Deal with NK over nuclear capabilities

One of these days, I swear I’ll find a way to reconcile the double standard we have vis a vis North Korea and Iran.

Anyway, Bush has agreed to take North Korea off of the list of state sponsors of terror in exchange for their transparency in their nuclear program. Additionally, they’ll get some trade sanctions lifted.

Bush said the declaration showed the effectiveness of diplomacy.

“Multilateral diplomacy is the best way to peacefully resolve the nuclear issue. North Korea should seize this moment of opportunity to restore its relationship with the international community,” Bush said at a news conference.

Hey, did you catch that? Hold on, let me make it a little bigger.

“Multilateral diplomacy is the best way to peacefully resolve the nuclear issue.”

That’s a direct quote from George W Bush.

Let me ask you a question. Pretend you’re Iran right now. We all know that the Iranians and others pay close attention to American politics. What do you think their response would be? Is that a motivation to stop pursuing nuclear technology, perhaps weapons? Or is it encouragement to get a small arsenal of nukes, and then use them as leverage to get some concessions from the Americans?

That seems to be the lesson. If we don’t like you and you’re nowhere near nuclear capabilities, we invade you. If we don’t like you and you’re well on the way, we use sanctions and the threat of military involvement. If we don’t like you and you HAVE nukes, we play nice and give you things.