The news story:
North Korea fired a long-range rocket on Sunday, provoking international outrage and prompting the U.N. Security Council to call an emergency meeting.
The reclusive communist state said a satellite was launched into orbit and circled the earth transmitting revolutionary songs. But both the U.S. military and South Korea said it had failed to enter orbit.
Analysts say the launch was effectively a test of a ballistic missile designed to carry a warhead potentially as far as Alaska.
It was the first big challenge for U.S. President Barack Obama in dealing with the North, whose efforts to build a nuclear arsenal have long plagued ties with Washington.
“With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations,” Obama said, speaking on a European tour.
Which statement from our President is the merest boilerplate – now comes the question: what do we do?
The UN will be perfectly useless – even if an appearance of strength is immediately issued, we know that it will eventually fall flat on the fact that China is not interested in curbing North Korea because a rampaging North Korea serves China’s interests vis a vis the United States and Japan. The international community, outside of UN action, will be heavy with denunciations the light on action. At the end of the day, any real action will have to be American action of a unilateral nature.
Does it serve our best interest to make a big deal out of this? Is rote condemnation sufficient for the moment and now we can move off to other things? If North Korea is permitted to get away with this, will this just be the first step in making missiles capable of hitting all of the United States, thus opening us up to nuclear blackmail?
Discuss.
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