September 21, 2005:
Now the North Koreans insist that the current negotiations
are merely a ploy to take away North Korean nuclear weapons so that the U.S.
could launch a nuclear attack against the north and destroy it. These absurdist
negotiating tactics have been used by the North Koreans for over half a century.
Equally absurd, and tragic, is the communist dictatorship in the north, which
runs the most brutal police state on the planet. The government in the north is
falling apart, and the current negotiations are an attempt by the north to get
as much aid as they can, in order to keep their police state operating. While an
attack by North Korea is still a possibility, the increasingly decrepit state of
the North Korean armed forces makes this less likely. Even if the North Koreans
do attack, chances are increasing that the attack would fail quickly. What China
and South Korea most fear is a collapse of the government in North Korea, and
millions of economic refugees fleeing the wreckage, and into China and South
Korea. This is the nightmare situation, even more so than another war with North
Korea.
September 20, 2005: A day after North Korea "agreed" to a deal,
they, in effect, killed it by saying they would keep their nuclear weapons
program, and nuclear weapons (which they say they have, although they may not,
as the North Koreans have lied about this sort of thing before), until the
promised nuclear power plants were up and running. Building these plants could
take something like five years. It was assumed that North Korea would
immediately shut down its nuclear weapons programs, while oil was delivered to
North Korea for existing power plants, until the nuclear plants were built.
September 19, 2005: North Korea agreed to be committed to abandoning all
nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs. In return, it would receive one
or more nuclear power reactors, food and other aid. More precise details were
left vague.
September 18, 2005: North Korea insists that any further
sanctions used against it would be considered an act of war. This is a
negotiating ploy to try and extort more economic aid from its neighbors and the
United States.
September 17, 2005: Satellite photos reveal that North
Korea has resumed work on nuclear weapons development and manufacturing.
