In 1907, after consolidating a lot of power silently,then president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt sent out a fleet to circumnavigate the world. The fleet which came to be widely recognized as the great white fleet was sent out to showcase the rise of a new empire. The new empire was the United States of America. It tentatively arrived at the world after decades of tedious struggle to consolidate all the power in most of the Americas. The fleet had 14500 personnel and 16 battleships. To say the least,the great white fleet mission was a resounding success returning to the US in 1909. It transversed all the oceans including the Pacific, Atlantic and the Indian ocean. Its policies and methodologies were reminiscent of carrot and stick. Just as Roosevelt used to say, it’s better to speak less and have a long stick. Carrot and stick is a mixture of force with a tincture of diplomacy. Those who were too rigid to be coerced were shown the stick and so in 1909 USA emerged from the shadows as a world power.
I brought this up to jog your memory about the prevailing situation of. Just the other day, North Korea launched a medium range missile across the North of Japan. The world was rattled and rightly so considering the provocative nuclear saber-rattling currently taking place between Russia and the US. It really worried the US and its allies in the region like South Korea and Japan. The response was conducting military drills in the South China sea. Drawing an anology from the US story,it is clear that this posturing was just like a little advertising campaign. North Korea was simply announcing their arrival at the world stage as a nuclear power. They were announcing their arrival as a power or force to recon with and what is a better way to announce than by launching a missile across Japan-a US ally. Those worried about escalation should calm their nerves. The announcement was a one off event and it’s clear that the message was resistance because of their nuclear ambitions. North Korea is among the most sanctioned countries in the world due to their nuclear ambitions. Despite all the propaganda campaigns against them and the economic sanctions,they still reached their goal. The other missiles launched were in retaliation to the US conducting military drills together with Japan and South Korea. Of course they were not across Japanese territory.
The distance reached by the missile was as terrifying as the direction of it’s trajectory. The intercontinental ballistic missile might reach USA when launched inside North Korea. This fete the other powers never thought North Korea might reach. North Korea might be a dictator but their military capacity will grant mutual respect from other powers. They might not be at the same level with the others but their nuclear capacity cannot be taken for granted. They will be revered by others. This is the way to go for the downtrodden countries. Their missile launch across Japan will have no peace-threatening implications.
Anonymous 