Russia & China: A Confederacy of Dunces
So apparently the North Koreans have nuclear capabilities now. When this originally happened, I originally thought to myself "Man, here's a great opportunity for the rest of the world to step up and whomp ass in the name of all that is good and righteous."
Then, I read this article on BBC.com, where Russia and China not only reject any meaningful resolution in the U.N., but actually urge the world community not to "give way to emotions," and to avoid creating "extreme sanctions." Apparently they think they have the moral high ground on us, after they were the ones who carted off everything of value in East Germany, setting themselves up for a nice capitalist enema later on in the Cold War. And we've always known the Russians to have ice running through their veins anyways, right?
As soon as this supposed nuclear test went off, I thought to myself, all right, Kim Jong-il has finally done it: he's served up his own head on a silver platter. The test, scary as it is indeed, gave the world the perfect excuse to go in there and get the little prick, once and for all. Obviously, the U.S. is too overstretched and militarily retarded to do it, but man, wouldn't it be nice if South Korea, Russia, and China said to Kim, "All right, that's it -- you're a corpse..."
But no. Instead we get recommendations against any sanctions that Russia and China deem to be too "extreme." Are you kidding me? This asshole just proved that he has acheived what sanctions and diplomacy have sought to prevent him from doing for the past FIVE DECADES. The most devastating weapon known to man is now very likely in the hands of a regime that embodies the essence of terrorism. I'm not talking Axis of Evil or any of that bullshit here. Japan gets the idea. They cut off all trade to North Korea, and put a travel ban in place. But the Russians and Chinese want to maintain the status quo. So Kim can carry out more tests, and ultimately produce something deliverable.
What this ultimately leads me to question is this: what do Russia and China have to gain by supporting North Korea? It doesn't export anything. It's a command economy, so clearly it's no one's market. It doesn't have some special status among world nations like the contemptable Swiss. Why are they so concerned that we don't smack up North Korea? If they're against military action, that's one thing, but they are cautioning against overly extreme SANCTIONS? What do they have to lose? Something's fishy over there in the ex-communist camp. I'm not sure what it is, but I don't buy that Russia and China genuinely are concerned about not putting on "extreme" sanctions.
posted by House @ 2:43 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
House,
Its actually very interesting to see that you were blogging about this. I recently listened to a podcast from PRI on the subject. I highly recommend you check it out:
http://www.radioopensource.org/korea-the-politics-of-the-peninsula/
I think it will address a lot of the things that you mentioned. I hope that your comments are still in reference to the July 4 tests (that I havent missed any more recent). These were by and large a complete failure in relation to where the North Koreans hoped to be technologically at this point and more than anything proved that their weapons program is still fledgling. Especially damning given how much emphasis/pride KJI has put into the program.
In reference to the policy of other countries...its an interesting question, to me. Consider some information from that page, particularly that over the past 10 yrs, 10% of the N.Korean population has starved to death. The regime is bankrupt. The average N. Korean 5yr old is 10cm shorter and 25 lbs lighter than his/her counterpart in the South. If there are further embargo's are we forcing KJI out of power by starving his 'innocent' populace? Given the recent genocides that we, as a world community, have stood by, witnessed and allowed to proceed...I would hope that we wouldnt make economic moves that would directly lead to another.
Consider that S. Korea is N. Korea's biggest trade ally and the sentiment among S. Koreans is for a reunification at some point in the future (though perhaps distant). S. Korea had $1 billion in trade with N. Korea...but while this consisted of 33% of the North's total...it was only .4% of the South's. N. Korea is a wounded and dying animal...it is a matter of time, I think that most everyone's fears (especially the countries w/i range of their nukes) are that KJI will lash out while in the last throes of power.
This is mostly stuff from the podcast that I got again from the site. It was quite an eye opener for me. I hope you also find it enjoyable.
-Sean
Here it is snipped in case you cant access the first link:
http://tinyurl.com/yd8an9
>>but I don't buy that Russia and
>>China genuinely are concerned
>>about not putting on "extreme"
>>sanctions.
not "buying" russian and chinese foreign policy (the third and second most powerful countries, respectively) is a big step. kim jongil is a "terrorist" in our eyes, not theirs. they really have no reason to push for sanctions bc they are not under threat of attack under kim. however, their nat'l interests ARE threatened if his regime implodes and there's nuclear material floating around. then what happens in the uighurs or chechens get some of that? ...bye bye moscow and/or beijing, right? that's the worst case scenario for them, bar none, and their protecting their own interests above that of america's (who can blame them, really...).
on the same token, israel is a freind to america, but practically the entire (muslim) world hates israel. your general idea in regards to the 'threats to our nat'l values' etc etc, can be said by some random muslim in malaysia with as much ferocity...probably more.
i'm not happy kim jongil has (pussy) nukes or anything, but he has them, and such a realist perspective is not going to make anyone safer IN THE LONG RUN.
I recognize that instability along their borders is a major concern to Russia and China. I've had quite a few conversations with people about this topic, including one of my old professors who devotes most of his research to the Korean peninsula.
Sean, I do agree that sanctions are not the best thing to do if we want to help the people of North Korea. I'll write you an email later with something more reasoned.
Anonymous person, if the Russians were actually concerned about nukes finding their way into Moscow, maybe they should lock down their 1,000 separate storage facilities for nuclear-weapons-related technologies. And the Uighurs are no threat to Beijing - the Chinese could eradicate all of them at will. Though the goal of non-proliferation is certainly something I left out of my post, I will grant that. Secondly, I'm not really sure where you're going with the Israel reference.
In the end, this situation just makes me that much more irritated about Iraq, even though I supported the war for a long time. At least if we invaded North Korea, we'd have the South Koreans to help us rebuild the government as opposed to... well, no one.
>>Uighurs are no threat to Beijing
form a military standpoint, you are correct. uighurs usually keep to themselves and are marginalized as an 'exotic culture' in modern day chinese culture. however, from a political standpoint, you're absolutely wrong. the uighurs, along with the tibetans, are one of the biggest threats to the ccp's legitimacy. uighurs want to cede to uzbekistan, they want their own religious caliphate, whatever they want, the central govt sees that as wanting independence. the last thing beijing needs is another taiwan to deal with. ever since deng, the ccp hasn't been all that communist to begin with, thereby taking all the legitimacy that came from mao/marxism and threw it to the wind. all hu has is brute force, and when some measely old tibetans or muslims threaten the facade of legitimacy beijing has, that's a no no!
so yes, the population of uighurs as a whole living in their desolate outposts aren't a major threat, but then again, it only takes 4 or 5 renegade, oil-rich uighurs (and there are plenty) to buy some shitty uranium from whoever is in pyongyang and bomb beijing (or, maybe that new disneyland, i heard it sucks!), if we're looking at worse-case scenarios. after all, it only took 19 men led by someone who lives in a cave to get america into this 'war on terror'...
and in regards to russia keeping tabs on their nuclear weapons... clearly they have a problem, but much like public opinion, 'what you don't know can't hurt you,' and henny penny stories about russian nukes ending up in NYC is too scary for most americans to deal with -- so our lovely media doesn't mention it. but i would suspect people who would buy/are buying those weapons have more of an axe to grind with america over russia. that's why there's a "nunn-lugar" act instead of pobedonostsev-solzhenitsyn act; basically, america's fucked and we're (rather pathetically) trying something to do about it!!
and i forgot to mention this earlier, "setting themselves up for a nice capitalist enema later on in the Cold War" is ingenious.
Okay, anonymous, I can see checking back once or twice or even five times to see if there's a response to your comment or not, but 30+ times is certainly excessive, if not creepy and/or sketchy...
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