While everyone’s watching the markets and the election, the State Department – by now the Fannie Mae of foreign policy — is setting us up for the next crisis. That one is going to involve things possibly even worse than mortgage defaults, such as missiles and nuclear bombs.
At the core of that crisis, when things really start to crater, will be Iran. But in times to come, when analysts (working by candlelight in their underground shafts) get around to asking the ritual questions (you know them well: Who let this happen? Why didn’t we see it coming?) they will also point to the leading edge of the wreck. That would be the Bush administration policy of the past few years on North Korea. It is Kim Jong Il (dead or alive) who has been setting the pace for racketeering rogue regimes and wannabe nuclear extortionists everywhere. If — over the objections of the U.S., Europe, Japan and anyone else who wants to play — he can counterfeit U.S. currency, wheel and deal in missiles and nuclear technology, make and test nuclear bombs, offer a piece of the action to Syria and Iran, and get paid by America for his pains, well then, who can’t?
Here’s how Nuclear Extortion 101 works. North Korea tests some missiles, revs up its Yongbyon reactor, and America & friends pay Kim to stop. He pockets the bribe, reneges on the deal, and repeats the threat. We pay, he pockets… and here we go again:
Word is leaking out of Washington that Condoleezza Rice is on the verge of removing North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, with an announcement imminent.
Why? It’s not because North Korea has gone out the terror business. If anything, Pyongyang –with considerable success — appears to be quite busy at the moment terrorizing the U.S. State Department. North Korea has learned that Rice and her special envoy, Chris Hill, baseball cap in hand, will do just about anything (pay, wait, fudge, dissemble, cover up, roll over, beg) to keep alive the pretense of a nuclear disarmament deal which from the start was about as solid as today’s mortgage derivatives market.
North Korea wants off the terror list. The State Department, having showered Kim with gifts since mid-2007, finally balked, for the very good reason that North Korea refuses to agree to any system that might let inspectors actually verify what’s going on with its nuclear ventures (let alone take away the bombs). So North Korea is now threatening to re-start its Yongbyon reactor, and letting out rumbles about preparations to test another nuclear weapon. This is a way of telling the United States to jump. And if Rice responds to this blackmail by taking North Korea off the terror list, what she and Hill and President Bush (is he still there?) will really be saying to Pyongyang is: How high?
Fox News is reporting that in preparing to caper to North Korea’s tune, State has cut its own verification bureau out of the loop. Looks like U.S. policy has morphed from “trust, but verify” to “trust, and pay the blackmail.”
The same otherwise worthy Fox report includes an interesting sentence, culled from the conventional wisdom of the diplomatic circuit: “Removing North Korea from the terror list would be a major step in mending relations between the reclusive communist nation and the United States, though it would also come amid concerns about North Korea’s weapons program.”
Aha… so it’s the terror list that’s caused all that friction between North Korea and the U.S.? Hey, if all we have to do to be safe from North Korea is take them off the terror list, a whole industry awaits. Make the whole world safe. Take everyone off the terror list. But why stop there? Just scrap the entire idea of a terror list.
I do have a suggestion for what we might create in its place. To play its part in the growing global market in nuclear extortion that the Condi-and-Chris legacy is even now engendering, America is going to have to do a lot of groveling, and appropriate a lot of tax money – for free food, free fuel (nuclear or otherwise) and other doo-dads — to pay off rogue regimes that are already lining up to cash in on this bonanza.
So how about State creating a public list of terror-loving governments to which America sends pay-offs in hope of stopping their nuclear weapons programs. Call it the Nuclear Extortion Racket List. That way, instead of Chris Hill cutting secret deals while back-slapping North Koreans in Berlin and touring Yongbyon, there could at least be some better planning, and accountability. There could be clear budgets assigned to how much in pay-offs — whether in cash, kind or diplomatic concessions — should go to North Korea, to Iran, to Syria…or, well, imagine the possibilities.
Heck, the way U.S. policy is going, this has all the makings of a broad and deep emerging market. A sort of Subprime for Rogue States.
Of course, the startup costs for a nuclear weapons program are considerable. So maybe the World Bank and the UN Development Program could be recruited to figure out how to issue shares in the proposed nuclear extortion rackets of developing economies. We could have Cuba’s initial public offering, Khartoum extortion bonds. And there’s no reason for terrorist groups to be excluded from the action just because they happen to be part of the private sector. There is scope here for Al-Qaeda-Hezbollah extortion-racket swaps. And no reason that the American taxpayer should be cut out of this, if he wants to speculate on the chance of getting back some of his own money.
Welcome to the 21st century, State Department style. Congratulations, Chris and Condi. How long before we can sit at our computers and trade Nuclear Extortion Racket derivatives? .. at least until the lights go out.
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19 Comments
1. Let’s Have Some bFun/b With the Terror List: How About Nuclear b…/b:[...] Claudia Rosett wrote an interesting post today onLetâ??s Have Some bFun/b With the Terror List: How About Nuclear b…/bHere’s a quick excerptWhile everyone’s watching the markets and the election, the State Department – by now the Fannie Mae of foreign policy — is setting us up for the next crisis. That one is going to involve things possibly even worse than mortgage b…/b [...]
Oct 10, 2008 - 12:45 am 2. Korea » US May Remove North Korea from Terrorism List:[...] Let’s Have Some Fun With the Terror List: How About Nuclear …That would be the Bush administration policy of the past few years on North Korea. It is Kim Jong Il (dead or alive) who has been setting the pace for racketeering rogue regimes and wannabe nuclear extortionists everywhere. … [...]
Oct 10, 2008 - 2:22 am 3. Pajamas Media » Let’s Have Some Fun with the Terror List:[...] the entire story here [...]
