Meanwhile, In The Real World

While the US political scene is taken up by strident political internecine warfare, vituperative charges and counter-charges and bumbling politicians, the rest of the world looks at how we conduct ourselves. Our allies become frightened and our enemies become emboldened.

North Korea announced it will perform a test of a nuclear weapon.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said that the U.S. would bring up North Korea's statement for discussion Tuesday morning in a regular meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

"A nuclear test by North Korea would be extraordinarily serious," Bolton said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The threat is serious enough that we're certainly going to take this action in the council this morning, by raising it."

Using the acronym for the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's Foreign Ministry said in the official English translation of its statement that: "The DPRK will in the future conduct a nuclear test under the condition where safety is firmly guaranteed."

The statement gave no precise date of when a test might occur.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso called the purported nuclear test plan a threat to peace, and said a nuclear test would have graver implications than North Korean missile tests in July. Aso called the North's self-described plan "totally unforgivable," and said Japan would react "sternly" if the North conducted a nuclear test, according to Kyodo News agency.

China, North Korea's neighbor, ally and chief benefactor, had no immediate comment. The North Korean announcement appeared to have caught Chinese officialdom off-guard, coming in the midst of a weeklong National Day holiday.

Pyongyang has said it has nuclear weapons, but is not known to have conducted any test to prove its claim. It has not mentioned a nuclear test in previous public statements.

"The U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure compel the DPRK to conduct a nuclear test, an essential process for bolstering nuclear deterrent, as a corresponding measure for defense," said the statement, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The North's "nuclear weapons will serve as reliable war deterrent for protecting the supreme interests of the state and the security of the Korean nation from the U.S. threat of aggression and averting a new war and firmly safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean peninsula under any circumstances," the statement said.

Now an Asian nuclear arms race will likely be developing to join the one that will be occurring in the Middle East soon as Iran advances. The path to a war is suddenly very short and very straight.

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  By Former Republican, Tuesday, 3 October , 2006 @ 2:07 pm

  You are probably right about an arms race. Here’s a thought for you: China wants, actually wants, Japan to go nuclear. It wouldn’t take very long. Japan has very carefully made sure it has all technical capabilities necessary. Once Japan has nukes, it no longer needs the US alliance. It may want the alliance, but it doesn’t *need* it. From China’s point of view, this puts Japan in play. Down the road, a Japan-China alliance against the US becomes possible. I’m not saying this will happen anytime soon. I’m suggesting the Chinese are long-headed enough to want to create a situation where it might happen. And that they aren’t paranoid enought to worry about the Koreans or Japanese attacking them with nukes.

  Note that based on China’s actual actions (and inaction) it’s not worried about North Korea having nukes.

Other Links to this Post

1. The Jawa Report — Tuesday, 3 October , 2006 @ 9:52 am