JRL NEWSWATCH: “When Kim met Putin: The dangers posed by a deal between Russia and North Korea” – The Economist

“It would make life harder for Ukraine — and heighten nuclear risks in Asia.”

“… Both men are throwbacks. [] Kim is the grandson of a tyrant imposed on North Korea by Stalin. [] Putin waxes nostalgic about Russia’s imperial past. Yet the threat they pose today is clear and present. An alliance … could alter … the war in Ukraine by granting Russia a new supply of weapons. … [and] escalate a nuclear-arms race in Asia. North Korea is like an extreme version of … [Putin’s] Russia … a militarised society, cut off from the West, run by a despot … heedless of human life. … [D]espite … poverty and isolation … [North Korea] has something … Russia badly needs: … artillery shells. Russia is estimated to have fired over 10m … last year and, like Ukraine, is running low. North Korea, with … Soviet-style armed forces, has millions … and … primitive industrial brawn to manufacture more. … North Korea could also offer other weapons, such as rockets or howitzers. … One unpredictable factor is China … [with] some sway over both dictatorships. It has no problem with a prolonged and bloody 20th-century-style war in Ukraine, which it hopes will divide Europe and America, but says it is wary of nuclear proliferation. …”

North Korean artillery shells reportedly have a high failure rate,with one-fifth failing to detonate in a 2010 barrage against South Korea. So if Russia turns to North Korea as a supplier, that would be under the rubric of the North Korean supplies simply being better than nothing.

Click here for: “When Kim met Putin: The dangers posed by a deal between Russia and North Korea; It would make life harder for Ukraine—and heighten nuclear risks in Asia” – The Economist

[featured image is file photo from another occasion]