I love irony in all shapes and form.
For example, I love the fact that President Obama chose a week in which North Korea tested a ballistic missile to stage a call to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
So while the Pyongyang government was busy violating (or allegedly violating) a 2006 Security Council resolution that barred North Korea from ballistic missile activity, Obama was stating (Sunday April 5) that all nations must strive together to rid the world of nuclear arms. What’s more, the US president went as far as saying that the U.S. had a "moral responsibility" to lead because no other country has used one. Never mind the context in which they (the bombs) were used or the lives saved as a result, that is an argument for another day.
Though a nice thought for sure, such Idealistic rhetoric has little place in today’s world. After all, does Obama really think that mankind can cram the nuclear genie back in the bottle? Does he really believe that the likes of North Korea, Iran, or any third rate dictator on the horizon, would be willing to go along with such a notion? Better yet, does he think that a relatively powerless United Nation, who is not currently capable of handling even the simplest of warlords in Africa or even pirates off the coast of Somalia, can suddenly and effectively patrol the globe for dissenting nations?
Please! Give me the deterrent that was the Cold War any day over idealistic rhetoric turned meaningless by simple acts of defiance from two-bit dictators. At least you always knew where you stood during the Cold War. The world was basically black and white, with very little left for shades of gray. Back then, you either played puppet to the evil empire known as the Soviet Union, or you aligned yourself with the nation wearing the white hate, the United States of America. And having been born in Communist Cuba just a few years past the October Missile Crisis, I am at least qualified to offer an opinion on the subject. So yes, while you lived on the edge of your seat in those days, awaiting the likes of a nuclear holocaust, at least you always knew the good guys from the bad…and there was a balance of power, a balance that served as a deterrent to anyone wanting to play with weapons of mass destruction.
Now? Who knows where we stand now. Our current US president felt a need to apologize to the world for “American arrogance,” and in the same breath he naively stated that he would like for the nuclear genie to crawl safely back in the bottle and for the world to forget that such weapons exist.
At least we still have Kim Yong-il, North Korea’s mad little dictator, to remind us that the genie will never go quietly back into the bottle, and that ridding the world of a technology it already has (however malevolent )is nothing short of a naïve dream. So Kim, buddy, if you are listening, thanks for the dose of reality, and the touch of irony.
Comments for this post