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The Edge is the place for that. The editors do not mind publishing one
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December 2010
[Re Seoul fires off a
warning, Dec 20] South Korea rattled its saber in a live fire exercise
in and around Yeongpeong for 90 minutes today in order to stick it to the
North. North Korea held its rhetoric and did not respond to Seoul's playing
chicken.
Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, is in Pyongyang as a "private
citizen" at present. He, nonetheless, brings proposals to lessen the rising
warlike tensions on the peninsula. They are hardly bold, nor new: a military
hotline and a tripartite commission, composed of North and South Koreas and the
US. Well, a hotline already exists, but is not functioning, and of course, a
military commission is already in place at the demilitarized zone (DMZ). What
perhaps is new is the danger of trading hostile fire along the NLL (Northern
Limit Line) which the US imposed but the North has never recognized. The
emergency meeting of the UN Secretary Council in a Sunday session (December 19)
broke no new territory. Yet, the Obama administration continues to pursue a
failed policy by using surrogates like Richardson instead of meeting officially
with the North Korean leadership. In sum, the risk of open military
confrontation continues as long as diplomacy takes a back seat.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 21, '10)
[Re Iran, WikiLeaks
and the Pentagon Papers, Dec 20] The mention of the propensity of US
administrations to use "hard power" certainly shows the danger of electing
presidents and members of congress who favor hard power.
If only those people would consider the damage their casual and excessive use
of hard power does to the United States of America. This damage goes from
economic harm (caused by the costs of war) through the negative perceptions
formed by peoples of other countries to the even more dangerous harm done to
the rule of law in the USA and to the liberties of we citizens who love our
country, and in many cases have fought for it.
Ron Mepwith
United States (Dec 21, '10)
[Re The value of a
nuclear Iran, Dec 17] Your article on the Shi'ites was a trailblazer.
My one qualm is your worry about Ahmadinejad's rejection of Israel. Ahmadinejad
is the proverbial man in the crowd, ill-fitting suit and all, who has cried out
that the Emperor has no clothes. The West's misbegotten Middle East policy has
finally borne bitter fruit. The harsh truth is that the colonization of the
West Bank with Israeli settlements has put paid to a viable two-state solution.
The only options are an apartheid Greater Israel or, as in the case of present
day South Africa, a common state with common citizenship for all Israelis and
Palestinians. A passive West ensures the former outcome. The latter outcome
requires a proactive West, one able to bite its lips while facilitating, dare
one say it, Ahmadinejad's dream of wiping Israel off the map.
Yugo Kovach (Dec 21, '10)
[Re A three-handed
approach to Pyongyang, Dec 17] The hair in Dr Sung-Yong Lee's "duck
soup" is miscalculating the response to the United States-South Korea Japan
axis' bellicosity.
The policies of all three countries towards North Korea are based on
confrontation: "no gain without pain". Furthermore they are inching towards
war. It is worth noting that North Korea, once again, has put South Korea on
warning since Seoul is going to carry out more maneuvers in and around
Yeonpyeong.
Pyongyang says that it will not sit by idle should South Korea's shells again
land in its territorial waters. South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak's
three-handed triangulation has the odor of "pre-emptive action". It may be too
glib to call it "evil", but for all intents and purposes, this axis is, with a
frightening degree of deliberate actions and threats, aching for a fight.
The US-South Korea and Japan may think that they are wearing the mantle of
righteousness but the crusade they are waging against North Korea spells
danger.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 20, '10)
[Re Tehran downplays
Arab Wiki-dness December 17, 2010)] Why not downplay? Iran knows full
well that these Arab "leaders" are sitting on thrones of sand and that they are
dramatically out of step with their own people.
Witness what polling data showed in July 2010. In that poll, conducted by Zogby
International, in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon and the United
Arab Emirates, for the University of Maryland, an overwhelming majority of
Arabs (77%) stated that Iran has the right to develop nuclear weapons and
should it do so, that outcome would be a positive one for the Middle East.
