Trouble with Korea?

The problem may be as simple as the Republican monolith, whose White House spokesman questioned the significance of North Korea's nuclear test in an apparent administration effort to dim the lights on the role of their pinheaded foreign policy in bringing about today's situation.

The President said out loud on international television that Iran, Iraq and North Korea were the same thing, and invaded the least relevant one before he even fully dealt with our organized and effective enemies in Afghanistan. Therefore, the surely unreasonable Kimmy Illy Jongy-yo Tupac understood the bluff and called it by increasing the histrionics over there. Where the Clinton Administration was pushing to mellow the North's crazy, the Bush Administration was ready to meet the North's crazy with crazy and dying for a drink.

The historical problem, about which this administration can't plead ignorance, is their defensive position. The previous administration's engagement policy wasn't derived in a vacuum, other countries in the area including our ally in South Korea were pursuing engagement as a way to bring about change there. It won the Cold War, after all (complemented with a serious arms race).

This administration abruptly cancelled the "sunshine policy" and unilaterally started invading countries on the list the RNC's all-talk bullshit arts major/mannequin laid out. If they were serious about exerting American will and bringing an end to the chicanery over in Korea, they would have made some changes to weaken NK's defensive position.

What would work? I don't think anything will be good for South Korea, it's not the same as German unification. That was painful enough. Help build a bigger wall on the border with China. Call the bluff with an embargo. Drop a million copies of the Wall Street Journal on Pyongyang. Best of all, a coherent international strategy unfettered by the financial considerations of the Vice President and other capitalist elites in the administration would have retained the credibility and cooperation of the world and not left us out of the loop, impotent and stretched very thin.

Our friends in South Korea, left stranded on the tip of the peninsula there, might want to spend a few months sailing. Japan will be forced into the uncomfortable position of bedding again with US forces at a time when Japanese public opinion shows they're tiring of the trouble with ( a very small minority of ) US Marines misbehaving with impunity on their soil. China is nervous about the collapse of a populous state on its border, but they'll figure that one out.

The immediate victims here are US allies, until someone gets one of these smallish nukes into North America. The world will point to Bush, who clearly doesn't give a crap about allies or international committments.

The real world is clearly an endorsement of the Democrats this fall. Their message has been consistent: Engage, lead the world.