The diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks earlier this week confirm that the key strategic process taking place in the Middle East is the push for regional dominance by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The documents show that the Iranian nuclear program is only the most worrisome element of a broader effort, as there is additional evidence of Iranian involvement and interference in political processes across the region.
By Barry Rubin
What will the United States and the world going to do about an act of aggression by North Korea on South Korea, the deliberate unprovoked firing of mortars at civilians? And what are the lessons of this situation for other world problems?
First, nobody is going to do anything real in response to this attack. Indeed, the South Koreans are lucky that they aren’t being investigated and condemned for something or other.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
North Korean “fearless leader” Kim Jong-il seems to be planning another missile “test” — aka a plan for harassment and/or extortion against the West — this time taking aim at Hawaii. Kim will probably get away with it again… and be offered some kind of concessions to placate his lunacy (see below). From the AP:
By Andrew L. Jaffee
North Korea is controlled by a very dangerous regime: It threatened today to “reduce everything… [in South Korea] to debris.” North and South Koreans are the same people, with many family and friends separated by a line in the sand, and yet the North Korean leadership would destroy its own kindred, all because of a very minor, perceived “offense” committed by a Southern group opposed to the North’s Fearless Leader, Kim Jong-Il. From AFP:
By Andrew L. Jaffee
…[South Korean President] Roh later witnessed one of the North’s typical mass games extravaganzas, complete with goose-stepping soldiers, dancing schoolgirls and a large flip card animation section that promotes unification under the North’s communist banner.
The spectacle however was tailored for Roh, and cut back on items seen in other shows — such as depictions of the North’s soldiers bayoneting those from the South.
Now isn’t that special. That Fearless Leader Kim Jong Il can muster such spectacles while his people are starving to death is not unusual, for a Stalinist megalomaniac. That the democratically-elected president of South Korea can lend credibility to such insanity for the sake of personal aggrandizement verges on criminal.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
…[South Korean President] Roh has not given any specifics about what he will propose or seek [during his visit to North Korea], prompting criticism from conservatives at home that the summit is an ego trip for the South Korean leader to establish a legacy for his unpopular administration, which ends in February. …
I too see Roh’s visit as a cynical PR stunt. (Of course, this “summit” was set up on North Korea’s terms). In an ominous twist, “Both Roh and [North Korean dictator] Kim also hope to keep the surging conservatives from winning South Korea’s December presidential election.” If Roh can find such common cause with Kim, a Stalinist megalomaniac, then there’s something terribly wrong with the South Korean president. Fearless Leader Kim has already poured cold water all over the North/South summit, giving Roh a “chilly” welcome. After today’s opening ceremony for Roh, Kim has “showed scant enthusiasm and seldom smiled.” As a further slap in the face to the South, Kim won’t even meet with Roh today, instead letting his deputy “deal with the South Koreans for the rest of the day.”
Good thing that cooler heads are prevailing in South Korea:
By Andrew L. Jaffee
North Korea test-fired a long-range missile and five shorter-range rockets on July 4, 2006. It tested a nuclear bomb in October 2006. Today, Kim Jong-il’s workers’ paradise “fired several short-range guided missiles into the sea that separates it from Japan.” The North has a 1.1-million-man army, the fourth-largest in the world. This is downright alarming, unless you’re some kind of politically-correct sissy “analyst:”
By Andrew L. Jaffee
So North Korea isn’t such a paradise after all (I’m being sarcastic). Even the select few, the apparatchiks that Kim Jong-il considers loyal, don’t want their kids to grow up in the “People’s Paradise.” 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. From the Beeb:
North Korean diplomats stationed overseas are reportedly refusing an order to send their children home, according to South Korean media.
The order was issued earlier this year in an apparent attempt to stop defections from the hardline regime. …
by Jonathan Winer*
How do you get an evil dictator who starves his people to understand that you really mean business when you say he has to stop his nuclear proliferation program?
Treasury has decided you do it by taking away his iPods, sports cars, and booze.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Oh, so now North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has “expressed regret” over shooting off a nuclear weapon? The only reason he’s being contrite is because his trigger-happiness has hurt his little ol’ wallet:
Also Friday, employees of Chinese banks said they have suspended financial transactions to North Korea under orders from Beijing. China is the North’s main trading partner, and the step could be a serious blow to its frail economy.
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
How reassuring: N. Korean dictator Kim Jong-il likes scotch, James Bond movies, Daffy Duck, fast cars, and apparently under-age girl sex-slaves, according to Fox News. He’s also sold weapons to Iran and Syria. What if he exports his newly-tested nukes? Hey, wake up world: we’re talking nuclear annihilation. Some people, mainly on the Left, are urging direct talks with N. Korea, but according to Colin Powell regarding the the “dialogue” between the Clinton administration and Kim:
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:
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