Smile wide, Madisonians, for on this Thursday morning, all is well in the world. Midterm exams are fast approaching, scandals and cover-ups are highlighting the election season and the most beloved team in baseball, the Minnesota Twins, are down 0-2 in the divisional playoff series.
OK, so things kind of suck right now, but maybe better times lie ahead in the not-too-distant future. So for now, I think I'll look to recent developments in our national foreign policy to put a smile on my face. See if it works for you.
North Korea announced Tuesday it is planning to conduct its first-ever nuclear test, setting off worldwide alarms and prompting everyone in the national media to say, "Oh yeah, North Korea." The test has come as such a surprise to our national conscious because there just hasn't been enough time for the country to keep an eye on this inevitable foreign policy disaster while fighting and defending our dozens of other current foreign policy disasters.
Since testing seven missiles this past July, including one long-range Taepodong-2 missile, we haven't heard much about the North Koreans. As a matter of fact, we haven't heard much of anything about North Korea's developing nuclear activity since all international nuclear inspectors were evicted from the country in 2003, just around the same time the United States began to focus on invading a little place called Iraq. Funny coincidence, huh?
But even long after President Bush made his infamous declaration that the mission had been accomplished in Iraq, and long after the United States fell into its current rut of diminishing influence and rising death tolls in the Middle East, we still couldn't manage to shift any of our attention to where it needed to be.
Instead, Iran and its adorable little nutcase of a president eclipsed the nuclear limelight. With antagonizing connections to leaders such as Hugo Chavez, a position of Holocaust denial and a public threat by the president to "wash Israel into the sea," Iran has made for a much sexier story. But now is a defining time for our foreign policy, when it is essential that this sexy story plays second fiddle to the future of our national security.
North Korea is far further along on the nuclear weapons track than Iran. According to CNN, North Korea has "8,000 spent fuel rods," enough for up to five nuclear weapons. Iran on the other hand, has been estimated to have enriched only 3 percent of the uranium needed for one nuclear weapon. Also, a nuclear weapon in the hands of North Korea poses the threat that the government could continue its tendency to sell highly powerful weapons for hard cash. Or in other words, it poses the threat of nuclear arms falling into the hands of terrorists.
Even in a more practical case, North Korea possessing nuclear arms would undoubtedly restructure the balance of power in the region and could possibly force Japan and South Korea to pursue their own nuclear weapons. By no means should we discount Iran's deviant behavior as a very serious threat, but now is the time for this administration to prioritize and rationalize its foreign policy and step up to the plate to hit a foreign policy homerun with the issue of North Korea.
Not surprisingly, however, the administration's reaction since gaining word of the looming nuclear test has been disappointing and ambiguous at best. As earlier stated by a senior Asian diplomat, "No one is quite sure how to respond." And on Tuesday, Condoleezza Rice viciously tackled the issue by saying that a test by North Korea would be "a very provocative act." Close Condi. But a nuclear test by North Korea would be far more than provocative. It would be one step closer to North Korea having a functioning nuclear weapon, and that would be catastrophic.
So if these recent foreign policy developments haven't cheered you up at all, let me leave you with a more proactive suggestion to ensure a brightening of your mood this fall: vote. Go to the polls this November, and do your part in demanding change in our country's leadership. Fill out a ballot that will not compromise for another two years of twisted domestic and foreign policy priorities, and that will set this country back on the track of growing prosperity here and abroad. Then, when you leave your polling place this November, you might actually find yourself smiling.
Andy Granias ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in political science and international studies.