I can see your line of reasoning, Doug.

I certainly never suggested that North Korea could be trusted! Hell, no! Neither can South Korea or China or the USA. :-) They are all untrustworthy when their more crucial private interests are at stake (as are most if not all nation states, and probably a majority of ordinary people as well, given my experience).

What I was more focusing on was the actual capabilities of North Korea, which are quite limited, regardless of whether or not they have a few nuclear bombs. And I was suggesting that appealing to their natural sense of self-interest might be a far more effective way of avoiding conflict than threatening them. Same goes for Iraq.

There are win-win situations possible, always. I am suggesting that the USA look for win-win situations, not "we win...you surrender unconditionally or be destroyed" scenarios. Some people would rather go down fighting than accept such an ultimatum.

A lot of people would rather be "right" (their version of right) than be alive...and this can lead people to desperate actions, as we have seen in the last few years, culminating in Sept 11th. The Japanese desire to be "right" led them to "die with honour" by the hundreds of thousands in 1944-45. The only thing that could lead a country like North Korea to lob a nuke at the USA would be that same suicidal desire to vindicate their own sense of identity, even at the cost of complete national death. That can only happen if they are isolated and treated as outcasts. It will not happen if they are included in the community of nations and treated the way we would desire others to treat us.

And that is the Golden Rule, isn't it?

- LH