Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiNorth Korea: “Sanity” at the Brink
Nations that chart a self-defining course, seeking to use their land, labor, natural resources, and markets as they see fit, free from the smothering embrace of the US corporate global order, frequently become a target of defamation. Their leaders often have their moral sanity called into question by US officials and US media, as has been the case at one time or another with Castro, Noriega, Ortega, Qaddafi, Aristide, Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, Hugo Chavez, and others.
So it comes as no surprise that the rulers of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) have been routinely described as mentally unbalanced by our policymakers and pundits. Senior Defense Department officials refer to the DPRK as a country "not of this planet," led by "dysfunctional" autocrats. One government official, quoted in the New York Times, wondered aloud "if they are really totally crazy." The New Yorker magazine called them "balmy," and late-night TV host David Letterman got into the act by labeling Kim Jong-il a "madman maniac."
To be sure, there are things about the DPRK that one might wonder about, including its dynastic leadership system, its highly dictatorial one-party rule, and the chaos that seems implanted in the heart of its "planned" economy.
But in its much advertised effort to become a nuclear power, North Korea is actually displaying more sanity than first meets the eye. The Pyongyang leadership seems to know something about US global policy that our own policymakers and pundits have overlooked. In a word, the United States has never attacked or invaded any nation that has a nuclear arsenal.
The countries directly battered by US military actions in recent decades (Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, then again Iraq), along with numerous other states that have been threatened at one time or another for being "anti-American" or "anti-West" (Iran, Cuba, South Yemen, Venezuela, Syria, North Korea, and others) have one thing in common: not one of them has wielded a nuclear deterrence--until now.
Let us provide a little background. Put aside the entire Korean War (1950-53) in which US aerial power destroyed most of the DPRK's infrastructure and tens of thousands of its civilians. Consider more recent events. In the jingoist tide that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President George W. Bush claimed the right to initiate any military action against any "terrorist" nation, organization, or individual of his choosing. Such a claim to arbitrary power--in violation of international law, the UN charter, and the US Constitution--transformed the president into something of an absolute monarch who could exercise life and death power over any quarter of the Earth. Needless to say, numerous nations--the DPRK among them--were considerably discomforted by the US president's elevation to King of the Planet.
It was only in 2008 that President Bush finally removed North Korea from a list of states that allegedly sponsor terrorism. But there remains another more devilishly disquieting hit list that Pyongyang recalls. In December 2001, two months after 9/11, Vice President Dick Cheney referred chillingly to "forty or fifty countries" that might need military disciplining. A month later in his 2002 State of the Union message, President Bush pruned the list down to three especially dangerous culprits: Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, who, he said, composed an "axis of evil."
It was a curious lumping together of three nations that had little in common. In Iraq the leadership was secular, in Iran it was a near Islamic theocracy. And far from being allies, the two countries were serious enemies. Meanwhile the DPRK, had no historical, cultural, or geographical links to either Iraq or Iran. But it could witness what was happening.
The first to get hit was Iraq, nation #1 on the short list of accused evil doers. Before the Gulf War of 1990-91 and the subsequent decade of sanctions, Iraq had the highest standard of living in the Middle East. But years of war, sanctions, and occupation reduced the country to shambles, its infrastructure shattered and much of its population drenched in blood and misery.
Were it not that Iraq has proven to be such a costly venture, the United States long ago would have been moving against Iran, #2 on the axis-of-evil hit list. As we might expect, Iranian president Mahmoud Amadinijad has been diagnosed in the US media as "dangerously unstable." The Pentagon has announced that thousands of key sites in Iran have been mapped and targeted for aerial attack. All sorts of threats have been directed against Tehran for having pursued an enriched uranium program--which every nation in the world has a right to do. And on a recent Sunday TV program, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the United States might undertake a "first strike" against Iran to prevent its nuclear weapons development.
Rather than passively await its fate sitting in Washington's crosshairs, nation #3 on the US hit list is trying to pack a deterrence. The DPRK's attempt at self-defense is characterized in US official circles and US media as wild aggression. Secretary Clinton warned that the United States would not be "blackmailed by North Korea." Defense Secretary Robert Gates fulminated, "We will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in Asia--or on us." The DPRK's nuclear program, Gates warns, is a "harbinger of a dark future."
