How long until Bush’s utterly ludicrous “cowboy diplomacy” results in some real casualties? Bad enough that we’re still averaging one or two soldiers a day being killed in Iraq, but now it looks like North Korea is about ready to start testing nuclear weapons.
…officials in Washington told CNN that North Korea was preparing to publicly declare itself a nuclear power and had threatened to prove its capabilities by conducting a nuclear test.
What would it take to stop this? According to North Korea, not much at all.
The package of solutions includes the U.S. signing of a non-aggression treaty with the DPRK (North Korea), the establishment of diplomatic relations with the DPRK, the guarantee of DPRK-Japan and inter-Korean economic cooperation, the completion of light-water reactors,\” Xinhua said in a dispatch from Pyongyang.
“In return, the DPRK will not manufacture nuclear weapons and allow in inspection, realise the ultimate dismantlement of nuclear facilities and stop the export and experiment of missiles,” it said.
The US, however, continues to treat North Korea as if it were a snotty nosed kid on the playground making empty threats.
…the White House tried to play down the North’s warnings saying it was getting “excellent” cooperation from its partners in the talks and that North Korea has a “history of making inflammatory comments that serve to isolate it from the world.”
The question from the U.S. administration standpoint, the official said, is “whether this is a serious and irreversible statement or part of their past pattern of starting every conversation by being threatening to see if it wins them something.”
At this rate, we’ll be seeing mushroom clouds again before we know it. If we’re lucky, they’ll be confined to test sites — if we’re unlucky Bush’s steadfast and stubborn intransigence just may score a body count the US hasn’t been party to in decades.
(via Daily Kos)