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North Korea Makes Things Worse
Taepo Dong rocket, that flies no one knows where, no one knows what for, and can fall onto anyone’s head, represents the entire North Korean political behavior— impetuous, unpredictable, defiantly juxtaposed to the rest of the world, and thus certainly dangerous. However, North Korean recluse Kim Jong-il is not the only headless horseman in modern geopolitics. Just like the flight line of North Korean rocket, it is impossible to predict the political line of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who keeps tickling the nerves of world leaders with Iran’s untamed uranium. One more notorious example is the way Palestinian radical government Hamas acts.
Headless horsemen of international politics do not, however, consider themselves as such, thinking their heads are quite alright. The viewpoint of world powers’ leaders, President Bush in particular, is just the opposite. It seems Kim Jong-il made his rocket fireworks specially for US Independence Day, as if to mock Bush. But what did North Korean leader, who thinks himself a wise ruler, actually achieve by launching the rockets? Did he strengthen the defense potential of North Korea? Scarcely! Or did he secure extra supplies of so-necessary-in-all-times black oil and rice? It is unlikely as well. North Korea rather risks losing even what it has now. Anyway, terrified Japan now considers imposing economic sanctions on North Korea. Thus, the only response of the world community to Pyongyang’s recent actions can be the growing isolation of North Korea, but not an attempt to appease it like they coax a spoilt child (here, have this gingerbread and don’t play fray). Although Kim Jong-il expects gingerbread, this is not what he will get. In response to North Korea’s unreasonable actions, its oxygen will be shut off, and this isolation will be shattering the regime from within. So, does our horseman have a head on his shoulders?
Meanwhile, the launch of North Korean rocket brings us back to the subject of Moscow’s special relations with international headless horsemen, showing the relativity of Kremlin’s influence on unpredictable regimes. Russia had nothing to do but to express perplexity when Kim Jong-il launched its Taepo Dong and showed that Russian government should cherish no illusions of being able to influence the situation on Korean peninsula. In the end, all games of Moscow with Kim Jong-il, whose armored train once arrived to Moscow and whom Putin called a “modern politician”, now look strange after the launch of rockets. The world community cannot regard these games as diplomatic achievements of Moscow anymore. Whether we like it or not, Russia involuntarily shares in the responsibility for irresponsible regimes headed by such “modern politicians” as Kim Jong-il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, because Moscow is always ready to offer its hand when it meets a headless horseman.
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