Posturing without any real need to do so can mean only one thing: North Korea is serious about holding the western world to ransom. This outcome has been wholly predicted as far back as 1953 by the leaders of the western intervention force, so we are witnessing yet again a "told you so" moment which history offers us a wide selection of.
The frustration one should legitimately feel is compounded by the obvious misery of knowing we've consistently worked toward this outcome. With our short-sighted policies, naivety and fear of being judged disguised as pragmatism we weaved a chaotic web characterized by giant gaping holes. A temptation hard to resist for many a populist leader, let alone a maniac well past his sell-by date.
Unlike 1953, however, we are faced with an entirely different East Asia. Former nuclear superpower Russia abandoned communism and world domination through brute force. China, at the time atomically unarmed, dictates local geopolitics from the economic and military bully pulpits. Our close allies in the region look to us for help instead of arming themselves in turn. This is a duty the United States cannot afford to dodge.
North Korea's lesson to the world is that multilateralism rarely works. The unpalatable alternative is a world policeman who can wield a whip, crack it and inflict pain if necessary. In the age of globalization, peacekeeping and "Hope and Change" we will be crudely reminded time and time again of the inherent imperfection of human nature. North Korea, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Burma: diplomacy won't work forever on them, if at all. The rule of force, realization of one's own vulnerability and the fear of pain are among the basic instincts we inherited from our common simian ancestor. Today, those instincts are all that stands between us and a potential nuclear attack from North Korea.
What's to be done? Cuetting aid and imposing sanctions will achieve nothing. The country is starved to death anyway and the leadership is uncaring. Kim Jong Il needs to be told in no ambiguous terms that his life is dispensable, the US will have no hesitation in nuking the country to hell and that he has blown his chances. The diplomatic table must be closed, nuclear subs sent to the Korean Sea and Yongbyon blasted to kingdom come without warning or regret. If Mr Kim were to carry out his threat of renouncing the armistice, we need to finish the business started in 1950 and take no prisoners.
Pyongyang is not worth trading for Tianjing or Khabarovsk. Mr Obama, for the good of us all please crack that whip.
1 comment:
Right like Obama is going to drop a nuclear bomb on Korea. He would hestitate to launch nuclear missles to defend the U.S. directly, as far as I can guess.
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