ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist&reg;.com: Duke's Damage Control</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style1 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } .style2 { text-align: left; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="116" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="24" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="465" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="18" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="283" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr height="26"> <td width="624" height="26" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong>HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#149; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#149; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#149; <a href="teflon.html">THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#149; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com">REACTIONS</a> &#149; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="1"> <td width="116" height="2574" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="489" height="1" colspan="3"></td> <td width="18" height="2574" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> <tr height="2573"> <td width="489" height="2573" colspan="3" align="left" xpos="116" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="5"><b> <br /> Kim Jong-Il&#39;s Prank</b></font><p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b>by John M. Curtis<br> (310) 204-8700</b><br> </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright April 4, 2009<br> All Rights Reserved.</i></font></p> <p><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span class="style1">T</span>hreatening the launch a satellite into orbit, reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il keeps the West on its toes, defying U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, condemning North Korea s 1996 nuclear test.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>U.S. North Korea representative Stephen Bosworth hoped the long-range missile test wouldn t take place, prompting a series of defensive countermeasures by the U.S. and South Korea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Despite the demilitarized zone above the 38th parallel that marked the end to the Korean War [June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">, o</span>ver 36,000 U.S. soldiers lost their lives battling North Korean and Chinese forces. Neither side claimed victory, with the North Koreans emboldened by the formidable military standoff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Kim Jong-Il s father Kim Il-Sung battled and eventually evicted the Japanese from the Korean Peninsula with help from Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>When Kim Jong-Il defied the West, fired up his Yongbyon heavy water nuclear reactor, enriched weapons grade plutonium, built a crude atomic bomb and detonated the device Oct. 9, 1996, the world was dumbfounded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>South Koreans quaked in the their boots, worried that its fiery neighbor would attack industrious South Korea, ranked as the world s 14th largest economy, just behind Mexico and Australia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Kim s North Korea ranks 89th, close behind Yemen and Uzbekistan. Despite intense diplomacy to get Kim to stop his nuclear program, he views atomic weapons as a means of blackmailing the West, certainly South Korea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>North Korea has already sold Iran long-range missile technology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If Kim acquires atomic bombs, there s no limit to whom he d make them available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bosworth hoped North Korea s latest threat would reopen six-party talks involving Russia and China.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Despite suffering fuel and food shortages, North Korea boasts the world s 4th ranked military, attesting to Kim s priorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While the demilitarized zone with 30,000 U.S. troops has kept the peace for 56 years, Kim threatens military action against the South.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Multinational six-party talks have attempted to reason with Kim, knowing the consequences of war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> We would hope, and believe strongly, that everyone has a long-term interest regardless his short-term problem, in getting back to the negotiations in the six-party process as expeditiously as possible. . .  said Bosworth, hoping to discourage Kim from a new missile launch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Former Bush administration U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said the U.S. should weight military action if North Korea s missile hits Japan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bolton, now a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, is a well-known hawk.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Whether or not North Korea fires a missile, regardless of where it lands, the U.S. has no business contemplating military action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Only an unprovoked attack on South Korea should warrant any discussion of a U.S. response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Mired in Iraq in Afghanistan, the U.S. can ill-afford another military adventure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> But if there is a real possibility of landing in Japan or in any populated area, the we would have to look at it very carefully, Bolton told the AFP news service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bolton strongly supported former President George W. Bush s Iraq War, believing the U.N. was a toothless organization with little clout around the globe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush s Iraq War cost over 4,200 U.S. lives and nearly $1 trillion to the U.S. treasury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Opening up another front, especially in Asia, would almost certainly stretch the U.S. armed services to the breaking point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Japan must deal with its own threats to national security.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Rumors of Kim s ill-health could cause North Korea to press ahead with another rocket test to keep the West at bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When Bush named Iraq, Iran and North Korea the Axis of Evil Feb. 1, 2002, he gave justification for the Iraq war, a little over a year later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Over six years into the Iraq War, President Barack Obama finally announced an exit strategy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Opening up a new front in North Korea would be blatantly unwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I don t expect much out of this administration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It doesn t seem to have any plans beyond going to the U.N. Security Council, noted Bolton, proud of Bush s stand taken in Iraq.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Bolton and other Bush White House officials dismissed out of hand the reports of U.N. Chief Weapons Inspector Dr. Hans Blix that Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction and presented no threat to the U.S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bolton calls any U.N. involvement surrendering U.S. national security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> </p> <p class="style2"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Obama just finished his first summit at the G-20 in London, emphasizing his multilateral approach to diplomacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Since Sept. 11, Bush never trusted U.N. diplomacy preferring to go it alone in what became known as  cowboy diplomacy, once known a  gunboat diplomacy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Shooting first and asking questions later doesn t work for a wounded superpower, hobbled by a trillion-dollar Iraq war and an unending battle in Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Whether or not Kim fires his new missile, the U.S. can t afford more military adventurism at a time of record deficits and military fatigue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Forming a bond with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao, Obama paved the way for more effective multilateralism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Both men welcomed the end to a unilateral U.S. foreign policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Multilateral diplomacy is the only viable approach left to manage North Korea.</p> <p>&nbsp;<u><b>About the Author</b></u></p> <p><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He&#39;s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet </a>and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a>.<u><br> </p> <p></p> </td> <td width="1" height="2573"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2573"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="116" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="116" height="1"></td> <td width="24" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="24" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="283" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="283" height="1"></td> <td width="18" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="18" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong>Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com">Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">&copy;1999-2002 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>