This entry was posted on
Tuesday, October 10th, 2006 at
9:34 am and is filed
under It’s War! It’s Legal! It’s Lovely!.
Guardian – The moment North Korea became a nuclear player
BBC – North Korea ‘nuclear test’ condemned
BBC – North Korea ‘facing tough measures’
Rupert Cornwell – America is stretched in the war on terror, and its options over Pyongyang are limited
Slate.com – Bloggers on North Korea’s test
Thomas Sutcliffe – Has North Korea made the world a safer place?: The North Korean action had been “irresponsible”, said Tony Blair, but obviously didn’t have the space to explain the “responsible” nature of deciding to replace our own Trident missile system without a Parliamentary vote. The Indian government announced that the test highlighted “the dangers of clandestine proliferation”, impressively unabashed by its own history of clandestine weapons acquisition. And Washington announced that it was a “test for the UN”, without mentioning the fact that its own steady undermining of the institution had effectively guaranteed that the UN won’t be able to pass it… It is – from pretty much any perspective – very bad news, but it is worth remembering (as the moral bluster continues from China and Britain and the United States) that it has its origin not in a repudiation of our values but an imitation of them.
Tom Plesch – North Korea’s nuclear policy is not irrational at all: North Korea’s nuclear test is only the latest failure of the west’s proliferation policy. And it demonstrates the need to return to the proven methods of multilateral disarmament. Far from being crazy, the North Korean policy is quite rational. Faced with a US government that believes the communist regime should be removed from the map, the North Koreans pressed ahead with building a deterrent. George Bush stopped the oil supplies to North Korea that had been part of a framework to end its nuclear programme previously agreed with Bill Clinton. Bush had already threatened pre-emptive war – Iraq-style – against a regime he dubbed as belonging to the axis of evil. The background to North Korea’s test is that, since the end of the cold war, the nuclear states have tried to impose a double standard, hanging on to nuclear weapons for themselves and their friends while denying them to others.
The Independent carries a powerful front page today, but Iran’s lonely stance in support of North Korea reminded me of a previous front page relating to the recent Israel/Lebanon conflict. If you’ve yet to grasp what that cost us, this may help you to understand:
