You’re probably right that Kim Jong-il is a loony, and probably half right on your other point, in that it is very difficult to negotiate with a loony. Difficult. Not impossible, and certainly not a “complete waste of time”.

Unfortunately, NK has managed to put itself into a position where war is a simply unacceptable alternative. Part of that is just NK being insane, and part of that is the bush admin’s kindergarten level attempts at “diplomacy” over the past 8 years.

If somebody had shot down that missile (and realistically speaking, if somebody was going to do it, it really should have been Japan, not us), there was a chance of war. So the question is, would whatever point you were trying to make by shooting down that missile be worth the possibility of war? I’d say no, not in the least. NK might interpret the failure to act here as a sign of weakness, but I think they’d be dead wrong to do so.

-me

While Kim Jong-il is a loony, I suspect his motives were at least in part influenced by Russia. There appears to be another potential “Cold War” brewing between the U.S. and Russia, so perhaps the latter is desperate enough to add to their “team” – at least for sabre-rattling purposes (they can always dump NK later if necessary).

Just a thought…

What’s amazing to me, is how the Right can never look in the mirror and see the evil in their own hearts or in their own country. Glen Beck’s whitewashing principle #1: America is Good – expresses it perfectly. Righties reek of self-righteousness and phony superiority. Looking in the mirror would require righties to be honest, to admit they’re fallible, they make mistakes and don’t know everything – in other words, they’re human. Righties just might start to acquire some humility that maybe their sh*t stinks too, just like everyone else’s. They’d have to put away the hyper macho, super patriot act and start to act like adults instead of self-centered children. We just finished eight years with the most infantile President ever, and look at the result. Quite a mess eight years of rightwing stupidity that Obama has to try and fix.

As for the UN, the US doesn’t need anyone’s moral approval. That’s not the point. Righties constantly confuse talking with negotiating – they’re not the same. Talking to find points in common is lots cheaper and more practical than creating enemies needlessly. I’m sure that Canada and the European countries would be impressed with your characterization of them as third world dictatorships, but then wingnuts know just about zero when it comes to international geography, and could care less in their childish ignorance and superiority. For what it was created – preventing another World War 2 – the UN worked pretty well. For sixty some years.

Of course the world is a mix of good and evil, just like the individuals in it, and it must be dealt with appropriately. There are people you cannot trust, and you have to be careful. But the fear based approach – and that is all the right has going for it, fear and belligerance, domination and phony macho – is just wasteful and stupid, as well as cartoon-like, as the last eight years has shown. When you’re afraid, you cannot think, and that is both the disease and the desire of the right.

My opinion is that Kim fired the missile to test the Obama administration. And I think that Obama failed in not shooting it down. Kim will be back, with more demands – the little nutcase doesn’t like it when he gets ignored (again, another feature he shares with Bush). His ego demands that he be the center of attention.

I wish I could suggest a rational way to deal with North Korea, but I don’t have one. I’m not suggesting war, but peace negotiations with nutcase are a complete waste of time. By the way, I’m not getting my info from Rush Limbaugh, I’ve actually been there. NK is definitely the strangest place I’ve ever visited – the best I can describe it is “a Stalinist theme park.”

Very descriptive and entertaining 3-part article about North Korea, that parallels my experience:

http://www.atimes.com/koreas/CH04Dg01.html
http://www.atimes.com/koreas/CH11Dg02.html
http://www.atimes.com/koreas/CH17Dg03.html

cheers,
Oz