Avid Editor's Insights: CONDIS LETHAL LEGACY

Condi has nothing on Iran as they race to build a nuclear arsenal. No plan. Gotz. Shes got nothing on the NORKS as they race to nuclear arm Syria and Iran and who the hell knows who else. Shes got nothing …………so her leagcy will be the funding and arming of Islamic jihad under the auspices of a bloody, deadly, ‘peace’ process. This headbanging has gone on long enough. How many Jewish kids, rabbis, believers have to die before the deadly reality of not backing Israel but backing our mortal enemies sets in?The Jews are not the problem. Nuclear armed Islamic regimes are the most frightening of all possible futures.Deconstructing the utter mess we are in begins we de-nuclearizing the North Koreans. Bolton has a plan…. is anyone listening?In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal Ambassador John Bolton writes:

At a minimum, President Bush should not bequeath tothe next president only the burned-out hulk of the Six-Party Talks, andcountless failed and violated North Korean commitments.

David Gothard

Since they were conceived in spring 2003, theSix-Party Talks have stumbled around inconclusively. And for the last13 months, Pyongyang has ignored, stalled, renegotiated and violatedthe Feb. 13, 2007 agreement.Throughout all this ‘negotiation,’ which has mostlyconsisted of our government negotiating with itself, North Korea hasbenefited enormously. It’s been spared the truly punishing sanctionsthat concerted international effort might have produced. In large partbecause of the appeasement policies of the two previous South Koreangovernments, Pyongyang has not felt the full impact of theProliferation Security Initiative (PSI) on its outward proliferationefforts. The U.S. has muzzled its criticism of North Korea’s atrociousoppression of its own citizens. And, perhaps most humiliatingly of all,the U.S., in a vain effort at chasing the mirage, gave up its mosteffective pressure point — the financial squeeze — allowing Pyongyangrenewed access to international markets through institutions like BancoDelta Asia.In fact, the protracted Six-Party Talks have providedKim Jong-il with the most precious resource of all: the time toenhance, conceal and even disperse his nuclear weapons programs. Timeis nearly always on the side of the would-be proliferator, and so ithas proven here. In exchange for five years of grace to North Korea,the U.S. has received precious little in return.Pyongyang is now stonewalling yet again on its promiseto disclose fully the details of its nuclear programs, including itsuranium enrichment efforts and its outward proliferation. Thesuccessful Israeli military strike against a Syrian-North Koreanfacility on the Euphrates River last September highlighted the gravityof the regime’s unwillingness to do anything serious that mightrestrict its nuclear option.

Nuclear arming of Islamic regimes. The worst of all possible scenarios.

President Bush should spend the next 10 monthsrectifying the Six-Party concessions and put North Korea back underinternational pressure — efforts that would be welcomed by Japan, andSouth Korea’s new, far more realistic President Lee Myung-bak. Here arethe steps to take:- Declare North Korea’s repeated refusal to honorits commitments, especially but not exclusively concerning fulldisclosure of its nuclear programs, unacceptable. This is theeasiest step, and the most obvious. It can happen immediately. Acceptno further partial ‘compliance,’ as the State Department continuouslytries to do. Make public what we know about the Norths Syria project,and its uranium enrichment and missile programs, so our 2008presidential candidates can have a fully-informed debate.- Suspend the Six-Party Talks, and reconvene talks without North Korea.Although the talks could be jettisoned altogether, continuing themwithout the North allows Japan, South Korea and the U.S. to beginapplying real pressure to China, the one nation with the capacity tobring Pyongyang’s nuclear program to a halt. China has feared to applysuch pressure, worried that it could collapse Kim Jong-il’s regimealtogether — an accurate assessment of the regime’s limited stayingpower. Nonetheless, the effect of Chinese reticence has been topreserve Kim and his nuclear program. It is vital that China know thispolicy is no longer viable.- Strengthen international pressure on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.Ramp up PSI cooperation with South Korea. Remind Russia of its ownvoluntarily-assumed obligations as a PSI core member. Remind China aswell to comply with the sanctions imposed on North Korea by U.N.Security Council Resolutions 1695 and 1718 (which followed the North’s2006 ballistic missile and nuclear tests), and honor its othercounterproliferation obligations. Tell them we will be watching withparticular care, and that Chinese failure to increase pressure on NorthKorea will have implications in Sino-American bilateral relations. Wecan make this point privately to China rather that trumpet it publicly,but it should be made without ambiguity.- Squeeze North Korea economically. Return theregime to limbo outside the international financial system, and step upaction against its other illicit activities, such as trafficking inillicit narcotics and counterfeiting U.S. money. These and other’defensive measures’ are nothing more than what any self-respectingnation does to protect itself, and the U.S. should never have eased upon them. Even now they can have a measurable impact on Kim Jong-ilsweak and unsteady regime.- Prepare contingency plans for humanitarian relief in the event of increased North Korean refugee flows or a regime collapse.Both China and South Korea have legitimate concerns about the burdensthey would face if the North collapsed, or if increased internaleconomic deprivation spread instability. America and Japan should makeit plain that they will fully shoulder their share of providinghumanitarian supplies and assistance if either happened. Moreover,President Lee should increase pressure on Pyongyang — by reiteratingthat South Korea will fully comply with its own constitution and grantfull citizenship to any refugees from the North, however they maketheir way to the South.Doubtless there are other steps. President Bush willnot likely be able to solve the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclearweapons program. Nonetheless, he still has time to implement policiesthat will allow him to leave office with the nation back on offense -thereby affording his successor the chance to vindicate a return to theoriginal Bush administration national security strategy.

OT but related: Anybody know if McCain is talking to Bolton? I mean really.

‘(Via Atlas Shrugs.)