North Korea claims to have tested a nuclear weapon today...I was also reminded of a poem I wrote a couple of years ago by this incident. It's entitled 'A Universal Mind', and its posted on Author's Den as well--if you're interested.

Yippee! We’ve finally gotten the world to listen to the message that the annihilation of the human race is a BAD thing.

Hooray! We finally think of ourselves as a PLANET OF NATION-STATES, instead of as separate countries somehow inhabiting our own universe. We are now aware that we all live on the same planet, Earth, and it’s the only one we know of that can support our lifestyle. We’ve realized that bombs dropped or chemical weapons used carelessly will kill us all, if we don’t exercise diplomacy and common sense.

Thumbs up! Most of us understand that A BUILD-UP OF NUCLEAR ARMAMENTS by a high number of nation-states is a disastrous mistake, mostly because terrorists live among us, and they may not hesitate to use nukes to perpetuate fear.

Good news, right?

I think so. Reeducating the world and ourselves about the reality of our fate has cost many lives (e.g., the World Trade Center, Iraq, the Sudan), but the very real terrorist threat we live under has required us to make difficult choices about how we perceive our planet, other countries and our very existence. Fortunately, our self-preservation instincts have kicked in, and most nation-states (the ones that have power anyway) have generally opted to band together to stop those countries/leaders that could end human life. The world’s response to Saddam Hussein’s bogus chemical weapons threat is a perfect example of the new partnership that’s developing in the world community.

So…what’s wrong with North Korea? If you don’t already know, they claim to have tested a nuclear weapon today, despite warnings from the worldwide community to stop developing nukes.

It seems rather humorous to me to state the obvious but…doesn’t the North Korean government realize that there are countries on this planet that have been manufacturing nuclear weapons for, oh say, about 60 years now? Those nations don’t have to ‘test’ to know how many warheads to direct at North Korea to blow it off the planet.

They also don’t need to ‘test’ to know how to save as many folks as possible, except the North Koreans, from the impact of a contained nuclear blast.

In addition, in a world where many of our leaders are already paranoid about terrorist attacks, hackers, spies and other threats to their national security, patience runs thin. This is probably not the best time in history to call the bluff of the worldwide community.

In any case, North Korea did, and this has put them and the world in a very dangerous position. Surely, there will be an international response; much the same as there was when Iraq invaded Kuwait. If diplomacy doesn’t work, we just might have another war on our hands.

And, I still can’t figure out why. We’ll be sending our loved ones to the battlefield for no good reason.

I mean I know WHY we’ll be going to war—to save humanity. But why is North Korea so hell-bent on developing nuclear weapons?

Who will they fight? The South Koreans?

Why develop a nuclear bomb to use on such a small peninsula?

Surely, they have bigger dreams--maybe they intend to control the entire Pacific Rim. Or maybe they’re thinking even bigger—maybe they want to blow up Hawaii. Then the Americans will surely get involved. And, with the Americans will come the British, the Canadians, the Russians, Japan, China, and the rest of Europe and Asia.

Maybe they think that with their new toy, they can rule the world.

Surely, they did not consider the more probable outcome—sanctions that would cripple their economic development for a very long time. The rest of the world will go on and prosper while North Koreans will live subsistence lives, full of shortages of basic necessities. They’ll become an ill-equipped third world nation, decades behind other countries their size.

At worse, they could become a war zone, and after they’ve lost the war, spend the next 50 years in debt to the World Bank, who will need to loan them money to rebuild their infrastructure, their economy and help them train their population to be productive in the 21st century.

Maybe they think that this is a big joke. If so, they are the only ones laughing. Because unlike us average folk that can sell our homes when what we consider to be ‘bad elements’ move into the neighborhood, their geographic neighbors can’t simply sell and move away.

So, they will take this very seriously. And they will disarm them, or destroy them with the help of other countries that have more experience, more bombs, more foot soldiers and more resolve.

Too bad. It’s just another case of egos outweighing talent. And, it’s made even worse if innocent blood has to be shed.

Another day on planet Earth.

See you at the top!
Wendi