News that Isn't News?

Half a decade later the "Dear Leader" and his fellow rogues have confirmed that naivity. So much for those "water-safe" reactors. The perplexing part of the admission is why North Korea offered it. Now the IAEA will pay another visit, and the "Nuclear Club" members will have to grapple with a topic that has troubled them for years: What happens if a rogue state gets nukes? Well, a certifiable rogue state admits it has a serious nuclear weapons/WMD program. What will be done about it? Where have all the theorists gone? Probably not to their national defense ministries - which is exactly where they should go.

The reality of nuclear war and the chance of misuse of nuclear missiles cannot be reversed. It is a reality that has too long been a topic of mere speculation, but like many other favored topics of theoretical speculation, when the reality announces itself, all the theorizing results in nothing more than new levels of theorizing. North Korea can have all the rapproachment it wants with Japan and other Asian countries, but that will not diffuse the problems along its border with South Korea. North Korea's acknowledgement of its nuclear weapons program could lead to quite destabilizing elements in the region. Are the theorists now pensively grappling with that likely instability? If yes, how will they confront that reality when it transpires?

And there lies the news value of North Korea's announcement. The significance is not in the announcement itself. The announcement itself simply confirms what has been believed for at least the last decade. The news value lies in the tangible consequences of the announcement and that the dreaded situation of a rogue state gaining nuclear weapons capabilities has left the realm of the theorists and has gone to the realm of actual military planners. How they will confront this transformation no doubt will provide plenty of future news content and value.

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