Thursday, April 18, 2013

North Korean Mythologies

Victor Davis Hanson "Much of what is written about the North Korean crisis seems to me little more than fantasy. Let us examine the mythologies."
Below are small excerpts from Hanson's discussions of each item Mr. Hanson lists:
1)      China is a responsible partner in checking North Korea and, of course, does not want war.

 And it reveals the United States as a sort of impotent and neurotic busybody that eventually offers concessions and pays bribes in direct proportion to its serial announcements that it has quit doing just that.

2)      Our regional allies are on the same page. 

Barack Obama has found hundreds of ways to aggravate allied Israel and Great Britain in a way that he would never do to an increasingly Islamist Turkey.

 
3)      The U.S. has clout in the region.

 But fairly or not, after the last four years, bad actors worldwide have sensed a predicable pattern in U.S. foreign policy. Stung by Afghanistan and Iraq, and trapped in multicultural, UN rhetoric, we talk loudly and carry a small stick. Iran learned that the more the U.S. announced deadlines about ceasing nuclear proliferation, the less they had to worry about consequences. (So much so that President Obama apparently worried about saying a single word of encouragement to the million Iranians who hit the streets during the spring 2009 protests).


4)      All would lose equally in a new Korean War.
But do not assume that China is working for peace, that war is just too unprofitable to break out, that South Korea is well-integrated with its allies, that concerned parties listen to the U.S., or that an unthinkable and nihilistic war could neither be won nor lost.

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