Too often, Bush II Version 1 is confused with Bush II Version 2, i.e. the first four years of W. had a different foreign policy philosophy than the second four years. Version 1 was characterized by shock and awe, with us or against us, regime change, preemptive war, etc. Most people believe that this is what defines the Bush presidency, and while it may be the most visible dimension, it is by no means a complete picture of his foreign policy. Version 2, on the other hand, focused on multilateral action, exhaustive diplomacy, pragmatic war strategy, even setting the stage for a withdrawal from Iraq and advocating a refocus on the Afghanistan front. The second round reflected a progression up the learning curve in terms of dealing with other nations; particularly in light of the ill-managed Iraq War… unfortunately, some of those “lessons” were actually learned incorrectly. Case in point: North Korea. The failure with North Korea is the failure that American foreign policy often suffers from: an inability to understand the implacability of some of our enemies. Bush pursued multilateral diplomacy and ended up swapping aid for a promise of disarmament… fatal mistake… and ironically, Bush, who criticized Obama for plans to meet directly with Iran, turned into an Appeaser himself.

Kim Jong Il is a product of history… like a Stalin, a Lenin, a Hitler, a Pol Pot, a Kaddafi, a Castro, etc. etc. He believes that he embodies the entire nation and has a philosophy of self-reliance that is deeply rooted in the history of Korea. It’s a history of conquest, conquest, and more conquest… and they are not going to take it anymore. In Kim’s eyes, America is another empire threatening to swallow up Korea. North Korea’s general philosophy is independence and its foreign policy is not afraid to be defiant, therefore its military prowess, missile programs, and nuclear development are absolutely necessary to the identity and survival of that nation. We must understand this. We must read their works on the philosophical underpinnings of this country in order to know how to approach them. Of course, we made the mistake of believing that we could give them some aid and then have them stop their national mission: becoming unconquerable. Not going to happen.

So what a surprise when North Korea started to beat its chest as soon as a new administration came to power in the United States, even now threatening to back out of the disarmament deal if the U.N. slaps sanctions on them. Essentially, they want to launch a satellite with a missile that might have the capability of reaching Alaska and Hawaii or else. The U.N. has threatened to impose sanctions and Japan has threatened to shoot down the missile if they launch. No one knows what would happened if military action from Japan actually takes place… but the real problem has been the inability to deal with North Korea… and the danger of allowing this rogue state continue its aggressive pursuit of intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads is very grave. The current administration should make sure to pay attention and finally adopt an approach to North Korea that takes into account their worldview. Otherwise, we face confrontation (not likely to happen) or “appeasement” (Clinton also tried and failed since N. Korea continued their program in secret)… neither of which are conducive to world peace or American security.

Oh and by the way, the North Koreans have arrested two American journalists on charges of espionage. The more we wait before we address this threat, the higher the stakes will get.

-AG