–Remort

Robert is right, as much as the USA has totally fucked up in Iraq, it has done the correct thing in the Dear Leader’s case. This leads me to wonder, however, how much was by design or accident?

I wonder that myself. Part of it might be that the administration is split on how to handle North Korea, leading to policy paralysis, i.e., Washington doing nothing about North Korea, which ironically is precisely how North Korea probably should be played.

Another thing to, as Dogbertt has been pointing out, is that it’s not like North Korea is in the middle of the Sahara somewhere by its lonesome. Military action against the North comes at a substantially higher price than it does in, say, the Middle East. So yeah, the administration might simply be saying, the only way to really disarm North Korea is to invade them or pay them, and the former is too costly and we simply don’t want to do the latter, so let them eat plutonium.

Or are you just a troll?

–Remort

KJI is rumored to have health problems, and in footage of Hu and KJI walking down the red carpet together, broadast on Nork TV, Hu strode confidently with shoulders erect while KJI slouched along in his grunge wear. KJI did not look vigorous.

In NK’s case, the USA simply does not have the manpower. The US Army is tied up in a Sunni-Shia civil war in Iraq and could not do much in Korea even if it wanted to. It is also pretty obvious that tyrants do not live forever. It would be a much better scenario for NK’s people to overthrow their despot and decide their own destiny. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learn here?

Besides, Bush, Cheney and Wolfie went to Iraq to get the oil. Unfortunately the enemy did not play to their tune, as Saadam promised before the invasion.

There is nothing worth fighting for in NK and I don’t buy the “freedom and democracy” manta because the Dear Leader is every bit as bad, or even worse, than Saadam ever was.

Jodi gives me a chance to get a post down and dirty before all the articles swimming around in my head just coalesce in goo and then explode in my brain. I’ve considered a Korea-related paper for two terms now, first in my Japan class and now in …

So much to chew over and ponder.

Quiet profound.

Thanks for adding it to the discussion.

FYI, the U.S. did bomb Libya, killing Qaddafi’s adopted daughter. I think that the U.S. considered that reprisal enough at the time.

Of course, Koreans hyperbolically call for the death of America and Japan all the time and can be safely ignored. It’s when they take concrete steps to threaten the safety of the U.S. or Americans (as Libya did) that action need be taken.

Now that li’l Kim has been spotted at an Eric Clapton concert, maybe it’s time to kidnap the little ‘mo and put some pressure on dad that way.

If North Korea bordered Mali and the Western Sahara rather than South Korea and China I doubt Kim Jong-il would be the mouthy arrogant little dwarf he is.

If North Korea bordered Mali and the Western Sahara, it’d be Mauritania, and the United States would probably ignore it. Of course, I’m not so sure being in such a position would mean that Jong-il would be any less of a mouthy prick. After all, Libya is in the same general area, and Kadaffi (or however you spell it) never seemed too reserved in calling for the death of America… even after the USA tried to bomb him.