Get Rid of the Dane
In many ways, Rudyard Kipling was a product of the backward times in which he lived, but what a timeless thing North Korea’s idea of diplomacy is:
Dane Geld
It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say: —
“We invaded you last night–we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld
And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: —
“Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: —“We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!”
Today’s headline:
Bush: U.S. wants diplomacy with N. Korea.
Someone needs to buy him a calendar, with January 21, 2009 highlighted. Yeah, maybe he’s trying not to disturb careful behind-the-scenes diplomacy, but I’m starting to smell a major league puss-out.