North Korea open thread

I'd be very interested to know what you think is the way(s) to deal with KIM Jong Il's rogue North Korea, now that they've apparently successfully tested a nuclear weapon.

Do we essentially continue a strategy of containment which doesn't appear to be containing much but the growth of the people? What else can you take away by way of sanctions? It would appear that his people going without is not a deterrent to this clown.
I've heard it suggested we offer China that we'll remove our troops from S. Korea in exchange for them taking out this leadership. Interesting theoretically but does China even have that ability, though they'd certainly be interested in no longer essentially having our troops on their border.
One of the biggest deterrents to military action has been all those North Korean missiles aimed at South Korea. That aside, what military action would make a difference? We're stretched awfully thin as it is militarily, but would you propose a surgical strike to try to take out the leadership or bombing them back to the stone age (oh, that's right, they're already back in the stone age)?
Do we just de facto ignore it, while using words of condemnation? They are not a threat today, especially since they can't seem to get rockets to work; but there's always the chance they could sell what they've learned.
Any thoughts?

On a personal note: Having my stepson on the border there makes me wary of where this may lead.
North Korea KIM Jong Il KIM Bush Taepodong China nuclear weapons

Darfur matters too

Why isn't what's going on in the Darfur region of Sudan important enough for the national press to write about or is it that we don't care? It's likely the latter, I'm afraid. You can say what you want about the press; it is a business and largely driven by what people want to read about. We'd rather read and hear about Mel Gibson or watch reality shows. Funny that. The networks would actually show us reality if we cared about reality. Sure, the press is hard at work in the Middle East; but it's the latest story and it makes good news...bombs are more interesting that rounding up civilians and shooting them. True, what's going on in the Middle East effects the security of the region and effects the security of the rest of the world, but this matters too.
So while war rages in two areas of the Middle East, parts of the world like the Sudan go largely ignored. The death toll in this most recent wave of genocide has topped 200,000 people. And do you know why there's no United Nations peacekeeping force in there to try to stop it? The most recent obstacle, though in many ways an ongoing obstacle, is the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. He has refused to allow UN forces in his country because he claims -- get this -- that it would lead to the colonization of his country. Now there's a man who cares about his country! And he's able to get away with this because China threatens to veto that UN action. Why? Oh, don't be foolish. Oil, of course.

And where is the most powerful and generous country in the world while this is going on? We're certainly not in the Sudan. We don't even have an envoy there. I understand this is complicated and difficult. Everything on the world stage is difficult. But there must be something we can do. We certainly could use some positive image building, if nothing else. Whether you agree with the rest of the world or not, it does matter how the rest of the world views us. Now is as good a time as any to get involved in a tragic situation just for the sake of the people. Until then, I'll do my little part in trying to get this issues into as many minds and hearts as possible. Won't you join me?
Middle East Darfur Sudan China United Nations veto peace bombs genocide oil Omar Hassan al-Bashir

Mash's plea

As things in the Middle East seem to get worse instead of better, as evidenced by these developments:

"The leader of Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, threatened Thursday night to fire rockets at Tel Aviv if Israel expands its bombing attacks against Beirut."
Hezbollah Threatens Tel Aviv

to which Israel seemingly responded by bombing southern Beirut...

And in Iraq a pro Hezbollah rally:

"The demonstration was the biggest in the Middle East in support of Hezbollah since Israel launched its attacks against the guerrillas in Lebanon on July 12. The protest was organized by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose political movement built around the Mahdi Army militia has been modeled after Hezbollah."Death to Israel

I enthusiastically join Mash's request in adding a link to his chain, which was motivated by Ehud Goldwasser’s father and wife appearing last night on Larry King Live. Mash in his post Proof of Life has this request:

"I ask all bloggers who read this post, as a gesture of peace and good will, to repost this plea on your blogs. Ask the same of those who read your posts. Let this plea spread across the blogosphere. Perhaps this plea will be posted on the blogs of our Arab and Lebanese friends. Perhaps this plea will make a difference in saving at least one life."

If we in this country are sick and tired off war -- of seeing brave men and women in uniform return home dead or injured, of hearing the ever-rising civilian death toll, of hearing the sabre rattling on all sides, except from those actually standing in the line of fire -- imagine how the people actually caught up in it feel or those who have loved ones caught up in it feel. I, therefore, urge anyone who reads this post to join Mash and I and others in writing a plea of their own or use Mash's linking back to the CNN transcript of the interview above, and ask others to do the same.
Middle East Israel Lebanon Hezbollah Nasrallah Goldwasser peace Iraq al-Sadr

