The West woke up too late to the nuclear threat of rogue states

The Daily Telegraph ^ | October 10, 2006 | Con Coughlin

[JasonC]

They all know how to build nukes without our help, and such hysterial antics scare no one.

[LasVegasMac]

Your #4.

Bingo.

How does the old saying go......

Walk softly and carry a great big stick.

And use that stick when ya need to.

[Doctor Stochastic]

The author seems to have awoken rather lately. Those in the business have been working (often against the prevailing political winds) on the problems for some decades. Does the author think the US should get into a war with China over North Korean nuclear research? Has he looked at any of the implications? (I don't have an answer either, of course.) NK and China do have a mutual defence treaty.

[Tijeras_Slim]

By the time we're fighting house to house in Escabosa I'd say it's a done deal for the other side.


I'm not up there with Squantos, but I'm not hardware deficient by any means.

[elkfersupper]

The best spot in the universe, for a number of reasons, is snuggled up against the East side of the Sandias / Manzanos (if only we could get the BCSO to let us move around unobstructed).

[GOP_1900AD]

The West, since about the early 1970s, has lacked the courage to squarely blame the ultimate originating states of all subsequent proliferation, Russia and China.

[CFC__VRWC]

But everyone knows there isn't real unanimity. Nothing useful will be done.

Give it a couple more days and we will see some "real unanimity" - everyone in the world will agree that it's all George Bush's fault. The democrats are already leading the way. And that means that any chance of anything useful being done is dead on arrival.

[Nathan Zachary]

" We'll have to lose a city before we take this as a REAL threat. Until then, M'eh...."

That's usually the way it works. Why take care of things when they are small and easy to take care of with miminal loss of life, when we can wait until it involves all the nations of the world and costs hundreds of millions of lives?

[nopardons]

With President Bush in the role of Churchill; except that Churchill was out pf power, when he was the one lone voice, crying in the wilderness about what was to come.

[MarMema]

ping to 6

[DCPatriot]

We aren't going to lose an American city from a North Korea nuke.

And I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Dear Leader for the nice October surprise. It was the only thing that could beat Bin Laden's recent lame attempt to influence our national election. And... we all know how that worked out for the 'Tall One'.

Bill Clinton's feeling when responding to his seemingly laxadaisical approach to nuclear-ladened countries bent on causing harm was..."We can alway kill them tomorrow".

North Korea may cease to exist as we know it and it will happen fast, IMO....courtesy of China.

China's economic revolution doesn't need this nuclear gnat screwing everything up.

It's common sense...at least to me. ;^)

[Billthedrill]

The author seems to have awoken rather lately.

Yes, that was certainly my impression. The notion that the West is equally asleep seems to me more one of projection on the author's part. Implying that Bush has been is so stupid that only a Democrat could try it.

The real difficulty is that the current alignment of the international "community" on the issue admits of nothing more than laughably ineffective posturing and negotiation of terms of surrender. Kim expects the world to make offerings in the form of aid and political clout in the hope that he will not continue to do what he's done all along and shows no sign whatever of ceasing. And since that's all that international negotiations have to offer, that isn't an unreasonable expectation on his part. It makes a weird sort of sense, but it does make sense.

Can a two-bit, pimped-up tyrant blackmail the entire world? No. Can he blackmail the international community? Absolutely. And that's a real problem for those few remaining shreds of credibility that that community might hope to cling to.

[visualops]

I remember quite well the hue and cry and horror when Bush named the DRPK as part of the axis of evil. Oh no, not Dear Reader, he's just a nice guy!

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Small correction, Ivan...it's our stupid politicians who never learn. We Conservatives have been beating the drums here for years on this, and now it has finally come to pass.

[dr_who_2]

In the four years since Mr Bush's "axis of evil" speech, the constant bickering over how to handle rogue regimes

The press, including the Telegraph, is responsible for well over half of it. So to the editors of the Telegraph, I can only say "Shut the f*** up."

[sport]

Bullshit! President Bill Clinton knew exactly what he was doing and what the results would be when he sent ex-President and media idol Jimmy Carter to aid and abet Nortn Korea develop their nuclear program.

Clinton knew exactly what he was doing and what the end result would be when he allowed the Communists Chinese to steal out nuclear technology [secrets].

The price of the above actions will be paid, later down the road, in American blood.

But in the end, Americans can only blame themselves,[the Democrats and msm will blame President Bush],the elect and re-elected Bill Clinton.

[Vince Ferrer]

Count me as one of those who doesn't care.

Count me in as one who does. This is a critical test for us, because if it not handled decisively, nuclear blackmail or nuclear terrorism will spread all over the world. NK needs to become an example to others.

[Cogadh na Sith]

This is a critical test for us, because if it not handled decisively, nuclear blackmail or nuclear terrorism will spread all over the world. NK needs to become an example to others.

We had that chance in 1994 and we already blew it.

It already is an example to others....

[Chuck Dent]

As I said before, we never learn.

Throughout the entire history of civilisation, war has come on average to every-other generation. The survivors of the generation that experienced war (on both sides) live to govern the next generation and maintain peace. The generation that grew up in peace has only heard horror stories - but they don't possess any real experiences. Eventually, they then become the next generation to go to war, thus continuing the cycle...