Note to White House: This is why it’s generally a bad idea to get involved in a name-calling war with the North Koreans:
“Bush is a hooligan bereft of any personality as a human being, to say nothing of stature as president of a country. He is a half-baked man in terms of morality and a philistine whom we can never deal with,” the official KCNA news service reported him as saying.
Of course, this was in response to President Bush’s frontal assault aimed at the Dear Leader from Friday:
Look, Kim Jong Il is a dangerous person. He’s a man who starves his people. He’s got huge concentration camps. And, as David accurately noted, there is concern about his capacity to deliver a nuclear weapon. We don’t know if he can or not, but I think it’s best, when you’re dealing with a tyrant like Kim Jong Il, to assume he can.
I enjoy a good verbal war as much as the next guy, but personally, I really question President Bush’s decision to insult Kim Jong-il at this stage. Of course, I happened to believe everything he said was true, and after North Korea responded to the White House’s rhetorical restraint by making a nuclear declaration and indefinitely suspending Pyongyang’s participation in the six-party talks, it’s not like I can really blame him. That being said, the White House just gave China and South Korea ammunition to blame the U.S. if the six-party talks eventually collapse, something that looks like only a matter of time. Granted, some quarters in Seoul and Beijing were prepared to do that regardless of what the U.S. said or didn’t say, but still, I would have preferred to allow the North Koreans to be the ones to officially stick a fork in the talks without providing those looking to pin the mess on Washington grounds to accuse the White House of intentionally torpedoing the six-party framework, hence giving political cover to those who would prefer to be uncooperative once the nuclear issue moves past the six-party talks stage.
26 Comments
There is no real ammunition here. North Korea has been absent from the talks for what…. over 6 months now. Put on top of that the recent shutdown of the nuclear power plant (probably to enhance their nuclear material supplies needed for more nuclear warheads) and it doesn’t take a genius to know NK was not coming back to the table anytime soon if at all. Yes some in the world will somehow blame America for this but they are the same ones blaming America for not solving the problem unilaterally by not having one on one talks with North Korea. It doesn’t matter if they have more “ammunition” because they will justify their position with or without logic. The table is set and one country is absent. Who are you going to blame? The country not at the table.
No big deal. Those looking to pin the mess on Washington would have pinned the mess on Washington anyway.
I gave about 10% chance of the six party talk to work when it stated about three years ago. With six separate egos and agendas, it was bound to fail from the start.
I don’t think any thinking person will blame Bush. Bush is doing the right thing; he has to keep threatening KJI and tell him to go to ell.
He can tough-talk and maybe Condi can smooth things up. But, we need both the good cop and the bad cop, considering Bush is the only bad cop and S.Korea is being “bitch-slapped” by NK.
?€œBush is a hooligan bereft of any personality as a human being, to say nothing of stature as president of a country. He is a half-baked man in terms of morality and a philistine whom we can never deal with,?€? the official KCNA news service reported him as saying.
The Times should have noted that KCNA took this verbatim from the platform of the Democratic National Committee.
Marmot: I’d be interested in your take on the translation of the insulting paragraph from the Korean, specifically the translator’s choice of the word “philistine”.
What was the original Korean word? In your opinion was it as “edified” an insult as “philistine”, or is the original Korean word actually much more demeaning? (ignoramus, dumbass, etc etc)
Of course I suppose you may not be able to tell; the KCNA (NorK official news agency, right?) may have provided the news release already translated (maybe they release their stuff already translated into other languages too, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, French, German, others?)
I also assume that any KCNA translators received their training from non-US citizen English teachers (UK, Canada maybe?) “Philistine” is a good word, one especially suited to being pronounced with an upturned nostril, but definitely not part of standard US vocabulary.
One imagines a left-wing UK or Canadian national — one who has the fortitude to live and work in NorK as an English teacher, may God be with him/her — teaching such a word to their NorK students hungry for knowledge. I can well imagine such a hypothetical teacher seeing the USA as a nation of philistines, and “W” as the philistine-in-chief!
The word will sail right over the heads of 95% of average Americans (but then I realize they’re not the intended audience of the news release anyway).
My goodness, just how bad is it when you are a “philistine” and you don’t even know it! Yes, one imagines many around the world seeing this word and agreeing with it while sadly shaking their heads (”ah yes, Bush and the Americans, one can do nothing with them”).
