I've read all the posts and have been struck by all of them - some, in my heart with a "Yep, dang, that's true" and some upside my head with a "what the heck? What planet are they on?", but I'd like to try to see if I can boil some stuff down.
1. Bi-lateral talks and agreements with NK and Kimlet do not work - Madame Albright went over and talked and signed with great pomp and circumstance and a butt-load of hoopla, yet we discovered 3-4 years ago that Kimlet's folks signed while keeping their fingers crossed behind their backs. They never intended to follow through, just to get the US off their back and give them their allotment of rice and veggies and that afore mentioned side of beef.
2. Since point 1 is true, the current admin decided to pull into the equation the countries most affected by NK and its shenanigans - China, Japan, SK and Russia, to see how this might work. Kimlet balked and got busy with the enrichment program, since his little plan to blackmail everyone for food to feed his starving countrymen had been thwarted.
3. And now Kimlet has claimed to have successfully tested a nuke, in order to get back his place of power in order to re-establish his blackmail-ability. He has no desire to use it against anyone, just to have leverage for blackmail purposes.
4. China, in the last few days, was livid, and expressing itself in stronger than ever terms, using language they never had before in condemning Kimlet and his nuke escapades, even threatening to cut off all aid, including food. Everyone has been crying "foul", but now the retoric is easing a bit.
5. Kofi and the UN (great name for a rock band, I think) say that the US should do the bi-lateral talks..... gosh, talk about your "no creativity" UN! Been there, done that, Kof', it didn't work.
Now the question is this: do we want to encourage this continued blackmail? Maybe before it would have been acceptable, we'll just shake our heads and quip, "Oh, Kimlet, you little minx!" and fork over the food and bucks so those poor people can have at least one meal a day. Oh, but now the stakes have changed, and we're being threatened by a, what was it, "neighbor in a clown-suit waving a gun while claiming he has spiders crawling all over him".
Do we stand up to blackmail, or don't we? I say we can, unless nukes are involved. Now it's a regional threat, possibly a US threat, if Kimlet can get his Taepodong II's to ever go further than the corner gas station in NK.
Six-way talks are the only option, I say, and if Kimlet won't agree, then do we starve his population further? It's evident by his looks that he is packing away the groceries, so no harm to him.
What a sad day for the Kim family, that his father who was once so revered throughout Korea for his guerilla warfare tactics against the Japanese when they occupied Korea way back when, to have their family name come to such dishonor in the world, especially in Asia.
Spare the rod, spoil the child, I say. He should have been spanked as a kid, maybe we wouldn't be facing this......
