North Korea Rocket Launch on Track

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/world/asia/04korea.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

The point here is not that North Korea will launch a rocket or whether or not it is for satellite or ballistic missile testing. No, the issue here is that Western nations have taught their enemies how to beat us. Regardless of how many stern warnings or convened security councils there are, North Korea will launch this missile as they have many times before and there is nothing anyone will do about. This has been the trademark of Western nation's diplomacy. We ask hundreds of times to not do something, they do it, and then we offer them rewards to not do it again. They accept and for a few years you hear nothing. Then when our enemies want something else, they get themselves in the news and the cycle repeats. The only problem here is that while Westerns observe this as a peace process, our enemies see these opportunities as preparatory periods in which they can do whatever they want covertly while still raking in the aide money. So, while it is wonderful North Korea hasn't nuked some city in the past decade, stern warnings and aide money are not going to deter them forever. One of these days we will wake up with one of our cities gone and wonder how this could have happened while all the while it was apparent: we need to walk less softly and carry a bigger stick.