By Andrew L. Jaffee
Very rarely, but sometimes, can you find truth in the words of dictators — in this case: North Korea:
…we will deliver merciless blows without hesitation to whoever tries to breach our sovereignty and right to survive under the excuse of carrying out the UN Security Council resolution.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Even after what we knew about North Korea, and after Stalinist “fearless leader” Kim Jong-il’s detonation of a nuclear device, shooting missiles near Japan, and collusion with Iran… China and Russia are still hedging on sanctions against this most dangerous of Asian rogue states. From Reuters:
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Before people go rushing to urge “dialogue” with North Korea — which is exactly what its Stalinist leadership wants by testing nuclear devices — there are several facts to keep in mind:
1) Two to three million North Korean citizens have starved to death because their government spends more money on weapons per capita than any nation on earth (see also here).
2) Democracy blossoms in South Korea. It is the world’s 11th largest economy. A recent nighttime satellite image of the Korean Peninsula showed North Korea totally dark, while South Korea was glowing with light. South Koreans aren’t flocking north, but North Koreans flee to the south by the thousands every year.
3) Previous dialogue (appeasement) between the Clinton administration and North Korea only encouraged its pursuit of nuclear weapons. According to Colin Powell:
Because the last time we had a bilateral negotiation with the North Koreans, it resulted in the Agreed Framework, which bottled Yongbyon so that no weapons came out of Yongbyon for another eight years, but it left the capacity to develop weapons in place at Yongbyon; and while they were doing that and we were watching that, before the ink was dry on the Agreed Framework, the North Koreans had started to move in another direction to develop the same kinds of nuclear weapons that we thought we had capped at Yongbyon. We’re not going to fall into that trap again.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Not that we already have our hands full with Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Afghanistan, Hezbollah, etc. … And when I say “we,” I limit my meaning to the few nations that have the guts to stand up to fascism and imperialism, like the U.S., Israel, Australia, Britain, Japan — a pretty short list. Now N Korea is going ballistic — literally. It wasn’t enough for Kim Jong-il to shoot missiles near Japan. Now he’s testing nukes. China and Russia are expressing dismay, but who knows if it means anything, as they’d probably rather have N Korean business than face down a psycho nuclear threat. Maybe the South Koreans will finally wake up, but I’m not getting my hopes up. Their “Sunshine Policy” towards by the North sounds a little too cheeky — and sun rays may be replaced by gamma rays. One would think we’ve learned a little bit from Clinton’s failed policy of appeasement towards the North. From the Beeb:
By Andrew L. Jaffee
In a wonderful example of democratic/capitalist voting with your feet, “Convenience store operator 7-Eleven Inc. is dropping Venezuela-backed Citgo as its gasoline supplier at more than 2,100 locations and switching to its own brand of fuel.” Hugo Chavez can call President Bush “el diablo” at the UN — a speech funded by American taxpayer dollars — but U.S. corporations and consumers can tell Chavez to take his oil and shove it where the sun don’t shine. From the Chicago Tribune:
by Randy Sprinkle
“The end of all intelligent analysis is to clear the way for synthesis.” - H.G. Wells
There are relatively few individuals today who would not take offence to being called a fascist. This was not always so; before and during the 1930’s, even though Western liberal societies in general rejected philosophies of fascism, the term had nowhere near the stigma that it does today, and many were drawn to the concept.
One individual who embraced the ideas of both fascism and liberalism was HG Wells. Before Hitler and Mussolini brought infamy to the term fascism, Wells referred to himself as a “liberal fascist†and put forward a theory of revolutionary praxis centered around a concept he described as ‘liberal fascism’. The end result envisioned was an authoritarian elite ruling over a global ‘liberal utopia‘, a benevolent oligarchy for the good of mankind.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Are Europeans finally getting it? My, how comfortable things get when you have the U.S. protecting you militarily — and economically through trade. Europe is on the verge of taxing itself out of existence, submitting to Islamo-fascism, and breeding a generation which expects government handouts and/or guaranteed lifetime employment. The Swedes just ousted a welfare-state party in favor of a “center-right alliance.” From Reuters:
A Center-right alliance led by Moderate Party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt won power in Sweden in an election on Sunday, ending 12 years of Social Democrat rule by vowing to lower taxes and trim the welfare state.
Reinfeldt, who will be the next prime minister, declared victory in a tight election. Social Democrat Prime Minister Goran Persson, one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders, conceded defeat after 10 years in office and will quit as party chief. …
By Andrew L. Jaffee
It must be extremely difficult for the residents of Hong Kong to live normal lives. They have watched their liberties eroded by Chinese communists since the territory was returned by the British to mainland control. Hong Kong residents have fought peaceably for their rights, sometimes successfully, but yesterday:
Hong Kong’s legislature has passed a controversial new law on the use of covert surveillance and phone tapping, which critics fear will harm liberties.
Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee said the bill was crucial for public safety.
He also promised there would be a “good balance” between effective law enforcement and protection of privacy.
Under the law, surveillance operations have to be approved by judges appointed by Hong Kong’s leader. Critics regard the checks as inadequate.
They have expressed worries that the new Interception of Communications and Surveillance law will empower police officers to eavesdrop on political opponents.
Judges appointed by Hong Kong’s leader? Tung Chee-hwa was appointed by the mainland communists. The actions of mainland Chinese “leaders” speak for themselves.
This new “law” will be nothing less than an Orwellian nightmare, where Hong Kong residents’ phone calls and emails will be “reviewed” by armies of communist eavesdroppers (apparatchiks).
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Talk about the tail wagging the dog, war hysteria, propaganda — whatever you want to call it: the terms so easily thrown about by the rabidly left-wing, X-Files, conspiracy theorists. Cuba’s communists, darlings to the limousine liberals, are suffering from a major case of paranoid schizophrenia. From the Houston Chronicle:
Former revolutionaries promised to keep fighting for Cuba today as the island beefed up security, saying it fears a U.S. attack during Fidel Castro’s health crisis.
The government, under the control of Castro’s brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, has mobilized citizen defense militias and asked military reservists to check in daily. …
The Communist Party daily newspaper Granma issued a front-page statement by the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution expressing confidence that Castro would be back on his feet soon.
Yeah, and the Pope ain’t Catholic. Castro will be “back on his feet soon,” i.e., plugged into a wall-socket. Remember Brezhnev and Chernenko? Their own people laughed at them, though only among trusted friends, for fear of the KGB and NKVD. Same batty time, same batty channel…
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Oy, I had hoped Ukraine had started on the path of freeing itself from Russian interference. But Orange Revolution champion, President Viktor Yushchenko, has reluctantly made his and pro-Russian arch-rival Viktor Yanukovych his prime minister, with parliamentary approval. This act will certainly allow Russia the opportunity for further meddling in Ukrainian affairs.
In 2004 elections, Yanukovych, oligarchy candidate, and pal of Russia’s ex-KGB goons, wouldn’t concede presidential elections. Ukraine’s Central Election Commission certified that Orange candidate Viktor Yushchenko won the election with 51.9% of the vote, compared to 44.2% for Yanukovych. 77% of eligible voters turned out. Yushchenko only gained victory by rallying his pro-Western supporters and filling the streets of Kiev with protesters.
By Randy A Sprinkle
The terrorists today have the will to destroy us, but they don’t have the power. We have the power to eradicate them, but we must now show that we have the will.
- Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Brit Hume on the Fox News - Sept. 14th, 2001
The United States is often referred to as the world’s only super power and while that may be a valid statement, what does it really mean?
The potential of a nation is only that. More often than not, the destiny of a nation is determined by will-power and unity rather than physical power. Potential will be realized only to the extent of the will and unity that exists among the people.
History shows that great nations often begin with a small group of determined people. Certainly in the case of America this is true. Many of the people who came to America’s shores were the poor persecuted and despised rejects of Europe. What drove these individuals was self-determination which in the end proved to be the greatest possession they brought with them on their ships.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Just what are these Cambodians lamenting? And why give an atheist murderer a Buddhist funeral? From the BBC:
Hundreds of Cambodians have paid their respects to Ta Mok, a former Khmer Rouge leader nicknamed “The Butcher”.
In a traditional Buddhist funeral ceremony, incense was burned and prayers recited over Ta Mok’s body, which was daubed with white powder.
The ceremony took place in Ta Mok’s former stronghold of Anlong Veng, in the north of Cambodia.
Ta Mok, who died on Friday, was the regime’s military commander and linked to many atrocities of the 1970s.
About 1.7 million people died under the Khmer Rouge, through a combination of starvation, disease and execution.
Ta Mok was the only Khmer Rouge leader who refused to bargain with authorities following the collapse of the regime, and he was arrested in 1999 near the Thai border.
by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin
New York: Basic Books, 2005. 677 pp. $29.95.
