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View Full Version : UN Passes Mega-Ultra Toughest-Ever North Korea Sanctions, Again



jimnyc
09-12-2017, 01:08 PM
And will it matter at all? Will it harm them at all, or just their citizens?

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UN Passes Mega-Ultra Toughest-Ever North Korea Sanctions, Again

Yet again, the United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously for a resolution imposing the toughest-ever sanctions on North Korea. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-the-push-for-oil-embargo-on-north-korea-china-is-reluctant-to-sign-off/2017/09/11/3a5b56fe-96e5-11e7-a527-3573bd073e02_story.html?utm_term=.83f42fe50710) This round, responding to North Korea's test of what Pyongyang claimed was a hydrogen bomb, goes by the label of Resolution 2375, and marks the ninth time over the past 11 years that the UN Security Council -- voting unanimously -- has approved new sanctions in response to North Korean nuclear and missile tests.

Each round has been tougher than the last. In March, 2016 for instance, following North Korea's fourth nuclear test, the UN passed Resolution 2270, which former Ambassador Samantha Power described as "so much tougher than any prior North Korea resolution." Less than nine months later, following North Korea's fifth nuclear test, came UN Resolution 2321, hailed by CNN as "Toughest UN sanctions yet... ."

You get the idea. This parade of tough-tougher-toughest and tougher-than-toughest UN sanctions has been going on since the UN Security Council in 2006, following North Korea's first nuclear test, unanimously approved Resolution 1718, imposing sanctions that President Bush described at the time as "swift and tough."

I'm all in favor of being ultra-tough on North Korea (make that mega-ultra-jumbo-tough, even better). This latest round aims to constrict North Korea's oil supply, ban its textile imports, curtail its smuggling and end its revenues from joint ventures and laborers working abroad. That's on top of the web of previous strictures.

But by now one might begin to suspect that sanctions, however tough, are not going to stop Kim Jong Un's nuclear missile program. It's a bad sign that these UN resolutions, which routinely begin by listing the relevant previous resolutions, have now achieved a degree of layering that resembles portions of such monstrosities as the Affordable Care Act. The UN has not yet posted the full text of this latest resolution, #2375. But a reasonable proxy can be found in the prior resolution, passed on August 5. Just add one more layer:


"Recalling its previous relevant resolutions, including resolution 825 (1993), resolution 1540 (2004), resolution 1695 (2006), resolution 1718 (2006), resolution 1874 (2009), resolution 1887 (2009), resolution 2087 (2013), resolution 2094 (2013), resolution 2270 (2016), resolution 2321 (2016), and resolution 2356 (2017), as well as the statements of its President of 6 October 2006 (S/PRST/2006/41), 13 April 2009 (S/PRST/2009/7) and 16 April 2012 (S/PRST/2012/13),"

There are two basic problems here.

The first problem is that sanctions are not an airtight proposition. They are more like a sieve than an impermeable barrier. They leak. They erode. For sanctions violators, part of the game is to set up new fronts and devise new deceptions; part is to wait until the immediate crisis passes, and enforcement starts to flag. North Korea has long experience at evading and adapting to sanctions. So do its chief patrons, Russia and China. So does its partner-in-proliferation, Iran, and Iran's mascot, Syria.

And whatever the reach and coercive financial power of the mighty U.S., it has not sufficed to date to persuade scores of UN member states to comply with the list of sanctions above. The UN fields a Panel of Experts on North Korea sanctions who have been turning in terrific, regular and hefty reports on compliance -- or lack of compliance -- by UN member states.

Three years ago, in their 2014 report, these experts noted that the problem was not lack of sanctions measures, but lack of compliance:


"At the present time, the Panel does not see new measures as necessary in order to further slow the prohibited programmes of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, to dissuade it from engaging in proliferation activities or to halt its trade in arms and related materiel. Rather, the Panel believes that Member States already have at their disposal adequate tools."

Rest here - https://pjmedia.com/claudiarosett/un-passes-mega-ultra-jumbo-toughest-ever-north-korea-sanctions/

Black Diamond
09-12-2017, 01:14 PM
Just their citizens. Same as Iraq circa 1990s.

pete311
09-12-2017, 01:16 PM
Won't do a thing until china and russia is on board

Black Diamond
09-12-2017, 01:19 PM
Won't do a thing until china and russia is on board
Won't do a thing anyway.

jimnyc
09-12-2017, 01:19 PM
Won't do a thing until china and russia is on board

And even then I'm not 100% sure.

But let me hear your opinion. As insane as NK is acting - why won't those 2 happily jump on board?

Black Diamond
09-12-2017, 01:21 PM
And even then I'm not 100% sure.

But let me hear your opinion. As insane as NK is acting - why won't those 2 happily jump on board?
Tough for allies to be quite as hardcore as enemies.

pete311
09-12-2017, 01:37 PM
And even then I'm not 100% sure.

