Nuclear realities

Ploughshares grantee Ted Galen Carpenter of the Cato Institute wrote in the Hawaii Reporter, “Recent events suggest that the U.S.-led strategy for dealing with the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea is not only likely to fail, but the mere attempt may also produce an especially bad outcome.” Carpenter argues the threat of “painful isolation of both countries if they refuse to cooperate” is neither feasible nor wise. He concludes, “Working to isolate those regimes would exacerbate tensions and increase the possibility of a fatal miscalculation. […] A better strategy is to hold our noses and attempt to establish a reasonably normal diplomatic and economic relationship with such countries.”