The Axis of Evil report card isn't looking too good nowadays. Maybe, just maybe, we need a new approach. Instead of threatning regime change at nefarious governments, we should offer non-aggression pacts, and in return they would give up seeking nuclear arsenals.
Libya is very instructional in this matter. In exchange of acknowledging the terrorism it sponsored in the 80s, compensating the families of Libya's violence, and giving up aspirations for WMDs, Libyan leadership was guaranteed that regime change would not happen. Also, normalization of relations were guaranteed in the long term.
The US should stop seeing its messaniac mission in the 21st century as one of regime busters.
UPDATE:
Kaplan writes about the current North Korea dilemma in this month's Atlantic Monthly. The most interesting part:
"One of Kim’s main goals in so aggressively displaying North Korea’s missile capacity is to compel the United States to deal directly with him, thereby making his otherwise weakening state seem stronger. And the stronger Pyongyang appears to be, the better off it is in its crucial dealings with Beijing, which are what really matter to Kim. "
Kim is more worried about China's historical claims to the Korean Pennisula than from an American attack. Interesting thought...
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1 comment:
Interesting; Ho Chi Minh always argued that the Chinese were a far greater threat to Vietnamese independence than either the French or the Americans. I wonder if Kim makes a similar calculus...
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