Eagle Speak and In from the Cold both have excellent comments on the North Koreans' apparent intention to flight-test a Taepodong-2 ICBM. Check them out, here, and here.
I don't think it's a concidence that the North Koreans and the Iranians are both pushing at the non-proliferation regime at once. I would expect that these two countries are coordinating their efforts, and assisting each other both technically and diplomatically. I think Mr. Chavez in Venezuela is in this game also, running diplomatic interference.
Our problems in dealing with Iran and North Korea are a function of diplomatic isolation. With the exception of Japan, Australia and Britain, the US is, for the moment, effectively without great power allies. The liberals blame this, along with the weather and everything else, on Bush. For the most part, our present isolation is an effect of our overwhelming economic and military power, which would produce resentment and enemies no matter who is President.
I supported and support our efforts in Iraq: but we cannot pursue the current foreign policy relying on the continental part of the NATO alliance, that is, the French and the Germans. Those powers are our commerical rivals, and have no reason to give us diplomatic and military cooperation.
I have said for some time that what we need to do is get on terms with the Russians and the Indians. We have done our best to ruin any chance of working with the Russians: why the government is surprised about Mr. Putin's current anti-American tone is quite beyond me, given things like American interference in the 2004 Ukrainian elections, and our footprints all over Central Asia.
Instead of trying to work with the Russians, we have tied ourselves to Europe's diplomatic games with Iran -- which are designed to do nothing but run out the clock while the mullahs render themselves invulnerable with a bomb. The Europeans will not do anything, and will prevent us from taking steps to destabilize the mullah regime. Looks like we are going to stay shackled to the NATO corpse until it is too late.
3 comments:
imo, the years in the immediate aftermath of the falling of the berlin wall and name change of the ussr not only ended the cold war but exposed the depth of corruption in the soviet society.
it is not corruption if it is the way of life.
i think first 41 and then klinton took an arms length approach and said get your house in order and then we'll help you. which should have been a let us help you get your house in order.
CQ has an excellent segment on what it is like to do business in todays ussr, or whatever they call themselves these days, in his Government As Gangsters segment.
interesting, and expensive if you are in private business and not greasing the right palms.
as for kimland, imo, i think the control tower is located in beijing. pyongyang doesn't break wind without calling for clearance.
as for our isolation, you can blame jefferson & madison for that. this form of gov't is & will be the greatest threat to tyranny for ages to come. gov't of/by/for the people........you must be joking.
previews of coming attractions:
just wait until civil war breaks out in bolivia because of what morales is going to do to private land owners. you'll really be able to get your teeth into that.
My thinking was more in terms of power, than in the moral desirability of doing business with the Russians. As CQ and others make clear, dealing with Russia is rather like dealing with the Mob, both in Soviet times, and now.
The Russians will eventually get their house in order...then we can deal with a capo di tutti capo than a bunch of gang leaders.
I don't know about Kimland's control tower location. Bejing certainly has leverage, or thinks it does, primarily through control of energy and food; but when you come right down to it, Dear Leader Kim and his bonzes march to their own drummer, and if a few million peasants have to starve to make a point with Bejing, no problem for Kim.
Isolation ? Yeah, a certain amount of that is inherent in our make-up. Wish we hadn't had to go into the Empire business, becuase that really complicates things, since it makes us have to work and play well with others much more than we would choose to left to our own devices. As it is, we have too much debt, too much dependence on foreign resources, and too much vulnerability to attack to play the isolation game. The airplane, the rocket and the internet put paid to that.
This means we are in the power game, and cannot resign, or walk away from the table.
as i have seen your comments there, GoV has an excellent Fjordman post that says clearly and with more detail what i was intending to say in my first paragraphs about letting marx/comm slip away.
a must read.
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