Putin Peddles Power Politics to Potentates
Putin has made a miscalculation. Another one. I’m not even sure where to start, but I guess China is a good place. The “no-limits partnership” (limited, many restrictions apply, use only as directed by China, subject to sanctions) is not something that any other Asian nation wants to see from a prospective ally — China is a threat to every other nation in Asia with the expansionist policies that it has taken on. NK is little more than a pass-through for China — without Beijing, Pyongyang ceases to exist. However, the “military alliance” with North Korea (restrictions apply, use only as directed by China) has caused South Korea, whose GDP is equal to Russia, to rethink its policy of supplying arms to Ukraine. South Korea’s GDP is largely manufacturing and with an emphasis on quality and technology — not the country you want to have to supply your enemy in wartime. The dud rate on Seoul shells won’t be the 30–50% reported by Russian artillerymen in regard to Pyongyang’s production. Samsung, Kia, Hyundai, LG — all of these companies are worth more than North Korea, and all of them make things that most people don’t immediately associate with them. Hyundai builds ships, including supplying both the SK and foreign navies with warships. LG has a huge chemical division that makes everything from mascara to explosives for shells — of which there is a shortage on all sides. America, Europe, Russia, and North Korea have all reported that they don’t have enough explosives, and it is slowing artillery production — so Putin’s move is to increase the threat to a giant of manufacturing and a country that lives with the daily threat of war from the north. This makes little sense except in light of extreme desperation. The economic disparity between the two is astounding — North Korea’s entire exports are a rounding error at the Hyundai factory, and nothing that NK exports is quality — so perhaps they are the perfect trading partner for Russia, as the only country whose quality is actually lower than Moscow’s. To oppose North Korea’s aggressive moves, South Korea would have to dedicate about … running the math here … two whole hours of dedicated war production per year. That’s oversimplifying, of course; it might take as many as six, what with retooling and training employees.
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