The Nork/SLORC connection

A few years back when I heard that the Burmese were getting help from the Russians to build a nuclear reactor, my thought was "Yikes, that is scary; those idiots couldn't run a fruit stand, let alone a nuclear reactor." Now there seems to be increasing evidence that Than Shwe and crew are trying to follow in the footsteps of North Korea, literally, and develop their own nuclear weapon. To say this is bad is like saying the mainstream media thinks highly of President Obama.

Apparently I was wrong to think of them as idiots. The Burmese junta formerly known as the SLORC (sounds like a bad-guy name out of Austin Powers or Get Smart, right?) is crazy, but they they are not stupid. They have watched the past decade plus of North Korean and Iranian nuclear brinksmanship -- and the corresponding attention, financial aid, business relationships, etc. it has earned for the rulers of those two regimes -- and decided "I gots to get me some of that." Their logic, which is irrefutable based on US policy responses over the past 15 years, is that if they get the bomb or even just make everyone think they are trying to or close or something, the West will stop picking on them and start showing respect.

Thanks Chris Hill - add another win to your column. And thanks also to China for all their "help" with Burma - couldn't have done it without you, as usual.

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