North Korea

Now that my annual obligation is completed (i.e. watching the Super Bowl), time to reflect on what happened before the game.  I'm speaking of course about North Korea's rocket launch.

As Pyongyang had promised, the missile passed over the prefecture of Okinawa.  As Tokyo had promised, the Japanese lost their shit but refrained from shooting anything down.  The rocket does appear to have been a vehicle to launch a satellite so now North Korea has joined the space age.

The usual cast of characters, such as Europe and the UN, condemned the launch promising more sanctions against North Korea…blah, blah, blah.  There is probably no better example of the futility of imposing sanctions as North Korea is pretty much one of the most, if not the most, isolated regimes in the world.  How much more can you isolate the North Koreans?

The usual outraged nations will be meet at the UN to discuss what actions to take against North Korea.  Same old, same old story.  Reading the comments sections of the articles covering the rocket launch, one reader had the best insight I'd come across is a long time.  He basically said the elite leaders will spend a fortune to travel to New York (home of the UN) to feast on five-star food to fuel their outrage at the North Koreans.  And then nothing will happen.

North Korea wants to be seen as much as a power player as any other nation state with nuclear arms.  Since they hasn't worked for them so far, now they have to try to join the space race.  Launching satellites are now so common that private corporations have taken over the responsibility from many government agencies, so again North Korea is still not likely to be taken seriously.

And this maybe the real reason our elite leaders won't do much more than enjoy some gastronomical delights and not produce any real actions…to do so would validate that North Korea is a real threat in their eyes.

But at the same time, the elites should not for get the old adage…never under-estimate your enemy!