President Obama condemned North Korea's "belligerent provocative behavior" as posing a "grave threat." In June 2009, the UN Security Council unanimously passed a US-sponsored resolution ratcheting up the financial, trade, and military sanctions against the DPRK, a nation already hard hit by sanctions. In response to the Security Council's action, Kim Jong-il's government announced it would no longer "even think about giving up its nuclear weapons" and would enlarge its efforts to produce more of them.
In his earlier Cairo speech Obama stated, "No single nation should pick and choose which nation holds nuclear weapons." But that is exactly what the United States is trying to do in regard to a benighted North Korea--and Iran. Physicist and political writer Manuel Garcia, Jr., observes that Washington's policy "is to encourage other nations to abide by the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty--and renounce nuclear weapons--while exempting itself." Others must disarm so that Washington may more easily rule over them, Garcia concludes.
US leaders still refuse to give any guarantee that they will not try to topple Pyongyang's communist government. There is talk of putting the DPRK back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, though Secretary Clinton admits that evidence is wanting to support such a designation.
From its lonely and precarious perch the North cannot help feeling vulnerable. Consider the intimidating military threat it faces. The DPRK's outdated and ill-equipped army is no match for the conventional forces of the United States, South Korea, and Japan. The United States maintains a large attack base in South Korea. As Paul Sack reminds us in a recent correspondence to the New York Times, at least once a year the US military conducts joint exercises with South Korean forces, practicing a land invasion of the DPRK. The US Air Force maintains a "nuclear umbrella" over South Korea with nuclear arsenals in Okinawa, Guam, and Hawaii. Japan not only says it can produce nuclear bombs within a year, it seems increasingly willing to do so. And the newly installed leadership in South Korea is showing itself to be anything but friendly toward Pyongyang.
The DPRK's nuclear arsenal is a two-edged sword. It can deter attack or invite attack. It may cause US officials to think twice before cinching a tighter knot around the North, or it may cause them to move aggressively toward a confrontation that no one really wants.
After years of encirclement and repeated rebuffs from Washington, years of threat, isolation, and demonization, the Pyongyang leaders are convinced that the best way to resist superpower attack and domination is by developing a nuclear arsenal. It does not really sound so crazy. As already mentioned, the United States does not invade countries that are armed with long-range nuclear missiles (at least not thus far).
Having been pushed to the brink for so long, the North Koreans are now taking a gamble, upping the ante, pursuing an arguably "sane" deterrence policy in the otherwise insane world configured by an overweening and voracious empire.
48 Comments so far
Show AllMr. Obama is a weak and ineffective leader. But, he is a grand liar.
The study diet of lies, half truth and "limited hangout" techniques(do a Google search to find out what that term means) has resulted in a sort of hard core ignorant yet strongly opinionated citizenry both for the so called left and so called right. For example its been several years since September 11, yet, among other things, most do not know or care that WTC 7 came down upon its footprints without any impact load/force whatsoever. If an entity can get away with that in manufacturing public opinion, everything else is possible.
The world cannot be organized around the paradigms of western civilization. It is troubling that every social, economic, religious etc etc of over exploited countries aka 3rd world should be neatly packed into 2 Europeans models of Leftist politics and rightist political frame work. Africans, Asians, Persian, Arabs etc etc etc should be LEFT ALONE to discover their destiny. If ruled by devil or angels they and they only should have agency over their destiny. Coming in to fostering democracy, good governance, human rights and other empty phrases etc etc, are a tired old ruses used over the centuries.
