Just Before Year's End, Saber Rattling Gets Loud

Okay, I promised not to write any blog entries about current events until I had finished posting the older site's entries, but I just read something that really gets under my skin.  So, sorry about breaking my word, because I hate doing that, but I feel I need to say something about this one.

North Korea, as it is being reported this morning as of 9:14am Toronto time, is threatening nuclear war with South Korea.  Now, they have both been guilty recently of threats upon the other, mainly in the form of training exercises to demonstrate military might, but this is going way beyond firing a tank or shooting a gun.  I am going to quote the CTV News article here as my source.  See if you can spot the word that gets me so pissed off.

POCHEON, South Korea — North and South Korea beat the drums of war Thursday, with each threatening the other with immediate retaliation if attacked. 

Seoul has staged days of military drills in a show of force meant to deter North Korea, including live-fire exercises earlier this week on a front-line island shelled by the North last month. Angered by the exercises, North Korea threatened Thursday it would launch a "sacred" nuclear war if Seoul hit it and warned that even the smallest intrusion on its territory would bring a devastating response. 

Have you spotted the word?  It is even in quotes.  That's right, "sacred" is the word we're looking for.  That really gets my nuts in a bunch.  Here it is, once again, religion being used to justify large-scale slaughter (and don't kid yourself, a nuclear explosion would cause EXACTLY that, whether to humans or wildlife).  Haven't we yet, as a race, gotten past the need to excuse our actions by blaming our right to do something on a deity?  Don't even get me started on the religious argument on it's own, just let me keep to this specific facet of it:  Religion has caused more and bloodier wars than any other possible incitement in the history of the planet, and while this war isn't being threatened over a religious dispute, religion is already in the fray as a reasoning for using the largest weapon on the planet.

Defence chief Kim Yong Chun said North Korea is "fully prepared to launch a sacred war" and would use its nuclear capabilities, calling Monday's drills a "grave military provocation" that indicated South Korea and the U.S. are plotting to invade the North. 

See?  Religion is not the reason for the dispute, it's just the convenient way North Korea is going to justify their use of a nuclear weapon to change the global map.

Kim told a national meeting in Pyongyang that the North's military will deal "more devastating physical blows" to its enemies if they cross into the North's territory even slightly. He also threatened to "wipe out" South Korea and the U.S. if they start a war, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch. 

As you can tell by the bits I'm quoting, I don't have to make this stuff up.

China -- North Korea's only major ally -- called again for restraint on Thursday.

And this is the problem.  The US is allies with South Korea, China is allied with North Korea, so what we're REALLY talking about here is a war between China and the Americans.

Now, who's up for a nice peaceful game of RISK?

CTV News article can be found here: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20101223/south-korea-pocheon-drills-101223/