Nutso State has Nukes

National Revenue Online ^ | 10/22/2002 | John Derbyshire

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

How we handle the emerging nuclear threats of North Korea and Iran (as well as Iraq) is the most fundamental challenge for GWB.

[Pern]

[Hugin]

Unfortunately now that the NKs have them, there isn't much we can do directly, which is why we need to move on Iraq before they get them. For now we just have to contain the NKs and build SDI.

[VMI70]

"...constrained only by public opinion here in the U.S."

That's the hard part.

[servantoftheservant]

What do we do about nutso states getting nukes?

I propose paying for the construction of nuclear reactors for all such nutso states, as long as they promise to be good. (the Clinton doctrine)

[DWSUWF]

"...Madeleine Albright smiling and clapping in a Pyongyang stadium two years ago, while Kim Jong Il looked on in satisfaction, and a dance troupe on the field below performed a routine titled: "The Party's Will is Our Will."..."

Kimbo is almost as gnarly as Maddie is.

They seemed so congenial when she went a-callin'... I wonder if they 'did it'?

It'd be like watching the snot-slinging, spasmodic mating of two rhinos with rabies.

[Mitchell]

Among the nine nations currently known to have nuclear weapons, two — China and North Korea — are dictatorships, run by secretive cliques who do not consider popular consent to be a necessary component of any state policy. Neither can be depended on to pursue rational policies: North Korea's policies are in fact irrational, while China's conversion to rationality is recent, and may for all we know be temporary, having no constitutional or social-historical foundations. A third nuclear nation, Pakistan, has been alternating between a rough, corrupt style of consensual government and frank dictatorship for its entire existence, and is plagued by Islamic fundamentalism.

It's curious that the author omitted Russia from this list, as if it were truly a democracy along the lines of the U.S., the U.K., or France. Could not one say of Russia also that its "conversion to rationality is recent, and may for all we know be temporary, having no constitutional or social-historical foundations" and that it "has been alternating between a rough, corrupt style of consensual government and frank dictatorship"? (It's even true that it "is plagued by Islamic fundamentalism," although not centrally, as Pakistan is.)

[Poohbah]

Dude, that's gross.

[Poohbah]

Stalin wan't crazy, per se.

[secretagent]

Unfortunately now that the NKs have them, there isn't much we can do directly, which is why we need to move on Iraq before they get them.

We could stop giving N Korea 500,000 tons of fuel oil every year. Ditto for all the grain we give them.

[Hugin]

We could stop giving N Korea 500,000 tons of fuel oil every year.

I heard that we are indeeed cutting off the oil. The Bush adminstration announced it was cutting off all aid except for food (gotta keep the farm vote).

[secretagent]

Could not one say of Russia also that its "conversion to rationality is recent, and may for all we know be temporary, having no constitutional or social-historical foundations" and that it "has been alternating between a rough, corrupt style of consensual government and frank dictatorship"? (It's even true that it "is plagued by Islamic fundamentalism," although not centrally, as Pakistan is.)

Good point. Supporting that point, the Russians seem reluctant to open the archives on Stalin's terrors.

[DoctorMichael]

Good point.

[DWSUWF]

"...Dude, that's gross..."

LOL!

You're right...

And I didn't even begin to touch on what an assault such an act would be on the senses of a witness...

The sounds, the vibrations, the smells...

[secretagent]

I heard that we are indeeed cutting off the oil. The Bush adminstration announced it was cutting off all aid except for food (gotta keep the farm vote).

Thanks. I'll see if I can find news of the oil cutoff.

I think we gave them 1/3 of of their entire food supply one year. Socialism does work.

[Mitchell]

Stalin wasn't crazy, per se.

I disagree.

However, I was referring to the fragile state that Russia is currently in, not the years of Stalin's terror.

[Pyro7480]

National Revenue Online?? (the link says that instead of "National Review Online")

[Poohbah]

Yeah, that problem's a nightmare. Ever read One Point Safe?

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

Oops. Must be my dormant IRS genes.

[Pyro7480]

LOL :-)