Bad Options and Worse Ones

North Korea's nuclear weapon leaves civilization with only bad options and worse ones. We've only ourselves to blame: 20 years of feckless American diplomacy, 20 years of Chinese encouragement and acquiesence, have brought us to this point. It's too late for a military solution and far too late for a political one. It is near inevitable that Japan will complete its own nuclear weapons program. South Korea will either follow suit or put its head even further in the sand. Having let Pyongyang build and explode a weapon, our impotence in regard to Tehran or any other third world shithole with an internet connection, two electricians, and a plumber is now obvious.

A least bad option? Call Hu Jintao and tell him that unless he puts the very hard word on Kim and backs it up--now--with action, the the United States will publically announce that it, in the current strategic environment, can no longer in good conscience object to a nuclear armed South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. What could China realistically do? For a start, Beijing could close down all North Korean connected businesses in Macau. NoKo trading and shipping companies in Macau act as Kim's defacto overseas banking and trade arm. The North Korean Embassy in Beijing should be closed. Again NoKo embassies in large part exist as smuggling operations for drugs and counterfeit currency, and Beijing has the biggest one.

Not much, but thanks to the studpidity of three successive American presidents, it's all we've got.