Korea held nuclear weapons, and even if we could achieve negative peace in the region, that does not lead to detente.

Don't you think that the negative peace is equal to detente?

The third point is that even if nuclear weapons kept a military balance in the peninsula, in fact military threat to the surrounding countries makes the balance of force in whole East Asia collapsed.

Very true. Good point.

East Asia Nations would fall into pessimistic situations of the incessant military expansions if the military expansion by North Korea, especially the holding of nuclear weapons were in reality.

For the first time in several months, I encountered very sober analysis as to the military circumstances in the region. Excellent, but the problem is North Korea already has two or three nuclear warheads, and of course in the South, the US forces have nuclear weapons. The fact is East Asia is already a nest of nuclear weapons. That is why I think current peace is the result of power politics. Negative peace is from point of view in peace and detente is from point of view in conflict, they are similar and enough for us all.

Wierd word usage

[Marxist Hacker 42]

What is Dentate? I only know that term as a cooking term in relation to pasta...not in terms of warfare and peace.

Secondly, you say of course in the South, the US forces have nuclear weapons. I do not think that is the case- after Hiroshima and Nagasaki we've got quite the fear of nuclear weapons in our military, and while I would think we have such weapons deployed in the area, I would expect them to be on offshore submarines, not with the border forces lent to South Korea. Land based short-range nucle

Re:Wierd word usage

[mercedo]

Detente. Probably it is not common word in America, in google search, they say it is a release of tension in the international scene. In other words 'thaw'.

I would expect them to be on offshore submarines, not with the border forces lent to South Korea

You are very correct, I mean in the South (South Korea), including offshore. And when it comes to Aegis cruiser, only US and Japan have the one.

Re:Wierd word usage

[Marxist Hacker 42]

In that case, I agree with you- MAD works, at least for a time. In the case of North Korea, all we need is the lifetime of a single madman, I think....

The sum of all fears

[Degrees]

An issue perpendicular to detente between North Korea and South Korea is Kim Jong Il's capacity to sell a nuclear weapon to Al Queda. You are correct, Mutual Assured Destruction does keep the two countries from annihilating each other; but something else is required to keep Kim Jong Il from selling WMD's to his friends (not friends, really, just the 'the enemy of his enemy' who happens to have a lot of cash).

Re:The sum of all fears

[mercedo]

Roughly 2 million Korean people live along with the border of China and North Korea, obviously they are much richer than North Koreans, and they feel sympathy with their neighbours, thinking of the current population of North Korea -22 million, the number of Korean origin Chinese is very conspicuous. At the midst of Korean War(1950-53), the US's deep invasion to near border of China invited the intervention of Chinese voluntary forces. Historically it's undeniable that strong ties exist between North Korea

Re:The sum of all fears

[Degrees]

I think the USA would not greatly antagonize North Korea, because of the reasons you state. On the other hand, if North Korea does cause trouble by selling WMDs to enemies of the USA, I think the USA will try to chase the trouble / enemies instead of confronting North Korea. I could be wrong.

Obviously, the USA would have to send diplomats to China, to try to smooth over any ruffled feathers.

Re:Wierd word usage

[StalinsNotDead]

detente [reference.com]: A policy toward a rival nation or bloc characterized by increased diplomatic, commercial, and cultural contact and a desire to reduce tensions, as through negotiation or talks.

I've mostly heard it used in the context of a nuclear detente. A cooling of relations between nations because they know everybody's fucked if things escalate too far.

I encountered the word playing Supremacy [boardgamegeek.com] in middle and high school.

Re:Wierd word usage

[StalinsNotDead]

Yesterday evening I watched Constantine, and the word detente was used to describe the non-interference arrangement between Heaven and Hell. In this context, it seemed more akin to a stalemate.

Re:Wierd word usage

[mercedo]

What he was referring to was al dente [wikipedia.org], literally al dente which is translated from the Italian as "to the tooth", that is, soft but with texture. From the article of 'Spaghetti', Wikipedia.

This word describes the state of pasta which is neither exactly soft, nor exactly hard. This is very similar to the state of stalemate -detente, his comment was indeed deeply endorsed by his very wit.

the non-interference arrangement between Heaven and Hell.

The word I used detente turned to be more valuable than ever.