Reviewed by Barry Rubin
One of the worst mistakes ever made by the KGB, the Soviet security agency, was to punish one of its agents, Vasili Mitrokhin, for a critical remark about the regime in 1972 by demoting him to archivist. In that position, Mitrokhin copied large numbers of documents and hid them at his country house. As the Soviet Union was crumbling, he offered the cache to the British in exchange for his family’s rescue from the country and removal to safe haven, which he got.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
For those still wearing Che Guevara t-shirts and pining for the “good old days” of the Soviet (Russian) Empire, you may want to consult with the people who had the “pleasure” of living under communist domination. By and large, the peoples of the former Soviet “republics” have voted to move closer to Europe and the U.S. and away from Russia, where “influence stems from the former Soviet organs of repression.” Case in point: Lithuania, from the BBC:
By Andrew L. Jaffee
I tire of discussing the merits of socialism and communism with my left-wing friends. Despite their hypocritical practices, like drawing retirement benefits from pension funds invested in the stock and bond markets, they cling to the myth of “revolution,” and talk the talk of disdaining the capitalist system in which they live so comfortably — but not one of these people walk the walk, and practice what they preach. While most talk of “socialized medicine,” the “plight of the Palestinians,” etc., etc., none of them would give up their pensions, or leave their private property built on the lands of the Kickapoo or Shawnee tribes who once called my hometown their hometowns. So what is the “revolutionary myth” my leftist friends cling to? I turn to Richard Karlgaard who posted a great piece on Forbes a few days ago entitled “Why Isn’t Socialism Dead?”
“Why are the people in Bolivia and Venezuela responding so enthusiastically to the socialist siren-songs of Evo Morales and Hugo Chávez, instead of heeding the eminently rational counsel of [free-market proponent] Hernando de Soto? Why are they clamoring to give even more power and control to the state, instead of seeking to free themselves from the very obstacle that stands in the way of any genuine economic progress?
“It may well be that socialism isn’t dead because socialism cannot die. As [the early 20th-century French revolutionary writer Georges] Sorel argued, the revolutionary myth may, like religion, continue to thrive in ‘the profounder regions of our mental life,’ in those realms unreachable by mere reason and argument, where even a hundred proofs of failure are insufficient to wean us from those primordial illusions that we so badly wish to be true. Who doesn’t want to see the wicked and the arrogant put in their place? Who among the downtrodden and the dispossessed can fail to be stirred by the promise of a world in which all men are equal, and each has what he needs?
“The whole point of the myth of the socialist revolution is not that human societies will be transformed in the distant future, but that the individuals who dedicate their lives to this myth will be transformed into comrades and revolutionaries in the present. In short, revolution is not a means to achieve socialism; rather, the myth of socialism is a useful illusion that turns ordinary men into comrades and revolutionaries united in a common struggle–a band of brothers, so to speak.”
Karlgaard notes socialism’s track-record, which should be enough to turn anyone off to this failed economic, political, and social system:
The milder forms of it have yielded economic stagnation where and whenever tried: England in the 1970s; France today. The more impatient strains–”socialism in a hurry,” as Lenin reputedly called communism–did nothing but plunder economies and destroy lives. Their fine leaders ordered the deaths of more than 100 million people–Lenin and Stalin (40 million), Mao (60 million) and Pol Pot (2 million), not to mention that syphilitic dictator of the German National Socialist Party, Adolf Hitler (11 million directly, another 35 million through the war he started).
By all rights socialism should be dead, sealed in a steel vault and buried in Hell. Yet the disease lives. You might even say it’s spreading when you look at the ascent of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Ken Livingstone in London and the “progressive” American Net-based left (which says Hillary Rodham Clinton is too far right). What accounts for socialism’s reappearance? To discover the answer, we must ask another question. Why do so many people around the world hate its opposite–free-market capitalism?
When arguing with my leftist friends, I’ve made the mistake of thinking that presenting facts may sway them from their shaky belief system. But Karlgaard notes some facts that still may hit home, perhaps only at the subconscious level:
Old news, but worth repeating (since the mainstream U.S. press is in denial): U.S. GDP growth for the first quarter clocked in at a whopping 4.8%. Remember that this figure is typically revised upward weeks later. Look for a final tally of 5.0+%. Gosh, what else is there to say about the roaring U.S. economy? Oh, yes. Unemployment is safely below 5%, and–wonder of wonders–even the New York Times admits that wages are rising faster than inflation.
And the bad news? Let’s see. Could it be the crunch in U.S. manufacturing jobs, such as in the auto industry? Actually, no, says heartland economy expert Jack Schultz. In 1990 there were 955,100 Americans employed in the auto sector, compared with 956,200 in 2005. Thank you, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and BMW. The stock market likes what it sees. The Dow has been flirting with its high of 11,723, set in January 2000.
No matter how you look at it–from business starts to job growth to salaries to share prices–the American form of free-market capitalism delivers the goods. But you’ll never convince socialists and their fellow travelers on the trendy Left that anything good has occurred. Or that freedom–in the form of reduced regulation and taxes–is responsible.
Finally, Karlgaard mentions that capitalism has some pretty decent myths of its own:
Harris says free-market capitalism needs a “transformative myth of its own” to fight the myth of revolutionary socialism. But don’t we have that? I thought that’s what entrepreneurial heroes were all about. Bill Gates and the Google boys are still heroes to millions of Chinese and Indians, if not to the French or Bolivians.
But I say, “Good luck,” in trying to win any arguments with leftists when discussing the armchair “revolutionary myth” topic.
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