The best bet for 'regime change' in North Korea.
The most dangerous failure of U.S. policy these days is in North
Korea. President Bush has been startlingly passive as North Korea has
begun churning out nuclear weapons like hotcakes. This is a regime that
is not just menacing, but monstrous. In fairness, Bush is paralyzed only
because the alternatives are dreadful. A military strike on North
Korea's nuclear sites might have been an option in the early 1990s,
but today we don't know where the plutonium and the uranium are
kept, so a military strike might accomplish little--but trigger a new
Korean war. The other option is the path that Richard Nixon pursued with
Maoist China: resolute engagement, leading toward a new "grand
bargain" in which Kim Jong Il would give up his nuclear program in
exchange for political and economic ties with the international
community. This has the advantage that the best bet to bring down Kim,
the Dear Leader, isn't isolation, but contacts with the outside
world.
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