About 3 week ago President Omar Bongo, the longest serving African dictator died (42 years of rule). Oil rich Equatorial Guinea could best be described as a seemingly peaceful but simmering prison camp with suffocating control by the plantation supervisor aka president and permanently stationed fresh troops,(Any rational person should not expert to be informed by CNN, the state Department's information Branch ,or any msm for that matter, why should they?). My bet is that most of those reading do not know who Omar bongo was. It goes without saying that we all know about comrade Mugabe and we are made pregnant with opinions about him, right? .Well do a search and find out the flowering and adoring language of Obama, Sakozy (I thing he even went to his palace funeral) and others Europeans nations stated about that insatiable kleptomaniac and murderer. Los angeles times devoted about a third of a page to this guy. When BBBC got through writing about him, you would have thought Mr. Bogo was Mother Theresa, MLK and Mandela all rolled into one. Just a hint, Bongo was the trusted African lackey who allowed his country to be used during the saga of the US coup against President Aristide of Haiti. He has been over the years both a useful idiot and servant for western interest in Africa, he serves at their pleasure.
With repetition and rote we are only animated about what we are supposed to be animated about. Old news.
Parenti is one who thinks beyond the concentrations camps mistakenly called the news media. The more you watch the less you know. Parenti has always been a breath of fresh air.
The study diet of lies, half truth and "limited hangout" techniques(do a Google search to find out what that term means) has resulted in a sort of hard core ignorant yet strongly opinionated citizenry both for the so called left and so called right. For example its been several years since September 11, yet, among other things, most do not know or care that WTC 7 came down upon its footprints without any impact load/force whatsoever. If an entity can get away with that in manufacturing public opinion, everything else is possible.
The world cannot be organized around the paradigms of western civilization. It is troubling that every social, economic, religious etc etc of over exploited countries aka 3rd world should be neatly packed into 2 Europeans models of Leftist politics and rightist political frame work. Africans, Asians, Persian, Arabs etc etc etc should be LEFT ALONE to discover their destiny. If ruled by devil or angels they and they only should have agency over their destiny. Coming in to fostering democracy, good governance, human rights and other empty phrases etc etc, are a tired old ruses used over the centuries.
About 3 week ago President Omar Bongo, the longest serving African dictator died (42 years of rule). Oil rich Equatorial Guinea could best be described as a seemingly peaceful but simmering prison camp with suffocating control by the plantation supervisor aka president and permanently stationed fresh troops,(Any rational person should not expert to be informed by CNN, the state Department's information Branch ,or any msm for that matter, why should they?). My bet is that most of those reading do not know who Omar bongo was. It goes without saying that we all know about comrade Mugabe and we are made pregnant with opinions about him, right? .Well do a search and find out the flowering and adoring language of Obama, Sakozy (I thing he even went to his palace funeral) and others Europeans nations stated about that insatiable kleptomaniac and murderer. Los angeles times devoted about a third of a page to this guy. When BBBC got through writing about him, you would have thought Mr. Bogo was Mother Theresa, MLK and Mandela all rolled into one. Just a hint, Bongo was the trusted African lackey who allowed his country to be used during the saga of the US coup against President Aristide of Haiti. He has been over the years both a useful idiot and servant for western interest in Africa, he serves at their pleasure.
With repetition and rote we are only animated about what we are supposed to be animated about. Old news.
Parenti is one who thinks beyond the concentrations camps mistakenly called the news media. The more you watch the less you know. Parenti has always been a breath of fresh air.
Parenti scores again, by making sense and telling it as it is. He is too often maligned for being too "radical" according to "American standards."
Radical?!! Radical is holding pay for play elections and pretending they are real, Radical is ripping off huge chinks of the national treasury then rewarding those who engineered it. Radical is holding so tight a censorship rein on media through ownership collusion that anyone like Parenti, who sees through the BS cannot, must not, and will not be heard by a mass audience.
It shouldn't take courage to speak the truth, but in the ol' U S of A, it has become a necessary ingredient. The others, the ones on camera with the microphones permanently stuffed in their faces, wouldn't know truth or courage if they fell in it.
Of COURSE, North Korea learned the lesson, the one the US has touted so long: hold the nuclear card. Nagasaki wasn't about ending WWII, rather about sending a "message" to the world: don't mess with us. Problem is those holding power here have presumed for too long that it gave the US the right to tell everyone what to do. Ironically it was the US for selfish reasons who so long opposed reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons. Reap and ye shall sow.
alank,
Excellent post!
