US “Willing to Talk” To N. Korea
- January 14, 2003
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The New York Times has a piece on how the US is willing to talk with North Korea over the escalating crisis.
I’m torn on this one. On one side, I think the US is sending a really bad message to the world that if you threaten us with nukes, we’ll back down. A message that we can be blackmailed. This could set a very dangerous precedent for the future, especially with nations like Pakistan, Iran and Iraq. The whole time of this crisis, we’ve been backing down from what we’ve been saying. At first, it was the suspension of oil shipments. Then it was the possibility of sanctions. OK, no sanctions, but no discussions. Now it’s discussions, but no negotiations. We keep backing down in the face of a loon with some nukes to play with. This is very bad.
On the other hand, I do NOT want to see the ultimate mistake made by North Korea. If they get antsy enough (and they could because their leader is friggin’ crackpot), they could launch a nuke. To me, L’il Kim (© Rachel Lucas) is the international scene’s spoiled brat of the schoolyard. If the world isn’t paying him enough attention or doing what he wants, then he threatens to make the “playground” miserable for everyone. The guy’s a loonie. Because of that, I don’t trust him at ALL with nukes. At least with Russia, you knew they were logical - that they also valued a safe world to live in. So I was never really worried that we would end up in WWIII with them. North Korea is another story.
I think Bush isn’t doing a very good job with North Korea. In my opinion, I think North Korea is the bigger threat right now. I still believe Iraq is a big threat, but not as imminent as North Korea. One other thing that’s disheartening is that the rest of the world seems content to leave their condemnation of North Korea to a head shake and a tsk tsk. I think many of them WANT to see what the US will do. If the US capitulates to the NKs, then the world won’t do jack squat. If we show some backbone, then I think they will as well.