It was a solemn walk down the promenade for President Barack Obama with Japan’s Prime Minister. With every step, Hiroshima’s Atomic Dome came into focus, the Pond of Peace shimmering brightly thanks to the Eternal Flame licking the sky.
After delicately placing a wreath at the foot of the Memorial Cenotaph, Obama moved to the podium. He took a few extra seconds to begin, to honor the moment: the first President of the United States to visit the city that a predecessor bombed with the deadliest weapon known to man.
Obama acknowledged the magnitude of that decision without apology. He appealed to all nuclear nations, including the United States, “to have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them.”
He mourned the innocent from all of the world’s wars, saying “we have a shared responsibility to look directly into the eye of history and ask what we must do differently to curb such suffering again.”
Hindsight, they say, is 20-20. And the farther away we get from a historical event, the more clarity we seem to gain.
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Is It Time to Intervene in North Korea?
It appears to me quite logical that North Korea will keep lying to its own people, to the world, to itself to secure its ways. But what about our lies? Why does no one ever talk about the obvious solution of an intervention?
North Korea’s Latest Nuclear Test Tests Global Limits
North Korea’s boastful announcement that it tested a hydrogen bomb is being met with condemnation, skepticism and concern. The United States, United Nations, NATO, China and Russia all condemned the nuclear test. But the White House is casting doubt on the technological leap Pyongyang claims, saying “the initial analysis is not consistent with … a successful hydrogen bomb test.” A final determination is weeks away as the International Atomic Energy Agency and other intelligence gathering agencies investigate. In the meantime, diplomats are considering another round of economic sanctions North Korea as punishment. And foreign policy experts are weighing in on the possible fallout from this test: that is, whether or not North Korea has gone from fission to fusion.