OPEN THREAD: 'Anti-Americanism + Nuclear Programs = Happy Dictators. Embracing America = Setting Yourself up to be Stabbed in the Back'

By Jeff Emanuel | 2:30 PM on March 29, 2011

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Courtesy of The Cold Equations, here is a handy cheat sheet for dictatorial longevity.

Country	Prior relations with the US	Nuclear weapons program	US treatment of country	Status of leader
Egypt	Allied	Not significant	Pressured ally to step down	Permanent vacation
Libya	Moderately warm lately, despite past difficulties	Abandoned under US pressure	Bombs away	Probably on his way out
Syria	Strained to hostile	Not a lot of info, probably has some program	Mild economic sanctions	Life is sweet
Iran	“America is the Great Satan”	Probably going to join the nuclear club soon	Ineffectual, intermittent saber-rattling	Happy as a clam
North Korea	Hostile	Has some nukes, ICBMs are in the works	Ineffectual sanctions, endless talks, unkind portrayal in 2004 movie “Team America: World Police”	You know what sucks about being Kim Il-Jong? Nothing.

Also via TCF, North Korea is pointing to the US/NATO/al Qaeda action in Libya as a reason why it will never, ever, ever give up its nuclear weapons or reduce the size of its million-man army of Lilliputians. How’s that for a proliferation-prevention FAIL?

Let’s make this an Open Thread.