The past several months have not been great for the foreign policy of the United States. First, there was the botching of supporting opposition in the fraudulent Iranian election. Next, America sided with a wannabe dictator in Manuel Zelaya in Honduras. Now, North Korea has kickstarted its uranium enrichment program after attempting to ship illegal arms to Iran, against United Nations approval.
This comes after new sanctions were placed on the Communist nation. It was a good idea to place sanctions on the country, but there was no effective enforcement mechanism. So what happened was the sanctions were enough to anger the North but not stop its economy. This is similar to what happened in Germany after the Treaty of Versailles-- France punished Germany enough for the German people to turn to the Nazis, but not enough to halt an economic-- and military recovery.
As the North stated: "We are prepared for both dialogue and sanctions. If some permanent members of the UNSC wish to put sanctions first before dialogue, we would respond with bolstering our nuclear deterrence first before we meet them in a dialogue."
President Obama needs to put down a firm set of punishments if the North (and Iran for that matter) continue to enrich uranium. Telling Iran that the Strait of Hormuz would be blocked or telling the North that all economic aid will be revoked may do the trick.
President Obama's supporter(s) tell us that he's strong on foreign policy. After a group of blunders, it's about time to prove it.
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