I met a Serbian immigrant yesterday and we discussed many things and I suggested reading Parenti's book, 'To Kill A Nation' about Slick Willie Clinton, Tony Blair, and their cronies who bombed Serbia, killing and maiming thousands to get to Milosevic. All the depleted uranium saturating Serbia, and of course we now have a giant military base in Kosovo. Too many troops in Germany, so we had to invade another peaceful country and set up another base for our empire.
You're right about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese Imperialists wanted an "honorable" surrender in 1944, but people back home were working in military production plants, the companies were profiting, and we kept that theater of war active for another year.
Does anyone wonder why the 'North Atlantic Treaty Organization' keeps moving eastward?
There is nothing to worry about in terms of a conflict until rich South Koreans start evacuation procedures to the US. Also remember that the average life expectancy of a North Korean is same as that of a British national.
This could be defused if Obama offered Kim Jong Ill some face time, respect, inclusion.
From my "extra-terrestrial" perspective, the situation and solution to this crisis are quite simple.
North Korea is a totally impoverished region that struggles to feed its population and, as time goes by, is increasingly losing this battle.
There is no longer an abundant supply of seafood harvestable from its territorial waters. The land has lost its fertility due to decades of unsustainable farming practices. It doesn't have the means to purchase fossil fuels necessary to provide electricity required to run factories or provide even a modicum of comfort to its population. It was promised help in this area, but the promises were unfulfilled.
The only technology it has to export in exchange for the means to continue the losing battle are its nuclear and rocketry components and "know how". The US and other nations are acting to choke-off the only means of support they feel the have available.
The N. Korean threats are not dissimilar to the behavior of a cornered animal that knows if will die if nothing changes, and is therefore playing the last card it has for survival, or if it can't, make sure its perceived enemies pay a terrible price for their lack of empathy.
As some earthling once said: "if you ain't got nothin', you've got nothin' to lose!
So what should be done now?
The N. Koreans already know how to fish, so teaching them how to do so won't solve the problem.
However, they, as well as other struggling nations, can be taught how to make electricity cheaply without importing fuel and causing pollution.
The do have abundant reserves of Convective Available Potential Energy, and Ocean Thermal Energy. All that is now needed is to teach them how to harvest it.
The solution is available--build them the first commercial Atmospheric Vortex Engine, at a cost equivalent to a few days of what it costs simply to monitor the situation. A moderate-sized one could become operational in about two years.
A "fast-track" development program to do this based in the US, China, Japan or S. Korea would take less than a year and N. Korea could even become involved. Groundbreaking for the commercial plant could begin in a year after an appropriate site-selection study is completed.
In the History of the Universe the "carrot" has been proven to be a more successful means of diplomacy than the "stick".
The downside risk of "not" resolving this issue peacefully is far greater than what is generally imagined.
A Concerned Extra-Terrestrial.
Thank you Dr. Parenti for speaking truth to bullshit. The US is the only imperialist power left on this planet. It is the country that the rest of the world most fears and rightfully so. A nuclear armed N. Korea is not a good thing, but it is certainly logical that it would arm itself if that can keep the imperialist beast at bay.
The biggest danger the world faces today is the upcoming collapse of American hegemony coming about through its utter economic bankruptcy. A cornered beast, in its death throws, is a scary sight indeed. The world is counting on the American people to rein this beast in as it collapses. The first step, is that Americans have to start realizing just how evil American Imperialism has been for the rest of the world seeking alternative economic systems independent of the control by the transnational corporate elites.
We're counting on the American working class to put an end to the control of its government and military by the corporate elites. Until then, the rest of humanity will continue to fight as best it can for its liberation from American imperialism. The insanity is not found in those countries looking towards ways to defend themselves from American aggression, but rather the insanity of having one nation dictate how the whole world should live and operate in the interests of the transnational corporations.
Excellent comments by all so far. I admire Dr. Parenti because he doesn't beat around the bush, but gets to the heart of the issue rather than a lot of speculation as many intellectuals do. I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree about the plight of the North Korean people, but they are a sovereign nation and have every right to defend themselves if attacked. Even if they had an arsenal of nuclear missiles, it isn't likely they would use them, except in self-defense.
