On the Potential for North Korean Nuclear Arms

So one of the things I think I am most proud of as an American (besides Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt) is the fact that many years ago we as a world leader decided to put aside our petty grievances with the Soviet Union (among others) and sit down and seriously discuss the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in an effort to save our planet.

Many societies before us have fallen prey to the gluttony of power, the imposition of their will upon the masses, the pillaging of conquered territories. I have not really seen that in my country. I mean yes the war in Iraq is a bit puzzling; if we conquered a country rich in oil reserves than why does my gas cost more?, etc. but perhaps I am naive enough to believe in the good old American set of values; that we just mean to show them the superiority of our ways and they will naturally convert.

The fact that we as a species were capable of sitting down and bridging the significant gaps between participating countries to address the belief that we had advanced technologically to the point that our continued misbehavior could lead to total destruction of the planet (more probably of life as we know it). The fact that we put the greater good of our planet above all else, well that totally blew my cynical mind and made me a big believer that our species may have a future on this planet after all.

I mean I agree we have the ability to do damage on a global scale when we only think locally, and I buy into the belief that we need to be constantly vigilant on the impact we have on our surrounding eco-system (think about the concept of an extinct species), but the fact that we can bind together at a country level to concern ourselves on a global scale is simply mind blowing.

This is why the North Korean issue so perplexes me. I mean at the end of the day it boils down to this in my mind; the big fish have decided to behave so as not to damage their shared environment. Some young pip-squeek wants to get away with intransigence afforded by the politeness of the big fish swimming in this sea. I say its time for the big fish to bare their teeth and be less polite. Its really as simple as that.