The
trouble with those that have the power, is that they attract all kinds of
people who wish to give them free advice. What happens in general, is that
instead of being fully informed, the powerful become so inundated with
contradictory advice, they get confused. This increases the chance that they'll
make mistakes. And since they are powerful, the mistakes they make will be
mighty big ones indeed.
The
United States of America is a powerful country. It had its share of advisers
who gave it free advice. As expected, this resulted in America making numerous
mistakes, especially in the foreign policy arena. Most of the mistakes could be
traced back to the bad advice that America was given, that America took in and
implemented without revision. This is bad enough. But what's worse is that
after each failure, the people who advised America the first time, went back
and gave it more advice on what to do next, and America took the advice without
question. Imagine!
Most
of the time, the new advice consisted of the advisers doubling down on the old
advice. They assured America that what it did was right but was not enough,
which is why it failed. And so, they advised that to succeed, America must do
more of the same, but do it more intensively this time. Needless to say, that
instead of scoring a success each time, America doubled its failure. And if you
think that the second failure ended the story there and then, you're wrong.
What usually happened was that on advice of the same people yet again, America
doubled down again and again … and failed again and again.
A
stark example that illustrates these realities, is that of North Korea. The
original advice given America to get involved in the affairs of the Korean
Peninsula, came from Britain's Winston Churchill who told America's leaders to
be fearful of the Soviet Union that wants to dominate every inch of the globe,
and had an agent behind every tree, bent on helping it achieve its goal.
To
counter the effort of the Soviet Union that was governed by the rules of
Communism –– an ideology antithetical to America's Capitalism –– the United
States formulated a policy to contain the Soviet Union. The practical measures
of such policy came down to encircling the Communist behemoth with military
bases. However, the events on the Korean Peninsula at the time, fit Churchill's
description so closely, the Americans were convinced they must get involved
militarily in that part of the world only a few years after the end of the
Second World War.
Look
at the situation now, seventy years after Churchill's advice to America. You'll
see a North Korea that stands as an example of the monumental failure that
Churchill's advice turned out to be. Instead of developing like another Sri
Lanka or a Myanmar, America's provocations of North Korea prodded that tiny and
backward country to evolve into a nuclear power that must be reckoned with. So,
you ask: What's going on in that part of the world at this moment?
You'll
find out what's going on in that part of the world by reading the article that
came under the title: “Korea's strategic goal on nuclear weapons hasn't
changed,” and the subtitle: “Kim Jong-un will continue pursuing his nuclear and
missile programs.” It was written by Joseph R. DeTrani and published on March
5, 2020 in The Washington Times.
DeTrani
began his discussion by telling the history of the most recent efforts ––
mounted by the United States of America –– to negotiate some kind of agreement
with North Korea. It was meant to reduce the fears developed in the region and
beyond by the rise of North Korea as a nuclear power. After an initial moment
of optimism, due to the meetings that were held by the leaders of the two
countries, it all came to naught when in 2019, the United States ended the
summit meeting between the two leaders, and North Korea resumed the test-launch
of short-range ballistic missiles. This prompted Joseph DeTrani to ask the
obvious question: “Where do we go from here?” to which he responded as follows:
“It
is obvious that North Korea will do its best to retain its nuclear weapons. Its
survival depends on them. However, a potential package could get Mr. Kim back
to the negotiating table. The prospect of normal relations to include the
lifting of sanctions, a peace treaty ending the Korean War and economic
development assistance [should do it.] These could be provided as North Korea
returns to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state.
The process could proceed if China is supportive. 90 percent of North Korea's
trade is with China, which can convince it [to give up] its nuclear weapons.
Currently, North Korea appears confident that it will be accepted as a nuclear
weapons state. The challenge is to convince it that the United States and China
will not accept [such situation]”.