A Basket Full of Makkoli

. . . is how I would describe pouring one’s hopes into Chinese arm-twisting of Kim Jong-Il to give up his nukes. The Marmot initially seems optimistic, but by the end of the post, he isn’t falling for it. One point where I agree with Marmot wholeheartedly is the incomprehensible failure by U.S. leaders to talk frankly to the Chinese about the consequences of them not restraining the Norks. One hopes that we have done so privately, and Cheney is the one who would do it. Plainly, China has no major problem with the Norks having Da Bomb, and it’s taking great diplomatic pleasure out of casting the U.S. as the bad guy and playing kingmaker. Finally, I’m always suspicious that the South Korean papers want to wish this crisis away.

Here is the question that the appeasers can never answer–would the world’s most secretive and repressive regime really allow any competent weapons inspector free reign of North Korea’s WMD sites? The U.S. has insisted on CVID, which means complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement. Do you suppose North Korea would allow wide-open access to their chemical testing facilities (gas chambers) in their gulags, or their numerous sites hidden underground? There will never be a deal because of that “V.” Good thing, too. That deal would be a Faustian bargain. It would make human rights an instant non-issue and smother the aspirations of the North Korean people in the cradle.

Now, if you want to engage in some really interesting speculation, read about this gargantuan train explosion that happened at a North Korean railroad station just hours after The Great Pumpkin himself rolled through town.