North Korea has been shouting from their little corner of the world the last few days, screaming "look at me! I'm relevant!"
They've tested some rockets, and according to some are "testing the resolve" of President Obama.
I think this is inaccurate. I think, rather, they see an opportunity - a country devastated by the previous administration - out of money, struggling banking and automobile industries that require government assistance to keep from sinking the entire country, a tar pit in Iraq where we never should have gone in in the first place (even though we did have the right), Af-Pak teetering on the brink, and a minority party who seems to be of the position that they're going to oppose anything that the President offers simply because he's the one proposing it - and they're going to see what leverage they can squeak out of the situation.
I think the best option is to open discussions with the other countries in the region - China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan, and come to a conclusion on how to handle North Korea from a united front - this would alienate North Korea, inasmuch as China doesn't want their ugly nephew with nukes or getting all belligerent, as it would give cause to re-arm Japan, and the leverage could reverse itself.
The Chonger isn't stupid - he can see an opportunity when it presents itself - let's just hope we don't end up giving him what he's looking for.
Showing posts with label North Korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Korea. Show all posts
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Those Zany North Koreans!
Every now and then the North Koreans will do something to get themselves back in the news. Usually it's some act of stupidity/defiance, such as the Poplar Tree incident, the Tunnels, the Crab Wars, the Submarine incident, etc.
Yesterday, it was a missile launch. They've been working up the war rhetoric for the last few days in preparation for the launch. The launch itself was a P.R. victory for the country, because it shows they have the technology to launch a missile that reaches (at least) to Japan and it generated a lot of attention for the country. They will leverage this to the best of their abilities, garnering more aid and more publicity for the regime. The Dear Leader General Kim Chong Il ("the Chonger") may not be much for international travel, and he might just be a maniacal, mass murdering cur, but he's savvy. He knows how to keep himself in power and his people uninformed.
The country's news service has declared the launch a success, placing a satelite in orbit that sings the praises of the Great Leader (Kim Il Sung) and Dear Leader. This is false, of course, as no satelite actually entered orbit from this launch, but that doesn't matter to a country whose government controls what information reaches its people. Interesting sidenote, Jazz Shaw at the Moderate Voice writes an article here about the giving the President the authority to control information media during a time of crisis that he would get to define. Fortunately, we're not North Korea, so we don't have to worry about the Government trying to control what we hear. Oh, wait.
But back to the point. The real question that should come from this is what should we do about North Korea? What we will do is completely different. We'll do some sabre-rattling, name calling, and pounding on the table, but at the end of the day we'll end up giving them more aid. This is unfortunate, but it's what's probably going to happen.
What we should have done was invaded this country back in 2003. We had a much stronger case (real facts versus what the President wanted to be told so he could tell us of the imminence of danger) of a credible threat to the region. But that ship has sailed, and now we've hemorrhaged our resources, which limits our ability to respond.
Yesterday, it was a missile launch. They've been working up the war rhetoric for the last few days in preparation for the launch. The launch itself was a P.R. victory for the country, because it shows they have the technology to launch a missile that reaches (at least) to Japan and it generated a lot of attention for the country. They will leverage this to the best of their abilities, garnering more aid and more publicity for the regime. The Dear Leader General Kim Chong Il ("the Chonger") may not be much for international travel, and he might just be a maniacal, mass murdering cur, but he's savvy. He knows how to keep himself in power and his people uninformed.
The country's news service has declared the launch a success, placing a satelite in orbit that sings the praises of the Great Leader (Kim Il Sung) and Dear Leader. This is false, of course, as no satelite actually entered orbit from this launch, but that doesn't matter to a country whose government controls what information reaches its people. Interesting sidenote, Jazz Shaw at the Moderate Voice writes an article here about the giving the President the authority to control information media during a time of crisis that he would get to define. Fortunately, we're not North Korea, so we don't have to worry about the Government trying to control what we hear. Oh, wait.
But back to the point. The real question that should come from this is what should we do about North Korea? What we will do is completely different. We'll do some sabre-rattling, name calling, and pounding on the table, but at the end of the day we'll end up giving them more aid. This is unfortunate, but it's what's probably going to happen.
What we should have done was invaded this country back in 2003. We had a much stronger case (real facts versus what the President wanted to be told so he could tell us of the imminence of danger) of a credible threat to the region. But that ship has sailed, and now we've hemorrhaged our resources, which limits our ability to respond.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Saengil Chukha Hamnida!
Today is the Chonger's 65th Birthday! The dear leader is honored to have your well wishes, and he knows you thank him for being the lodestar leader for the 21st Century. Everyone should take a moment to remind yourselves how lucky we are to have him leading the pride of Northeast Asia.
UPDATE
Check out this link to the good people at the Gun Toting Liberal who celebrate the Dear Leader's guidance as well.
UPDATE
Check out this link to the good people at the Gun Toting Liberal who celebrate the Dear Leader's guidance as well.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Diplomacy inaction
I've written about North Korea once or twice on my blog. See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The good folks at the Gun Toting Liberal have a collection of links regarding the recent agreement reached in the six-nation talks regarding North Korea's nuclear program, and a quick rundown on why it's ok to negotiate with Asians but not Persians.
I don't have time to get into detail on any of this, but suffice it to say, I think negotiating with the Chonger and North Korea to get them to agree to not do what they were supposed to not be doing in the first place is just fueling the fire of their regime (and this is a regime, if ever there was one).
Anyway, if you have a minute, click on some of the links above and see what the good folks have to say. And if you want to know what I think, you have over a dozen links above, as well.
The good folks at the Gun Toting Liberal have a collection of links regarding the recent agreement reached in the six-nation talks regarding North Korea's nuclear program, and a quick rundown on why it's ok to negotiate with Asians but not Persians.
I don't have time to get into detail on any of this, but suffice it to say, I think negotiating with the Chonger and North Korea to get them to agree to not do what they were supposed to not be doing in the first place is just fueling the fire of their regime (and this is a regime, if ever there was one).
Anyway, if you have a minute, click on some of the links above and see what the good folks have to say. And if you want to know what I think, you have over a dozen links above, as well.
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