Will we never learn?

I guess it's human nature...someone "gets in your face" and then you feel the need to "show them who's boss". Call it Sabre Rattling, or what you want. We don't ever seem to learn that this stuff will always occur when people interact. Get enough people, put them together, and you inevitably get conflict. That's exactly what's happening with North Korea right now. From our point of view, the leader of N. Korea is crazy, evil, etc., and we are... "righteous". Perhaps so, but I can't help thinking that characterizing our enemy/opponent on the world stage as nuts makes it all too easy. I suspect reality is somewhere in between. For whenever we start painting with a broad brush our opposition, essentially making them 2-dimensional, we sow the seeds of an impasse. Let's face it, if we are righteous, and he is nuts, where do we go from there?

One of the main problems the United States has with foreign policy is that our positions/viewpoints are debated on the world stage for all to see. That is also one of our greatest strengths. In a case like this, however, we have to acknowledge the negative side effects of this reality. Consider the analogy to a hostage situation. The "bad guys" have people held hostage in a bank, and we send in our crack negotiator to solve the problem. Unfortunately, the bad guy has the room bugged where our negotiator discusses and debates all his strategies and tactics with us. So the bad guys know what we know, but we don't really know what they know. We are at a disadvantage from an intelligence point of view. This was the problem in Iraq and Afganistan, and now North Korea.

What we need to do is simply acknowledge that this is the case and try to use it to our advantage. I'm sure our government is trying, but it seems from my point of view that we can still use some more improvement. Publically saying things like "This guy is crazy" or "He is basically acting like a spoiled child and should be treated as such" may in fact be true, but will hardly be effective strategies if 1) we publicize we feel this way and 2) Kim Jong Il hears it on CNN. We may feel this way. It may in fact be true. Doesn't matter. We simply can't say it and then expect to act on it effectively. The bad guys have our room bugged.

So what do we do? If I knew that, I would not be blogging; I'd be doing something more productive. For what it's worth, here are my recommendations:

1. Make US policy crystal clear. If we or any of our allies gets attacked, spell out exactly what will happen, automatically, without negotiation. If we are clear, consistent, and credible, our enemies and our allies will heed our positions. IF not, then they are crazy and deserve what they get. This is something we can do for free. It costs nothing, and will save lives and money in the long run if we do it properly. There is no excuse for being ambiguous about the U.S. response to a specific type of attack.

2. Make our allies take a stand. Naturally, we need to do #1 above in order to have any chance of making our allies be clear and credible. Lead by example. Then expect our allies to follow. We need put checks in place to verify their actions and hold them accountable. And by the way, they should be doing the same thing to us.

3. Make other countries get off the fence. This includes our "special friends" like China and Russia, who seem to enjoy unique status because they have nukes. Dont' we get it? It is this unique, special treatment that we endow China and Russia with that the other countries like North Korea WANT. They see them getting special treatment and want it too! We are training them to act in this manner. If you want other countries to stop pursuing nukes, you need to take away their appeal. Make it more dangerous to own nukes than to not own nukes.

---> These recommendations do not require troop movements, UN resolutions, or other significant investments of money, time, or human resources. They do, however, require thought, nonpartisan cooperation, clear convictions, and resolve. Perhaps that is why we never seem to go this route.