Obama Administration’s Strategic Mistake In The North Korea Issue

I feel that the Obama administration has committed a serious strategic blunder by openly siding with South Korea in the latter’s latest tussle with North Korea. By doing this the USA has not only diluted the opportunity to strengthen its own diplomatic interests, but has also created problem for South Korea, as well.

It must be understood that South Korea’s tussle with North Korea is very much likely to turn into a full scale war. And if that happens, then North Korea might get military and diplomatic support from other communist countries, which will certainly make matters worse for South Korea. However, if somehow South Korea can convince the world that its fight is just against some actions of the North Korean government and not against the latter’s communist ideology, then the possibility of other communist countries extending help to North Korea will be lesser.

But now with the US government candidly showing its support for South Korea, the latter might be perceived by the Communist world as a stooge of the USA. And in that case they will certainly join the fight in one way or the other, as they will now perceive the fight against South Korea as a fight against the latter’s mentor the USA (i.e. the bête noire of the communist world).

The USA should have kept itself behind the curtain. It could have maintained the image of a “non interested party”, while secretly extending military, logistics and other necessary support to South Korea. The USA has personal interest in launching a strong diplomatic and military offensive against North Korea, and it is quite understandable that the former does not want to lose any relevant opportunity. However, in this case the USA had the opportunity to serve its interests through South Korea, without getting personally involved in the issue. It was precisely this opportunity that the USA did not have during its fight against Vietnam, as it did not have any ally in that region which could have acted on her behalf. But this time the USA had one such suitable ally, whom the US government could have effectively used against the common foe in that region, without getting personally involved. Obama and his mandarins could have at least waited for the first attack from the North Korean government against South Korea (like a missile attack, or bombing, or something like that). And then the US government could have come into the picture, with the world’s sympathy with South Korea. (Let us remember the Gulf War in 1990, when the US government launched an attack against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the name of liberating Kuwait from Iraqi invading army, while actually the USA was fighting for its own interest).

Unfortunately, the US government misread the situation this time, and jumped into the fight between the North and South Korea without thinking much.

Or is it so that actually it is me who is wrong? May be. After all I am not a seasoned diplomat. I am just an ordinary person who avidly follows the national and international developments.

Hi Obama

Hi Obama, you have created history. It is not that you are the first US President to create history. Several US Presidents before you have made achievements that will always be written in golden letters in the history of your powerful (but not always respected) country.

But what makes you stand apart is that all the other Presidents had to perform notably to get their names immortal in the US history, whereas you have made history merely by getting elected as the President, given the fact that you are the first Black person to grab that coveted position. Even if you just sit idle throughout your tenure, without doing anything meaningful, still your name will always remain prominent as the first Black President of your country.

Good luck to you and your companions. Hope you will have a nice time there in the throne. We are all thrilled to know that you have some new plans for various areas of the US administration, like the foreign affairs, economy, etc. I am sure that you will remain honest to your fame as a practical leader, and will take all your decisions with precise focus on long term results, without getting carried away by any urge to take populist measures only to retain your mass popularity. For example, I hope you will realize (if you have not realized it already) that though Outsourcing appears to be bad for the US economy, in reality it is not that bad, and in fact it has some positive impacts. And, I further hope, this realization will make you change the way you perceive Outsourcing.

I also feel that your enthusiasm for resisting proliferation of nuclear weapons will not make you play a spoilsport for the Indo-US nuclear deal, which precisely entails the civilian use of nuclear power.

Obama, it was not only the US, but the entire world that supported you during your fight for the throne. And today it is not only the US, but the entire world that is looking forward to you with the hope for a new USA, which means a new world order. Again, good luck to you.

Photo courtesy - http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/