Furthermore, the reality is, if you want to engage with Iran and end 30 years
of enmity, negotiations must be based on mutual respect, with no preconditions
- what President Obama has offered a number of times.The leaked WikiLeak cables
show a different reality and Iran has known it. No matter how you want to
interpret the leaks, it is clear that behind the scenes, constant pressure was
being applied to US allies and others to impose "crippling" sanctions on Iran.
Moreover, China was being wooed by a guaranteed supply of oil, and Russia a
different European missile shield more to its liking.
Unfortunately, the genuine intentions of Obama have been sabotaged at every
step by the Israel-can-do-no-wrong crowd, composed of sympathizers in the
congress, the US media and the Obama administration itself. Conversely, they
have their counterparts in Iran who also do not want engagement to succeed and
are doing everything they can to sabotage any attempt by the Iranian government
to engage.
Any right-thinking person who is not enveloped in the fog of stupidity that
passes for Iran policy in Washington knows that the only way forward, despite
all obstacles, must be engagement - honest engagement. It is vital for the
national security of the United States.
Fariborz S Fatemi
United States (Dec 17, '10)
[Re PLA takes a hard line in
East China Sea
, Dec 17] China feels that its neighbors are raining on its parade in its
coastal waters. There is no "entente cordiale" in the offering either. Japan,
South Korea, and the United States, one way or the other, are challenging
China's claim on territorial waters.
These three countries' policies are in sync, and they are willing to put
military muscle into their designs. It then comes as no surprise that China's
PLA is taking a hardline. China prefers diplomacy to military engagement, but
Tokyo, Seoul, and Washington tilt towards confrontation, sad to say.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Dec 17, '10)
[Re Giant of US
diplomacy dies, Dec 15] To paraphrase Mark Antony, "I have come to
WikiLeak Richard Holbrooke, not to praise him". As unfortunate as the late US
diplomats's demise is, nevertheless, the gushing paeans to his genius,
industry, vision, blah blah, are, in light of that ugly bugbear, the Truth,
rather unseemly and conveniently oblivious.
Make no mistake about it, Holbrooke was an agent of the Empire; a
tried-and-true, unabashed, neo-imperialist. His Machiavellianism, perhaps,
ranks below Kissinger's but still, Ricky was no slouch in that department. His
cynicism with regards to Indonesia's brutalities in East Timor are a matter of
record for those who care to ask, so I fail to see how that brings glory to his
fame. (I won't even add his stewardship of the ultimately doomed Lehman
Brothers to his stained resume. But connect the dots yourself.)
His unrealistic and intransigent attitude in Afghanistan in his latest
Empire-building gig ended any real chance at achieving peace, so that doesn't
seem to merit songs and ballads in his name. But his kudo-tossers will cite his
support for Israel as a buttress on his CV, though in my book that won't score
any points at all (the Mini-Me Empire not ranking high on many popularity
lists.) Even his diplomacy in the Kosovo conflict didn't produce peace, which
is, after all, how one measures diplomatic success.
Am I missing something here, or are Wonderlanders allowing death to add a
golden patina where there was none? One only needs to look at the gradually
revivifying aura of respectability around that Great Monster Dumbya Bush to see
that trend is par for the WonderCourse.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Dec 17, '10)
[Re Pipeline
project a new Silk Road, Dec 15] Congratulations on a very informative
piece on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI). When I
tried pushing TAPI in 2005, the [Indian] Foreign Office insisted that there was
no gas at Daulatabad. This was because the Americans said there was not. Now
that the Americans say there is, we start playing their tune.
M K Bhadrakumar is absolutely right that India has easily accepted all the
issues relating to Pakistan on TAPI which equally apply to the
Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project (IPI), but where we are reluctant to move
forward only because Uncle Sam would not approve.