Below is the standard dictionary definition. The KCNA translator meant #2 of course, but for those who recall their New Testament there is an alternate possible meaning: “one who questions the teachings of Jesus Christ”. Of course I wouldn’t expect a good Communist in the KCNA to be aware of this meaning; certainly the hypothetical English teacher mentioned above won’t be inclined by either temperament or circumstances to use the New Testament in his English lessons. But the implied comparison of KJI to Jesus Christ is still an enjoyable bit of irony.
Well, enough etymology, it’s time to get back to my NASCAR, beer-drinking, hunting, and old-time religion. If there’s anything I left out Noolji feel free to supplement.
Main Entry: Phi?·lis?·tine
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia
2 : often not capitalized a : a person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values b : one uninformed in a special area of knowledge
- philistine adjective, often cap
- phi?·lis?·tin?·ism noun, often cap
Paul H. brings up a good point. Philistine? Hooligan? Half-baked? Who the Hell is writing these speeches, Monty Python?
Kim Jongil to Bushie: “I don’t wanna talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!”
people will blame america…the same people who blame america for not talking to nk one on one…’
no, no, blame busch, not america. that you equate busch with the states makes me wonder about you’re block like thinking. typical ploy from a fox of lies.
the only solution is direct talks and the uebermeister knows it. you know it too. you don’t really want a solution here. you just want an another opportunity to make war with other people’s children by provoking one with sanctions or some other means. meanwhile kji continues to make his nukes.
number of nk nukes made under clinton’s watch: zero
number of nukes made under der busch’s incompetance: more than several but we’re not really sure because we can’t spy on the n koreans with human capital.
der totsfuerer busch ist gefallen. he’s a failure as a president and has made us more enemies that we can handle.
nulji makes it up:
‘i support the iraq war while i’m here in korea.’ nonkorean
The people who stand to profit from MD are enjoying this.
Paul H. I saw an ad last year or the year before looking for British nationals to teach English in Pyongyang. I don’t know what came of it.
Maybe everything that Bush AND the North Koreans said was true.
To give Bush credit, he didn’t torpedo the talks. They were already torpedoed. The North Koreans want to be a nuclear power, and nobody finds it in their interests to do much about it. But yes, from the beginning, Bush has found it more expedient to play politics and look morally superior while doing nothing of real substance.
Bush shouldn’t be afraid to speak out against tyranny (hey, what about life imprisonment without trial - brought to America by George W), and neither should South Koreans.
“Of real substance” needs to be defined. Don’t give them money or shut up about the concentration camps. Do unilaterally declare peace on the Korean peninsula, take North Korea off the terrorist watch list, and exchange ambassadors. That might not get rid of the nukes, but it would set up a better relationship than the one that is now. More importantly, it would put the ball in the NOrth Korean camp to respond.
Does the David that Bush speaks of refer to the David of Golliath fame (of Phillistine fame) and could that be the link to the NK response. I wouldn’t expect NK to be that quick to see any connection (if indeed there is one) but I wouldn’t put it past Bush-we all know that the Christian groups have hold of his proverbial jockstrap.
paul h.,
i had something on my blog about a guy named michael harrold who did this back in the late 1980s. he gives some insight into how they come up with these things. i think the people who do this have to think that the north is somehow misunderstood and that the west is basically evil.
either that or their sociopaths.
james wrote:
I wouldn?€™t put it past Bush-we all know that the Christian groups have hold of his proverbial jockstrap.
in biblical times, the proverbial jockstrap was called a yoke.
Noolji.
Well….. at least you are getting better. Now you at least tell everyone you are making up a quote.
“nulji makes it up:
?€?i support the iraq war while i?€™m here in korea.?€™ nonkorean.”
Shouldn’t North Korea just go back to the six party talks to find a solution diplomatically and not by creating a war with “other peoples’ children”?
He said “thinking people”, Noolji. You don’t count.
no, no, blame busch, not america. that you equate busch with the states makes me wonder about you?€™re block like thinking. typical ploy from a fox of lies.
the only solution is direct talks and the uebermeister knows it. you know it too. you don?€™t really want a solution here. you just want an another opportunity to make war with other people?€™s children by provoking one with sanctions or some other means. meanwhile kji continues to make his nukes.
James,
You are right about one thing; NK is trying very hard to get attention. NK is no problem for the U.S. Bush only labeled NK as one of the axis of evil, because he hated to single out Moslems to be the only enemies of the U.S.
NK’s missile cannot hit the continental U.S. And, even if NK has the capability, it has to listen to his master, China. China will not allow NK to shoot missiles to its main market.
