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July 07, 2006
Sooner or later, we're gonna dance with Kim
So, the North Koreans launch an ICBM that, we now learn, may have been aimed at Hawaii. But military action isn't justified, according to the leading luminaries of the pacifist, moonbat left.
As usual, look to Mark Steyn for some plain-spoken, common-sense talk, from his interview with Hugh Hewitt.
There is no North Korea. It's a one-man state. And I don't agree with these people who are saying well, look at this guy, Kim Jung-Il, what a joke. He's got his big, fantastic, new missile, and he launches it up, and it falls straight out of the sky the minute it got up there. And what a bust it was for him.
The point of the matter is that North Korea isn't the United States or the Soviet Union or France or India. It's not a competent power. It can't feed its own people. Why would you expect it to be able to develop a competent nuclear program.
You know, the fact of the matter is that that doesn't make them less of a threat, it makes them more of a threat, because it's quite conceivable ... I mean, a couple of years ago, they were talking ... five or six years ago, there was a rumor that the North Koreans were planning to nuke Montreal, because it would demonstrate to the Americans that they were serious, but yet it wouldn't be so serious that the Americans would be obliged to nuke them in return.
Now as a Montrealer, I was pretty distressed to hear that. But the point is even if they were aiming to nuke Montreal, it could land anywhere, and kill all you guys in California.
The fact of the matter is that a crazy guy with a nuke is even more dangerous than a sane, competent, technologically advanced guy with a nuke.
Exactly. Would anyone care to engage in a discussion as to whether the threat to the U.S. from North Korea is "imminent"?
The reason why the MAD doctrine worked with the Soviets is that they were rational actors; the Evil Empire, though paranoid about our intentions, had no reason to initiate a world-destroying nuclear exchange. They wanted to conquer us, to be sure, but they preferred to take possession of territory that had not been nuked first, as well as not seeing most of their own nation destroyed.
As Steyn reiterates, Kim Il Sung is most definitely not a rational actor, and as such we cannot presume that he will be deterred from taking actions that we -- and most other nations -- consider simply batshit crazy.
Little war now, or much bigger war later, I think.
Posted by Mike Lief at July 7, 2006 12:08 AM
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Comments
I'd say we're dealing with Kim Jong Il the wrong way. Here's a guy who's fascinated with celebrity and fame. His favorite movie is Friday the 13th.
He needs to be wooed by his comrades in Hollywood and given a film or TV project. Feed his bottomless ego and keep him so occupied, he won't have time to consider nuclear weapons! Sure, it's a renegade idea. But this guy is all about ego and a total lack of self-worth, which makes it a perfect fit.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/08/wbr.kim.jong.il/
"Another tidbit about this man: He has a collection of some 20,000 videotapes, including the James Bond movie collection."
Posted by: Vermont Neighbor at July 10, 2006 12:27 AM