Appeasement Doesn't Work: Two Newest Cases

Case # 1:

Say what you will about Ariel Sharon, it was his decision to vacate Gaza and turn it over to the Palestinian Authority. The PA has clearly done a wonderful job with the government there, and Israel is resultingly much safer having done so.

To the point where Israel has its military lined up ready to, essentially "retake" Gaza -- and they are entering northern Gaza at this moment.

Case #2:

President William Jefferson Clinton decided it would be wise to provide North Korea with American cash in exchange for its dropping interest in a nuclear program. Yesterday, North Korea demonstrated in an equally efficient and proficient fashion its ability to saber-rattle by shooting off its own equivalent of fireworks on July 4th.

We threw money at North Korea to abandon its nuclear program and delivery systems, then, huh, find ourselves once again being "blackmailed" for cash for same.

Except this time the NKM (North Korean Midget) has become a laughingstock in the international missile community on one hand, and on the other has managed to actually raise the ire of UN members -- Japan predominantly amongst them due to its proximity to the NKM's property.

But let's go back a bit: North Korea refused to carry out its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other nuclear accords it had signed by building nuclear reactors and a plutonium reprocessing plant at a site called Yongbyon. Nations believed North Korea had enough weapons-grade plutonium for the manufacture of at least one nuclear weapon.

Clinton tried negotiations, but North Korea's violations of its obligations under the NPT killed the talks until August of 1994. However, the US and North Korea signed an agreement on October 21, 1994, that offered North Korea a package of benefits in return for a freeze of North Korea's nuclear program.

Benefits to North Korea included: light water nuclear reactors totaling 2,000 electric megawatts by the year 2003; shipments of "heavy oil" to North Korea (50,000 tons in 1995 and 500,000 tons annually beginning in 1996 until the first light water reactor is built); U.S. agreement to establish liaison offices as an initial step toward diplomatic relations; and a relaxation of the American economic embargo against North Korea.

In December 1995, the United States and North Korea signed a supply contract for the light water reactors.

So, by way of appeasement wherein the US provided NK with lots of cash and nuclear technology, NK kept up its end of the bargain by continuing its nuclear program on the sly and then in the clear and further, on July 4th this week, by firing off its first official generation of a nuclear weapons delivery system.

Let's cut to the chase:

Appeasement by US and other regimes does not work; invariably it comes right around to haunt the offerer. And the NKM wants what he wants when he wants it but, first, he simply wants the CASH -- though he has indicated more missile tests are coming.

But wait, there's more:

Taiwan, China's non-conformist little brother, says it will "test-fire a missile capable of hitting China, alarming the island's main ally, the United States, a cable news network said on Thursday."

The Hsiung Feng III, developed by Taiwan's Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, has a range of 600 km (360 miles) and is accurate to within half a meter, the online edition of cable news network ETTV (http://www.ettoday.com) said, quoting unnamed military sources.
That range would put areas along China's coast from Fuzhou in Fujian Province to Nan'ao in Guangdong within striking distance of the missile, the Web site said.

The plot thickens -- is China getting some of its own medicine when, at the same time, it and Russia refuse to condemn the NKM's recent missile tests?