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Ethiopia and the North Korean Arms Shipment

16 Apr

America’s latest Somali adventure, in partnership with Ethiopia, is beginning to get a bit complicated.  A news report (see below),  indicates that the U.S., allowed a shipment of North Korean arms and military supplies purchased by Ethiopia, to go through despite a United Nations resolution against North Korean arms shipments.  Back in October, 2006, North Korea tested its new nuclear arsenal, which caused President Bush to get all hot and bothered.  Actually, quite a few nations and leaders reacted with alarm, even though everyone knew the North Koreans would eventually  test a weapon of some sort.

Anyway, back to the Ethiopian issue:  As you will recall, in December, 2006, Ethiopia intervened in the ongoing Somali Civil War with clear American support.  U.S. warplanes conducted air strikes on Islamist targets, the U.S. Navy blockades the Somali coast, and American Special Forces accompanied Ethiopian troops into Somalia and apparently aided in the interrogation of suspected al-Qaida and other Islamist prisoners. 

It is obvious that America and Ethiopia are allies, which does explain why Washington wants Ethiopia to have a well-supplied military.  But the question comes up as to what is more important:  pacifying Somalia and keeping al-Qaida out, or being serious about  showing North Korea we are serious about punishing them for their nuclear program?  And if we are going easy on North Korea despite our  threats and bellyaching about their nuclear ambitions, won’t Iran and other would be nuclear powered threats look at this incident and wonder just how serious we are about them?

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/15/MNGVLP6LVQ1.DTL&type=politics

 
 

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