Israel Matzav

The Obama administration goes limp on the axis of evil

Before he went soft in his second term, George W. Bush referred to Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the 'axis of evil.' It was a speech that was reminiscent of Ronald Reagan's 'evil empire' speech of the 1980's (for those under 20, he was referring to the Soviet Union), and many hoped that the Bush administration would take action against those who spread fear and terrorism around the world. Bush took action against Iraq, but went soft in his second term, even removing North Korea from the international terror list.

Recent developments have made the North Koreans the subject of a UN resolution that prohibits them from shipping weapons. But like so many other UN resolutions, this one has no teeth. It gives other countries the right to track North Korean ships, but not to board them without permission. As a result, the USS John McCain is now tracking the North Korean ship Kan Nam, which apparently has arms and is heading for Burma. What arms it might be carrying and what it plans to do with them is anyone's guess.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il has promised that his country will launch a missile toward the United States on July 4. Pam Geller believes that the Kan Nam is carrying a missile for that purpose, but the missile will not contain fissile material. She believes it will launch its payload from a point closer than Burma. She believes that the US is being tested.

Ashok Malik believes that the missile will be launched from Burma, and notes that a Taepodong-2 missile has a range of 6500 km while it is 7000 km from Burma to Hawaii.

Irrawaddy, a magazine of Burmese exiles, raises the possibility that Burma itself is seeking to acquire missiles, so as to threaten neighboring Thailand.

And another story I saw last week speculated that Burma could actually be a transhipment point for sending weapons to Iran.

Any or all of these scenarios could be correct. But what all of them make clear is that the Obama administration shown itself to be a paper tiger after just six months in office. It is quickly turning America into a laughingstock. As Claudia Rosett notes:

What neither North Korea nor Iran has felt from the U.S. is any demonstration of will to get rid of either regime. At this point, we know plenty about the trangressions, aggressive ambitions, and growing dangers of North Korea and its pals. What’s missing — apart from the brave strike by Israel on the Syrian reactor two years ago — is the will to do anything about it. All courses are fraught with risk. But the worst possible course is to bluster, and talk, and wheedle, and confirm to Pyongyang, Tehran and the rest of world’s web of rogue and nuclear-aspiring states that America, faced with a game of chicken, will stand down.

Recall that cooling tower at North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor complex, which the North Koreans blew up with great fanfare last year, while the Bush administration paid the out-sized bill of millions for the farcical demolition. I wonder — might America be safer today if Bush had chosen to impress North Korea with a different sort of display for the occasion — and dispatched that cooling tower with a strike from a cruise missile?

Ironically, the only country on which the Obama administration has brought pressure to bear is Israel. Perhaps we too should ignore them.

The photoshop at the top of Jimmy Obama came from The American Thinker's home page.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:45 AM