Skip Navigation

The Daily Dish - 2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan

This Is Only A Test

By The Daily Dish
May 27 2009, 6:02 AM ET

Stephen Walt says the US shouldn't take North Korea's nuclear bait:

So the best response is to remain calm, and stop talking as if this event is a test of Obama's resolve or a fundamental challenge to U.S. policy.  In fact, the tests are just "business as usual" for North Korea, and it would better if the United States "under-reacts" rather than overreacts. Instead of giving Pyongyang the attention it wants, the United States should use this incident as an opportunity to build consensus among the main interested parties (China, Russia, South Korea, Japan) and let China take the lead in addressing it. Above all, the Obama administration should avoid making a lot of sweeping statements about how it will not "tolerate" a North Korean nuclear capability. The fact is that we've tolerated it for some time now, and since we don't have good options for dealing with it, that's precisely what we will continue to do.



Presented by

More at The Atlantic

Beating History: Why Today's Rising Powers Can't Copy the West Why Rising Economies Can't Copy the West
The Fight for a Fair and Free Internet The Fight for a Fair and Free Internet
5 Lessons From the Rise of the BRICs 5 Lessons From the World's Great Rising Economies
Greece Is on Pace for the Worst Recession in Modern History Why the Greek Recession Could Get Much Worse
Xi Jinping's Visit and the End of the 'Nixon Goes to China' Era The End of the 'Nixon Goes to China' Era
Special Report
The Civil War National Portrait Gallery The Civil War
A 150th-anniversary commemorative issue, with Atlantic work by Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and others. Read more ›
View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

World Press Photo Contest 2012

Feb 15, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)