North Korea

I don't pretend to me any foreign policy genius. But, I DO have my opinions. And, North Korea has been on my mind.

They act completely enigmatic when it comes to relations between nation states. We've tried to engage them with carrots, we've tried to punish them (somewhat) with sticks, we've tried to manipulate the relationship that they have with their supporting powers (China and Russia).

All to no avail.

They remind me, a bit, of one of those loosely robotic dogs that I've bought my daughter where you're suppose to give them some level of attention to get them to do things. The only thing is that, unlike the dog, the only behavior that seems to impact North Korea is when we ignore them for a while.

The robotic dog barks and moans when no one pays attention to it....so does North Korea. Except that when it doesn't feel the spotlight, it decides to do something to get attention and people talking to it again.

What would happen if even during its extreme actions, we just didn't talk about it.

I feel like recognition of its badness is just reinforcing behavior. And, frankly, if all the other types of engagement or disengagement haven't worked, why not try something else?