But let me hear your opinion. As insane as NK is acting - why won't those 2 happily jump on board?

Why China Isn't Doing More to Stop North Korea
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/08/north-korea-the-china-options/535440/

Don’t Count on China or Russia to Resolve the North Korea Crisis
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/08/dont-count-on-china-or-russia-to-end-the-north-korea-crisis.html

Boil it all down, Russia and China are not our friends. Why should they help us? You may say, nuclear war is not good for anyone, but maybe they know more about the real possibility of the threat than we do. If nuclear war was imminent they may act, but it's not, so they don't.

jimnyc
09-12-2017, 01:41 PM
Why China Isn't Doing More to Stop North Korea
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/08/north-korea-the-china-options/535440/

Don’t Count on China or Russia to Resolve the North Korea Crisis
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/08/dont-count-on-china-or-russia-to-end-the-north-korea-crisis.html

Boil it all down, Russia and China are not our friends. Why should they help us? You may say, nuclear war is not good for anyone, but maybe they know more about the real possibility of the threat than we do. If nuclear war was imminent they may act, but it's not, so they don't.

I wanted YOUR take on it. I can just do a search on what I said if I wanted to read what others think!

I know they aren't our friends. But NK is now being an enemy and dangerous to the world, not just the USA or South Korea or Japan. If they were to hit one of the above, the repercussions will be felt by many, which obviously isn't a good thing.

The best thing is to get the world together. Maybe even get NK to the table. They need to stop poking at the world and somehow work with the world. I would love to think that China and Russia would be interested in protecting the world as well, regardless of the fact that they don't care for us. Some things are in the best interest of everybody.

pete311
09-12-2017, 01:45 PM
I wanted YOUR take on it. I can just do a search on what I said if I wanted to read what others think!

Well I'm not an expert in DPRK international affairs. I make my opinions from such experts instead of making up my own wacky theories.

pete311
09-12-2017, 01:50 PM
I wanted YOUR take on it. I can just do a search on what I said if I wanted to read what others think!

I know they aren't our friends. But NK is now being an enemy and dangerous to the world, not just the USA or South Korea or Japan. If they were to hit one of the above, the repercussions will be felt by many, which obviously isn't a good thing.

The best thing is to get the world together. Maybe even get NK to the table. They need to stop poking at the world and somehow work with the world. I would love to think that China and Russia would be interested in protecting the world as well, regardless of the fact that they don't care for us. Some things are in the best interest of everybody.

You think Russia and China cares about the best interest of everybody? These are civilizations with thousands of years of history of trying to rule the world. Things have not changed so much. Again, I think China and Russia have a good understanding of north korea's intentions and real threat level. They will make their enemies (US, Japan etc) suffer as much as possible until their skin is in the game and then step in.

jimnyc
09-12-2017, 01:57 PM
You think Russia and China cares about the best interest of everybody? These are civilizations with thousands of years of history of trying to rule the world. Things have not changed so much. Again, I think China and Russia have a good understanding of north korea's intentions and real threat level. They will make their enemies (US, Japan etc) suffer as much as possible until their skin is in the game and then step in.

I would have LIKED to have thought, that yes, that they would try and come to the table when things got "dire", and the whole word could somehow see a WW3. No one wins in that war, therefore everyone has something to gain by coming to the table. My opinion anyway.

pete311
09-12-2017, 02:03 PM
I would have LIKED to have thought, that yes, that they would try and come to the table when things got "dire", and the whole word could somehow see a WW3. No one wins in that war, therefore everyone has something to gain by coming to the table. My opinion anyway.

Perhaps, when things get "dire". Again, they know better than us when that moment is. Until then, they won't do us favors.

jimnyc
09-12-2017, 02:10 PM
Perhaps, when things get "dire". Again, they know better than us when that moment is. Until then, they won't do us favors.

IMO, shooting unannounced missiles over another country, while tossing around rhetoric about killing and destroying, that's pretty dire. Unless of course they are in contact and know there's no real danger.

aboutime
09-12-2017, 02:47 PM
The U.N. is as useless as ever. Over the last 30 years. They haven't followed, or obeyed any of their THREATS to any nation...other than Saddam in 1990. And even that was cut short...as to not HURT THE FEELINGS of the Middle East nations.
<img src="http://lotsofhumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/481.jpg">
The U.N. IS....<img src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTWnPijFn0wvvCLFyhotK29-5itGwHob6nQC2Y_kNYicapn6Dux">

<img src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS2PUUaNg9-OJHJlmPIhnhE0JGWTGwwVK1MTmJ1QvaggqhTfpwmOw">

<img src="http://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/2306919/83210774.jpg">

pete311
09-12-2017, 02:54 PM
IMO, shooting unannounced missiles over another country, while tossing around rhetoric about killing and destroying, that's pretty dire. Unless of course they are in contact and know there's no real danger.

Russia and China have much deeper connections than the US (obviously) so I think they understand what is dire and what is a show.