June 22, 2006
So Kim Jong-Il, who, by all appearances is still looking like he wants to be the villain in the next Bond film, wants to fire his missile.
That's the consensus from just about every source on the globe, except of course, North Korea, which is still continuing their "denial, non-denial, our rights, yadda yadda, we want to negotiate" mutterings. So either they have forgotten that the space time continuum contains that pesky third dimension, the better with which we can see them with, or they're stalling for time while somebody tries to get their credit card to work at the liquid rocket fuel pump station down the road.
And unless China revokes their credit, that rocket is probably going off in the next few days. And it's something you know is serious, because of all things the New York Times has begun praising the Bush administration. That and the Washington Post even has ex-Clinton administration officials advocating that the U.S. take the missile out before it even launches.
Of course as far as bad movie plots go, this one takes the cake, as it's basically diplomacy disguised as an act of war. This is easier to see though if you condense the news cycle to it's basest form: So, North Korea was ready to fire, thinking America would go all Clinton again. But America was like, 'Ha! You wish, punk! We can shoot that sucker down!' And North Korea was like 'no way!' and America was like 'yes way!' And then Kim Jong-Il went all Dean and screamed, 'Ahhhh, what the $#!&!!!!,' and then North Korea wanted to talk. But the U.S. was like 'save it for the Council, Kimmy' and then stuck 'em with the gas bill.
So as you can see, America still has the upper hand in the "way" argument, and in the game of international diplomacy that's the part that really matters. But what to do from here on out? Do we let the thing go sailing over Japan again, or drift on over to Alaska? Do we blow that thing out of the sky? Or do we bomb the smack out of the launch facility?
Now, true, we're not quite sure how good our infant missile defense system actually is, but not using the system to stop a missile from landing on Tokyo or Honolulu because we're afraid it might miss is really just loony - 'trying is the first step towards failure' and other such Homer-isms. As the Wall Street Journal noted earlier in the week, America cannot be cowed into inaction because we're afraid of missing. We have to show that we're prepared to defend the region. Because if we won't do it, then South Korea and Japan will decide they can't rely on the U.S. in a pinch, and our inaction will only embolden the North Koreans further.
The Japanese have already promised a serious response. And any more belligerance from North Korea and suddenly Japan could start producing nuclear weapons with the same frequency as Toyotas. The entire region could become a flashpoint. And of course, worse for Democrats, all those troops John Murtha wanted to send from Iraq to Okinawa would have to be moved, because then they'd once again be in a potential combat zone.
Now perhaps Kim Jong-Il really does believe that this bit of theater is the road to concessions from the West. But as of today, China is more than a bit peeved, and Bush even has the solid backing of Europe on this crisis. And that's because Europe knows that it won't be long before North Korea's missile technology once again bolsters Iran's. So then they'll have a similar missile in their own back yard, and no American missile defense.
Of course, as Kim Jong-Il is still clinging to his Hollywood image, there is a perfect "Hollywood ending" (and no, we're not talking about Team America, though Bush did say that all options were on the table) for this crisis, and that's for the North Korean missile to somehow "misfire," drift "off course," and hit Iran's hidden nuclear facilities.
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Comments
This guy is truly certifiable. It is pointless to treat him like a rational head of state.
Posted by: Davd Rich | June 30, 2006 05:16 PM