First a collection of North Korean “happy thought” posters for their school children. See if you can find the common theme.
A front page story in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) would, in a “normal” world where the United States was universally viewed as a major force in defense of democracy and the major obstacle to rogue governments and evil ideological movements, be a cause for alarm.
But with this country led by what is now a defacto dictator whose true aims are a matter of genuine global concern, doubt, and debate, the threat, as dire as the story suggests, is just another manifestation of what can be, we believe, fairly characterized as this administration’s malevolent intent to eliminate any meaningful or decisive role for the United States in world affairs.
If that seems harsh, perhaps a lefty commenter can explain the motivation behind a foreign policy which has produced one debacle after another and has brought the world to the threshold of catastrophic global conflict. We can expect from him, instead, and those who feed such hard leftists and limited intellects mis- and dis-information, the usual, “it’s all the fault of Bush, Cheney, Halliburton, et al… this is all a distraction from the real issues, vote for Hillary, blah, blah”….
Here’s the story:
“China Warns North Korean Threat Rising”
“The latest Chinese estimates relayed in a closed door meeting with US nuclear specialists, showed that North Korea may already have 20…(nuclear)…warheads. as well as the capability of producing enough…to double its arsenal by next year…”.
And here’s the punchline:
“U.S. officials didn’t attend the meeting but some expressed surprise when they were later briefed on the details, said people familiar with the matter.”
“US officials expressed surprise”!!!!!??? Do you mean Marie Harf wasn’t up to speed on this ???
And here is a truly grim note:
“A well stocked nuclear armory in North Korea ramps up security fears in Japan and South Korea, that could seek their own nuclear weapons in self-defense.
“WASHINGTON HAS MUTUAL DEFENSE TREATIES WITH SEOUL AND TOKYO, WHICH MEAN AN ATTACK ON SOUTH KOREA OR JAPAN IS REGARDED AS AN ATTACK ON THE U.S.” (caps ours)
“Mutual defense treaties”!!!??!! There’s the raw material for a SNL skit. Wait’ll Japan and South Korea check with Ukraine on the value of mutual defense pacts under the Obama administration!
Meanwhile, as the WSJ article points out:
An increase in North Korea’s nuclear arsenal feeds international concern about proliferation from a country that, U.S. officials said, previously exported nuclear technology to Syria and missile components to Iran, Yemen and Egypt.
In Washington, some Republican lawmakers said the pending White House deal with Iran could mirror the 1994 nuclear agreement the Clinton administration made with North Korea.
The deal was intended to halt Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons capabilities, but instead, they allege, provided diplomatic cover to expand them. North Korea tested its first nuclear device in 2006.
“We saw how North Korea was able to game this whole process,” U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Iran had its hands on the same playbook.”
The WSJ story is also analyzed here and here:
DLH
