Hiya, Lori, <You ask: WHY ARE WE IGNORING NORTH KOREA?
Is it because a) N. Korea has nothing we want, or b) because W wants to finish Daddy's old business, or c) because W is afraid to tangle with a country he cannot so obviously obliterate? Inquiring minds want to know.> I received this post from the MoveOn organisation in December, and read the link below with great interest. This may answer some of your questions. MoveOn wrote: " ..... it's more likely that emphasizing North Korea's threat while not aggressively pursuing military action against the country is serving US strategic interests. How? According to several analysts, the US hopes to use the threat from North Korea as a tactic to push through the building of controversial missile defense systems in the area. Such missile defenses would help contain the growing threat from China, the one country that is developing enough economic and military strength to compete with the US. This is a much more appealing strategy for the US than directly attacking North Korea, which has its own army of 1.2 million and a strong alliance with nuclear capable China. .... From the article int eh link below: "The Bush administration may not be interested in removing North Korea from the threat list. A perceived North Korean threat is necessary to justify building the Theater Missile Defense (TMD) system, intended to counter China's growing military and political power. With China's economy growing at seven percent, it is only a matter of time before it dwarfs Japan in power and strategic influence. This worries sectors of Japan's government, especially the military establishment, and also concerns the Bush administration, who do not want to see U.S. regional power and economic interests threatened by China. Since neither the U.S. nor Japan are willing to admit to building the new missile system to counteract a Beijing threat, North Korea is currently being used as the primary reason for creating the TMD in Japan." Includes a map. http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=920 " Cheers, Gill (in Madrid)
