It’s the Nukes, Stupid - North Korea’s test.

National Review Online ^ | October 09, 2006 | Stanley Kurtz

[neverdem]

October 09, 2006, 5:41 a.m.

It’s the Nukes, Stupid
North Korea’s test.

By Stanley Kurtz

What will it take to wake up the West? Will a nuclear explosion beneath a North Korean mountain be enough? The threat of nuclear terror has been rumbling beneath the surface since 9/11, yet still we’re in denial. Make a deal? President Clinton tried that and failed, accepting a bogus deal, with a porous inspections regime. North Korea flouted the agreement at the first opportunity. Keep negotiating? At this point, the prospect that North Korea is simply positioning itself for negotiations is dim. More likely they’ve given up on the hope of another Clinton-style bonanza (on which they would have simply cheated again), and have decided instead to defy the world, with all the attendant risks. Those risks are huge. If the U.S. and China cooperate now in seriously sanctioning North Korea, the regime could collapse. That would be both welcome and deeply dangerous. On the other hand, if the U.S. and China refuse to cooperate in sanctioning Korea, and break with each other instead, we face yet another sort of destabilizing regional conflict. On top of all this, American interdiction of ships bound for North Korea could lead to war. On the other hand, failure to interdict would reveal the weakness of our position, and would make it that much easier for the North Koreans to smuggle out weapons and nuclear material to terrorists and the rogue regimes of the Middle East. Japan is likely now on course toward a nuclear capability. Japan may also race to gain the capacity for a preemptive missile strike on North Korea’s missile facilities. That in turn could set off a war in which the North launched an artillery barrage against Seoul. Will this put spine into South Korea, or simply send it running further away from the United States?

Korean bombs, missiles, and expertise will sail, fly, run, and walk to the Middle East. Were Saddam still in charge, he would have been first in line at North Korea’s nuclear supermarket. And all the reverberating regional and worldwide consequences of Korea’s nuclear breakout will be replayed, with even more dangerous effect, once Iran gets a bomb of its own. Just as Japan will now arm in preparation for a possible preemptive strike against North Korea, Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia will shortly arm themselves with nuclear weapons against Iran. Sanctions regimes and confrontations on the high seas in East Asia risk escalating to war, as will the proxy terror strikes against the world’s Persian Gulf oil jugular sponsored by a newly nuclear Iran. And as the sheer number of nuclear states increases, it will become impossible to trace the state supplier of a nuclear terror strike. That, in turn, will free up rogue elements in Muslim states to hand off a bomb to al Qaeda or Hezbollah.

The failure to find WMDs in Iraq, the shrieking of America’s doves, and the constraints of international diplomacy have all prevented the Bush administration from speaking honestly and openly to the American people about the true nature of the threat we face. And pretty much everyone else has taken their eyes off the ball. Iraqi WMDs? Not nearly as important as what Saddam could and would have bought and built with the help of North Korea and A. Q. Kahn. Troubles in Iraq? Not nearly as important as the deterrent effect of an America willing to brave 3,000 casualties for the sake of proving our willingness to take down rouge states. Democratization? Important in the long term, but a sideshow compared to the nuclear knife at our throat. A free-spending Republican Congress? Not nearly as important as the danger of an administration paralyzed by a dovish Democratic congress at this moment of grievous danger. Capital Hill sex scandals? Not nearly as important as keeping the Capital and all its pages from being blown sky-high by Osama’s lackeys.

Oh, right. It’s all just a Rovian plot. What will it take to wake this sleeping nation up? It’s the nukes, stupid. It’s the nukes, smarty. It’s the nukes, Mr. President. It’s the nukes, Democrats. It’s the nukes, Republicans. It’s the nukes, Pat Buchanan. It’s the nukes, Michael Moore.... It’s the nukes.

— Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

[neverdem]

North Korea Wants Congratulations

[MNJohnnie]

Glad SOMEONE at NRO is still sane.

[Red Dog #1]

North Korea has only one real national resource. The world perceives them as dangerous and unreasonable. Once you understand that, everything they do makes sense.

[sedwards]

Allow me to help jump start the flame war that will lead to Clinton bashing with this:

Rumsfeld sat on ABB's board from 1990 to 2001, earning $190,000 a year. ABB is a European engineering giant based in Zürich, Switzerland. In 2000 this company sold two light water nuclear reactors to North Korea, as part of President Bill Clinton's policy of persuading the North Korean regime to positively engage with the West.

The sale of the nuclear technology was a high-profile contract. ABB's then chief executive, Goran Lindahl, visited North Korea in November 1999 to announce ABB's "wide-ranging, long-term cooperation agreement" with the communist government. Mr. Rumsfeld's office said that the Secretary of Defense did not "recall it being brought before the board at any time". But ABB spokesman Bjorn Edlund told Fortune that "board members were informed about this project."

