Defying warnings from the US and others, North Korea and its ruler Kim Jong Il fired off a series of 7 missiles over the July Fourth holiday. One of them was the long-range Taepodong-2, capable of reaching the US West Coast and carrying chemical, biological and nuclear warheads. The medium-range Scud-type missiles could threaten Japan the Phillipines, Russia or China.
The Taepdong-2's flight only lasted 40 seconds, crashing abruptly into the Sea of Japan.
My guess? The US shot it down.
The Japanese were understandably livid about the missile launch, and backed by the US and Britain referred this to the UN Security Council for heavy sanctions.
As US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said in a fairly barbed remark, this is exactly the sort of situation the Security Council was created to deal with.
Guess what? It failed miserably.
In a preview of what we can expect on any UN action on Iran's nuclear weapons program, Russia and China refused to go along and vetoed sanctions in favor of a `strongly worded statement'.
Anybody surprised?
The UN has proven, once again,that it lacks even the elementary capacity to perform its basic functions.
President Bush and the West had better begin planning on how to deal with rogue nations with lethal toys..like North Korea and Iran.
I hope you're right.
ReplyDeleteI personlly think the Chinese like the idea of North Korea as an irritant..and the economic boon China receives from us is offset by the huge amount of Chinese money made off US exports that ends up purchasing T-Bills and other US dollar investments..not to mention the huge amount of money US companies make selling technology to China!
I doubt we have that much leverage with them.
I was working in Tokyo in 1998 when Kim Jon-Illin lobbed a scud over Japan into the Pacific. Doesn't give one a warm & fuzzy feeling...
ReplyDeleteThis is a really tough spot because a pre-emptive strike on North Korea, which will probably be necesarry at some point could cause an udpated re-run of M*A*S*H...