We Lose Again

Our International clout is all but gone.

After five days of diplomatic wrangling at the U.N., not much has changed as a result of North Korea's nuclear "test." The Security Council finally voted on Saturday to impose sanctions on North Korea for testing a nuclear weapon. But the reason it took the Security Council this long to respond to last Monday's blast is that sharp disagreements persist among the major players over the strength of those sanctions, how they should be implemented, and what should happen next.

The U.S. and Japan have taken the lead in pushing for tough measures that would squeeze North Korea by enforcing a wide-ranging embargo, requiring that shipping entering and leaving North Korean waters be subject to search under threat of force. Japan has already instituted tough measures curbing trade and travel, and Washington and Tokyo pushed for the Security Council to pass a resolution under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which allows for decisions to be backed by the threat or use of force in response to threats to global security.

But Russia and China pushed back hard, warning that "extreme sanctions" would only exacerbate the crisis. China's U.N. ambassador made clear that Beijing sees interdicting North Korean shipping, for example, as likely to raise the danger of a military response from Pyongyang, sending the confrontation potentially spiraling out of control.