On Mon, 10 Mar 2003 06:58:53 -0800 (PST) andie nachgeborenen
<andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com> writes:
> Nathan wrote:
>
> ignoring the
> > real nuclear threat from
> > Stalinist North Korea.
>
> Threat? What threat? The possibility that NK might get
> the bomb? That's a threat? France has the bonb. Should
> we worry about the French threat? This way of talking,
> nathan, suggests that NK nuclear weapons might be used
> to attack the US. Or indeed, SK. But Kim Jong Il is
> not insane. He wants the bomb for the samne reason
> everyone but the US wants it -- to deter the US.
> That's not a "threat" that might be appropriately met
> with military force. Or are you in favor of liberating
> NK from its admittedly loathesome dictatorship by
> military force, justa s soon as we get done with Iraq
> and Iran?
>
> Personally, I am starting to think that nuclear
> proliferation might not be such a bad thing after all
> in the era of the Shrub/Rummy/Rice Doctrine (We're
> gonna stay No. 1 by force, but not to worry because
> we're "special.") "First we got the bomb and that was
> good/Cause we love peace and motherhood/Then Russia
> got the bomb but that's OK/The balnce of power is
> preserved that way/Who's next?" (Tom Lehrer for you,
> Catherine)
Arguably, the acquisition of nuclear weapons is now virtually mandatory for any smaller country that wishes to hang on to even a modicum of sovereignty, in today's world. The fact that the Bush Administration is, at least officially, taking the line that the Korean crisis is to be resolved by means of diplomacy rather than by war, is indicative of the wisdom of Kim Jong Il's current policies in regards to nukes. Poor Saddam, on the other hand, gets little from the Bush Administration but the crudest threats, regardless of how cooperative he becomes with the UN inspectors. The difference in the US responses to Iraq and North Korea is so blatantly obvious, that the take home lesson can hardly be lost on even the stupidest political leaders in the Third World. And it is noteworthy that during the cold war, nor afterwards, neither the UK nor France ever saw fit to give up their independent nuclear deterrents. Both countries obviously realized, that the independent possession of nuclear weapons, has over the years, helped them to maintain a certain weight in world affairs that they probably wouldn't otherwise have.
Jim F.
>
> jks
>
>
>
>
> >
> > Those who argue that it is irrelevent whether the
> > WWP are defenders of
> > Saddam Hussein's regime and defenders of North
> > Korea's government are
> > ignoring reality. The war on Iraq is not isolated
> > from other issues. The
> > WWP and ANSWER connects them to broader issues all
> > the time. But when
> > others connect it to North Korea and note the WWP's
> > horrendous politics
> > around that country, suddenly the only issue is
> > Iraq.
> >
> > As some people have noted, back during Vietnam,
> > there were those who tried
> > to build a broad-based but narrow movement around
> > opposition to the Vietnam
> > War, excluding almost every other issue possible to
> > maximize unity.
> >
> > But that's not the WWP's strategy. They connect
> > Afghanistan, Iraq,
> > anti-racism in the US, the Palestinian cause, Mumia
> > and every cause they
> > care about into one package. Having done so, they
> > can't then say-- our
> > critics are talking about something other than Iraq.
> > Our critics are being
> > divisive.
> >
> > It's all ridiculous rhetoric. It evades the reality
> > of the WWP's horrendous
> > support for Chinese fascism and North Korean, well
> > I'm not sure what to call
> > it since Stalinism would be a compliment to that
> > regime.
> >
> > It's not "redbaiting", since both Chuck and I
> > support coalitions like United
> > for Peace and Justice that are loaded with "reds" in
> > their leadership. It's
> > like the defenders of Estrada saying that those
> > attacking him are "racist."
> > It demeans the term.
> >
> > -- Nathan newman
> >
>
>
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