The Right State

While the nations of the world have condemned the ‘nuclear’ test by the North Koreans, Kim Jong Il acts as if the United States is the only country to have a problem with it.  And now he is threatening war against the United States if the Bush administration continues to provoke his country.

“If the U.S. keeps pestering us and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures,” the North’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The North didn’t specify what the measures would be.

“We were compelled to prove that we have nuclear weapons to prevent the increasing threat of war by the U.S. and protect our sovereignty and survival,” the North said, criticizing an alleged nuclear threat from Washington and sanctions. “We are ready for both dialogue and confrontation.”

What Kim Jong Il seems to be trying to do is to make the failure of diplomacy the fault of the United States.  He is trying to capitalize on some of the anti-American sentiment in the world with the hope that some other countries support him in his struggle.

At the same time the North Korean dictator is fanning the flames of discontent against President Bush in the US.  The liberals led by moonbats in Congress are using the nuclear test to re-write history and to bash the President for Clinton’s failures.  The Democrats fail to mention how Bill Clinton’s appeasement of Kim Jong Il did nothing but to encourage further recalcitrance on the part of North Korea.

One of those who are trying to rewrite history is former President Jimmy Carter who in an op-ed for the New York Times places the fault of the nuke test not on this crazed dictator, but squarely upon the shoulders of George W. Bush.  He starts out his piece by patting himself on the back while discussing his role in appeasing North Korea in 1994.  Carter goes straight from there to the paragraphs below without any mention that Kim Jong Il violated the agreement.  There is no mention that the agreement left the North Korean government holding all the cards with no verification measures.  It makes no mention that military action was discussed by the Clinton White House.  I just wish Carter was just half as good of a negotiator as he thinks he is.

But beginning in 2002, the United States branded North Korea as part of an axis of evil, threatened military action, ended the shipments of fuel oil and the construction of nuclear power plants and refused to consider further bilateral talks. In their discussions with me at this time, North Korean spokesmen seemed convinced that the American positions posed a serious danger to their country and to its political regime.

Responding in its ill-advised but predictable way, Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, expelled atomic energy agency inspectors, resumed processing fuel rods and began developing nuclear explosive devices.

The next thing we will hear from Jimmy Carter is that he was personally responsible for the release of the Iranian hostages after their 444 days of captivity.  And then we will hear of the resurgent economy during the latter half of the 1970s.  And then we will hear how popular his administration was.  He had a failed presidency and most of his negotiations have been failures as well.  Carter can rewrite history only so far.  Bill Clinton’s North Korean policy was a failure of gargantuan proportions.

Which brings us back to Kim Jong Il’s threats against the US.  It was Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter who have emboldened the North Korean dictator.  And why not, they gave him what he wanted without any consequences for breaking the agreement.  And now that President Bush is playing hardball, Kim starts to act like a spoiled brat and threatens to attack.  I say, Let him attack.  It will be one more Stalinist style dictator gone for good.

Some are suggesting that this may be the start of another Cold War which it is not.  The Cold War was between two super powers who did not want to test each others’ strength directly.  North Korea is like the ‘mouse that roared.’  It is a third world country led by a two-bit tyrant.  By threatening the US, Kim Jong Il is continuing his old mantra of threaten, withdrawn, come back to the negotiating table, gain concessions, and then start the process once again.  At the same time the tyrant is also hoping to gain some support from those who want the US brought down a few notches.  But I think this time he has gone too far.  By conducting nuclear tests and threatening his neighbors and the world, Kim Jong Il is further isolating North Korea.  Soon he will not have any friends.  I would expect the collapse of his communist regime soon afterwards.  And it will be about time.  For that we wil be able to thank George W. Bush, not the Clinton administration or Jimmy Carter.

Tags: Nuclear Weapons, President Bush //