Under the Radar: National Debt Now Affecting National Security. U.S. returns $20Million in North Korean drug/gun money.
June 15, 2007

 
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Arguably, this is not new… foreign policy being dictated by our debt. The Republican tax cuts, obscene spending and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan all on borrowed money has pushed our National Debt past the $8 Trillion dollar mark (once under $5T and shrinking before George W. Bush took office), but this is the first example I’ve seen yet of the U.S. being forced to do something it otherwise wouldn’t have because we lack any leverage.

Bear with me for a moment because this is a bit dry… In a story that likely slipped under everyone’s radar, the federal government transfered $20 million (U.S.) in illicit North Korean drug and weapons money Thursday from a Chinese bank to the Federal Reserve here in the U.S. where it was then wire transfered back to North Korea. The funds, described as “proceeds of crime” by the U.S. government, had been frozen in a Macao, China bank at the behest of the U.S. government in 2005. The Bush Administration promised to release of the much needed funds in negotiations last February, and in exchange, North Korea’s Kim Jong Il agreed to suspend his nuclear weapons program and allow inspectors back in (hailed by the WH and Republicans as a *triumph* of Bush’s tough foreign policy).

Briefly: Last February, the Bush Administration finally sat down with North Korea to discuss suspending their nuclear weapons program after they test-fired two crude ICBM’s last Summer (once again, the Bush Administration’s refusal to negotiate with countries until it’s too late, things go bad, and result in their rewarding bad behavior). Despite a nationwide famine sweeping the country, North Korea was spending millions to develop a missile system capable to striking the American West-coast to stave off the Bush military machine and threats against every nation in its “Axis of Evil” (Iraq/Iran/NK). To get North Korea to table their nuclear ambitions, the Bush Administration promised to release the $20 Million in desperately needed funds that were frozen in a Macao bank on the grounds that it was the proceeds of various crimes including drug trafficking and illegal arms dealing. The Bush Administration had China release the funds to the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, which in turn the U.S. then gave back to North Korea. In return, NK agreed to suspend its nuclear program and allow inspectors back in.

Now, if you’re a brain-dead Republican, convincing NK to stop its nuclear program just by laundering a little drug/gun money might sound like a bargain (just think of how much blood/treasure is saved by not going to war with yet another country!)

So is this where we’re at? The U.S. is giving back money made selling drugs to our kids and weapons to our enemies, in exchange for them to stop developing a weapons program that was bankrupting their country and starving its people? It’s a “win/win”… if you’re North Korean.

But if you focus on the money, you’re missing THE BIG PICTURE: China just dictated our policy towards NK and forced us to do something we otherwise would never have done because they own so much of our National Debt… $650 Billion at last count. We have no leverage to force nations that we are deep in debt to, like China, to put pressure on rogue nations like North Korea, even if doing so is in their own best interests. Instead, we must “buy off” North Korea by making sure they get their drug/gun money back. Is Iran next? What will we give Iran because we can’t convince their ally China to put pressure on them?

I’ve covered the looming disaster of our skyrocketing National Debt thanks to George Bush in previous blog entries, but today’s story raises the threat to “a whole… nutha’… level” (apologies to MadTV). It’s bad enough when the Bush Debt threatens to devalue our currency till it becomes so worthless it spurs “hyper-inflation” and turns the U.S. into a third-world country over-night, but when it costs us any leverage in forcing rouge nations to change their behavior, to where we’re actually REFUNDING their drug/gun running money derived from crimes against Americans in exchange for a little safety, then our debt has started to endanger our national security.

Do I really need to use the “I” word at this point? (that’s “impeach”, if you hadn’t already guessed.)

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June 15, 2007 · Admin Mugsy · No Comments - Add
Posted in: Politics

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