You have to hand it to the Wall Street Journal. At a time when the newspaper industry is desperately trying to remind America it's important and relevant, the WSJ has carved out a nice little niche for itself as a halfway house for discredited political figures. I think it's really humane of them. Their most recent charity case is John Bolton, America's former ambassador to the United Nations.
Where else would someone like John Bolton get to shout his insane ideas? FOX News? Well, yeah maybe that one time when he said, "I think this is a case where the use of military force against a training camp to show the Iranians we're not going to tolerate this is really the most prudent thing to do." The BBC? Oh yeah, that one time...and that other time. MSNBC? Check. Okay, so maybe he was getting plenty of airtime, but regardless, I'm glad to see his little incoherently ranting ideas (like Chicago being destroyed by a nuclear bomb) preserved for the ages in print.
I can't think of any other columnist brave enough to suggest bombing people is a prudent strategy. Paul Krugman, I'm looking at you. Nothing? Okay then. Moving on.
Today, Bolton chose to growl at the old, but reliable, enemy of North Korea. This is a particularly vintage move when one considers North Korea already tried to strike fear into the hearts of Americans last month when they tested a missile that fizzled and fell into the ocean 1,300 miles off the east coast of Japan. Bolton's stance is pretty brave because his frenzied ideology flies in the face of scholarly counsel.
Experts on North Korea say Kim Jong-il's motives center around receiving aid, and fear of the United States, since they bombed his country during the Korean War. B. R. Myers, a researcher of North Korean ideology and propaganda at Dongseo University, recommends America ignore Kim. South Korea's new president, Lee Myung-bak is badmouthing Kim (and his nuclear program) enough as it is, and everyone in the region is slowly realizing the great leader is gravely fallible. A dictator only has a few options to show he's still hot shit, and one of those is to blast a missile into the ocean. But it's not a threat to the United States. It's actually just pathetic. Call it the official countdown of Kim. He's also sick, weak, and may have had a stroke.
And yet all of these facts couldn't soothe the nerves of our mustachioed maverick, John Bolton. Get Ready for Another North Korean Nuke Test he hollers at the top of the page. Bolton recycles the argument that Kim got everything his tiny dictator heart desired by bullying the world into six-party talks, which "gave [him] cover to further advance his nuclear program." If the US strategy was up to Bolton, he would scream threats at everyone he perceived as being Korean, which is exactly what would make things worse, Myers argues.
Over the past decade North Korea's string of nuclear provocations has reinforced the public conviction that Washington's bark is worse than its bite. Kim Jong-il has so far shown little indication that he does not share this conviction.
He's fuming mad that the Obama administration wants to (scoff) talk to North Korea. I mean, the nerve. How are we supposed to bomb stuff if we're there talking to them? Of course, this is the man who used to block information from reaching former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and and Powell's successor, Condoleezza Rice, that was "vital to U.S. strategies on Iran," simply because the information contradicted his own insane ideologies. So maybe we shouldn't take his word on this stuff.
I know what you're thinking: a John Bolton article isn't a John Bolton article unless it has a crazy jump in logic and wild proclamation nestled somewhere in its margins. Turn that frown upside-down, kiddo, 'cause here it comes:
Even worse, Iran and other aspiring nuclear proliferators will draw precisely the same conclusion: Negotiations like the six-party talks are a charade and reflect a continuing collapse of American resolve. U.S. acquiescence in a second North Korean nuclear test will likely mean that Tehran will adopt Pyongyang's successful strategy.
Cross-posted from Allison Kilkenny's blog. Also available on Facebook and Twitter.
Allison have good writing skills, she articulate her view with humor and obviously events have made this article popular enough for neocons to come out of woodwork to comment on her story, be a good sport, take break for 4 to ... years in Alaska and get your groove back!
http://www.mikemalloy.com/2009/05/27/nukes-and-missiles-and-bombs-oh-my/#more-774
And he loves to rub it in their eyes... So, Allison here is being a loyal trooper and disparaging this decent man and his efforts to promote liberty around the sphere.
It's such a shame the leftians really don't know this person... if they did, they'd be 100% supporters.
I don't think I've heard any predictions of a nuclear war. The more obvious threat is the sale by NK of nuclear technology/missile technology to terrorists Isloamofacist groups. Do you think this is not a rational concern, given NK's recent sale of nuclear designs to Syria, or was that another conservative conspiracy in your mind?
No one is arguing we should "attack NK and blow them to oblivion", the argument is whether or not to take out their nuclear production capability.
Neville Chamberlan, call your office. Your prodigy need you.
Uh, let's see:
(1) Israel is a democracy that has never fought except in self-defense;
(2) Israel, as a society, places high value on innocent human life;
(3) NK is a totalitarian society with no checks and balances on the commands of its leadership;
(4) NK has demonstrated it cares nothing for innocent human life, even to the extent of starving to death thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of its own citizens;
(5) NK has demonstrated its willingness to sell its nuclear & missile designs and technology to the
highest bidder
I realize the above 5 reasons are probably immaterial to you, but to a rational person, they are extremely persuasive. The same reasons, more or less, also apply to Iran.
Omop: "Chickenhawks like Bolton, Cheney, Perle, and others who have never served in the military are forever proclaiming their bent on resolving issues by killing others."
Geez, this is such an illogcal arument I though it had been throughly discredited. By your logic, if I have never been aborted, I have no right to speak out on abortion; if I have never been discriminated against, I have no right to speak out against discrimination; etc. Grow up and get a rational argument.
(2) Israel, as a society, places high value on innocent human life;"
Ha-ha. Good one.
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5776
Any existence of such a weapon is serious - but that doesn't mean we should attack them and try to blow them to oblivion.
Yes NKorea has been pursuing a nuclear strategy, yet it is Kim's mad behavior that even China has come out against them and a UN security council resolution will probably be released shortly. There are still some pressures to be exerted on NKorea, especially with Chinese and Russian support now that those countries no longer accept NKorea as a rational ally.
Those who predict a nuclear war are in the Limbaugh camp - "Yes I still want Obama to fail" - of US patriotism. Because of President Obama, the UN, and NKorea's own poverty, Kim will not be allowed to substantially threaten his neighbors.
sigh
http://www.mikemalloy.com/2009/05/27/nukes-and-missiles-and-bombs-oh-my/#more-774
If the world accepts a state like Israel to have nuclear weapons what thought process prompts one to scream that a state such as North Korea MUST NOT HAVE the same?
Israeli politicians in order to get a place at the table spied on their socalled ally the US to get the capability to develop and have nuclear capabilities.
Chickenhawks like Bolton, Cheney, Perle, and others who have never served in the military are forever proclaiming their bent on resolving issues by killing others
And the need is always present to remind them that if they want to play "Cowboys and Indians" they should have done the real thing when they were at the right age
Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.
Bolton would like to nuke these guys. And iran and iraq and Lebanon etc.
http://conservativelibertine.blogspot.com/2009/05/time-to-talk-with-our-enemies-eh-barry.html
We can go on with this list all day.
Being a lib is the furthest thing from being American.