Less than a month after U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said that the UN Security Council was working on a resolution “with teeth that will bite in North Korea,” the Kim regime tested a battery of proscribed short- and medium-range missiles. So much for the teeth. How did the Security Council respond this time? It “condemned” the action, naturally. But, of course, the real concern of the “international community” isn’t the nuclear braggadocio of a rogue regime; it’s the mortal fear that another country might attempt to inhibit the mad brinkmanship of Kim Jong Il:

The council appealed to all countries in the region to refrain from “any action” that could escalate tensions, Ruhakana Rugunda, the Ugandan ambassador who serves as the council’s acting president, told reporters after a special meeting of the council today in New York.

Wherever you turn today, the free world is allowing bad actors to define the rules of the game and call the shots. In Latin America, Hugo Chavez signs off on Manuel Zelaya’s assault on Honduran democracy and the American administration concurs. In the Middle East, the Iranian regime murders civil protesters and tells us to butt out, so we do. In the Pacific, Kim Jong Il says that a sneeze will be considered an act of war, so the UN pinches its nose.

Here’s the quote of the day:

“I think the DPRK is getting the message,” said Japan’s ambassador, Yukio Takasu, referring to North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “We hope they will stop launching missiles eventually.”

Yes. Know hope, as they say.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 1:41 PM and is filed under Contentions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.