North Korea has, it seems with forthright honesty, set forth its agenda to develop and have nuclear weapons. Now they have made a test of one of these, and, though perhaps not a complete success, their boldness provokes us and other nations and makes the world less secure.
The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, has made it clear that North Korea’s nuclear aspirations are directly linked to their fear of the militarily aggressive United States. Why would they fear us? After all, they don’t have anything we want, certainly not oil. Even the raw material which could bolster our own stockpile of weapons-of-mass-destruction, uranium ore, is not, to my knowledge, in great abundance in their region of the world.
Perhaps they are afraid of the United States of America because they have heard our leaders refer to them as one of several countries that form an ‘Axis of Evil’. Perhaps they are afraid of the USA because the current sitting president of this once great nation has proclaimed a jihad of democracy around the world. Perhaps North Korea is afraid of us because the United States seems to be subverting, manipulating and finally directing for their own ends the wholly legitimate grievances of other nations (1).
Where should North Korea look for a model of how to comport with the powerful United States? What could establish its influence, what could assure its own security from the foreign aggression of a ‘superpower’?
North Korea seems to be throwing in its lot with the United Nations, even as it defies the organization’s attempts to control its nuclear ambitions. Why not? The United States and Israel behave similarly, as do many other nations that spurn UN resolutions, only to call for their own. North Korea doesn’t want to just be a member of the general assembly. It is posturing to become a member of that exclusive club, the permanent members of the Security Council. The core of the security council of the United Nations is not an elected body. Contrary to the often repeated proclamations from the current US president that the United States believes in a world run by democracy, no permanent member nation on the UN’s Security Counsel believes in democracy. The one belief held in common by all permanent members of the Security Council is that their possession of nuclear weapons assures their privileged veto power over any and all pronouncements of this world body.
Russia, France, China, Britain and the US have the permanent seats on this council – PERMANENT SEATS. How could any nation without nuclear weaponry hope to achieve even a modicum of parity, of equality, for their opinions and beliefs? What choice is there in the undemocratic United Nations ruled by a junta of nations possessing weapons of mass destruction but to acquire these nihilistic weapons for their own nations? After all, the veto is but a metaphor for the fact that nuclear deterrence, once a superpower game, is now being played by just your ordinary, every day nations as well.
North Korea has surely not been blind to the increased stature of India and Pakistan with their acquisition of nuclear weapons. Iran, too, is playing the nuclear card, albeit with a bit more finesse, as they proclaim, and rightfully so, their desire for control over their energy needs. Israel, meanwhile, sits quietly out of the nuclear limelight, but holding that nuclear card, none-the-less.
“Do as I say, not as I do” is not a very cogent example for the world to follow. North Korea sees how the game is played and is playing it, as is Iran. We are distracted by the threat of terrorism even as we fuel the fires of nuclear proliferation.
North Korea’s nuclear ambition is only a symptom of a larger threat, the demise of the United Nations. We have seen the chaos and civil strife caused by our ‘removal’ of a government, even a lousy government, for the people of Iraq. What will happen when the United Nations, even a lousy United Nations, dies, in part, from our neglect and failure to institute democratic forms for this world government?
If we, as a democracy, do not promote equality for all nations, rich and poor, how can we expect North Korea, or any other nation, not to pursue nuclear weapons?
It is the right of a people to alter or abolish any form of government that becomes destructive of the self evident truths that all men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Alter the UN, make it a truly democratic government, or face the fact that the people of the world will abolish it, and god (any and all gods) help us if that happens.
References:
(1) The last sentence in this paragraph is a paraphrase from Robert S. McNamara, ironically, spoken in reference to the communist ambitions of the Soviet Union and China. (Robert S. McNamara: The Essence of Security. Reflections in Office: Haper and Row. 1968),
Various news reports on the nuclear test by N. Korea in media from 10/9 and 10/10/06
The United States Declaration of Independence
10/10/06 in Cincinnati, OH (version as of 10/12/06 at 10:12 am)
Word count: 898
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