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Iran's North Korean Example

(Commentary) Jonathan S. Tobin - North Korea can defy the world with impunity because it flouted every diplomatic agreement it signed about its nuclear program and wound up with a bomb that forever changed the strategic equation between it and the U.S. The progress of Pyongyang's Iranian ally toward the same goal and the willingness of the West to engage in exactly the same sort of diplomatic minuet puts the world's current dilemma in Korea in a sobering light. Like the Iranians are doing now, North Korea also engaged in a diplomatic process prior to their going nuclear. Several times they agreed to only use their nuclear plant for peaceful purposes and in exchange for those promises were rewarded by the West. But they reneged on every promise and were eventually able to announce the achievement of their nuclear goal, leaving the U.S. with no plausible method for rectifying the situation. The diplomatic situation with Iran is just as bleak as that previously conducted with the North Koreans. The Iranians know they have time on their side, and have discovered that they can survive even a program of tough sanctions imposed from abroad. As President Obama ponders the implication of North Korea's threats, he also needs to be thinking about how much more dangerous the world would be if North Korea's ally Iran also had the bomb. The longer a decision about using force against Iran is put off, the more likely it will be that North Korea won't be the only nation making nuclear threats against the U.S. in the not-so-distant future.
2013-03-08 00:00:00
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