NORTH KOREA’S SWISS CHEESE BLOCKADE

When is a blockade not a blockade?
The Bush Administration has finally started taking some rudimentary steps towards keeping North Korea’s nuclear weapons from spreading. The U.S. is leading a group of eleven countries in a program to “monitor and perhaps intercept shipments of nuclear materials and rockets” going in an out of North Korea, according to the New York Times.
Sounds good, at first. But take a look at the 11 countries involved in the effort: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Australia, and the U.S. It’s notable for who’s not on the list. No China, no South Korea. Neither of North Korea’s immediate neighbors is included. And how effective can a blockade be without those two?

June 18th, 2003 | Nukes | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.