When the "world's only super-bully" disregards international law, treaties, the UN, Geneva Convention, and has blatantly and unequivocally violated it's own Constitution, and attacks and or threatens weaker or defenseless countries for imperial empire, is it any wonder why North Korea or say Iran would want nuclear weapons as a deterrent?
I believe Russia and China are the hope of the world in preventing WW111. When the "Bear" went to the aid of their people in South Ossetia last year, the Bush Crime Family did a lot of saber-rattling, but did not want to confront the Russians, who can defend themselves against the United States.
Struggle, I certainly agree with your comments. Well said!
So, the Kim dynasty / regime are now representative of the North Korean people?
The North Korean people certainly do have a right to defend themselves. But, how do you know that the Kim regime is representative of the North Korean people?
Might be a point there. The US is very careful not to mess around too much with either India or Pakistan, though the situation in Pakistan is changing. Sad when countries start thinking that the only way that they can get a little respect is to be part of the nuclear club. It's a terrible expense to inflict on the poor of those countries.
"There are things about the DPRK that one might wonder about, including its dynastic leadership system, its highly dictatorial one-party rule, and the chaos that seems implanted in the heart of its "planned" economy."
This sentence says reams about why the Left in this country, having lost its moral compass, has no future. Fixated rightfully on the actions of the U.S, it ignores the possibility that rather than "or" it's a matter of "and": The U.S. nuclear policy is criminal and hypocritical AND North Korea is a vicious dictatorship willing to starve and brutally repress its people. Instead of taking a stand, Parenti uses weasel words like "wonder about." as if some whimsical sophistry in a college philosophy seminar is being debated.
No, sorry, there's nothing to "wonder about." Which side are you on: the victims - or the executioners, MP? Sometimes (rarely) it is just THAT simple. Or is a piece on "really existing socialism" in NK with its "glorious tractor collectives" and smiling radiant workers next?
There have always been those on the left who have adopted the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" approach. Hence, the denial about, the refusal to see, Stalin's atrocities, for years. Thus, the support of the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution by Warsaw Pact forces. Thus, the support of, the apologias, excuses and justifications for, the crushing of the Prague Spring by Warsaw Pact forces.
Those on the left who support the Kim dynasty / regime, are simply playing into the hands of the right. It is simple and easy for the right to portray the left as apologists for, and enablers of, a totalitarian repressive corrupt regime.
Just love this "the left has lost its moral compass" stuff. We live in a corrupted ex-rebublic that has made a joke of its constitution, practices torture, initiates wars of aggression to capture commodities, practices capital punishment, has a stock exchange that is a den of thieves that is currently looting the treasury, has a gulag of more than one percent of its citizens and has a public culture of infantile indulgence. And guess what? Those who would criticize this "have lost their moral compass". Right on, Parenti!
Tony Vodvarka
Sioux Rose
TONY: Good one!
Exactly what sort of 'standing' will you do with North Koreans, the victims of the regime? Behind the inane posturing prattle of 'standing with' victims, there is no political notion or plan at all; so when the humanitarian interventionists decide it's time to bomb, those who 'stand with victims' have little choice but to applaud the removal of the dictator, no matter who or what is put in his place, if anything -- and to repeat things like "the world is better off without him".
Lighten up! Your superior moral compass is blinding your reasoning ability. All any of us can do is wonder out loud. The Koreas are not our countries, so we can discuss and wonder all we want and that is not unreasonable.
Peace.
I absolutely do not support the DPRK regime and would hope that they disappear soon enough, however, I have to agree with Parenti here that with regards to North Korea`s nuclear programs, it`s a `rational` strategy in the sense that in `realistic` international relations maneuvers, North Korea`s strategy is `logical` and desirable from their point of view.
Additionally, Chinese support for the regime does not wholly mean that the Chinese own North Korea, and hence the Kim regime still has some space to maneuver. And without the saber-rattling from all parties involved (China, Japan, US, Russia, South Korea and Russia) how would these governments justify spending vast amounts of resources to equip and upgrade their armed forces?
