Talk, as the old saying goes, is cheap. It gets even cheaper when it is completely undermined by events which reveal it to be nothing more than rank hypocrisy. For revealing such hypocrisy, thoughtful Americans owe a debt of gratitude to a most unlikely source: North Korea.
Every day the world is becoming a far more dangerous place, due in large part to the proliferation of nuclear technology and the improvements in missile delivery systems being made by some of the most despicable actors on the planet. When nations like North Korea, Iran and Pakistan are “raising their nuclear game,” the more vulnerable other nations become to nuclear attack. That being the immutable reality, pure logic–as opposed to puerile politics–would dictate anything the United States can do to prevent itself and its allies from being vulnerable would be the ultimate no-brainer.
Enter cheap talk. The Obama administration has decided to gut funding for a defensive missile shield which has finally proven itself technologically capable of “hitting a bullet with a bullet” and protecting those nations who have it from being nuked. Furthermore, it is reneging on a deal to put such a shield in Eastern Europe in order to placate the Russians, and also as a means of “persuading” Iran to give up its own nuclear ambitions.
Enter rank hypocrisy. Prior to the July 4th weekend, it was reported that North Korea was intending to test long-range ballistic missiles, possibly aiming them in the direction of Hawaii. So what did the Obama administration do? Secretary of Defense Robert Gates immediately deployed our defensive missile shield, aka the Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) system and SBX radar to our 50th state.
Both systems are still in the developmental stages, which means they may or may not have been successful if North Korea had been dumb enough to lob an ICBM over Honolulu, et al. Yet it is quite revealing that the same administration which talks about the lack of need for such a system was more than willing to deploy it at the first sign of a genuine threat–even as they endeavor to de-fund its subsequent development.
Why the disconnect? The triumph of adolescent egotism over real-world maturity. We have an administration inhabited by people who genuinely believe that dulcet diplomacy is a more-than-viable substitute for military preparedness. In other words, as long as we’re “nice,” everyone else will be nice too.
North Korea was “nice” enough to prove the utter futility of that worldview. Yet in true adolescent fashion, the Obama administration will not be dissuaded from its conviction that a defensive missile shield is a waste of time and money.
Americans should ask themselves what’s worse: paying for a shield with the possibility of never having to use it, or “paying” for not having a shield if some megalomaniac–immune to sweet-talk–decides a nuclear one-off would raise his stature among our enemies. Do we want to be capable or incapable of preventing an American city from being nuked?
That the question even needs to be asked is mind-boggling.
atahlert@comcast.net
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