Monday, October 09, 2006
Did North Korea blow a nuke or just blow it?
The details are coming in and it looks like the North Korean nuclear test was a fizzle.
A successful nuclear test would be expected to have the same force as between 10 and 60 kilotons of high explosives. This one may have been less than one kiloton.This does not mean that they don't have the materials to try again not can we expect them to not learn from their mistakes. What it does mean is that there is time to create a complete and effective diplomatic effort to put a lid on the North Korean problem. When The Original Dear Leader on Pyongyang pisses of his best friends, China & Russia, the window is there for something more than the usual Bushovik bluff and bluster, which TODL just called.
The Bush administration on Monday proposed an arms embargo and a series of legally binding U.N. financial and trade sanctions to punish North Korea for apparently detonating a nuclear device, and it called for international inspections of all trade coming into and out of the secretive country to enforce them....Any multinational response will have to include Russia and China. The only other workable option is bi-lateral talks between the US and NK. Sadly, Our Dear Embattled Leader thinks that two way talks are a sign of weakness and the Cheneyites would rather start a war (mm-m-m War!) than talk to a bunch of garlic eaters. And so we are stuck with a useless Bushovik foreign fantasy (can't call it a policy) that, like some childs toy with new batteries, keeps running around the room bouncing off walls and obstacles with no logical pattern.
....Britain and France voiced support for sanctions on North Korea, but stopped short of endorsing the U.S.-backed proposal. China, meanwhile, cautioned that the 15-nation body pursue only diplomatic means to persuade North Korea to halt its nuclear activities.
China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, said Beijing is opposed to the North Korean test and that it is ready to discuss "how the Security Council could react firmly, constructively and prudently with regard to this challenge."
But he declined to say whether Beijing would support a sanctions resolution. "I think we have to react firmly, but also I believe that, on the other hand, that the door to solve this issue from diplomatic point of view is still open."
Russia's initial reaction was somewhat ambiguous. While Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, condemned North Korea for conducting the test, he stopped short of calling for sanctions, saying only that North Korea would "face a very serious attitude" within the council.
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