I also couldn`t agree more with Johnshaplin`s analysis of the state of the NK regime and the USA. I would add that this insightful perspective could be applied - albeit with some adjustments in certain cases - all over the world.
Thanks.
China has already issued orders to USA about North Korea and Iran.
USA will be allowed to huff and puff . . . but bow down.
Okay Michael, as a long-time fan and reader of your analyses, I am really disappointed in this particular article.
I get it that US hypocrisy towards other nuclear powers and nuclear power wannabes (more specifically Iran and North Korea) in the light of their behavior towards Israel, India, and Pakistan is laughable.
I also get it that the greatest imperialist power since 1945 has been the US. Up until about 30 years ago this was mostly economic and cultural imperialism, but now the US has "come out of the closet" in more blatantly totalitarian drag.
What I do not get is your willingness to overlook a really and genuinely repressive regime that would sooner kill all of its dwindling population than deal in any responsible manner with the rest of the world or its own society's problems.
It is like defending the Third Reich because they were anti-communiast, restored German morale after the economimc chaos following WWI, and put Germany back to work. Totalitarian oppression is wrong whether it is being done by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Burma, or North Korea.
Poet
One thing's fer sure: besides a little old personal dispute, the "slant" of this mind expanding discussion will never be seen in a mainstream news publication or website. Yet anything "King George the Bush"-league said had to, in reality, be a damn stinking lie. "Axis of evil" yeah right! Terrorism is notoriously stateless; Osama Bin Laden is not a country (yet). Great article and mind altering discussion!
I am at loss for words. did I just read an article supportive on North Korea? On CD no less.
I am sure Michael Parenti only meant to slam the US but using North Korea is a little too much. It is people like Michael who have kept the murderous regimes of Eastern Europe in power for so long. Now that those are gone, let's prop up whatever is left.
Perhaps you don't recall that in May of 2003 the Bush administration had prepared for an attack against N Korea and the military hardware was in place. They finally bothered to let the S. Koreans in on the secret. We don't know what was said, but it was probably something like this,"Are you F***ing crazy; if you attack them, they will attack us. We will lose hundreds of thousands killed and Seoul will be destroyed". The attack was called off! You don't always need a nuke to prevent an attack by the US. That plan to attack N Korea without thinking about the consequences was one more example of the extreme stupidity of arm chair Rambos and neo-cons in our government and population.
Interesting thing about nukes is that to have them is both a benefit and a curse. It's a double-edged sword, is it not? No country or person in their right mind would use them, nor attack another country who has them. Perhaps that's the only thing that has--thus far--prevented another world war because human nature certainly hasn't changed.
Reminds me of a line by the villain in the movie "The Incredibles": "I'll be the greatest super hero there ever was, and when I'm done having my fun, I'll sell my inventions, then everyone will be super. And when everyone is super, no one will be..."
When everyone has nuclear weapons, the US will no longer be the 'toughest guy on the block,' no country will be. All will be 'superpowers.'
"From its lonely and precarious perch the North cannot help feeling vulnerable."
From its lonely and precarious perch the USA cannot help feeling vulnerable.
Koreans want unity free from the grip of the US empire. The empire is about to lose its S. Korea chess piece. Had USans elected McKane the chess piece could have been lost, and the rest fallen, much sooner. We on the far-left voted third party to promote the people's values while forcing a wedge in the duopoly's co-dependency, to help split it in two. We told O'Bamba voters a Demok vote would only perpetuate the empire, so they obviously wanted that and all the destruction that comes with it. When N. Korea fires a missile at Hawaii, O'Bamba voters may thank themselves for that escalation of long-term hostilities that comes with the short-term "gain" (control of the oval orifice).
rtdrury wrote:
"Koreans want unity free from the grip of the US empire."
.............................................................
Actually the majority of South Koreans want the US to keep a limited troop presence in SK to deter the North.
