What’s the value of a single North Korean soldier? Would you believe it’s approximately one percent of a goat?
Thanks to authors like Joseph Heller (Catch-22), Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-Five), and Richard Hooker (MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors), whose books I was probably reading far too young, I grew up with an acute sense of the absurdity of war. But those novels are all so 20th-century. When it comes to absurdities, the 20th might not have much on the 21st.
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s blitz through Ukraine, now about to complete its third year of minimal gain for maximum effort, is going so well that in October, Putin took delivery of about 10,000 North Korean rent-a-troops.
While some warned that the arrival of Nork combat troops in Russia heralded the start of World War III and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed last month that “Some of these troops have already taken part in hostilities against the Ukrainian military. Yes, there are already losses,” the reality is murkier. The Standard reported last week that the Norks have yet to join the battle.
“We say due to poor training and lack of logistical support as the…
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