Alva Review-Courier -

Those old enough to recall the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 are uneasy about the current situation, and as Yogi Berra said “It’s deja’ vu all over again.” Add the false alarm issued in Hawaii and you have a worst-case scenario where, as was quoted in Time in 1956, “there will be no time to check and debate, and the decision to retaliate will be made by some low-ranking officer.” As could be imagined, suddenly “all the missiles fly.”

Now that the rogue country of North Korea has attained not only nuclear capability but the means to possibly deliver it as far as New York City, diplomacy is the only means to prevent World War III. All this terror originates in a country too poor to feed all its people, a country that turns the power off in cities at night to save energy but, regardless of sanctions, has acquired sensitive technology that has been largely ignored by Russia. Their ability to enrich uranium is believed to have come from Pakistan. A further fear is that this technology is possibly being exported to Syria.

According to an article by Simon Shuster, the team of scientists was recruited inside the old Soviet Union, which was left jobless when the Union dissolved. Further evidence exists that their missile knowledge was increased by purchases of missile parts found in scrap yards in the Ukraine, some six tons of it, as early as 1991.

Stabilization of the Korean Peninsula must be a priority, not merely a wish.