Should We Start Another Korean War?

The suggestions that we start
a new Korean war are ludicrous.
A profoundly idiotic idea.
Regardless of how many
times North Korea tests
its missiles,this testing
does not constitute an
existential threat to the
United States or our allies.

Mutually assured destruction is not a
reasonable option or a sane alternative.
The greatest problem is simply the
asymmetry of America and Korea:
for fifty years the United States has
meant everything to Korea, but Korea
still means little to the United States.
In fact, some of the suggestions for a
response to the missile tests that have
significantly increased international
tensions are more dangerous than
the specter of a North Korean
missile capability itself.

Launching pre-emptive airstrikes or
even imposing economic sanctions
would be far more provocative and
dangerous than relying on deterrence
and engaging Pyongyang in strategic
diplomatic encounters. We need cool
heads to prevail in Washington and
the various East Asian capitals. North
Korea is an annoying problem, but it
is not an overwhelming threat.

This is no time for childish notions,
Hollywood hooliganism, or for
neonatal neanderthals to allow petulant
schoolyard cowboy machismo to
overrule objectivity, rationality,
and common sense. The Bush doctrine
of preemptive aggression contradicts
our most basic beliefs and values.
Beyond this, such sociopathological
behavior flies in the face of the
recommendations of our intelligence
community and the Pentagon.
The state department should butt out.
Those who are better trained
and more adequately briefed must
deal with this situation.

We have seeen the results of politicizing
our military perogatives. We do not need
unending wars and unbridled corporate
aggression. The misuse of our military
forces as enforcement for cost-plus,
no-bid contracts for corporate transnationals
has proven unproductive, unsafe, and a threat
to our economnic and military security interests.
We cannot afford to gamble our future on the
posturings of entertainers or the pretensions
of partisan pundits. Never again.

Tim