Larger Threat: The Puppet or the Puppet's Master?

Who's the larger threat? The Puppet or the Puppet's Master? I'm of course referring to "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il (the Puppet) and the Chicoms (the Puppet Master).

The jury may still be out on that question, but there is no question that it's now time to deal with the people who are really pulling the strings of this crisis with much more seriousness.

Time magazine recently ran a cover story suggesting that the era of "Cowboy Diplomacy" is all but over. The fact is however, that NOW more than ever, we need to give the Chinese a good strong dose of "Cowboy Diplomacy" ala John Wayne. We can no longer afford to "pussy foot" around with the Chinese on this issue. They've been enjoying this little game that they've been playing long enough and the Bush Administration needs to hold their feet to the fire on North Korea and the little "nut job" at the other end of the strings.

We've got our own national interests in the area for sure, but so have several of our allies within the region. Even though the South Koreans may have some of their loyalties confused when it comes to how to deal with North Korea, our very good friends the Japanese do NOT.

It's been suggested that the Japanese are overreacting to the recent missile launches. I don't believe that they are. Although miserable failures, they DID land in the Sea of Japan for crying out loud. If Cuba test fired missiles and they landed off the Florida Keys, would be overreacting when we got our "shorts in a bunch"? I don't think so.

We need to tell the Chinese in no uncertain terms that now is the time for them to reign-in their little puppet and put a stop to this nonsense. We should make it clear to them that we know EXACTLY what they're up to and that perhaps it was "cute" for awhile, it's no longer cute and it will no longer be tolerated.

Some say that you can't talk to China like that as it will cause them to "lose face" and that they will not tolerate the insult. I don't believe that. They are in the middle of enormous economic growth, most of it because of the trading relationship that they have with the United States. We should use this fact to our advantage when negotiating with the Chinese.

Let's face it............we could cause them a lot of grief by simply turning off the relationship with ONE company........Walmart. The beauty of this is that it wouldn't require anything complicated. That should get their attention, if they need to have things put into focus for them.

If we REALLY want to make sure they understand the message, we should have President Bush deliver the message PERSONALLY. Not with some ambassador, not even via Condi Rice. We should give them a dose of "Cowboy Diplomacy" from THE Cowboy himself. That would emphasize the point, so that there was no mistake or misunderstandings.

This would of course have the leftists in this country "squealing like pigs", but that's just a bonus.

Oh, if only dreams really could come true.........