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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (1923)	1/8/2003 5:21:16 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

But civilized behaviour or lack thereof has nothing to do with Game Theory, which is concerned with (naturally selfish) strategies for survival. In an ideal situation yes.. But what motivation could Jong have in pursuing a nuclear option that he knew would force the West to take back everything he has gained over the past 10 years?? Did he just overplay his hand, or is he playing for even higher stakes in a "winner take all" scenario, at the risk of destroying both nations?? It seems to me that were I Jong, I would recognize that there is simply no way in which N. Korea, or he, will ever be able to achieve superiority over the south. Thus, his rational interest should be to play sufficiently "nice-nice" in order to ensure that in any future merger of the two nations, his own personal interests (political and economic power) are attended to. He certainly has an interest in being sufficiently "civil" so as to convince S. Korea to cough up enough money to subsidize his economy.. Game theory also has the issue of whether we're playing for Zero Sum, or Non-Zero Sum results. It's strikes me that Jong sees his as a zero sum game, winner and loser, while the US and S. Korea see it as a non-zero sum game, in which both sides can win to some degree over a period of time.. Btw, Jong has been pursuing his nuclear program WELL BEFORE Bush labeled his country as part of the "axis of evil". Bush was "escalating" the rhetoric in order to get Jong's attention that he'd better start adhering to his obligations or find himself facing the same fate as Saddam Hussein. Also, Nuclear weapons will not feed your population. And they don't stop nations from engaging in limited conflict (Pakistan and India are both nuclear powers). And nukes are a double edged sword. Because most N. Korean generals recognize that if they were invaded, they would still find a way to steal away with their ill-gotten gain somewhere else. But when their leader is threatening a nuclear exchange in which he is asking them to sacrifice their lives for HIS goals, then they are likely to start questioning his sanity. Hawk