Kim Cheats In North Korea
North Korea tested a nuclear device on Sunday to the condemnation of the entire world.
I haven't done extensive cultural studies of North Korea. They have isolated themselves from the rest of the world however, there are lots of indications that they've actually wanted to engage the world for a while.
In fact, some have proposed that their dangerous escalation of the conflict has a lot to do with them trying to get the US to come to the negotiating table. There have been 6 party talks involving China, Russia, South Korea, Japan and England ... but no US.
Why? As Donald Gregg writes in this blog on Washington Post, apparently the Bush administration policy is to only engage in diplomacy with the good guys. Whenever you exclude a party from the table, blowing something up (either literally or figuratively) seems to come with the territory.
The question now is, what do we do now that North Korea has just leveled the playing field? Will sanctions work? Will Iran be emboldened?
I haven't done extensive cultural studies of North Korea. They have isolated themselves from the rest of the world however, there are lots of indications that they've actually wanted to engage the world for a while.
In fact, some have proposed that their dangerous escalation of the conflict has a lot to do with them trying to get the US to come to the negotiating table. There have been 6 party talks involving China, Russia, South Korea, Japan and England ... but no US.
Why? As Donald Gregg writes in this blog on Washington Post, apparently the Bush administration policy is to only engage in diplomacy with the good guys. Whenever you exclude a party from the table, blowing something up (either literally or figuratively) seems to come with the territory.
The question now is, what do we do now that North Korea has just leveled the playing field? Will sanctions work? Will Iran be emboldened?
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