Actually, Parenti is correct. The majority of South Koreans DO want unity with North Korea and would eventually like to see the US off their soil altogether. They of course realize that it would not be wise to ask the US to leave until unity has been accomplished. South Korean thinkers and academics spend a good deal of time considering all the ways in which unity between the two countries can be accomplished with as little bloodshed as possible. The real reason there has not been another war between North and South Korea is because, naturally, most South Koreans don't want it. However, the current administration in South Korea doesn't seem to be as against a war with North Korea. Maybe because the current president is a neo-con wanna-be Bushie type who--unlike former presidents such as Roh who just recently committed suicide--worked very hard to maintain dialog with North Korea and prevent an all out war. (In fact, after Roh's death was announced, Kim Jung Il was quoted as saying something like, "now I have lost my only democratic ally.") I teach English at a university in South Korea near the North Korean border and that's the way it seems to me.
Lee was elected President mainly because of the failures of the Roh administration with regards to the North.
No one in their "Right Minds" would ever use Nuclear weapons upon another country, yet the United States of America has done so. Twice. The only nation in the World to have used them.
At the same time were a Russia or a China to be Nuclear free, were the entire world to get rid of every nuclear weapon in their arsenals.
That beacon of freedom and Liberty, the United States of America, would seek to attack China and Russia.
The United States of America is a far greater threat to peace then is North Korea and the United States of America is the nation most responsible for the proliferation of arms and of Nuclear Weapons.
Yet that same USA seeks and in fact claims it has the right to stop North Korean vessels on the high seas in order to ensure they are not spreading armanents the world over.
In your defense of North Korea, you ignore its role as a longtime time pawn of China. The presence of U.S. forces in Korea, Okinawa and along the Chinese coast has long been a source of great annoyance to Beijing. For their own reasons, the Beijing regime chooses to allow the North Korean rulers, who could not survive without Chinese support and toleration, to rattle the Americans (and Japan) every so often.
China at the same time furnishes an absolute defense for North Korea against any supposed U.S. attack, as even Bush or Cheney were well aware. Hence,your notion that NK has any legitimate defense needs, except against its own people, is ludicrous.
Of course, there is always a risk that North Korea, or another party in this complex dance, might make the wrong move and provoke catastrophe.
Well, consider this: their nuclear program represents some pretty good jobs. Always good to have some well-fed scientists and mechanics on the side of the government: what would be another benefit to NASA's crazy, half-concocted plan to spend $150 billion developing a rocket to lift a couple of astronauts back to the moon? Fear of otherwise having to lay-off 20,000 of the most priveleged workers on the face of the earth irrespective of how much more effectively, safely and cheaply the data could be collected by robots and telescopes?
Isn't it true that we often see ourselves reflected in the eyes of our enemies? Or rather, that's not what we SEE, but that's what we're hating.
We share a common "hero-worship" of our "maximum" leaders, its just that the antics with which express our submission are different. We read assinine accounts in a corrupt media day after day, they hold big parades and sing weird songs.
Both governments are obsessed with secrecy. The real difference is that there is alot less stuff in Korea that has to be kept secret. In America there is enough "classified' material to stuff a dozen or so of our largest landfills. We are so totally surrounded by the prying enemies of our State even the garden-variety mistakes and ineptitudes of our "glorious leaders" and their bureacratic henchpersons have to be safeguarded from disclosure!
Whole "blue-ribbon" executive and congressional commissions operate year in and year out to make sure everything's appropriately covered up and nobody gets wind of any real problem or how they might be easily corrected.
But N. Korea is a dictatorship! One party, one ruler spouting the same line year after year, decade after decade without ever bother to hold an election. We, on the other hand have TWO parties and MANY different leaders spouting the same line year after year, decade after decade with more ballots than you could stuff into the Bank of America! We have prisons, the have "labor camps". They have starvation, we have obesity epidemics. They have darkness all night long. We, on the other hand, party til dawn.
Why those lousy bastards!
North Korea is one of the most oppressive regimes on the planet. Do I have a problem with them having nukes, yes, then again, I have a problem with the US and every other nation on this planet having them. Your all defending North Korea like they have a good track record, the works at their Industrial Park making $70 a week, deposited directly into GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTS. I'm not saying invade, the people of North Korea have to make a stand, but defending the North is certainly of bad taste.
