12 October 2006

North Korea and Nuclear Ambitions

Does anyone seriously question that more and more countries will aspire to become nuclear powers over the next decade or two? If that is the case, does the US really want to pursue a policy of disarmament through intervention every time this happens? Are we really going to threaten invasion of countries armed with nukes every time they get nukes? And how paranoid is that going to make the already paranoid leaders of these countries?

If Iraq has reminded us of nothing else, it should have reminded us that our good intentions need to be run through a filter of what is practical, what can become sustainable policy.

It was a form of apostacy to say that perhaps the best solution to the problem of Iraq was to continue to endure Saddam's rule, looking for opportunities to change rather than forcing them. Perhaps the real policy towards North Korea should be to quietly allow them to be armed, abstaining from talk that makes them feel even more compelled to be armed and hostile, looking for opportunities to change rather than forcing them. People who say that this is dangerous are ignoring the obvious: it is dangerous to make a ruler with nukes feel cornered by the world community.

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