India needs IPI just as much as TAPI (and gas by pipeline from Myanmar through
Bangladesh). Indeed, we ought to be working towards incorporating Uzbekistan,
Kazakhstan, Russia (Astrakhan) and Azerbaijan into TAPI, as the first leg of an
Asian gas network which could form the core of an Asian Oil and Gas Community,
which could, over time, blossom, as the European Coal and Steel Community did,
into an Asian Union.
Unfortunately, we seem more intent on making the 21st century the Century of
America in Asia than in making it the Asian Century.
Mani Shankar Aiyar (Dec 16, '10)
Indian Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, 2004-2006.
[Re Nobel no-shows reveal
China's clout, Dec 13] China's political system will gradually evolve
over time as dictated by the country's economic development needs; foisting
''democratic'' values on the Middle Kingdom simply won't work and actually
smacks of hypocrisy, intolerance and historical myopia.
As flawed as the Chinese system may seem to some, it is at present better than
any other practicable alternative. At a minimum, China's leadership genuinely
strives for the betterment of the country's and the Chinese people's welfare,
which is more than can be said about many plutocratic, er, democratic
governments in the West.
John Chen
United States (Dec 14, '10)
[Re Nobel no-shows reveal
China's clout , Dec 13] The whole spectacle of the empty chair is based
on four central pillars of thoughts concerning China; the title centers on just
one (while the content only broaches one other).
The first of the other three is Western ideological obsession with freedom and
refusal to understand China's history, that of an economically developing
civilization-state that had suffered recently. Second is China's lack of
adroitness in understanding Western ideology, which is based on modern
individualism with more fussy cultural ambits (and China's long history of
reverence for scholarship that the Nobel Prize still represents to the
Chinese).
Third, omitted altogether by China and the West, is global human development of
late that has ameliorated racism and thus humanized the Chinese people, in
contrast to the virulent racism that motivated the West to ruthlessly exploit
China in the 19th and 20th centuries.
On the first, the objective cannot be to win the argument on the absolute
desirability of freedom of expression irrespective of content and to grandstand
the ideology; it should be to convince the Chinese people to gradually yearn
for more freedom. Hence, the poor choice of Liu represents a lack of Western
appreciation for China, which is still very much a developing country. Somehow
the fact China's economic clout is based on its vast population with a low per
capita GNP has not been considered. Liu's expression of China's deserved
colonization by the West can well be considered obscenity to the Chinese people
- this is too severe a trial on freedom. Moreover, the West still has
limitations of speech based on obscenity. Why is the colloquial expression of
the act between a man and a woman that leads to human life obscenity, while
expression of deserved colonization of one's civilization is not?
The Nobel committee should have selected a Chinese dissident without this
severe baggage, since the objective is to induce the Chinese people to yearn
for freedom, not to grandstand an ideology. Second, China's stern reaction to
the Nobel committee's choice is not justified simply because global reverence
for it has declined, with Obama winning last year - but the Chinese
historically have always revered status quo scholarship.
Last, the Chinese should observe that this ideological rift is, paradoxically,
caused by human advancement that has ameliorated Western racism that once
plagued China, so much so that the West is motivated to feel outraged about the
limited freedom of the Chinese people - but most Chinese won't view the rift in
this light.
Jeff Church
United States (Dec 14, '10)
[Re Nobel no-shows reveal
China's clout, Dec 13] Here is part of the list of no-shows:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Venezuela, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, Sri Lanka and the
Palestinian Authority. The list also includes Russia and China itself.
Now, who in the world cares if these low-life places with no human rights show
up at such a ceremony intended for the civilized world? Is this something to be
proud of? Why is it so orgasmic for so many writers that an absolute communist
state turns against a citizen? Why do so many idolize the iron fist of
dictatorial states and the right of the state to dictate every single aspect of
a citizen's life?
