Events

Over the weekend, North Korea decided to perform a nuclear test and also to test some missiles. This serves to remind us all that the world is a dangerous place and there are nations out there that are capable of quite dangerous activity.

The immediate reaction to this event will be a higher degree of uncertainty in the world markets, especially in Asia, as the fear that South Korea or Japan could be targeted. It is extremely unlikely that the North Koreans intend to do anything, since it would result in near instantaneous extinction, but events like this lead to uncertainty.

Perhaps more troubling is that North Korea is perfectly willing to sell technology and weapons to states such as Syria, Iran and pretty much anyone else willing to pay. It is difficult to comprehend how they see this as a long term benefit and sadly the motivation is probably more related to internal politics than to any desire to make life better in the country as a whole.

The only real solution to this in the long run is the spread of a democratic form of Government. People as a group can at times be manipulated, but, when the pursuit of individual power is unrestrained by the society as a whole, you often end up with ruthless leaders incapable of translating the tactics that got them into power to a world view. Saddam Hussein is a perfect example of someone who was able to ruthlessly achieve power but then used the same mindset in his dealings with the rest of the world. He made bad decision after bad decision and eventually it caused his downfall. He was probably incapable of behaving differently considering the way he achieved power, but that is probably best left to the political scientists.

The path to power between in a democratic society may include backroom deals and in some cases ruthlessness, but it always requires the ability to compromise and form coalitions. There will be some people in this country who will want the Government to take aggressive action against North Korea. I don't think that will be what we do, nor do I think it would be the best course of action. There is probably no short term solution for the North Korean problem. The long term solution is the eventual replacement of the current regime with one that is actually responsive to the best interests of the Korean people.