When the United States first went to war with Iraq and started using the excuse that they had weapons of mass destruction many anti-war advocates, including myself, stated that the larger threat was North Korea. I mean come on, on one hand you had Saddam swearing up and down that he did not have weapons and allowing weapons inspectors inside his country, and on the other you had Kim Jong-il stating that North Korea not only was working to get weapons of mass destruction, but they had no qualms about using them. Well the first part of that statement at least seems to have been true. While we were busy fighting a war that we should have never started North Korea has built Nuclear Weapons and it would seem they have successfully tested them. I say "it would seem" because there are still some in the scientific world that say that it may not have been a nuclear weapon and if it was it may not have been successful because of the small nature of the explosion. They are currently studying this possibility and should know more in the next couple of weeks. Personally I hope they are right.
One of the most amazing things to me is that even now the administration seems to not be taking them seriously. Yes they all seem to agree that the test were real, but they are still refusing to do the one thing that might keep this from going further. Talk to North Korea directly. I mean what would it hurt for the United States to stop acting like a sulking bully for once and actually admit that sometimes the answer is to simply communicate with other countries leaders. I understand that Bush has a very limited vocabulary, but I am sure his aides would be able to walk him through direct talks. This alone would at the very least make sure that the situation doesn't escalate any further for the time being. Instead of rattling our sabers we should try actually making peace, not more war.
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I don't think talking to Kim will do any good. The entire world (or at least all member nations of the UN) agreed on sanctions against N. Korea. Kim's response to that was to say that any further actions "by the U.S." (as if we alone are the U.N." would be considered an act of war.
That's not the kind of person that's open to talking. He's been dead set on having nukes despite any past talking, so that won't do any good.
Talking is also known as "rational discourse." But if one party (or both) are lacking the ability to be rational, the talking goes nowhere.
As for Saddam, I think taking him out was a good idea. Staying after we removed him was stupid. In fact, using an army to remove a single individual is really stupid.
And the ridiculous thing about claiming future victory in a holy war is that no one wins until one religion is eradicated, so there can be no victory in Iraq or against Muslim extremists - ever.
I agree with you that talking to Kim may not do any good. The more this sitution goes on the more it seems that he is simply unwilling to work out agreement, however we must try. I say we must try because war should always be a last resort after everything else has been attempted.
There is also something to be said about actually bieng willing to give a little instead of always demanding. Yes we have put on sanctions, yes we have passed resolutions telling them what to do, but we really haven't listened at all. If you really listen his only major demand is that the U.S. stay out of his affairs. Something,when you consider the fact that N.K. is a soveirgn nation, that is not a large demand. When it boils down to it we have no right to tell them how to run their country. We can choose not to do business with them and urge our allies to do the same, but we can run their country, that is thier right.
As for holy wars I would say that it is more that just Muslim extremist that cause the problem. Any time that someone, or a group of someones, go to the extreme in a belief it typically becomes dangerous. That goes for Islam, Christianity, Judaism, all of the Pagan religions, and any political or social belief. The simpal fact is that when someone begins to believe that the only possible correct answer is their own and that that justifies them trying to force others into that belief it becomes radical and dangerous, no matter what the belief. Until people in general learn to accept that there will never be a time when all people agree and that that is okay we will always have confrintations started because of those beliefs.
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