It is astounding to me to read the disdain shown towards Liu Xiaobo and the
sympathy shown towards the Chinese government's abuse towards this man. In deed
China may have a clout over many Third World gutters, but the article would
have made more sense of it was the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan,
Australia, Chile, New Zealand, or South Korea who would have refused to attend
the ceremony in Oslo. China vs Liu Xiaobo, what an easy match to pick and how
much joy it has brought to freedom haters!
Ysais Martinez
United States (Dec 14, '10)
[Re North Korean motives on
the line, Dec 13] Sunny Lee tries to explain away North Korea's
unprovoked attack on Yeonpyeong Island. He writes the line, "Some suspect it
was more than just North Korea enforcing its territorial sovereignty."
Yeonpyeong Island is South Korea territory as stated in the 1953 armistice
agreement that North Korea signed in 1953. North Korea probably carried out the
attack out of jealousy over South Korea's success in hosting the recent Group
of 20 summit.
South Korea is a successful respected member of the world community and North
Korea is a failed evil pariah state that is despised by all of the civilized
nations of the world. North Korea is defended by China and fools on the left,
who are blind and indifferent to the massive suffering of the North Korea
people.
Dennis O'Connell
United States (Dec 14, '10)
[Re North Korean motives on
the line, Dec 13] South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak scuppered a
2007 pledge between Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il to hold talks on joint fishing
areas in the Yellow Sea along and near the NLL (Northern Limit Line) to "avoid
accidental clashes". The end of the 'Sunshine Policy' guaranteed an increase of
such clashes.
Since the sinking of the Cheonan, under circumstances which remain
ambiguous, the chances of a military confrontation have greatly multiplied. And
the tensions have heightened by the growing number of joint US and South Korean
military exercises with live fire within a whisper of North Korean territorial
waters. Pyongyang's warnings that it would respond if shells landed on its
territory went unheeded. As a result, we had the shelling of Yeonpyeong, a
South Korean military outpost about 10 km from the NLL.
The current tensions have nothing to enhance heir apparent Kim Jong-eun's thin
military profile. Instead, it has everything to do with an aggressive US and
South Korean policy towards the North.
Gordon Flake is partially wrong in saying that the NLL is besides the point.
How can it be otherwise, especially since Washington and Seoul see it as North
Korea's underbelly?
John Park has a stronger argument that North Korea wants to talk to the US.
However the Obama is unwilling unless North Korea do it solely by accepting US
demands.
That line in the sand is not diplomacy; it is simply a "diktat".
The US and South Korea seem unwilling to shift gears: either they back down or
as Flake concurred in a Council on Foreign Relations report, rollback the Kim
Jong-il regime. In any language that means military action. Will the US and
South Korea back down? That is an open question.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 14, '10)
[Re Ysais Martinez letter, Nov 30] A recent letter from that sage Ysais
Martinez waxed nostalgic about the neo-con's favorite faux tough guy, Ronald
Reagan. Almost as preposterous as this myth of toughness is the one that makes
his economic wisdom seem positively Olympian. Indeed, so many lies about Reagan
have been spun out of thin hot air that he may as well have been a Greek
legend, since no facts on this earth support any of those fevered delusions.
Reagan's so-called toughness was invoked by Martinez when he wondered if North
Korea would be acting so defiant with this Macho Man Reagan still running the
show (in itself quite a guffaw.). The same Macho Man, mind you, that hightailed
it out of Beirut at the first sign of American bloodshed, who invaded Club Med
Grenada and made a hash out of that, who lied about his never dealing with
"terrorists," then sold weapons to the Iranians, who rewarded Saddam Hussein
for attacking a US ship and killing American sailors by throwing all sorts of
money and military goodies at him. Yes, the very same Macho Man who negotiated
with Castro to preserve the Marxist regime in Angola. Wow, what a scary guy.
I'll bet Kim Jong-il would love to have Reagan in the White House; the
doddering creampuff would probably have ceded Alaska to him and thrown in some
yellowcake to boot.
