Update re: North Korea

Story here from April 3rd. Snip below.

The US Government has announced that it will release $95m to North Korea as part of an agreement to replace the Stalinist country's own nuclear programme, which the US suspected was being misused.

Under the 1994 Agreed Framework an international consortium is building two proliferation-proof nuclear reactors and providing fuel oil for North Korea while the reactors are being built.

In releasing the funding, President George W Bush waived the Framework's requirement that North Korea allow inspectors to ensure it has not hidden away any weapons-grade plutonium from the original reactors.

President Bush argued that the decision was "vital to the national security interests of the United States".


Okay, what's wrong with this picture?

How about the term "Axis of Evil," of which North Korea is a part, was used in Bush's State of the Union speech in January, which also carried these words.

We will work closely with our coalition to deny terrorists and their state sponsors the materials, technology and expertise to make and deliver weapons of mass destruction. We will develop and deploy effective missile defenses to protect America and our allies from sudden attack. And all nations should know: America will do what is necessary to ensure our nation's security.

For those unable to "connect the dots," Bush, in the interest of national security, allowed North Korea to squirrel away weapons-grade plutonium.

We are so screwed.

(On Edit: There's a term in politics called "October Surprise," primarily connected with the stories of presidential candidate Ronald Reagan's people meeting with Iranians in the fall of 1980 to secure the release of the American hostages held by Iran. The story goes that the hostages would be kept in Iran until after Reagan got into office, and thereby crippling then-President Jimmy Carter's efforts at election by putting the albatross of the hostages around Carter's neck.

Reagan won and the hostages were freed about the time Reagan took office.

Well, I've been curious about what "surprise" Team Bush would pull in order to keep the GOP in Congressional power. The handwriting on the wall looked like an Iraq invasion before the elections would wipe out the Democrats' chances for more seats in the House and Senate. Maybe there would be a terrorist act and Bush, again, would be seen as a Leader in Crisis...and we have to folow the leader, right?

It turns out North Korea may have screwed Team Bush's big mystery plan. While Bush is spending the rest of the campaign season jetting around the country to GOP rallies, the Stalinist country forced Team Bush to do, you know, actual work with news that North Korea has nuclear bombs. Forget appearing at fund raisers or posing for photo ops, Bush now has to give policy speeches and talk about what to do now. And being impromptu is not this man's strong suit.

So, Team Bush will have to divert its energies (and Bush's attention) to handle this foreign policy dilemma: How to address an "Axis of Evil" member with nukes. Do you talk tough with an opponent that could vaporize a city? And if you don't talk tough, well, how do you explain Iraq, which probably doesn't have any nukes?

Although I could die tomorrow in a nuclear blast, I couldn't be happier with the turn of events.)