As I am saying, its the failure of guys like you to recognize the very disturbing similiarities between our two governments which a problem. You are simply blinded by mere quantitative differences, as might be expected of any "normal" American for whom MORE AND MORE, not BETTER AND BETTER is the key to the pursuit of happiness.
No, believe me, I recognize the similarities between the US government and the NK government, I consider the US government MUCH WORSE. Theirs no blindfolds here, I understand. I'm just saying that, defending the NK government...is hypocritical.
side note: I never once mentioned MORE AND MORE, compared to BETTER AND BETTER. If your refering to my statement of the NK workers getting 70$, I simply said that because...its one of the lowest wages in the world, they deserve better. You shouldn't jump too such conclusions.
Good article,
If the North Koreans are insane to have nukes to deter an invasion, the USA is even more insane to have them without anyone threatening to invade the USA.
What is happening all over the world today is a sign that the bigger they are the harder they fall. It is the economic rule of "Diseconomy Of Scale".
Bring America Back !!!!........if I'm wrong correct me?
**Was there not another hostage crisis where North Korea held captives, and Jimmy Carter self-dispatched himself
without official US sanction to talk to High Koreans.
**Now, Jimmy Carter is a nuclear engineer and talked enough nuke realities, and had sufficient under-the -table goodies to offer (food, maybe?) where he returned with the hostages and cooled down the crises.
**I bet Jimmy Carter would be a good one to dispatch to
North Korea at this time. Two American female reporters are imprisoned. Nukes are being threatened. And, Jimmy is probably patriotic enough to go !
**Esp since Team Obama is very busy meddling in Iran, Hillary has a broken elbow, the state of Hawaii wants to nuke NOrth Korea due to an incoming.
Can we please get Jimmy Carter over there, like NOW ????
"Can we please get Jimmy Carter over there, like NOW ????"
He's tied up monitoring the election situation in Iran.
"He's tied up monitoring the election situation in Iran."
He'd be a hell of a lot better monitoring the Democratic Party here at home. Obama reminds me of Carter these days. Too wimpy to keep the party in line at all.
Jimmy Carter wasn't a great president - too pro-business etc.
But at least he has his heart in the right place.
Obama's heart is a well-run corporate machine.
Korea, unified & homogenous from the 7th century, was known as "The Hermit Kingdom" and "The Land of Morning Calm". They defended their borders against Mongols, Manchurians and Japanese, but had a policy of never attacking other countries. They were invaded & colonized by the Japanese in 1910, and expected unity & independence after WW2. Korea was divided North/South by the US(Truman)government; civil war ensued, and "North" Korea has been a convenient boogy-man for the military-industrial-government complex ever since.
This is accurate. Thank you!
You forgot to add the the Soviets were involved in 1945 as well. The Soviets and the US were the ones who liberated Korea from the Japanese.
Bring America Back !!!!...........listen, Bubbasouth====I'm pretty darn sure that your boogy-man should be correctly spelled 'boogieman', as in Osama bin Laden.
Sound familiar.?
Same MI Complex, though !
Senior Defense Department officials refer to the DPRK as a country "not of this planet," led by "dysfunctional" autocrats.
I believe this is the United States they're talking about, though it could also be North Korea or Mexico or Russia and a lot of other places.
Good point.
Bring America Back !!!!.......................okay Shiblikov, since Sanity on the brink is the topic, how dare you accuse US Dept of Defense officials of being 'dysfunctional autocrats'.
****After all Secretaries of Defense Rumsfeld and now Gates had not one shred
of evidence of weapons of mass destruction when they unleashed 40,000 US missiles into a defenseless nation of Iraq in 2003 ! Killing hundreds of thousands humans.
A poor nation which could not feed its hungry, nor fly its own aircraft in its own airspace for over ten years due to US and ally sanctions.
****Since these military-minded, two-legged Rats, were ordered to invade by way
of "shock and awe" instruction of King George the Bush, are you saying they were
Insane when they knew perfectly well what they were doing.
****But then , does that make them War Criminals. ???? 40,000 laser-guided missiles.