Zo'n verbod zou inderdaad mooi zijn thinkalot, zo'n NPV zoals het nu is heeft inderdaad weinig waarde.
Als de wereld veranderd kon worden vanuit DBB... wow. Wat een prachtwereld zou dat zijn EricR die de koninklijke scepter zwaait over landbouw en nijverheid, Dani de nieuwe Aphrodite en Lauw als hofnar.
OT: Ik heb trouwens de sancties nog niet gelezen die er nu zijn opgelegd aan Noord-Korea. Deze waren nog niet openbaar gemaakt, omdat China nog een aantal aanpassingen wilde doorvoeren. Heeft iemand deze?
Rice goes to Korea, via China
The frenzied activity over North Korea's declared nuclear test is, on one level, remarkable. On Saturday, less than a week after the underground explosion, the normally slow-moving U.N. Security Council approved a set of tough measures — from a ban on illicit weapons materials entering or leaving North Korea, to preventing people connected to weapons programs from traveling abroad.
Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sets out for the region — China, Japan and South Korea — to keep up the pressure.
But for all the action, this moment is the beginning of a long and treacherous road. How it's traveled could decide whether the spread of nuclear weapons stalls or accelerates. If North Korea, Iran and other would-be nuclear states conclude that going nuclear carries few real penalties, the current 9-member nuclear club could quickly double in size — including rogue states with terrorist ties.
When it comes right down to it, the United States does not hold the most critical levers in this process. China does. And whether it will use them is in doubt. Already, along with Russia, it forced the United States to make concessions on the resolution: no military action is allowed. And on Sunday, it voiced doubt about searches of North Korean ships, which it won't join. That provision was already of questionable value as most exports and imports pass across China's land border.
If China chose to, it not only could cut off that trade but also the flow of food and fuel to its reclusive neighbor. One flip of the switch on all of that would be a disaster for North Korea. China is unlikely to go that far because it doesn't want a flood of refugees or chaos on its border. But Rice has levers to pull as well.
China has much to fear from the spread of nuclear weapons — to Japan and South Korea (both already nuclear-capable) and even more so, to Taiwan. Rice's challenge is to develop a common front, built on a common understanding of what motivates the North Korean leadership.
Few know how the country is run. The place is a virtual prison camp for 23 million poor and hungry people. Does Kim Jong Il really run things, or do holdovers from his father's day? Is his bluster designed to keep favor with the Old Guard? China's long ties to the North Koreans no doubt provide insights, if they'll share them constructively.
At this moment, China is angry at North Korea for defying its earlier warnings against carrying out a nuclear test. The challenge for Rice is to channel that anger into a productive policy — one built on common interests that persuades China to use its leverage in ways that befit the world power that it aspires to be.
Posted at 12:20 AM/ET, October 16, 2006 in Foreign Affairs - Korea - Editorial, USA TODAY editorial | Permalink