In the last week, Barack Obama has made three controversial foreign policy statements: that he would not consider using nuclear weapons to strike at terrorists; that if he had “actionable intelligence” about Osama bin Laden’s location and Pakistan refused to act, he would consider striking into Pakistani territory without their permission; and that he would be willing to sit down for high-level diplomatic meetings with Iran, Cuba, and North Korea. Those statements, and the general reaction to them, tell us quite a bit about how the different candidates are trying to position themselves with regards to foreign policy and the war on terror. And frankly the reaction has been pretty disturbing.
Aug 082007
Apr 162007
This idea is so crazy, I’ve been struggling about whether even to post it. But I find it intriguing, even if it’s based on some funky assumptions and logic. So I figured, why not? That’s what leftfielder is for, right? Ideas that come out of left field:
Let Iran have nuclear weapons as a way of stabilizing the Middle East.
The glorious logic of international diplomacy:
1) North Korea imports materials to make a nuclear warhead, violating international law.
2) North Korea builds nuclear warheads.
3) North Korea detonates nuclear warhead.
4) US/UN push nations to inspect cargo entering North Korea for illicit materials.
If searching cargo was going to work (which I doubt it will), shouldn’t we have done that *before* they tested a nuclear bomb?
Oct 092006
Apparently, North Korea tested a nuclear weapon over the weekend. (I’d recommend that you check out the Washington Post’s history of our dispute with North Korea over their nuclear program, if you need a refresher. Good stuff.) And, of course, the United States and the United Nations are scrambling to do something about it. But there are a few things we should all keep in mind.
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The most fascinating thing about the recent North Korean missile tests is how easily we are all frightened. Look at what really happened: North Korea shot a bunch of short-medium range missiles (which seemed to have been successful) and one medium-long range missile (which seemed to fail) into the ocean. No one was harmed in the making of those tests. We knew that North Korea had operational missiles capable of hitting targets in East Asia and the Pacific; they’ve tested them before, in fact. The fact that a bunch of missiles were fired into the ocean didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know. As for the long-range missile, we also knew that they were developing that technology. Because the test failed, we learned that the program wasn’t as developed as we had feared. In other words, from a strict technological and military sense, we can feel safer today than on Monday, because North Korea just gave us some information about the limitations of their missile programs.
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