We may be in one very soon, if this article is anything to go on. [Link requires registration]

In what one expert has called ?the Baghdad scenario?, the regime of Kim Jong Il is expected to wreak maximum damage on American policy by timing any move at a critical moment, such as the entry of US soldiers into the Iraqi capital.

?They are choreographing this step by step with the Iraq crisis,? said one diplomat. ?It?s straight from the works of Sun Tzu to strike while your enemy is weak.? Sun Tzu, the classical Chinese military strategist, also advocated deception and guile to win victory without battle.

Greetings All, I just came across this site the other day, and i have to say I find myself agreeing with much of what is said here. I find it refreshing to see what others of a conservative persuasion are saying, outside of the talking heads of course.

The possibility of a Two-Front war with Iraq and North Korea is highly unlikely, for a variety of reasons. The primary reason a war against North Korea is unlikely is because President Bush has said he is not about to attack the North pre-emptively. North Korea for it's part has stated that it wants a non-agression pact from the US, this fact runs contrary to the opinion that North Korea is looking for a war.

This type of nuclear blackmail is the same game North Korea played with the Clinton administration. In 1994 North Korea agreed to halt it's nuclear program in exchange for oil for it's powerplants, and 2 heavy water nuclear reactors, one built by Japan, the other by South Korea. Shortly after the 1994 deal North Korea test fired a long-range missile over Japan into the Pacific under the pretense of space exploration and development. This brought then Sec. of State Albright(Half-bright?)back to North Korea to arrange a deal, which like the nuke program, required North Korea to give up it's "military" missile technology in exchange for so-called "scientific" missile technology. I can only say thank God this astonisingly idiotic deal was never made, as I can't see the difference between having "scientific" rather than "military" missile technology, as both can accomplish the same goal of delivering a WMD payload.

Flash forward to 2003 and North Korea is up to it's old tricks. The North has acknowledged that it continued to develop is uranium enrichment program while recieving economic support in the form of oil and food. In response the Bush administration began a containment policy designed to pressure, and possibly collapse the North Korean regime by ending economic support, and has persuaded Japan and South Korea to do the same. This was obviously a different response than the North had expected after the disgustingly inept way Billy-boy and his lackey Half-bright handled the situation in 1994.

Bush wants results, he wants the dismantlement of the Yongbyong reactor and proof that the North does disarm of all nuclear weapons, in addition Bush wants the cessation of missile technology proliferation. Clinton was only concerned in making it looklike the situation was being handled, when in fact, North Korea was still developing it's nuclear arsenal. This type of nuclear blackmail worked on Clinton, but as Kim Jong Il is realizing, it won't work on Bush. Since he didn't get what he wanted, he racheted up the threat by withdrawing from the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty. This led to the diplomatic push to get Russia, Japan, and China to become involved in pressuring Pyongyang into negotiations.

The Bush administrations move to involve all the conutries that have an interest in the Korean peninsula was wise and should be applauded. Russia and Japan both have memories of the other invading through the Korean peninsula, thus it is a security matter for both. In addition Japan is worried about a fast reunification of the Korean peninsula either by a war, or by the collapse of the North's regime, because either scenario may end with a powerful unified Korea with nuclear weapons, and 40 years of bad memories of Japanese occupation. China on the other hand is not as concerned with the North having nukes, but with the mass flow of refugees that would flood China if a war were to break out. This gives them little if any incentive to help with negotiations. The Bush administration could force China, North Korea's biggest benefactor, to become involved in pressing for negotiations and disarmament by telling Bejing that since North Korea has nuclear weapons, the US can no longer prevent Japan, South Korea, and possibly Taiwan from building their own nuclear arsenal. This would cause a total uproar in the CCP, thus forcing Beijing to persuade the North into negotiations. If Japan or any of the regional actors traditionally allied with the US aquired nuclear weapons China's dreams of being a regional military hegemon would be DOA.

Thanks for your comments, but just for the record, I don't think that I'm a conservative.

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