Well it’s official. This week the U.S. became the scolding parent of the world. In case you didn’t catch the news story, I’ll fill you in. As a further effort to generate a response out of North Korea’s vertically challenged dictator, we put a blockade on all of the things he enjoys.
Just a few items from the no-no list are iPods, plasma TV’s, Segways, cognac and jet skis. The best part is that although this was our idea, the United Nations are coordinating the effort. It’s the first time that the U.N. has proposed a ban on non-military supplies to another country.
The beauty of the plan is that Kim is really the only person in North Korea that will be affected by the blockade. The common citizens of the country do not have access to the extravagant goods that are on the banned list.
Now I’m not saying that it’s a good thing that he oppresses his people so much, but it actually works to everyone’s advantage that Kim is the only one being punished here.
Some of the stuff on this “toy list” of Kim’s as we’ll call it, are just plain weird. Possibly the weirdest of the weird has got to be his liking for Japanese air conditioners. Of all the things the Japanese make and sell to us, I’ve never heard anyone go around raving about the great quality of their air conditioners!
Another thing from the list that just makes me chuckle is that Kim Jung Il enjoys Harley Davidson motorcycles. Now that doesn’t become truly hilarious until you picture a five-foot-three Korean dictator driving down the road on a Harley. See, that picture makes you laugh your ass off doesn’t it?
What ever happened to the good old days of the U.S. saying “Do what we tell you to or we’ll blow up your country?” I know that North Korea has nuclear weapons and that Kim Jung Il is a crazy dictator, but we’ve dealt with this before.
This is almost the same as Iraq when you really think about it. We’ve got all the common elements: crazy dictator that doesn’t listen, threat of nuclear weapons (hey, they told us Iraq had them!), and another part of the world that we haven’t tried to take over yet.
The only thing missing is oil!
It is an interesting strategy, however. Get other countries to team up and blockade the things that a problem leader enjoys. That actually poses an interesting thought: what would other countries take away from President Bush if they wanted to make him stop taking over other countries?
My best guess would be oil, cattle and Dick Cheney’s nitroglycerin pills. You know that Bush would be on his knees in two days or less if we took away his staples of life! Somehow I’m not sure that we’re going to have as significant an effect on Kim.
You really have to think about this situation on the level of parents and their young children. When you want to punish your small children, you can threaten to take away their toys, but it’s only effective to a point. If you continually make threats and then don’t follow through, such as the U.S. has done in the past, then the child fails to respond to the threats anymore. Hopefully, since we’ve gotten the U.N. involved and some of the other large nations participating, we’ll be able to do make a significant impact.
On an unrelated note; I wish you all luck on your finals, and I will see you back here next semester! Happy Holidays, Bro!