Steve Clemons at TWN has an insightful post on the current North Korea standoff and how Team Dubya has sabotaged efforts by career State Department officials to try to bring sanity to the situation. Clemons also discusses how Japan may feel compelled to acquire nuclear weapons as a deterrent if they think the US can no longer handle the security needs of the Asia-Pacific region.
The US has traditionally had a policy of imposing limited trade sanctions against countries that acquire the bomb -- India and Pakistan, for instance; although they were later lifted in the interests of diplomacy. Japan could be a different story -- not the least of which is because they have so many branch plants in the United States. Not putting in similar sanctions, as I suspect will happen, would be the ultimate double standard and would be a victory for those who think America is "anti-Islam."
Dubya had better tread carefully on this one. The last thing we need is another guy or gal with his or her fingers on "The Button." One can only hope and pray the entire Korean Penninsula will be denuclearized, and democratized, before things get totally out of hand.
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