And let's not forget his enduring economic legacy. There was his no-tax
increase doctrine that he had to back down from when the budget deficits
ballooned, while his economic voodoo trickle-down theories were lampooned by
his own economic advisors. But just being an ignorant hypocrite about money
wasn't enough; by gutting the regulatory environment at the same time he
ramrodded through legislation that made looting savings institutions easier
than earning money by legitimate means, he bookended his administration with
the S&L scandals of the early 80s and the October 1987 stock market crash.
Of course, that blueprint for enriching plutocrats has proven so popular that
his ideological grandson Dumbya Bush went one better and permanently wrecked
the US economy beyond repair.
Yessiree, Ronald Reagan should be remembered for being quite the opposite of
his totally fabricated image, akin to making George Bush a Nobel Prize-winning
Rhodes scholar who assisted Mother Teresa in the slums of Calcutta. Of course,
to a true neo-con like Martinez, facts are just inconvenient noise trying to
drown out their basic Truth, which only Bizarro Wonderlanders (and their dogs)
can hear.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Dec 13, '10)
[Re China's double-edged
cyber-sword, Dec 10] Sean Noonan's article was interesting, but failed
to mention that the PRC government has been promoting Linux since about 2001.
Red Flag Linux is not yet too common, but it is often on display in stores such
as Carrefour.
Lester Ness China (Dec 13, '10)
[Re Confucian answer to
'clowns', Dec 9] China's hastily arranged Confucius Peace Prize
ceremony revealed the growing acrimony between China and the United States over
Korea.
Recently US President Barack Obama had a 30 minute telephone conversation with
China's Hu Jintao pressuring him to rein in North Korea. Yesterday, Admiral
Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, did not spare his
ammunition in sharping criticizing China for failing to deter North Korea's
"aggression" against South Korea.
In one of the speeches at the peace prize ceremony, one speaker pointedly
attacked the US for its policy towards North Korea. He mocked the award of the
Nobel peace prize in 2009 to Obama on the grounds that not only was the
American president unworthy of this award but also for the US' growing joint
military exercises with South Korea dangerously close to North Korea's
territorial waters.
In sum, Obama himself was the primary danger to peace on the divided Korean
Peninsula, and one whose policy is flaming the winds of war. If the US
president thought China was going to follow his scenario to rope in North
Korea, he is sorely mistaken. It is Obama who has to corral his South Korea
ally and to take diplomatic steps to calm tensions.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 10, '10)
[Re Growth ahead,
but hurdles too , Dec 9] China's economy could be heading toward a
financial crisis within the next few decades? That's not exactly a bold
prediction by the experts, now is it? At the country's current blistering rate
of growth, in conjunction with a substantial level of inefficiency and
corruption, it would be a miracle if no sizable correction took place within
that time frame.
Of course, pundits will at that time wail and holler ''I told you so'' to
whoever is willing to lend an ear. Barring an earth-shattering catastrophe,
China's overall growth really is just at about the third-inning stage
presently, but I predict a major crisis within the next millennium.
John Chen
United States (Dec 10, '10)
The recent but little reported assassination in Iran of key nuclear scientists
evoked zero sympathy and even less curiosity about the perpetrators or motives
here in Wonderland. Of course, any sane person not in cahoots with the Empire
and its dog-wagging tail in Tel Aviv have pretty good notions about the whos
and whys. What is more worrying is the upping of antes in the global struggle
for hegemony by the imperialists.
The precedent of using the murder of individuals to effect the policy decisions
of nations is one fraught with the utmost peril. If tit-for-tat games are
played in conjunction with good ol' fashioned vendetta zeitgeists, the
hierarchy of escalation need not stop at some faceless scientist or minor
bureaucrat. Indeed, messages will, at some point, have to be sent to say
"You've crossed the line." Whether that line moves up to include prime
ministers, presidents and chancellors is a function of the aggrieved party's
anger, desperation and indeed the technology extant to effect such
assassinations.
