soapboxdiner

Merry F'ing Christmas

As you probably know, no great political mind have I. This is okay by me, as I've always believed and lived on another path. Knowing the correct terminology for the things governments do doesn't afford you any additional insight into what the actions the government takes, per se. It isn't the ability to name all 50 Presidents. I've always considered the study of human nature - albeit in my own case this has been highly unscientific - to be equally sufficient. So, with this philosophy in mind, won't you journey with me through the mind of the President of the United States and his Defense Secretary?

WASHINGTON (Dec. 24) - The United States could make war against North Korea even during a conflict with Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said. But he said diplomacy, not the threat of military action, guides the Bush administration's efforts to contain Pyongyang's resurgent nuclear ambitions.

Okay, did you get that? Rumsfeld says we're going to be diplomatic with North Korea. Keep that in the back of your head, as I will, won't you?

The Bush administration demanded on Monday that North Korea halt plans to restart a dormant nuclear reactor that was critical to that country's nuclear weapons program.

Nonverbal Bushism: Demanding an action from another nation = being dipluh matic.

It pressed the communist government in Pyongyang to restore U.N. surveillance gear that it dismantled at a nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and not to restart the facility.

North Korea said the reactor will be used to generate electricity.

Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news conference that North Korea should not take the current focus on Iraq as tacit approval to go forward with its weapons programs.

What is this? Energy? The N. Koreans want energy? Have they mentioned this to us before? Oh, and who exactly is the one indicating hostility in this situation?

``We are capable of fighting two major regional conflicts,'' Rumsfeld said. ``We're capable of winning decisively in one and swiftly defeating in the case of the other, and let there be no doubt about it.''

Rumsfeld said no military action was imminent to halt Pyongyang's nuclear efforts, and White House officials said the United States intends to pursue a diplomatic course to persuade North Korea to abandon efforts to expand its nuclear arsenal.

Discussions on the North Korean question are under way with China, Russia and other countries, the State Department said.

North Korea has said it needs the power the reactor would produce, but officials said the reactor would provide negligible electricity to the country's grid. Instead, U.S. officials accused Pyongyang of planning to restart the facility to support weapons programs.

Who are these "officials"? I'll bet you a penny it isn't North Korea.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, a U.N. monitoring agency, said Pyongyang unsealed a storage chamber at Yongbyon this weekend that holds 8,000 irradiated fuel rods. Plutonium in the rods could yield four or five nuclear weapons within months, experts say.

A senior administration official said the United States does not believe the North Koreans have opened the canisters containing the fuel rods.

North Korea said Monday the nuclear issue could be settled if Washington were to sign a nonaggression treaty.

Are these the words of a nation whose intent it is to be an aggressor, or are these the words of a nation who primarily wish to enter into a diplomatic dialogue? I don't know, but I'm sensing North Korea is fearful of the US and are taking steps to protect themselves. Why would they need to do this, one might ask?

But the United States, angry because North Korea resumed its nuclear efforts despite a 1994 agreement to abandon it, sees little reason to negotiate.

``We will not give in to blackmail,'' State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said Monday. ``We're not going to bargain or offer inducements for North Korea to live up to the treaties and agreements that it has signed.''

Could it be that the US lightly tossed off their claim of wanting diplomacy first? It seems to me that the US may be just a little belligerent. Refusing to sign a nonagression treaty is not the way I would go about being diplomatic. That could just be me though.

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., a senior Armed Services Committee member, said he is seeking visas to lead a congressional delegation to the North Korean capital for talks. ``When you don't have dialogue, that is when the problems develop, and that's my concern with North Korea,'' Weldon said.

Asked whether the U.S. military has drawn up plans to make war on North Korea, Rumsfeld said, ``One of the assignments of the department is to prepare for a whole host of contingencies. We tend not to get into details as to what those contingencies might be.''

Hmm. Sounds a bit like the conversation had with an illicit drug user when they're found in possession of a burned spoon, some rubber hosing and a syringe. "I don't know what that stuff is, Mr. Policeman."

The Clinton administration considered bombing the Yongbyon site in 1994 before North Korea agreed to shut it down. Under the 1994 agreement, North Korea pledged to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons program in exchange for international aid to build two power-producing nuclear reactors.

Supposed to have been completed by 2003, the light-water reactors are far behind schedule.

Oh, North Korea is back on the "we'll use it for power" kick. I wonder if they would like, oh I don't know. A power source, maybe?

``The situation today is somewhat different from then,'' Rumsfeld said, without elaborating.

Relations between the countries have deteriorated rapidly since President Bush took office. Shortly afterward, Bush suspended contacts between the governments and ordered a full review of relations. In his 2001 State of the Union address, he placed North Korea in an ``axis of evil'' with Iran and Iraq.

I'm starting to question Bush's ability to be diplomatic. I may not be the world's foremost authority on the matter, but it would seem to me that even I know that in order to be diplomatic, you need to have contact. Pity Bush doesn't know that. And would I be premature in my wonderings if I called him paranoid? Reviewing our relations and all? Is he looking for a reason to hate?

Rumsfeld rejected the notion that Bush administration statements had forced North Korea to renew its nuclear efforts, saying the United States now believes Pyongyang has had a clandestine nuclear program for years.

``Do you think the idea that it's the rhetoric from the United States that's causing them to starve their people or to do these idiotic things or try to build a nuclear power plant?'' he asked.

Let us review human nature here. US: Cease aid in building a power supply. Cease communication. Review relations. Label them a part of the "Axis of Evil" and then call their actions idiotic.

Do I think the rhetoric of the US affects the actions North Korea takes? Well, I guess that my answer would have to be yes, based on the fact that we are engaging in this article and entry, and the situation prompting it.

What are ya, stoopid?

But let us remember, Bush says he wants to be dipluh matic.

Rumsfeld also accused North Korea of operating concentration camps. Human rights groups say the camps hold political prisoners.

May I refer the reader to MG's coverage of recent INS imprisonments found here, here and here. But dammit, we're against political imprisonment!

U.S. intelligence officials believe North Korea made one or two nuclear weapons in the 1990s with plutonium. They also are concerned that Kim's government could provide nuclear materials and expertise to other nations unfriendly to the United States.

Nuclear weapons also can be made with enriched uranium, and on Oct. 4, North Korea admitted to American diplomats having a program to enrich uranium to weapons grade.

In response, Bush halted oil shipments the United States had provided the energy-poor country under the Clinton-era agreement. The North Koreans then said they would restart nuclear energy facilities shut down as part of the pact.

Fuck all, you crazy sonofabitch. If you can't see that North Korea's reactions are 100% equal and opposite to your own g'damned instigating actions, you're blind as well as stoopid. STOP THE WAR MONGERING!

6:28 am - 12.24.02
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