Pyongyang Song

An auspicious day for the first post to my political blog with North Korea announcing the success of its first nuclear bomb test. Needless to say this announcement has thrown the western world into chaos for we have a dark, secretive nation about which little is known and which has a constitution which demands absolute loyalty to its dictatorship.

Into this mix you can add an unpredictable and aggressive political leadership which will play a key role in the coming weeks in how this dangerous situation develops...so what WILL the United States do as a result of this development? George Bush and the British Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett both said 'North Korea has acted against the will of the international community' and nary a blush between them!

So far the George Bush technique of describing North Korea as 'an outpost of tyranny' and 'part of the axis of evil' doesn't seem to have had the desired effect of making these little yellow skinned guys roll over in fear. In fact quite the reverse and now they have got pop guns as good as the big guy..or they will before long.

So what needs to be done. A great deal of careful diplomacy, that's what... with none of the sabre rattling that has so marked the relationship between the two powers ever since the Korean War. I seriously doubt if the current Republican administration can, or is prepared to, revise the bellicose stance it has shown to all its 'enemies' since taking office and I just hope Bush can cool it enough that we don't have a far eastern conflagration to add to his many other successes. I feel that a new leader in the White House, be it Democrat or Republican, will be necessary before a real change of direction in American policy towards North Korea is anything near likely...and that won't be before 2008.

I just hope the world can survive that long.