My Turkey Day rant...

I'm surprised that no one (especially Ryan) has commented on the artillery barrage that the North Koreans laid down on a civilian-inhabited island a couple of days ago. I've been following the story closely, because I am convinced... now more than ever... that North Korea is going to be the test that makes or breaks Obama as President of the United States.

Remember Biden talking about how the "new administration" would be tested? Well, this is the test, my friends. Obama has a far greater chance here to make a real difference than he ever did in either Iraq or Afghanistan. In those two theaters, Obama is facing the ugliest part of the job... cleaning up. The "high profile" aspect of those fights are long behind us, and (for good or bad) were handled by the previous administrations.

North Korea has been a foreign policy nightmare since Reagan was in office, and since the election of Bill Clinton, the standard policy of "appeasement and containment" has been proven to be the most dangerous course to take. Both Clinton and Bush Jr. followed the "pipe-dream" course of giving in to almost each and every demand for attention, funds, technology or diplomatic concessions that North Korea made. Even after the vaunted "Axis of Evil" speech by Bush, it only took a few short years before Bush lifted the sanctions that were driving the North Koreans to their economic and diplomatic knees... the very sanctions that drove them to restart their enrichment program in the first place.

To his credit, Obama has been "tough" on Pyongyang... right from the start of his administration. He's made no overt effort to upset the status quo, but he's made no substantial efforts to appease, either... and none of the last three Presidents can say that, can they? Now that Kim Jong Il and his half-pint clone (I mean son) have decided to shell the hell out of a midsized fishing community in the Yellow Sea, even Obama has voiced what almost noone else has: This is a direct violation of the terms of the 1953 Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War (at least the shooting part of it).

Here's my advice, if you're reading this, Mr. President:

End the training exercise delays currently holding up both the US and Korean Navy ships operating in the Yellow Sea, and keep them working within the 400 km "exclusion zone" that NK demands be recognized. No other nation on earth recognizes that expanse of exclusion (the norm is 80 miles, for safety sake)... so we shouldn't either. If NK decides that shooting is their best defense, then let them. They might be good at shelling civilians on remote islands... but taking on the most powerful naval force ever to have floated the sea is another story completely.

Reimpose the sanctions that Bush lifted in 2008... immediately. If NK hasn't proven to the world that their enrichment programs is dead and buried, then the very premise for Bush's lifting of the sanctions is null and void. Cut them off at the knees.

Stop demanding that China be the one to "muscle" its tiny neighbor into line. They won't do it... EVER. Not seriously, anyway. What possible good could come to China if North Korea and South Korea ever decided to get along? Even a Kim Jong Il ruling one half of a divided Korea is better, to them, than having a unified Korea (or even a cooperative Korean penisula) that could take matters of foreign policy and trade into their own hands. China doesn't want a unified or cooperative Korea... at all, end of story. They want the status quo... a fortified border tying up 30,000 US troops and hundreds of billions of US dollars every year that ISN'T costing the Chinese anything at all. Japanese and South Korean economic growth on the Yellow Sea will always be hampered by the chance of North Korean aggression... but that won't stop the Chinese one iota... not one. It certainly shouldn't stop us, either.

Start enforcing the UN sanctions that are STILL in place since 1953... search and seize ships bound for the North that might be carrying contraband material, and do the same with ships leaving the North that might be headed for places like Gaza, north Africa, Indonesia, or the ports that feed Yemen, Afghanistan and Ceylon terror cells and groups.

Put the pressure on the South Koreans to END the joint economic ventures that allow Western money to go north, and northern forced labor to work south. It is tantamount to indentured servitude, and I fail to see how it can be acceptable for the US to support such a policy, even if the support is de facto.

How is this tough? If someone at the White House is reading this... pay attention. This is pure gold, here.