The Axis of Crazy
McClatchy's Tim Johnson just has to enable my predilection for all-inclusive theories that efficiently allow me to post just once in a pithy way. The latest gem? Kim Jong-il tips his hat to Moammar Khaddafy.
So here goes the latest speculation: Just as Khaddafy won the good graces of the West by spilling the beans on the A.Q. Khan nuclear network, getting Libya out of the diplomatic doghouse, Kim Jong Il has now offered Washington the list of the buyers of its nuclear technology, including Syria. The Bush administration turned around and gave the info to Jerusalem, which sent the jetfighters scrambling to bomb the alleged nuclear site in Syria.
This speculation comes at the website of Stratfor, a subscription global intelligence outfit, whose reports are not always, er, on target. It was picked up at the China Matters blog, where I learned of it.
Nonetheless, the theory goes that North Korea is signaling to the United States, with which it dearly wants to weave a closer diplomatic relationship, that it can provide info of value. After all, North Korea is not entirely desirous of maintaining only one strategic ally, China. It would be more than happy to play China and the United States off each other.
There are many possible holes in this theory. North Korea has few ways to earn hard currency. Why would Pyongyang destroy relations with one of its few remaining customers for military/nuclear technology? What happens if the six-party talks on North Korea?s nuclear program break down again? North Korea will be more penniless than ever.
I accept China Hand's caveats, too, especially that Beijing hopes to keep the US enmeshed in as many relationships, preferably chronically troubled, in order to slowly bleed Washington's resources and soft power. I'm still skeptical the DPRK was doing little more than trading missiles in Syria, too. In the end, the Dayr az-Zwar play might have been little more than an opening maneuver in the current round of Six Party talks.
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