The overuse of drones to do the Empire's dirty work in rural Pakistan
establishes yet another precedent of long range, accountability-free
assassination technologies that will surely not be confined to a tottering
duperpower. The old dictum that cites the hazards of living by swords should be
well heeded by the likes of the CIA, Mossad and the black ops agencies of
numerous wannabe global players. On the other hand, the CIA may be preparing
for the upcoming global assassination game already; Wonderland TVs are awash
with commercials recruiting young people to join the CIA's clandestine
services. More bodies in such a dirty fight will certainly be needed, as well
as more caskets. Assuming, of course, the Empire's needs for coffins in Iraq
and Afghanistan can still be satisfied. I'm sure the Chinese will be willing to
oblige.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Dec 9, '10)
[Re Pyongyang stretches
deterrence limits, Dec 7] It may looks as though Pyongyang is
stretetching deterrence to the limit from Andry Abrahamian's aerie in Ulsan.
However, a good and stronger case can be make by turning one's attention to
Seoul's aggressive behavior in launching a series of joint military actions
with live ammo, with the US along the NLL and in the Yellow Sea.
South Korea's president has made no bones about teaching North Korea a lesson
in good behavior since he took office in 2008. To achieve this aim, he is ably
assisted first by the Bush administration and now by the Obama administration.
Listening to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's most recent remarks, she
is restating Lee's position.
The US and South Korea, with a willing Japan in tow, are upping the war ante,
which Abrahamian wisely points out can easily re-ignite war on the Korean
Peninsula.
Washington and Seoul would do well to tone down their rhetoric and seek
diplomatic means to defuse their thoughtless plan of action.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 8, '10)
[Re Taking down
America, Dec 6] Future historians are likely to identify the George W
Bush administration's rash invasion of Iraq in that year as the start of
America's downfall.
No ... Future historians will likely identify the 1913 implementation of the US
Federal Reserve as the start of America's downfall ...
Ken Anderson
United States (Dec 8, '10)
Julian Assange, of WikiLeaks fame, and Pepe Escobar (Cracks
in the wilderness of mirrors, Dec 3) describe the leaked trove of US
diplomatic cables as an assault on US officialdom's grand conspiracy to deceive
the public.
If their assessment were correct, one would expect the cables to contradict the
attributed or anonymous statements of US officials, or to catch them twisting
facts into propaganda. In fact, they corroborate them. There has been no "Aha!"
moment. The cables contradict Escobar and Assange at every turn.
Escobar claims the cables show that American officials only "see the world in
terms of good guys and guys." It is a nonsensical claim. Cable after cable
provide a multiplicity of views on almost every subject - Chinese views of the
Koreans; Koreans views of the Chinese; the cable authors' views of both.
Escobar is typical of those who spout nothing but puerile screeds and can only
see American motives as nefarious. He can only see others as Manichaean, but is
blind to the hypocrisy of his own shallow, Manichaean views.
Those who hyperventilate over the leaked cables will ultimately be confounded
by their workaday, common sense nature. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
said it perfectly - The cables show diplomats at work.
For those who see conspiracies lurking in every American action, like bogeymen
in the dark recesses of their unformed or deformed minds, they need to look
somewhere other than US State Department cables. Sadly and pathetically, they
cannot live without hobgoblins: the Jews sell chewing gum containing
anti-fertility poison to Arabs; the Americans never landed on the moon; the
West is waging a war against Islam; 9/11 was an inside job. No amount of
reasoning, no balanced views, no light, penetrates those strange, dark minds.
Geoffrey Sherwood
United States (Dec 7, '10)
[Re Dear Leader has designs
on Uncle Sam, Dec 3] Peter Lee didn't need to wait for the release of
US diplomatic cables on North Korea by WikiLeaks. The info, after all, has long
been available in the mainstream media domestic and international.