So, KJI is a non-problem for the U.S. Some in Washington quipped “there is no oil in NK”. Only Japanese-paid mouthpieces yap about NK situation, but the main theocon does not worry about NK situation.
About “direct talk with NK”, “W”’s dad (Big Bush?) has laid out the foundation, “we don’t talk to terrorists” and that is where it should stand. Despite this wisdom, Clinton, Carter and Madelene held direct talks. See where it got them? One has to have the capability to learn from past mistakes. That is the fundamental and basic survival skill in any situation.
Some people say it’s good to positively engage the North’s dictatorship so people can see just how ridiculous it is.
Like the Asian Games in 2002 when the Nork cheerbots, wailing and crying, rushed out of their buses to rescue the banner with Kim Jong-il’s face on it, cuz it had gotten soggy.
So here we have Bush engaging them, but in a negative manner. And the dictatorship responds like the ridiculous and obsolete government it is.
Maybe verbal abuse is beneficial in this regard, too. Maybe it will agitate the dictatorship and accelerate its demise.
Of course, maybe it will have no effect - but kissing up doesn’t seem to do much either.
I’d say do both - engage and agitate the North at every opportunity. Keep it in the spotlight, and behind and not in control of developments.
Can’t we just nuke the North and call it a day already? How much patience do we have to have?
Can?€™t we just nuke the North and call it a day already? How much patience do we have to have?
There is one person at least that agrees with you.
Shooting a nuke missile?
This is where a KA can be quite useful. Choose a KA officer in the Navy submarine squad and elevate him to be the Captain of a nuke sub(choose the most dilapidated one).
He shoots a nuke missle to PyungYang and escapes thru a chopper. Then, U.S. warship destroys the sub in open water so reporters can take pictures.
The Official announcement:
“Captain Kim willfully disobeyed the official orders of the U.S. and took control of nuclear missile system and for the love of his native land shot the missile to PyungYang.
This WANTON disregard for human lives and direct opposition to the Navy order is Kim’s fault and his alone.
He and the ship were utterly destroyed by the U.S. warship. This shows once and for all this type of vigilantism will not be condoned in America.
As to Captain Kim and those who died, we express sincere condolences. This will not and should not happen again.
”
Meanwhile, Captain Kim is seen in Costa Rica sunbathing. However, you cannot be sure; all Koreans look alike.
Scenario 2:
A stealth bomber gets stolen in Japan by ultranationalists. TV news can broadcast the pictures of the stolen bomber and the made up pictures of hijackers.
So, everybody in the world knows a stealth bomber is hijacked but who knows what direction it is heading? Even if they know, how can they prevent it? No NK fighters can track a stealth bomber. This stolen plane happened to have nuclear bombs on board for training purpose.
Thunderball, 007 James Bond.
PyungYang bye, bye.
The U.S. can protest tongue in cheek to Japan about stealing American property
Paul H: The word will sail right over the heads of 95% of average Americans (but then I realize they?€™re not the intended audience of the news release anyway).
95% of average Americans are either Christian, Jewish or Muslim. They know the meaning of the word philistine. As far as English language publications go, American papers are pitched at people with a 6th grade education. British papers are pitched at 3rd graders (in vocabulary and in tone). Aussie papers are roughly on par with British papers.
puhahaha… Baduk…
Why go through all that trouble? Just nuke Pyong Yang and say that we need to spread democracy. Or something like that.
Oh I think I would like to see a little more undignified name calling. Perhaps we can get Bush to give KJI the bird or something to which KJI might flash a little ass to tell Bush what he can kiss. THAT would be news.
Why go through all that trouble? Just nuke Pyong Yang and say that we need to spread democracy. Or something like that.
so when we talk about ’spreading democracy’ the new definition of ‘democracy’ is now ‘radioactivity’?
geez, i was just getting used to the old new definition of ‘democracy’ as ‘violent insurgency.’
(i think people might get tired of us spreading around democracy like that)
I can admit that I can imagine a situation where calling a spade a spade would be detrimental to a potential avoiding of a problem or finding an adequate solution to a problem.
North Korea right now, however, is not such a situation.
I don’t see any reason coming close to justifying burying the truth about North Korea or refusing to speak such truths out in the open.
In fact, I think there is more danger in not saying them.
As you said, there is already a significant portion of those interested in the situation — in China, SK, and the US — who have looked for and found what they believe are adequate justifications for blaming or giving co-blame to the US for the failure of reaching an agreement