One would think a former Secretary of Defense under Ford would make a public objection to the sell such as system but instead he seemed be asleep that day at the board meeting. He still got to cash the paycheck.

If you want a solution to the current problem rather than throwing blame around, why don't you get the current administration to put pressure on China to move in a re-unify Korea such as we saw with Germany.

[Cogadh na Sith]

Will a nuclear explosion beneath a North Korean mountain be enough?

No. We'll have to lose a city to get serious about this....

[dhs12345]

Yup. And they need money and aid to prop up their failing Communist dictatorship.

Money that will be spent, not on feeding their people, but on building and proliferating nukes.

[Carry_Okie]

The failure to find WMDs in Iraq, the shrieking of America’s doves, and the constraints of international diplomacy have all prevented the Bush administration from speaking honestly and openly to the American people about the true nature of the threat we face.

No it hasn't; it's been the lack of of political will.

[dhs12345]

So we learned from the past that the North Koreans can't be trusted at all.

Why I respect the hands off strategy by the US. Although, it hasn't worked. I doubt giving the NK government billions would have either.

Maybe China is the third option. Especially, when we give Japan the okay to start building nukes (to defend themselves from NK). Doubt China wants Japan to have nukes.

[dead]

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

From Drudge, US Detects Second Explosion
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20554779-23109,00.html

[ClearCase_guy]

We'll have to lose a city to get serious about this....

That's true ... and yet I worry that even this won't be enough.

Think of the politics: We lose NYC. We strike back immediately ... where? North Korea (but are we really, really sure??) Maybe we should hit Tehran? Or, maybe we'll take some time, study the situaton, assess the major threats ... and then? What? a cold-blooded strike? What will the Dems say? The media?

We're in an time-period where powerful blocs in this country will second-guess our every response. If I were President, I wouldn't let it stop me from doing what I believed was right -- but the fact is, the political fallout within this country will be frightful, even if we're reacting to a nuclear attack.

[goldstategop]

This has wiped the faux Foley non-scandal off the front pages and focused Americans attention again on national security. It exposes the bankruptcy of the Democrats Cut N Run strategy. We can never abandon our global responsibilities because our enemies have the wherewithal to destroy us. Just think of Iran armed with nukes. Its enough to destroy America as the world's leading power. And here we are obsessed with whether congresscritters have talked of sex with their pages. We must be mad for being so foolish and losing all sense of proportion. Those whom the gods would make mad, as the old saying well puts it, they would then destroy. Wake Up, America!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[munin]

You are so right, this is mostly black mail to get money ant technology from us while they continue the weapon development get more stuff from us, and if we don't give,
well, they will sell the bomb to terrorist and then we will give.
After the 2008 presidential election, with possibly a Dem./liberal prez. well, you get it I'm sure.

Solution--- nuke e'm now! naaa--- UN will get upset,
and the next UN sec. will be from Korea, well, good luck with your future

[sedwards]

"Maybe China is the third option. Especially, when we give Japan the okay to start building nukes (to defend themselves from NK). Doubt China wants Japan to have nukes."

I think at this point they are the only option. We can't really get our hands dirty with the situation but something has to be done. China has to see this. They want stablity as much as anyone else. Afterall they are now getting rich sucking up dollars and euros. If we lay it out that either they have to dismantle the NK government or face a future with Japan and Taiwan armed with nukes I think they will make the right choice. Pushing for a united Korea would help China to show to the world that it has 'moderated'.

[Darkwolf377]

Nuclear weapons have such a position in the human mindset that no one who isn't evil will ever use one first, so what it will take to wake us up is someone like Lil' Kim, UBL or Saddam blowing up a city. That is ALL that will wake us up.

[dhs12345]

Uniting the two countries would be interesting.

Do either NK or SK want it? Would NK accept a free market system? Can SK's economy support NK while NK's economy comes up to speed? We, US, might be able to provide pressure and incentives.

But you are right, this may be the peaceful way to diffuse the situation.

[sedwards]

It would have to be done in stages. Just throwing the boarder open would be a nightmare worse than German unification. NK would be a empty wasteland and the south economy would would be in shambles from the migration. We would have to get a democratic or at the very least different facist government setup that is willing to accept outside captial and private business. The trick is getting the new puppet government to let go of power. It would have to be really planned out ahead of time and the people at the top in the transition NK government would have to be assured of some future role in the new unity government.

[dhs12345]

Definitely the challenge of challenges. But worth considering. Besides, it will be another I told you so -- Communism is failure.

[GoLightly]

I think "your solution" has been the point of the six party talks.