Tuesday, October 17, 2006

North Korea: WWIII?

As many of you are I am sure aware, North Korea now has nuclear weapons. Kim Jong Il has succeeded. The questions we must examine now are twofold: a) How did we allow Kim Jong Il to get a nuke(s), and b) where do we go from here? As far as question one goes, I believe there is blame to go around. Clinton allowed the building of nuclear power plants that were not weapon grade in exchange for some food/aid, and Kim Jong Il ignored the agreement and did what he wanted, anyway. Bush basically cut off all diplomacy and aid and ignored the problem. It is clear both approaches contributed to the problem. Clinton should never have agreed to what he did, as it was clear from day one that the agreement was a farce. And Bush never should have ignored the problem. This is instructive for Iran, because we have to examine where we went wrong with North Korea in order to examine what we should do with Iran. I believe that how we handle North Korea will be seen as a test in Tehran. The Ayatollah and Ahmedinadinnerjacket are closely watching this to see what we would do to them. Therefore, doing nothing in response to North Korea's nukes is not an answer. This brings us to the second question. Where do we go from here? Is this WWIII? I guess a part of me is not as afraid of North Korea as I am of Iran, because I don't see it as likely that North Korea would attack Israel. I see it as more likely that they would attack South Korea, a nation that is ironically dragging its feet in agreeing to sanctions!! I know this is a bias on my part, but I am more concerned about nations that are our true allies over nations that are half allies. But that does not mean that North Korea is something to sneeze at. This could seriously destablize East Asia, and it could spill over into other fights. North Korea already said that the sanctions passed are a declaration of war. Japan and South Korea have much to fear. And lest we forget, the real victims of North Korea are...North Koreans. Back in June I posted pictures of life in North Korea. It is quite evident that Kim Jong Il's egomanical rule has led to a crumbling nation and a starving populous. You should look over those photos again to remind yourself of the true victims of Kim Jong Il. So what do we do now that North Korea has declared war? We have to build global alliances and convince the world that NO ONE is safe with an armed and nuclear North Korea. The UN resolution was a start, but as we all know, the UN is a corrupt, feckless, and inept organization, and China already announced that it will not be searching every ship. So what do we do? We announce to China that if they don't cooperate in the search every ship in and out of North Korea (to ensure no nuclear material goes in or out), we will pull all our third world factories out of their nation, and remove them from the "most favored nation" trade status. We need to act tough. Bush TALKS tough, but then his policies do not bely this. We need to actually take DECISIVE action to enforce the UN resolution that was passed, and ensure that North Korea cannot build any more nukes, nor transport them. Some of the Dems have mentioned that Bush has cut off America's might by the Iraq war. Maybe. But if we cannot handle North Korea because we are in Iraq, then maybe we shouldn't be in Iraq. It's that simple. We cannot let North Korea continue to build nukes at its whim. I also see diplomacy as most likely a pie in the sky hope. Lastly, the situation with North Korea is important most of all because it is the test over how we will handle Iran. If we pussyfoot around this situation, we might as well lay down and play dead. If we defer to the UN, Iran will see we truly are a weak nation that can be fucked around with at will. And you know what? In many ways we ARE a paper tiger. Living in NYC, going to work on the subway, and working in a downtown office tower...I try to forget about things like that. It's the only way I can get through the day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sorry, you can`t compare NK with Iran, for several reasons.

NK is not, fundamentally, an issue for the USA. Both China, South Korea, and Russia, all for their own reasons, do not want the North Korean regime to collapse. And whatever the NK leadership does, including all the posturing and threats, is fundamentally just that -- an attempt to stay in power and prevent the collapse. There is very little the US can do here.

Iran, on the other hand, wants to export virulent islam all over the world, and wipe out Israel (*especially* with the nutcase Ahmedinejad and his 12er sect in power). Now, that IS VERY MUCH an issue for the whole world. Do we accept that Israel will be nuked (Ahmedinejad has already promised the "real holocaust") or do we not?