Aidan Foster-Carter has preached that North Korea is economically becoming a
satellite of China. The Mongolian connection is well known, for the Mongolians
boast of maintaining good relations with the two Koreas. As for relying on
American journalists in Beijing they hear things second and third hand, so we
can never vouch for their accuracy. The same thing can be said for US embassy
officials who pass on what their South Korea counterparts whisper into their
ears.
It is an open secret that North Korea has been trying to gain the eye and ear
of the US, to little or no response. American administrations disdain of the
Dear Leader and their steadfast refusal to talk directly to North Korea
disadvantage the US who has to rely on shopworn platitudes and misinformation.
As long as the US countenances such foolish behavior it is burying its ostrich
like policies in the sands of misfortune.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 7, '10)
[Re Wealthy Chinese want
homegrown Eton, Dec 6] China has been served well by offering education
based on ability, not wealth (or at least aspiring to this ideal). Before
rushing to elite private schools for children of the wealthy, please consider
the product of such a system: George W Bush.
The wealthy may have a lot of money, but they don't have a monopoly on
intelligence or good ideas, or virtue for that matter.
Francis
Canada (Dec 7, '10)
[Re Dirty tricks and
sticky bombs in Iran, Dec 3] Killing civilians, in urban traffic, with
a bomb ... that clearly is "terrorism" done by "terrorists". But the article
does not use either of the two words even once. Other assassinations (eg,
Hariri, Palme, JFK) are not called "dirty tricks".
Floyd Rudmin (Dec 6, '10)
[Re The man who knows
too much, Dec 2] Politicians often decry the anonymity enjoyed by
netizens. Various methods and secret services are employed to spy and gather
people’s activities online. Secrets are anathema to security, they say. Yet
when it comes to revealing government’s secret dealings and frank
conversations, they become shrinking violets.
On the one hand, secrets are bad for security; on the other hand secrets are
the essence of security, stability, and dare I say, profits. It all depends on
whose secrets we are dealing with. The familiar refrain applies: don’t blame
the messenger. If you don’t want people to know about it, don't do or say it.
S K Wong
Singapore (Dec 6, '10)
[Re Capitalism:
Getting it right, Dec 2] This was a great read. One important lesson
from the current recession should be that while capitalism is a useful tool,
individual countries will need to find the right formulations that best suit
their idiosyncratic social and economic conditions.
The Singaporean model has served the small nation-state, adapting it in China
would be virtually impossible due to historical/cultural inertia and a vastly
larger population. And while the Germans are renowned for discipline,
diligence, and perhaps even conformity, Americans will need to rediscover the
unique blend of ingenuity and industry that propelled the US to global
preeminence.
If nothing else, the 2008 financial crisis fully exposed the inadequacies of
Anglo-American capitalism and amply demonstrated the folly in its peremptory
imposition on other nations during the last decades. Moving forward, eschewing
a one-size-fits-all economic mentality will enable more sustainable growth and
a more equitable distribution of prosperity around the world--in the end,
humanity will be all the better for it.
John Chen
United States (Dec 3, '10)
[Re Leaks strengthen
Netanyahu’s hand, Dec 2] It looks as though the leaks have brought
smiles to the lips of the Israelis. Yet they confirm a certain identity of
views among Netanyahu and "moderate Arab states" on Iran. They do not shield
Netanyahu and co from charges of crimes of war for the preemptive strike of
Gaza in December 2008.
It is interesting, too, that passed under silence are comments on the Israeli
campaign against the UN's Goldstein report.
The warm glow of self congratulations and hail thee well will not last long.
Reality has a bad habit of exerting itself.
Abraham Bin Yiju
Italy (Dec 3, '10)
[Re China to dump North
Korea, really?, Dec 1] WikiLeaks did reveal that in the US foreign
service, North Korea is referred to as "the black hole of Asia". And that sums
it up. North Korea is more or less an American intelligence failure.
Retired Admiral Denis Blair, former director of US national intelligence,
retreated to the bunker of "it's highly sensitive material" and then assured TV
viewers that "we generally know what's going on in North Korea" when Charlie
Rose pressed him for details.
