I am surprised I have not seen a diary on this... It has dangerous implications and I dont think the timing was a coincidence...
So first the facts of what happened via msnbc...
South Korea scrambled naval vessels to western waters near the disputed maritime border with North Korea late Friday after an explosion ripped a hole in the bottom of a military ship, officials and news reports said.
More below the fold
The South Korean news agency, Yonhap, reported that the ship, called Cheonan, had sunk by around 12:30 p.m. ET and South Korean broadcaster SBS said many sailors were feared dead.
Shortly after the first reports of the sinking, Yonhap said that another South Korean ship fired shots toward an unidentified target in the direction of North Korea. Local residents reported having heard gunfire for about 10 minutes from 11 p.m., the news service said.
Now obviously this is scary for a few reasons...
- The United States still has 50,000 troops in the region along the DMZ
- North Korea has Nukes... and these countries do not like each other.
So why did this really catch my eye besides the reasons above??
Obama was supposed to be in Asia this week. This was his Asia tour. Can you imagine what would have happened in the North had sunk a ship while he was in the region? This would have been huge news!
My general feeling is the North Koreans are very smart and calculating. That they had planned something like this for weeks and then when his trip got cancelled they just went ahead with the operation anyway.
Either way this is a major provocation by a country with Nuclear Missilies with 50,000 US troops in the region on the day Obama announces a Nuclear arms reduction wit Russia..
To me this is not a coincidence...
Thoughts?