North Korea conducts fifth and largest nuclear test | Reuters
Reuters reports: "North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test on Friday, setting off a
blast that was more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and
said it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic
missile.
Its most powerful explosion to date follows a test in January that
prompted the U.N. Security Council to impose tightened sanctions that
increased North Korea's isolation but failed to prevent it from
accelerating weapons development."
Comment: It's time for the Security Council to once again open the box of Strong Words of Condemnation and hurl them at North Korea. It's clear that once they find the right mix of words the North will be stopped in their tracks and all will be well.
4 comments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mSd5t2n3ck
Brandon, glad you picked up on that. You know, the news can be so grim, sometimes you just have to laugh at the absurdity of it all. And there's nothing more absurd in world affairs right now than the situation with North Korea. I had a good laugh today when I read that the Secretary General of the UN said he condemned the North Korean test in the strongest possible terms. He didn't say exactly what those terms were though. I guess he left that to our imagination.
Exactly! We should have dealt with this regime long ago. Over the top rhetoric and saber rattling is one thing, but reckless displays power are another. The longer this goes on and the more we let them get away with, the harder it's going to be to deal with...and at some point we're going to have to deal with it.
Very true. Isn't it amazing that for countries, like individuals, it's often tempting to ignore problems and hope they go away. The U.S. and the West have rationalized the situation, told themselves that they are taking action (the sanctions) and patting themselves on the back for trying, even as they know that North Korea is one of the few countries on Earth where sanctions don't work. They set their policy on autopilot and let it go. Sanctions is the policy, for Obama, for Bush, for Clinton, in short, for decades, sanctions have been the policy. It's clearly not working. I'm not saying I blame them, mostly because China makes this almost impossible. China doesn't want to see the North collapse and for the South to take over. Having a unified Korea as an American ally is their worst nightmare. So China simply stalls. They only act to prop up the North to avoid the humanitarian disaster a regime collapse would be. China does not want a flood of refugees invading China. So, the state of play is fixed, even as the North continues to make slow and steady progress with their nuclear weapons. It's a good example of a case where there are no good options and yet, clearly, they will eventually have to do something about it.
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