North Korea’s got the bomb

Four years ago, President George W. Bush declared that Iraq, Iran, and North Korea constituted an “axis of evil” that threatened freedom throughout the planet.

In naming these countries as enemies, President Bush gave them an incentive to take every opportunity to defy the will of the United States.

Four years later, the results of this policy are too horrendous to hide. The American military finds itself bogged down in Iraq; meanwhile, North Korea tests a nuclear weapon, and Iran looks set to pursue its own nuclear program.

This is the fate of all empires: it declares every potential opponent an enemy, and in doing so, ultimately finds itself surrounded by nations that bear nothing but ill-will towards it.

In the case of America, the invasion of Iraq has proved to be the most disastrous event in the history of the republic. We named three countries as enemies, attempted to take over one, failed miserably, and now find ourselves completely vulnerable to the ambitions of the two remaining countries.

The ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu, writing 2500 years ago, observed that the art of war was a “way of deception”: to be obvious in one’s attack would allow the enemy to prepare for the invasion. This is why North Korea and Iran seek nuclear capabilities — because they know that America will not be able to attack them with a nuclear deterrent. North Korea’s bargaining position against the United States is stronger with the atomic bomb than it has ever been in history.

General Sun’s writings also contain a stark warning for the empire which insists on never-ending war:

In War,

Victory should be

Swift.

If victory is slow,

Men tire,

Morale sags.

Sieges

Exhaust strength;

Protacted campaings

Strain the public treasury.

No nation has ever benefited

From a protacted war.

The United States will be no exception to these ancient rules.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 10th, 2006 at 7:45 pm and is filed under Imperial Decline, International Relations, South and East Asia, Structure and System. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.