Posts Tagged ‘Security Council’
Photo thanks to NPR!
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“It’s like a heat wave, burning in my heart”…and moving West!
And does being tall cause cancer?
This is just begging for a good caption.
North Korea has really got the USDemocrazy team in a foreign policy funk. The nuclear nastiness in the North is not going away…
You might remember our posts on North Korea’s nuclear tests (but if not, read one here, and the other here).
Because of North Korea’s testiness, members of the United Nations Security Council are up in arms (nuclear arms). They have agreed on a consensus on a draft resolution that would further sanction the North Korean nuclear knuckleheads. (Yes, a draft… Not the real deal… yet.)
As for what the US thinks, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came out as a hard-liner on Sunday. On “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” she said that North Korea could go back on the list of card-carrying members of the terrorism-supporting club. She also warned if things don’t change soon, the world could face some dire consequences, namely:
an arms race in Northeast Asia.
It’s been said before, and it’ll keep being said (as in here, by the LA Times) that sanctions against the rogue state is sticky territory. (Maybe Kim Jong-Il spilled liquor everywhere?).
The “dear leader” of North Korea is so crafty, he gets his away around sanctions – at least when it comes to his personal goodies (caviar, Cognac, and good ol’ DVDs from the West ). However the already-impoverished population of the state suffer terribly under these same sanctions.
So, what to do? Well, it seems the US has already ruled out invading the DPRK, according to special envoy Stephen Bosworth. (It would appear the US has got its hands tied in invasions elsewhere.)
To further complicate things, current leader Kim Jong-Il seems to ready to pass the torch (and keys to the nuclear weapons stockpile, one would presume) to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un. Not surprisingly, no one really knows too much about this guy, other than his adoration of Michael Jordan when he was in boarding school. (Cutting off supplies of re-run Chicago Bulls games to North Korea could be the next sanction)
In response, the eldest son of Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-nam, has appeared on Japanese television saying he’s apathetic when is comes to politics. Sure.
Right now, Mark Thompson wrote for Time that there could be a new Korean War (or a resumption of the old one, as the case may be) as a result of all this, and particularly because on May 27 the DPRK removed itself from the armistice signed in June of 1953, and no longer guaranteeing the safety of ships sailing off its west coast.
Basically, North Korea is all kinds of crazy right now.
What’s the solution, guys and gals?
Spring has finally sprung.
This weekend, North Korea sprung a long-range rocket into the air, and in response President Obama and the press sprung into action!
When we at USDemocrazy first saw this news we’ll admit: we were concerned. (Hey, it’s not everyday that a rogue state launches a missile!) However, within a few hours, we got the real story.
Apparently, North Korea’s big shot into the sky was a little disappointing (which we read here).
In fact, we weren’t the only ones who were a little iffy on the news; “North Korea missile test” gets over 18,000 news hits on Google, showing that pretty much everyone who works at a newspaper, radio station, website, blog, et cetera, wanted to figure out what on earth those unpredictable North Koreans were doing.
Our jitters were calmed after reading Joseph Cirincione’s commentary. He thinks we all need to just chill out. He very kindly sets out three very specific objectives that the North Koreans need to achieve in order to make a successful missile (Wait! Let’s hope they don’t read CNN.com!).
Naturally, there’s been a lot of criticism and talk from the international community, especially from President Obama, addressing the loose cannon that is North Korea (pun semi-intended).
An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was called, but not much happened there. Why?!? you might ask… Well, let’s not forget that Russia and China sit on the Security Council. Those two feel less threatened by cranky rogue North Korea… They just want everyone to relax and sort this test out with level heads. Therefore, there’s been no official Security Council action on the matter.
As we know, President Obama is out galavanting around Europe, making important decisions and stuff… so everyone wanted to know what he thought about the subject.
This he made clear: He will not tread lightly on this subject. Even as the world overreacts, Obama plans to take charge and lay out a plan for dealing with nuclear proliferation.
One thing is clear, North Korea is not going away. (Thank you, thank you, it took us all day to come up with that conclusion!) The debate on what to do about the North Korea and their nuclear ambitions has re-emerged as a center stage news item.
Is the international community overreacting to the news of the missile test? Or are we not panicking enough? What are your thoughts?
