Unable to Learn

Wow. Former president Carter thinks the 1994 agreement with North Korea should be the basis of renewed talks and agreements. He still thinks in terms of some peace agreement with North Korea. He learns nothing from his mistakes. He continues to think the North Koreans can be trusted.

And if we came to some comprehensive peace agreement? Well that just bolsters the murderous Kim Jong Il regime, now doesn’t it? Carter doesn’t care. Leaving those thugs in power and giving them the means to prolong their rule is just dandy for him. Heck, if he got a peace prize for the ’94 agreement, the committee will just burst with joy if he negotiates another sham agreement.

Does recognition that a treaty is meaningless mean we invade? Of course not. Although the justice of it would not be in question, the casualties would be great. There is another response between invasion and appeasement. This regime can be contained. We have contained it for fifty years. If we keep this up, eventually they will collapse of their own weight. And since the balance of conventional power continues to build in the South’s favor, there is little to fear from putting off a day of reckoning. Our nukes will probably deter their nukes. Would North Korea use their nukes? Maybe, but their best hope was always to conquer the South, not bring about mutual suicide. We will have a limited missile defense system to protect ourselves and our allies soon. For the North, nukes were always a good bet to keep a war conventional where their former superiority could be used. That time is past. They can’t win conventionally and so we won’t feel compelled to go nuclear anyway. Their nuclear deterrent becomes irrelevant because we don’t need to threaten nukes to defend the South.

No, wait them out. Isolate them. Let them collapse.

For God’s sake, keep Carter away from the area. He’s done enough.