November 2007 – Page 2

November 24, 2007

Casualties of Banalities: The Arrest and Coming Death of Yoo Sang-Joon

One of the bravest men I have ever met is locked in a Chinese prison this weekend, facing the risk of being sent back to certain execution in his native North Korea. His story stands for the human suffering that endures while diplomats craft a controversial agreement to disarm North Korea of its nuclear weapons and to grant its dictator, Kim Jong-il, the peace treaty and the recognition that his regime has sought for decades. [The Sunday Times, Michael Sheridan]...

"United" Nations/Activism/China/China & Korea/Human Rights/Refugees/U.S. Politics

November 24, 2007

Bush Administration’s Blackout Can’t Silence Syria-N. Korea Speculation

The latest theory, via Prof. Uzi Even, an Israeli scientist interviewed in Haaretz, is this: “In my estimation this was something very nasty and vicious, and even more dangerous than a reactor,” says Even. “I have no information, only an assessment, but I suspect that it was a plant for processing plutonium, namely a factory for assembling the bomb.” In other words, Syria already had several kilograms of plutonium, and it was involved in building a bomb factory (the assembling...

Diplomacy/Proliferation

November 23, 2007

South Korea Abstains Again

. . . in a U.N. vote to condemn North Korea’s human rights atrocities (via Korea Unification Studies). They abstain, for the record, from condemning this, or this, or this. Or this. Almost exactly a year ago, after years of abstentions, the South Koreans finally yielded to intense pressure and voted in favor. What changed? My theory is that America’s betrayal gave the South Koreans cover. Remember that next time anyone tries to argue that our diplomacy with North Korea...

"United" Nations/Human Rights

November 21, 2007

No Legacy for You

The Washington Post declares: The war in Iraq seems to have taken a turn for the better and the opposition at home has failed in all efforts to impose its own strategy. North Korea is dismantling its nuclear program. . . . Yet none of this has particularly impressed the public at large, which remains skeptical that anything meaningful has changed and still gives Bush record-low approval ratings. No, not if the Washington Post does not choose to make it...

Diplomacy/U.S. Politics

November 20, 2007

Global Protest Against China’s Brutality Toward N. Korean Refugees — Nov. 30 – Dec. 1

The list of locations scheduled to hold demonstrations is impressive; organizers will target Chinese embassies and consulates in Washington, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Brussels, Toronto, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Oslo, London, Amsterdam, Seoul, and Madrid. That represents significant growth since past demonstrations, something that’s very welcome at a discouraging moment when the Bush Administration has pretty much sold out the entire cause. If you don’t know what we’re upset about, here’s a good introduction to the issue....

Activism/China/China & Korea/Refugees

November 19, 2007

Beyond the U.N. Experiment

What serious thinker still believes the United Nations still reflects the values of its own charter, much less contributes to seeing them realized? Much has been said about what was unexpectedly not found in Iraq, much less so about what was unexpectedly found: proof of just how completely the U.N. had been corrupted by arguably the second-worst dictator on earth. Not that all of the U.N.’s corruption is monetary: Recall what Churchill told the audience at Fulton about the United...

"United" Nations

November 18, 2007

It Takes Many Wards to Make an Asylum

Maybe this will help support my efforts to talk one of you off the Ron Paul ledge. The favorite candidate of “truthers” and other conspiracy theorists the mainsteam won’t embrace is also the favorite of white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Andrew Walden lays it all out in meticulous detail. Call it guilt by association if you will, but weeks after the questions were raised, Paul isn’t refusing their money or blocking those donate links from white supremacist sites. I’ll save you...

U.S. Politics

November 15, 2007

Kim Jong Il’s Moment of Truth, and Bush’s

Not off to a very encouraging start, are we? Of North Korea’s intentions and attitudes, we already know plenty from past experience. The real question is what our own government is willing to do for a few friendly headlines. I think personalities in the State Department who would overlook inspection, verification, and proliferation to please their Chinese and South Korean friends have the tiller firmly in their grasp. Bush is worn down from bleeding wounds to his ankles, going through...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks

November 13, 2007

Korean Election Update: Lessers Versus Evils

Just over a month before South Korean presidential election, Lee Hoi Chang has announced that he’s running as an independent candidate. I have now seen it all. So can he win? Hell if I know. To an observer of long American political campaigns, it’s hard to see how anyone could enter a race so late and have a chance of winning it, but this most definitely is not American politics. Korean politics is famously mercurial; it’s about as exact, empirical,...

Korean Politics

November 9, 2007

Walking the Road to Hell With the Eugene Bell Foundation

I want to begin this post with a correction. On October 29th, commenter Marion Spina, referring to the seventh “See Also” item in this post, said: Question on your post: “I’m suspicious of the Eugene Bell foundation, because it recently received a “frienship” medal from the North Korean government, and because you don’t win Kim Jong Il’s friendship by asking hard questions and without paying for it. Based on this document, I infer that the Bell foundation is having some...

Famine & Food Aid

Monthly Archive: November, 2007