By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--October 27, 2014
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Director of National Intelligence James Clapper rushed to trivialize the report, saying “it would be inaccurate to suggest the North Korean regime has fully developed and tested the kinds of nuclear weapons referenced in the passage.” Perhaps Mr. Clapper will offer similar reassurances this time, compounding his near-perfect record of intelligence misjudgments. But the important point is that a country with the technological wherewithal to enrich uranium in advanced centrifuges will figure out how to miniaturize the bomb. The technology is nearly 60 years old. That expectation ought to inform Washington’s policy making going forward. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong performed something of a public service last month, saying the regime’s nuclear arsenal was not a “bargaining chip” up for negotiation. That’s another no-surprise moment, and the right conclusion is to abandon the illusion that economic and diplomatic carrots can induce better behavior from Pyongyang. The right policy is to seek regime change by targeting the finances of its leaders, closing the Kaesong economic area, and using information campaigns to inform North Koreans of the real nature of their masters. Meantime, the U.S. also needs to take advantage of whatever grace period is left until Pyongyang makes good on its technological breakthroughs to invest more in ballistic missile defense. Our liberal friends have been saying for years that BMD is a pipe dream, but Friday’s news is another reminder of how right President George W. Bush was to withdraw the U.S. from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002.Ah, yes, another example of George W. Bush being 100 percent correct not only in assessing a threat, but also in understanding that the U.S. needed the discretion to act in its own defense, which meant we couldn't be bound by the restrictions inherent in the ABM treaty. The left howled, of course, but it's a dangerous world and those who survive are not so naive as to put their trust in treaties and feckless international institutions. Bush didn't do everything right where North Korea was concerned, of course. He and Condoleezza Rice let them off the hook big-time in 2008 when they acted up and demanded extensive aid as the price of behaving themselves. Bush tried to frame it as a victory but it was nothing of the sort. Still, at least Bush's inclination was to make sure we had missile defenses in the event we faced a threat from someone like Kim Jong Il or Kim Jong Un. Democrats, by contrast, hate missile defense programs and kill them every chance they get, which is exactly why we sit here today completely unprotected from the prospect of a North Korean missile attack. They're not yet at the point where they can reach us, so there's still time, but the truth is that the Obama Administration has no interest whatsoever in pursuing such a program. National defense is the only part of the budget they're ever interested in cutting because they want every dollar they can get for social engineering and the expansion of the welfare state. That doesn't help us if we're all dead, of course, but don't worry! There's no threat! James Clapper says so.
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