Sleight of Hand

North Korea is like the crazy neighbor with guns and pit bulls who occaisionally shoots at your house or turns the pit bulls loose on you. You call the cops but his county commissioner uncle makes the whole thing go away. You know that eventually you're going to have to kill the crazy bastard or learn to live with it.

Uncle China protects it's crazy nephew DPRK because it doesn't want Uncle Sam and nephew ROK on it's border. If DPRK collapses and reunifies under ROK then China would be uncomfortable with all those prying eyes looking over the border.

Neither the US, ROK or Japan could abide DPRK overrunning the peninsula where DPRK and China would threaten Japan. DPRK would harass Japan like it has ROK, and the Japanese wouldn't abide it. But the Chinese would overrun the Korean peninsula with ease if US/ROK and DPRK went to war. The Chinese are just too close with too many troops to do much about it.

The world seems to need the crazy nephews. DPRK, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda all  seem to have some utility in the world. The commissioners like the passive display of power and influence that makes them important. Their ability to calm the crazy cousin implies an ability to incite as well.

So what are the Chinese doing with the hand you can't see? The DPRK bark is cover for something else occurring in the background. And what is China? A nation state or just a tool for global oligarchs to use in the ever-struggle for power? The oligarch controlled global media want your eyes focused on the Korean peninsula. Meanwhile, something else is moving to consolidate power amongst oligarchs and further enslave the common man.