What Will Stop North Korea

Washington Post / Real Clear Politics ^ | 10/13/06 | Charles Krauthammer

[ProtectOurFreedom]

It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.

-- President John F. Kennedy, Oct. 22, 1962

Now that's deterrence.

Kennedy was pledging that if any nuke was launched from Cuba, the United States would not even bother with Cuba but go directly to the source and bring the apocalypse to Russia with a massive nuclear attack.

The remarkable thing about this kind of threat is that in 1962 it was very credible. Indeed, its credibility kept the peace throughout a half-century of Cold War.

Deterrence is what you do when there is no way to disarm your enemy. You cannot deprive him of his weapons, but you can keep him from using them. We long ago reached that stage with North Korea.

Everyone has tried to figure out how to disarm North Korea. It will not happen. Kim Jong Il is not going to give up his nukes. The only way to disarm the regime is to destroy it. China could do that with sanctions, but will not. The United States could do that with a second Korean War, but will not, either.

So we are back to deterrence.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

As usual, Krauthammer puts forth a concise analysis. His conclusion is that we cannot tolerate two rogue terrorist regimes (NoKO + Iran) with nukes because we wouldn't know which one to retaliate upon after they destroy a U.S. city. He fails to posit the simple solution which, of course, is destroy both rather than try to identify the guilty party. Both are complicit in proliferation and terrorism and they have both colluded in these areas. Hence, both are guilty.

[beyond the sea]

What Will Stop North Korea

A naval blockade of the import of porn movies and platform shoes for KimBoy.

[tobyhill]

Force China to make a choice, either deal with NK to a point that their nuke program ends or we cut 20% Chinese imports and send their market into a tailspin.

[CurlyBill]

LOL!!!

[Gay State Conservative]

It sure won't be a revolt by the citizenry that brings down the regime.The "proletariat" is too weak from hunger to even stand up...let alone to stand up to tanks.

[beyond the sea]

LOL..... great profile page you have there, CB ................ especially the good beer!

[beyond the sea]

......... and the Chicken Caesar Salad

I'd almost kill for one of them. 'The Outback' has a great one. I've tried to bribe them more than once for their recipe for the dressing...... but their lips are sealed so far.

Bummer.

[EagleUSA]

Krauthammer was right when he predicted the exact outcome of the Klintoon stooges actions to appease NK. And he is right now. But don't expect anything to be done about it...not until there is a real conservative in the White House and fewer spineless chair-warmers in the Congress....

[Thrownatbirth]

Lean on China by threatening a military/nuclear buildup of Japan.

[Young Werther]

A double strike.

1. Strike several troop concentrations with Neutron bombs. Go for 100,000 troops dead with no blast damage just "cooked corpses".

2. Other troop barracks and concentrations will be bombarded with leaflets giving them the options of either "Killing Kim" or Die!

Want regime change? Do it there and then have Bolton issue a warning to Iran, Somalia, Syria, and all other terror centers that we won't cotton this foolishness anymore!

[snarks_when_bored]

I wonder whether an elite team of South Korean special ops guys could take Kim Jong Il out if they were supported by certain classified U.S. assets...

[Mariner]

A better approach would be a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods...should it be necessary to do so.

Still, I believe the Chinese have a plan to get rid of the chia pet...he makes too much noise and makes them uncomfortable. He would eventually lead them to VERY poor relations with their largest market and foundation of their economy.

I would not doubt if the Chinese asked us to go slow while they put in effect their covert operations for regime change in NK. It probably won't take a year...

Yes, NK would still be a Chinese client...but one without nukes and INSANITY at the helm. They'd probably be able to negotiate a peaceful union with the south and bring the entire country into the Chinese sphere of influence.

And that would be a good deal for the US and the world as a whole. May not be so good for the South Koreans, but certainly not disasterous.

[doggieboy]

Yep...I like this solution.

[tobyhill]

That would work.

[1234]

..., I believe the Chinese have a plan to get rid of the chia pet...he makes too much noise and makes them uncomfortable....

ya think?
pls forward your post to NSA.

[mugs99]

Lean on China by threatening a military/nuclear buildup of Japan

That would do it!
.

[Mike Darancette]

Something like "Mike" could stop NK.

[LibWhacker]

LOLOL

[Twinkie]

Don't they have the people over there hanging framed photos of Kim and his pappy on their walls, and anything good that's done for the people, they are taught (brainwashed) into bowing before those photos and thanking them? People here in general have no idea what things like that exist in the rest of the world. In fact, I think the Clintons would like nothing better than to be virtually worshiped. - I read several years back that their original plan was for Bill to serve the first 8 yrs., then Gore the next 8 yrs. in a puppet type of Presidency, then Hillary the next 8 yrs. for a total of 24 yrs. of the "Clinton Dynasty". After that, it would have been so ingrained that it would have been perpetual. It seems that foreign powers found the Clinton weaknesses and gave them what they wanted. . only the Dynasty didn't quite completely materialize . . but, it still went a long way to establishing what they wanted.

[LibWhacker]

One rogue country is tolerable because it can be held accountable.

I like everything about his argument except this part of it. I believe you can hold more than one rogue country accountable. Let's follow the nuclear chain:

Soviet Union --> China --> North Korea --> Iran --> Islamic Terrorists

That is, China got nukes from the USSR, which was a deliberate, calculated move on the part of the USSR. North Korea by and large got the technology from China (with some critical help from Bill Clinton), and therefore Russia and China both are largely guilty of that crime. Iran is getting help from North Korea, and therefore, if we are nuked by islamic fascists or NK, the finger of blame for it ultimately points all the way up the chain to Russia.

You can't set into motion a chain of events that you know with very high probability will lead to an attack on America and sit there and say 50 years later that you had nothing to do with it. It'd be like giving a loaded gun to two-year-old and then trying to deny any responsibility for the consequences.

So, imo, if a preemptive attack isn't in the cards soon, we have to threaten everyone in the chain with annihilation to protect ourselves, something that we could definitely deliver on. Otherwise, we're reduced to just swatting down proxies for Russia and China (which was their plan all along), while those repugnant regimes will be sitting there with big Cheshire grins on their faces, completely unscathed. I think Kennedy would've handled it in precisely this manner if he were faced with the same threat to the country that President Bush is facing.