The interesting thing about North Korea's latest long-range rocket launch was not that it happened, but rather the fact that it highlights once again the illogical nature of U.S. foreign policy. What if it had been Cuba launching the rocket instead of North Korea? Would the United States merely issue strongly worded criticism? Would the U.S. tolerate Cuba developing long-range rocket technology and allow it to have a covert nuclear weapons program? Of course not, and the last attempt by a foreign nation to place nuclear weapons anywhere near the U.S., during the Cuban missile crisis, almost started World War III. In fact it was not that long ago that the U.S. invaded Iraq because it thought Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
To many people this is just another example of how illogical U.S. foreign policy is, and why, in my view, some regions of the world would be much better off if the U.S. took a back seat. Surely the time has come for Japan and the other powers in the region to move ahead in the 21st century without the U.S. looking over their shoulders.