Oct 10, 2008 - 11:27 am 4. JihadGene:On the money! Thanks.
Oct 10, 2008 - 11:35 am 5. Nancy:You are right in that the Bush administration did not follow up in regards to the threat that North Korea posed however please also remember that the Clinton administration is also to blame in regards to the Agreed Framework treaty. Had the Clinton administration and Albright stopped patting their backs and had not turned a blind eye while N Korea did not follow the treaty guidelines perhaps the situation would not be as bad as it is. But please do not think that I am not suggesting that this administration is completely innocent in respect to North Korea eitherhowever by no means should the complete blame should be laid at the Bush administration as there is plenty of blame to go around.
Oct 10, 2008 - 1:44 pm 6. State is the New Fannie and Freddie : The New Nixon: News and Commentary about the President, his Times, and his Legacy:[...] less favorable conditions than Pyonyang’s first offer of disarmament. Consequently, as explained by Claudia Rosett in her article at Pajamas Media today, in typical Fannie and Freddie fashion the government will [...]
Oct 10, 2008 - 2:07 pm 7. kabud:this is all true
dont forget that behind Korea and Iran and Venezuela there is a REAL threat from kremlin and china
those puppets of kremlin are just for the show
Oct 10, 2008 - 3:10 pm 8. Someone75:Good luck with this rather transparent scare tactic. Vote republican – we’re the only ones who know how to protect the country.
Like I always say, if you can’t win on the issues, make something else up! Here’s a suggestion: anti-Islamic racism. You guys are the new Southerners. So sad, but so amusing. It’s like watching a bunch of neanderthals trying to understand the weather.
Oct 10, 2008 - 9:00 pm 9. HawkWatcher:Nothing in this article is made up. Issues are “won” by citing fact, which Someone75 does not want to aknowledge. Reporting on nuclear proliferation among our enemies is not a scare tactic, it is telling of a growing reality.
When I was a kid, we had emergency drills at public schools where we would practice “taking cover” from nuclear attack. I never want to return to that mindset again.
The way 75 describes “you guys” is just plain stupid. What race are Islamics again? There are Muslims of every race where I live. Do “you guys” hate all races, even their own?
I suggest you study the Qur’an and ahadith like I did for five years. This is the ideology behind the next group of nuclear weapon owners, and you are a target if you are not Islamic. Reality needs no scare tactics to advance it’s ugly head.
Oct 11, 2008 - 12:53 am 10. Trust, but verify | Think Forward:[...] so 1980’s. Now it’s, Trust, don’t verify and pay the blackmail. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Trust, but verify”, url: [...]
Oct 11, 2008 - 4:17 am 11. Suzanne Pomeranz:to “someone75″ – I am insulted that you would automatically imply that a Southerner is a racist via your backhanded remark! I am a Southerner who has never been a racist! We are not all the same, even if you and others of your mis-informed, stereotyping ilk might think so!
Oct 11, 2008 - 4:28 am 12. Suzanne Pomeranz:And on topic: the State Department, no matter which political party occupies the White House, is easily the “Fannie Mae” of foreign policy, as the writer of the article says. With no real policy (they seem to make it up as things happen) except to support oil-rich States or those that are the friends of our enemies, they continue to bungle every possible diplomatic connection and intentionally hurt those that are the true friends of the USA. Add to that no long-term plan, since they insist on short-term experiments which always result in long-term losses for the American people (and anyone who gets in the way of the State Department)!
Oct 11, 2008 - 4:49 am 13. Scott:someone confused,
Oct 11, 2008 - 7:30 am 14. Roark:Islam is not a race.
BTW, have you figured out the weather yet?
My hell, is it even possible for the Bush team to screw this nation up even more?!?!? Take North Korea OFF the terror list! WTF is up with that!!!!!!!!!!!
Oct 11, 2008 - 8:54 am 15. Angry African:An extremist and anti-American in the White House? How about this quote? “The fires of Hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government, and I won’t be buried under their damn flag!” This comes from a guy who founded the organization that Todd Palin was/is a member of. Maybe we should look a bit closer at Todd Palin and his ties to the Alaskan Independence Party. The AIP has a history is one with links to Al Qaeda supported terrorists and communist. Sarah spoke highly of the AIP at their conference. And Todd’s history of using her office for his own agenda should be worrying if he continues to supports the AIP extremist and secessionist anti-American views. Six degrees of separation… http://angryafrican.net/2008/10/11/six-degrees-of-seperation-or-the-todd-palin-story/
Oct 11, 2008 - 2:59 pm 16. Marc Malone:Sure, I trust N Korea will honor their agreements if we take them off the Terror list….
Oct 11, 2008 - 3:40 pm 17. HawkWatcher:What does Todd Palin or
http://www.akip.org/platform.html
have to do with unfriendly nuclear proliferation? You trolls need to go somewhere else to make your lame attemts at diverting thoughtful threads and trying to make people angry. You don’t cause any consternation with rational people anyway, since you offer no arguements or viewpoints of any value. Try addressing the topic article of the discussion or just go away.
Oct 11, 2008 - 5:40 pm 18. tanstaafl:If — over the objections of the U.S., Europe, Japan and anyone else who wants to play — he can counterfeit U.S. currency, wheel and deal in missiles and nuclear technology, make and test nuclear bombs, offer a piece of the action to Syria and Iran, and get paid by America for his pains, well then, who can’t?
Pretty pathetic.
As Condi Rice and Chris Hill try to hurry up their “legacy”.
Didn’t the Norks already get a big piece of the agenda accomplished with those monies unfrozen ?
Oct 12, 2008 - 11:48 am 19. wohnung berlin:Gut!
Mar 1, 2009 - 2:51 am