North Korea Now Gets To Mull Over An Armed Japan...

July 19, 2006 -- "ALTHOUGH U.S. policy toward North Korea is ostensibly about "keeping the most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous regimes," the reality is that we haven't even come close to doing that. North Korea almost certainly has nuclear weapons, and it is slowly developing the missiles to carry them. And there is no prospect that, short of a regime collapse, North Korea will give up those weapons.

In the meantime, and especially in the wake of the North Korean missile launchings, this Sino-centric diplomacy is at cross purposes with sustaining good ties with Japan.

A 1998 North Korean missile test that passed over Japan's territory persuaded Tokyo to rethink its longstanding pacifist military posture and begin, among other things, investing in ballistic missile defenses. This time around, the Japanese government took the lead in pushing for a strong U.N. Security Council resolution that would sanction North Korea for its behavior. And, on its own, it announced new sanctions on trade with the DPRK.

Tokyo was counting on an equally strong reaction from the White House. After all, President Bush had announced before the missile launches that conducting such tests was "unacceptable." Instead, what Tokyo got were reprimands from South Korea for stoking a crisis and egg on its face as Washington dispatched Hill to the region, not to round up support for a tougher line but to ask China to push Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.

Not surprisingly, leading Japanese politicians, such as Defense Minister Fukushiro Nukaga and Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, have reacted to the missile firings by suggesting that Japan look at the possibility of acquiring offensive weapons capable of preemptively striking North Korean launch sites. Such a course of action is only made more likely by the Japanese perception that the current U.S. policy is one of speaking incoherently and carrying no stick."

I'll cut off the repartee from Dumb & Dumber before focusing upon such bilgewater causes me to reflex my monitor out the window. If the Norks had nukes they'd be STEALTHILY fussing with long range missiles, you idiots, NOT firing them off on our birthday. Even Lil Kimmy would see the logic in that, but not, apparently, these chickenhawk neocons. And sweet mother of pearl, but having the Japanese THEMSELVES do the tough-talking is a brilliant move. Who in Asia would NOT be fearful of an re-armed Japan? It's called good-cop, bad-cop, you detweilers, and is so smart on so very many levels that it's easy to see Bush is listening to his braintrust and not his gonads. The next gulp you hear will be coming from North Korea after it is announced that the Japanese have agreed upon the purchase price of some brandy new war gear direct from Uncle Sam. Better yet, have the NY Times leak it. Just don't tell Gary Schmidt or Dan Blumenthal that this was the plan all along or they'll get all weepy wanting to know why WE didn't just up and bomb Kimmy until he cried Baldwin.