Axis, Schmaxis, Part 3

There is a theory in this city that a fundamentalist Sunni Muslim terrorist group would not dream of establishing an operational relationship with a secular Sunni Muslim terror-supporting tyrant or a fundamentalist Shiite Muslim terror-supporting tyrant. Believers in that theory are going to have real trouble wrapping their heads around the idea that the latter fundamentalist Shiite Muslim terror-supporting tryant’s minions joined a group of pork-eating, soju-swilling aetheist idolator infidels for a night of fireworks on the Fourth of July. Let’s welcome the “reality-based community” to the reality of the world in which we live:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — One or more Iranians witnessed North Korea’s recent missile tests, deepening U.S. concerns about growing ties between two countries with troubling nuclear capabilities, a top U.S. official said Thursday.

Asked at a U.S. Senate hearing about reports that Iranians witnessed the July 4 tests, Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator with Pyongyang, replied: “Yes, that is my understanding” and it is “absolutely correct” that the relationship is worrisome.

Hill’s comments are believed to be the first public U.S. confirmation that Iranian representatives observed the seven tests, which involved one launch of a long-range ballistic missile, which failed soon after being fired, and six tests of short and medium-range missiles.

Hill said the six succeeded in hitting their target range.

There’s only one thing I can’t figure out: what did they eat?

Well, I can at last say they go together as well as white supremacists with Japanese, or anti-Communists with Communists. [Previous: Axis, Shmaxis, Part 1 (N. Korea+Iran); Axis, Shmaxis, Part 2 (N. Korea+Venezuela); See No Axis (Iran); DPRK-Iran, “˜Axis of Evil’ cooperation; Iran makes sure it keeps “˜Axis of Evil’ status current (Iran+Venezuela); Nope, No Axis Here (Iran); China, Arsenal of Terror (China+Iran+North Korea); Not an Axis? (North Korea+Iran, Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Libya, and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq)].

These comments by Hill were very disappointing:

“We are not seeking regime change. We are seeking a change in this regime’s behavior,” he told the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.

“We have the regime that we have, and we have to deal with them … We don’t have the option of walking away from this problem.”

I don’t necessarily believe the United States ought to openly declare its every fiendish plan, but isn’t it just dumb to tell every other nation involved, especially North Korea, that you’re not going to inflict the consequence they fear most if they continue to be unreasonable? I happen to think that we should be building international support for encouraging resistance in North Korea, but let’s say you disagree that we should do it, or do it openly. Should we publicly foreclose the option? This isn’t just bad policy, it’s also bad negotiation.