President Obama just finished up his first G20 meeting and a trip that took him through Europe to Turkey and ended in Iraq. This was the first time he was could showcase his international political skills as President.
But the real test to President Obama and Hillary Clinton has come from the always troublesome of North Korea. In the past few weeks North Korea has been preparing to put a satellite into orbit using a three stage rocket.
Despite urging from nearly every country with global clout, including (sort of) China and Russia not to go through with it, North Korea launched the rocket towards space.
Now, if you get your news from sources within North Korea, you’d be under the impression that the launch was a success and a satellite is currently hurtling around in low earth orbit while sending patriotic music back to their Dear Leader (not even kidding, they have to say this when referencing him. Punishable by imprisonment), Kim Jong-Il. If you read uncensored news sources, you’d be under the impression that all three rocket stages and the payload fell back to Earth, not making it into orbit.
The question now becomes: how should the world respond? Most countries see this launch as a blatant attempt by North Korea to show that they can launch an ICBM and reach faraway targets, presumably with a nuclear warhead attached (because, remember, they’ve been trying to become nuclear capable for some time now and have been in six nation talks to stop the program).
Barack Obama has appealed to the UN Security Council to take action against North Korea. Probably the response will be watered down by Russia and China. The goal here should be to use this as a way to further Mr. Obama’s desire to end nuclear proliferation by citing the dangers or rogue regimes achieving nuclear capabilities and ignoring the safety of the world.
Despite the ties between Russia and North Korea, I think that North Korea’s blatant dismissal of international wishes can be a way to convince Russia we live in a time when the possession of nuclear weapons by rogue states or groups is increasingly more dangerous than the possession of nuclear weapons by nations that seem to have enough sense not to use them.
The takeaway from this situation, I believe, is that North Korea is a dangerous country, akin to a wild dog, that desperately wants to be taken seriously and they need to be punished – and not taken seriously. Ideally, Mr. Obama can appeal to North Korea’s allies/suppliers and use the influence of Iran, Russia, and China over North Korea to punish Kim Jong-Il and find a common issue that can act as a base to rebuild relations.
North Korea attempted to use the launch as a means to increase their political capital, but I think that Mr. Obama should use the launch as a means to leverage his own international political capital to pull together countries that have before been seen as enemies and strengthen America’s place as the super power.
4 comments:
what kind of punishment would you suggest?
Considering this and the fact that Pakistan is on course for total collapse, it seems ending nuclear "proliferation" won't necessarily mean the reduction in the U.S. arsenal. "Deterrence" is still the name of the game. As deplorable as the situation is, I can understand why North Korea wants to be able to say "check", too, in the international chess match.
To Art: Honestly, I don't know. Sanctions haven't worked with them in the past and likely wouldn't work now. If I could act on international politics without consequence, I'd overthrow the government as punishment.
To Rob: You're absolutely right. ending proliferation no longer means eliminating the arsenals of Russia and the US, but I think that, as the two largest stockpilers of nuclear weapons, we definitely need to set an example and begin to reduce our inventory. Even if not to set an example, we should destroy old weapons.
I, too, understand why North Korea wants to be a major player in the nuclear game, but, as has been attempted, they should be stopped before they get that far. The recent missile launch was only a failure insomuch as it never reached orbit and didn't travel as far as intended. It definitely made some international noise, but they haven't followed up with anything at all, so perhaps the real failure is that their stunt did not achieve what they likely wanted it to: real international recognition as a threat.
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