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That Kim Jong Il sure is a tough cookie. The chutzpah! He makes a mockery of the international community knowing well that a) Russia, China and the US will never agree on any sort of action other than "condemning it in the strongest terms" and b) military action is not workable policy given the vicinity of very important countries and economic centres (Seoul is less than 100 miles from the dmz). No one in their right mind would provoke a standoff with the 4th largest army of the world in this scenario.
No don't try to count on similar conditions Ahmadinedjad;)
Comments
He's got this thing down pat.
First, more sanctions. More sanctions means less spending on essentials and more humanitarian aid to make up the shortfall.
Then comes the reluctant meetings that end in North Korea getting financial aid to do spend on something else in exchange for agreeing not to test and develop nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, the weapons already produced can wait in the cupboard with the useless missiles until the next time they need to ring the bell for more money.
who hasn't seen it click here
He has perfectly understood how to use the international situation described by RJ and piss on the face of the US, that have to show their impotence. Even economic sanctions would be useless against an already isolated country. He has learnt Saddam's example: be quick in REALLY getting the mass destruction weapons, otherwise we'll be quicker in throwing you out of power.
Now the risk is that of a nuclear power escalation (what are China and Japan supposed to do, as neighbours of a mad with a nuclear bomb?)
Foukk GW Bush, guys, foukk GW Bush, and let's hope his term to expire as soon as possible!!
Get a f'n clue.
All we need is for Kim Jong Il to commit some kind of terrorist act on the US and we'll see if Bush really has the balls to take on a target that might just kick arse right back.
The risk is rather them to manage to sell something radioactive to somebody else a bit to the west (somebody named Ahmadinejad, for example....), then the situation could materially degenerate....
Quig, I didn't mean to say that USA are the root of evil, I'm saying that in my opinion GWBush's int'l policy has been full of macroscopical strategy and conceptual mistakes!
what has america got to do to be admired and respected instead of being hated and not feared?
So Quig, how do you go about doing that?
Would you really have any chance of terraforming a planet??
What sort of time frames are the loopy ones considering?
When it is all said and done then I'll post the link to where the paper is published.
I heard that Halliburton have already got the pipeline contract :).
We've got plenty of red dust in Oz but that's mostly alumina, and it's ours!
Anyway it's good to know you've got a long term project, or does Bush expect the mission to be completed within a year?
Spin
Hopefully the next Administration does keep the Moon and Mars efforts alive. Clinton killed alot of what we had going on when he and his bunch took over and did not replace the cancelled programs with anything of substance.
Time will tell.
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in that room - I mean a fly that speaks Chinese because I am positive that the Chinese were doing ALL the talking and Kim was just sitting there trying to become invisible.
See what I have been saying all along? We don't need 6 party talks or one on one's - we just need the Chinamen to have a little "Come to Buddah" talk with the old Jack Daniels swilling, Pleasure Brigade usin' dictator. Problem solved.
However, I need to get in on some of that Pleasure Brigade business. Maybe I could become a recruiter or training partner.
[Edited on 20-10-06 by MCSF]
Diplomacy ("negotiation between nations", or "the art or practice of conducting international relations, as in negotiating alliances, treaties, and agreements.") needs influence and skill.
China has a lot more influence on NK than any other country.
``The Chinese did not, in a fairly thorough briefing to me, say anything about an apology,'' she said. ``The North Koreans, I think, would like to see an escalation of the tension.''
I don't know if Condi is just being honest and helping to clarify the situation, or being stubbornly obstructionist and unhelpful when diplomatic progress through China is possible.
Some of us who thought she might be smart enough to help on the international scene, are doubting that she's smart enough to overcome the stupidity and stubbornness above.
Anyway the real question will soon be whether she is actually smart enough to deal with the chinese leadership who should not be underestimated.
Could be that the Chinese will soon have had their fill of rice.
[Edited on 22-10-06 by Dr_Spin]
You can hardly expect that when the old socialists even in the west are cheering on Kim Il Jong in a weird conflation with the prevalent anti-americanism propaganda associated with the iraq war.
It seems the choices are for the US to re-affirm the need for disarmament, as a genuine basis for the NPT, or else abandon the whole thing and head into a global multipolar coldwar where peace is underpinned by the threat of nuclear attack.
The danger is the current generation-in-charge grew up in cold war conditions and may feel comfortable with that idea.
It sets distinct boundries.
Sounds like Condi was right on.
More talk and less testing at this stage is good.
Point to ponder: if another nuclear explosion went off somewhere strategic in NK, would Kim admit that he might have been attacked? Would many people actually know what had happened?
Hope he realises he's playing with fire!
look, everybody has to link arms on this one; the US, the chinese, the peace activists, otherwise its down the gurgler... that's a concern.