North Korea: The War G…

North Korea: The War G…

North Korea: The War G…

North Korea: The War G…

North Korea: The War G…

North Korea: The War G…

North Korea: The War G…

I seriously doubt that the Brazilians are on tenterhooks right now, anxiously waiting to see what happens with Iran and NorK before starting their own nuclear weapons program.

If Brazil decided they needed nukes for some reason, then they might perhaps look to situations elsewhere in the world for excuses to use as political “cover”; but the underlying reason for acquisition would relate to what their neighbors or potential threats to their country were doing (ie Argentine nationalists raising major new military forces in order to reverse some of the results of the catatrophic SA wars of the 19th Century, or Portugal outfitting a major fleet and army in order to invade and recolonize Brazil).

Since these absurd examples are not likely to happen, it’s probable that even volatile Latin politicos are not willing to pour billions of money down a rathole in order to acquire nuclear weapons. Such weapons would end up as nothing more than conversation pieces, as well as sources of intense alarm to their neighbors; one can see this from the sucessful example South African denuclearization.

We can’t pull out from the coming confrontation with Iran, for better or worse we are “stuck” in the Persian Gulf for the “duration” for a whole host of reasons. Plus the current Iranian regime has a history of active support of terrorist attacks against the US (and others) worldwide. NorK has a terrorist history too, but not lately so much and not worldwide; plus the Korean peninsula isn’t a vital area for US in the same way (at least IMHO). It’s not an “avenue” that leads the US to anywhere.

We’ve achieved long ago in ROK what we are trying to do in Iraq: to set up a reasonably democratic government which has the ability to sustain itself. The current “mantra” is that once this same objecive is accomplished in Iraq, we will leave; so if you want to impose consistency on the different foreign policy problems facing the US around the world, start asking yourself why we haven’t already left the ROK, in the same way that we say we are going to leave Iraq eventually.

Yes, I know ROK doesn’t “want” us to leave, but that’s because we’re still paying the bills for obligations that they long ago should have taken over for themselves. Time to stop the international “welfare” system for US allies, we can’t afford it anymore (in terms of treasure as well as in terms of potential loss of life).

You say that you think if KJI unifies the Korean peninsula, he wouldn’t export nukes abroad. Why? You seem to attribute some sort of rationality to KJI’s mind, which I think is wholly unjustified. I may be biased about this… I grant you that. A unified Korea under KJI will mean that the Worker’s Party will have, in addition to it’s shoddy missile/nuclear program, sophisticated SK technology to allow them to mount that device on Scud, with superior guidance system. AND, KJI will demand to have “normal” relationship with US, i.e. trade, investment etc. YOu tell me, does United States look like a country that will want this kind of relationship with KJI? US will have to do a major major public relations blitz to say that our relationship with KJI is nothing like our relationship with the Al-Saul family or better yet, Osama Bin Laden.

The real problem… I think the real reason why US doesn’t just do what I say is that, things could get a heck of a lot worse, not better if China/SKorea is in charge of relationship with DPRK. SKorea and China seem to be sort of crossing their fingers and hoping that KJI dies tomorrow, and that all the contacts they have established with Sunshine/etc will allow them some sort of soft-landing. If we step out, that’s going to be the effective global policy towards DPRK. What this mean for us is that, we have failed with our non-proliferation efforts–end of Pax-Americana. When Iran goes nuclear, will we do the same thing and leave the middle east? What if say, Brazil goes nuclear? We might have to live in a world where everyone is nuclear and any small scuffle can become a nuclear conflict. I think, that both conservatives and liberals realize this as a fact, and that’s the reason why we have so much troulbe just leaving Korea… Maybe we have to live in this kind of a world regardless of what we do towards the DPRK… I don’t know. We really are in a pickle barrel.