Join me in condemning Hezbollah as well

We on the left have not hesitated during this war between Israel and Hezbollah to condemn Israel, and justifiably so to a large extent, for waging its war in a way that has a high civilian, thus innocent, death toll. But we also need to fill our credibility gap. Hezbollah's strategy is to fire rockets into Israel indiscriminately...they only have a vague idea where those rockets will land. Their targets with these missiles is the civilian population of Northern Israel; and unlike Israel, they've not warned civilians to leave the area.
It seems to me that Hezbollah's goal is to fire rockets from high-density civilian areas in the hopes (that's right, I said hopes, thus goal) that Israel will immediately retaliate by firing a rocket there, killing plenty of civilians. The more civilians that Hezbollah can entice Israel into killing, the more outrage from Arab and non-Arab nations alike will be heaped upon Israel. But in particular they want outrage from the Arab people. It's a recruiting tool in its effort to at some point trigger a war with Arab nations on one side and Israel on the other because they do not want Israel to exist.
It is a despicable way to wage war. Not only are they hiding behind civilians, their goal is to kill civilians...kill civilians in Israel with missiles that will result in Israel firing rockets at them, which will kill Lebanese civilians. And it's working wonderfully, from a propaganda standpoint and from a purely goal-oriented strategery standpoint.
I confess I have no answers. But let me ask you this: If there was a large terrorist group in Windsor, Ontario, Canada with sympathies among a large portion of the Windsor population, and if that group deployed the Hezbollah strategy and fired inaccurate missiles into Detroit, Michigan, USA, would we feel exactly the same way about the resultant civilian death toll in Windsor from our retaliation as we feel about Israel's?
Just once I'd like to see a television interview or read a newspaper interview where a Shia civilian in Lebanon condemned the actions of Hezbollah. Hezbollah is much more to blame for these civilian deaths than Israel. So while I will continue to point out the folly of Israel's strategy or lack thereof, it's high time we emphasize where most of the fault lies.

On the flipside, it would be nice to hear the right say the things we on the left have been saying from the beginning...that Israel is falling into a centuries' old trap; that the war cannot be won this way; that for every Hezbollah killed, for every Lebanese civilian killed they're creating multitudes and generations of Hezbollahs.

Middle East Israel Lebanon Hezbollah United States terrorists peace bombs Lebanese Shia

The Rest of the World

I'm taking a hiatus from the Middle East conflict for a few days because the more I watch and read and hear, the more angry and less open minded I'm becoming about the situation. Not that that will help my clarity but it's worth a try, and I'm sure I'll have somewhat of a refreshed opinion soon. If you'd like to see what other people are saying about it, the blogosphere is all abuzz. You can start with the great blogs I've chosen to be in my blogroll or you can click on Global Voices and start there.
Thanks for the questions and ideas regarding Barbara Merrill, and I will be attending her stop tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to find a way to accurately convey everything she's asked and her responses, as I realized last night I no longer have a tape recorder and finances are kind of tight to go buy one.
So I decided to ponder independent politics and also to look around the world news a little. Here are a few interesting things I found.
The Chinese Government accuses the Dalai Lama of having links to the CIA, which is putting the kibosh on talks of a compromise over the future of Tibet vis-a-vis autonomy or independence from China.
Of course, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Malikiis in Washington today and spoke before Congress this morning. "Let me be very clear," al-Maliki said. "This is a battle between true Islam, for which a person's liberty and rights constitute essential cornerstones, and terrorism, which wraps itself in a fake Islamic cloak." Okay, gotcha. But what about Hezbollah? Oh that's right, I was taking a break from all that. I don't like his position on this issue; but hey, he is the duly-elected leader of Iraq. And all the politicians who voted for this war, "You don't have a dog in this fight." He's the leader of a sovereign nation; he can have whatever opinion he feels is best for his country. (heavy mix of truth and sarcasm) Did you know more people die every day in Iraq than in Lebanon and Israel? Combined both "altercations" are worth in the neighborhood of 150 a day, but neither one's a war apparently.
More Big Dig fun. Apparently an official after a 1999 inspection said he wouldn't be surprised if the ceiling plates came down because he didn't think the bolts were strong enough. As you may know, it did fail and a woman lost her life because of it.
There is a Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, et al rant in my future but I did find this. This link is to a page where you'll find a video link. I can't seem to link the video directly. The video is a teaser clip for tonight's "Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" on CNBC, Coulter says, speaking of former President Clinton, "I think that sort of rampant promiscuity does show some level of latent homosexuality." Do I need to say anything?
And finally, kudos to Republican Senator Arlen Specter. At least someone is finally going to try to do something about at least one area of President Bush's abuse of power, the signing statement. “We will submit legislation to the United States Senate which will...authorize the Congress to undertake judicial review of those signing statements with the view to having the president’s acts declared unconstitutional,” Specter said in regards to submitting a bill which would allow Congress to sue the President over this issue in federal court. You can read more
here.
Opinions, thoughts and perspectives on any of these stories are welcomed.
Middle East Israel Iraq Lebanon
Hezbollah Dalai Lama China Bush Clintonh Coulter signing statements
Specter Deutsch al-Maliki Tibet