Updated: Excellent article overview of the situation provided at Stratfor: Link and a video analysis of the situation at this Link.
The big news of the day is that a South Korean naval vessel with 104 sailors was sunk by a North Korean torpedo attack. At this moment, 50 sailors have been rescued while the South Korean Navy scrambles to rescue more sailors. South Korea fired back at the attacking North Korea vessel that sunk the South Korean vessel, but there’s no word whether they actually struck the North Koreans. Also at this moment the President of South Korea is having an emergency cabinet meeting to weigh South Korea’s various options to respond to this apparently unprovoked and hostile attack by the North Koreans.
This event represents a major escalation in tensions between the North Korea and South Korea. Technically, the Korean War isn’t over yet because what the parties involved signed in 1953 only amounted to a ceasefire (North Korea recently said they are no longer bounded by the ceasefire agreement). North Korea and South Korea have had deadly clashes since 1953, but this newest one may be the most serious one. It is believed that North Korea crossed into South Korean territory during this attack.
What’s pathetic is that the American television news channels are not reporting on this news headline. I have a channel where I can see 8 different American news channels simultaneously and not a single one is reporting about the sinking of the South Korean ship. Instead, I see breaking news about a few deaths in Kentucky and gossip about some celebrities.
It’s disturbing to see how so many news channels are ignoring a very important news headlines. American news channels’ failure to report this news is a clear demonstration that a person should not rely solely on them for their news. American news channels should be considered mainly entertainment channels that report some useful news information occasionally (depending on what channel it is).
This event merits close monitoring because there is potential for things to escalate further.
