Tweet
When I first heard CNN reports speculating that the missile might carry a warhead or a satellite, and then speculating on what President Obama should do about it, I thought I was back in the W era. Are we being ginned up to support another international criminal act? What should President Obama do?
Nothing. At the moment, nothing. If it is a satellite, nothing. North Korea has the same right as any other nation to orbit a satellite. If it’s a nuclear warhead? Well, it’s probably impossible to know that without close examination or until after it is launched.
We could ask that an international agency be allowed to examine it. If that agency determined that the missile had a warhead payload, President Obama could have our military and that of other countries prepare to destroy it after launch. If the North Koreans refused to allow inspection, he must have the military prepare, but wait to see what the payload is. Other than that he *should* do nothing. This is about international law and morality and the absolute rejection of the Bush Doctrine of Pre-emptive War Murder, which the demon-mermaids seem to be singing in the background.
2 Comments
I actually agree that the North Korean missile is pretty spooky. All the others have been missiles–straddling Japan. So why would this be a satellite?
What will we do about it? I hope we’ll do the only thing that is likely to have any good effect: have Ms. Clinton, the South Koreans, and the Japanese talk to the Chinese about tightening North Korea’s leash a little.
The people that wax poetic about shooting it down with antimissile systems are just blowing smoke: nobody’s been able to pull a trick like that off against a real ballistic warhead in anything but a carefully rigged demonstration (and even those show more misses than hits).
also, bear in mind that two American journalists are being held by the North Koreans now, which probably supports arguments for doing nothing.
This being said, a lot of this is just plain out of our hands. The Japanese have already said that they will act unilaterally if its a missile, and if they shoot it down, North Korea has already said that it would regard such aggression as an act of war. We (the US) may not have to do anything it all for this to turn into an international flashpoint and clusterfrack.