Introduction
I don't normally like to post more than once per day but I will be away during the day tomorrow and may not get the chance to post this then.
I just heard the news that North Korea has conducted a new ballistic missile test and I wanted to make sure to discuss this whilst the news was still fresh.
You can read a BBC news report on the subject here.
According to that report this is the 14th test they have carried out in 2017.
The missile landed in the sea in something Japan describes as its "economic zone". I think this basically means these are waters that are used by Japan but not technically their territory.
I would like to briefly discuss why I think we need to deal with North Korea, sooner rather than later.
My Thoughts
I am not a warmonger, I believe that war should only ever be a last resort. However:
When War Is Inevitable, Waiting Can Make Your Position Worse
Sometimes war is inevitable and I think World War II is an example of that. In those cases delaying action can actually make a situation more difficult to contain.
Although it is hard to say for sure, appeasement of Nazi Germany (e.g. Chamberlain) and general inaction may have lead to many more deaths than would otherwise have occurred.
In North Korea we have a madman who is not only repressing his own people, but may actually be starving them in order to pay for his nuclear missile program.
The longer we wait before taking any kind of action, the weaker his people will be and the greater threat he will present to the rest of the world.
Right now he cannot deliver a nuclear missile to Europe or the US, but if I was in South Korea, Japan or any of the other surrounding nations I would be very frightened.
So What Needs To Happen?
The only way I can see this being resolved is by taking military action whilst it is still possible to do so without a nuclear incident.
Nobody wants that but I fear we may end up having to take it anyway later down the line as a result of North Korea using nuclear weapons.
I just think we are better off doing it now when their nuclear program is in its early stages and they can't necessarily unleash that kind of carnage.
It will obviously need agreement between the major world powers including Russia and most importantly China.
Indeed I think we have reached the point where even their closest ally has realised that Kim Jong Un is a "ticking time bomb" - and a nuclear one at that.
Don't get me wrong. War is not a good thing. People will die, it will be messy, but this is the reason we have armies. Those people sign up voluntarily to risk their lives and protect others.
It should not be taken lightly but I really believe that neglecting this situation or taking soft measures will ultimately result in even greater loss of life.
But the Iraq War Was A Disaster!
This is a different situation from Iraq prior to the war there.
In that situation, Iraq had basically lost pretty much all ability to wage war (the WMDs only existed in the imaginations of Bush and Blair and were a means to justifying an invasion which they had already decided on).
Further although there is little doubt that Saddam was a psychopath - he was not suicidal or crazy on the level of the North Korean leader.
You don't want someone who is crazy (and quite likely paranoid too) having the ability to use nuclear weapons.
In addition to the humanitarian and ecological disaster a nuclear strike by North Korea would create in Asia we must also consider the economic impact.
South East Asia is the hub of production for the vast majority of technology on which our world is dependent. It is hard to imagine the turmoil that would cause to the world as a whole.
The thing is that although most of the world seems to agree that action needs to be taken - the only thing that is likely to work is a military solution.
Sanctions and similar measures only work if your opponent actually cares about his people and is capable of rational thought.
Conclusion
Well those are my thoughts and I don't want this to get too long.
What do you think? Should we continue with sanctions and softer measures? Should we wait?
I would particularly like to hear the opinions of those who are in South Korea and other nations who are directly in the firing line. -Do you think the western powers are not taking this situation seriously enough?
Let me know in the comments.
(Since this is a discussion post I may be rewarding some Steem (as Steem Power) to my favourite comments - it depends on the quality of discussion though).
Thank you for reading
