With all of the (much deserved) criticism of the Senate recently, there is one man who deserves especial mention. Senator John Kyl (R-Arizona) has released a very interesting policy paper on the “what ifs” surrounding a possible North Korean nuke test. I wasn’t able to post this last week when I ought to have, but here is a senator who is doing his job. I know, I know crazy isn’t it?

It is called “Anticipating a North Korean Nuclear Test: What’s to Be Done to Avert a Further Crisis.” An arresting title, but read the report (it’s short and sweet) and you’ll find some lucid thinking that one normally doesn’t find on capital hill. This is top notch stuff, something you would expect to find in NRO and not a GOP policy paper. Senator Kyl knows his stuff, at least on foreign policy. Another fascinating thing the report reveals is how poorly South Korea (its current leadership anyway) is viewed by the GOP.

Any nuclear test by North Korea would raise the obvious question: Why did the PRC let it happen? The answer would be either because it couldn’t stop North Korea or because it wouldn’t stop North Korea. Either answer would result in a strain in relations between Washington and Beijing. As U.S. pressure for a stern response mounted, Chinese reluctance would lead U.S. policymakers to assess that Beijing did not share America’s concerns and was not a willing partner in developing a constructive security dialogue in Asia. A North Korea nuclear test would show the world that the PRC was not the constructive, influential, emerging global (or even regional) power that it has implied itself to be.

Not the rarified language of the Senate is it?

Hat-tip: The Marmot’s Hole a great blog on Korea.