Day 3 Hawk
Well it's clear that NK doesn't fear the west. They do however fear China. After all China is propping them up, and China can always turn off the tap.
What should we do.
Step 1:
Naval Blockade
Nothing gets in and out by sea.
Yes I know it's futile. They have land borders, smuggling plutonium is easy and the quantity that you need is miniscule. But at least it is a strong step, and it sends a message to Iran. That's the real battle. You can't wimp out on this. If Iran watches the world shrug their collective shoulders and ignore NK they will be emboldened.
Step 2:
Pressure on China. China is the only country who can actually apply any leverage on NK. I can't imagine China particularly wants NK to spark a regional arms race. That's not in their interest. Keep the pressure on them. China gets more economic benefit out of Wal-mart than they would out of NK. Pressure pressure pressure.
Yes I know it's easy to be hawkish from where I'm sitting. I'm not sitting in Seoul with 13,000 artillery pieces pointing right at me from just the other side of the DMZ. This is serious stuff, but we have to do something. Iran is watching.
What should we do.
Step 1:
Naval Blockade
Nothing gets in and out by sea.
Yes I know it's futile. They have land borders, smuggling plutonium is easy and the quantity that you need is miniscule. But at least it is a strong step, and it sends a message to Iran. That's the real battle. You can't wimp out on this. If Iran watches the world shrug their collective shoulders and ignore NK they will be emboldened.
Step 2:
Pressure on China. China is the only country who can actually apply any leverage on NK. I can't imagine China particularly wants NK to spark a regional arms race. That's not in their interest. Keep the pressure on them. China gets more economic benefit out of Wal-mart than they would out of NK. Pressure pressure pressure.
Yes I know it's easy to be hawkish from where I'm sitting. I'm not sitting in Seoul with 13,000 artillery pieces pointing right at me from just the other side of the DMZ. This is serious stuff, but we have to do something. Iran is watching.
2 Comments:
I agree entirely and I agree wholeheartedly with every paragraph you wrote.
NK cannot be dealt with unless you have China onboard. It's in our interests to keep China on side.
I still want in addition to behind the scenes pressure on China a strong naval blockade. I want sanctions that bite.
NK is not my biggest concern though. That's up to China to fix now - handball over to them. Iran is the issue, and if we show weakness in the face of NK beligerency then Iran will just be emboldened.
I'm certain there are plenty of 'evil' people in charge over there, but Iran is not a monolithic society. There is debate, there are factions.
The problem reagrding Iran is that by lumping them in as a part of the Axis of Evil gives the hardliners (religious nutcases / death cult) in charge an excuse to crack down on reformers.
I think the Axis of Evil tag has gone a long way to killing off any chance of reform / revolution within that society. Nothing unites a people as much as a nascent visible enemy.
What's done is done and it can't be changed so we must look forward as to what options we're left with now.
The first thing I want Iran to see is that countries (eg. NK) that go nuclear are not rewarded.
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