Anyone who reads the major mainstream press "generally knows" what is going on
in Pyongyang! In reading the reporting on North Korea and China, we get the
impression that the leaked cables are so written to favor Washington's faulty
and ahistorical approach in having China act as a substitute for US policy. For
many geopolitical reasons Beijing has demurred, and on the other hand,
Washington has steadfastly refused to deal face to face with Pyongyang.
The Obama administration has set itself up for failure: they want China to do
something with North Korea, but they turn down China's call for "emergency
discussions" to dampen the rising war fever on the Korean peninsula. Why?
Simply, China is not reading the US script.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 2, '10)
Futureman had a good laugh when I told him about the WikiLeaks embarrassment
for the US diplomatic service. "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but that
Assange character became enormously popular among the liberal set a few years
after he was released from prison," he set in a conspiratorial voice. "In fact,
he bought an island in the Pacific where he set up the Republic of Pravadania,
a country where lies were forbidden and only the truth could be told." "Really?
How'd that turn out?"
"Well, that's the good part, of course. In no time, people started killing each
other. Men telling their wives they looked like constipated cows in that red
dress wound up lying on cold marble slabs. Politicians saying that taxes could
only go up were lynched. But Assange was a quick thinker. He made a complete
turnabout and forbade anything resembling the truth. His draconian laws
demanded that people tell not just lies but mammoth, humongous whoppers. In a
few weeks the violence had not only vanished but lawyers were deified as living
saints and used car salesmen were treated like rock stars."
"Wow. Pretty depressing. I suppose there's more?" Futureman chuckled. "Assange
told Hillary Clinton she was the hotter than plutonium jalapenos. He called the
United States a bastion of democratic purity and economic wisdom. Not long
after that you gave him a grant of a trillion dollars, fifty nuclear weapons
and a National Football League franchise." "What was that team called" I asked.
"You'll never guess. The Pravadania Pinocchios."
Hardy Campbell
United States (Dec 2, '10)
[Re Ysais Martinez letter, Nov 30] Ysais Martinez openly ponders "I wonder if
North Korea would be so defiant if there was a Ronald Reagan in the White
House." He must be speaking of the Republican Saint Reagan and not President
Ronald Reagan.
Despite the fact that he introduced the South Korean leader as President
Marcos, Reagan did nothing in the 1980s when North Korea commenced its nuclear
program. Nothing. Saint Reagan was a champion of American values. Ron Reagan
destroyed the Constitution in the Iran-Contra Affair. Saint Reagan was tough on
the Soviets and ended the Cold War. Ron Reagan nearly agreed to eliminate all
American nukes with Gorby, ran from Lebanon, and was so powerful that he
succeeded in rolling back the Soviets from every square single inch of the
Caribbean island of Grenada, current population 80,000!!! This was his only
land war, against Grenada, whose army totaled 600 men!! It lasted two days. One
air war - the 1986 bombing of Libya. Compare that with George H W Bush, who
launched two mid-sized ground operations, in Panama and Somalia, and one large
war in the Persian Gulf. Compare that with Bill Clinton, who launched three air
campaigns - in Bosnia , Iraq (1998), and Kosovo (1999).
Truth be known, Reagan was terrified of war. He thought Haig, Podhoretz, and
William Buckley were "sons of bitches [who] won't be happy until we have 25,000
troops in Managua".
Reagan fed the American's pablum, and Martinez has swallowed it whole. The war
in Granada resulted in more medals per soldier than any military operation in
US history. Against an army of 600, and some Cuban construction workers who
were there to finish an airstrip left half completed by the Americans. When he
bombed Libya in 1986, Reagan goosed America. Granted, there was a sharp focus
in Reagan's strategy, focused on cheap chest thumping for the most part, but he
was highly discriminating on real impositions or military interventions. In
fact , he looks like a genius compared to George Bush.
To be fair, Reagan's strength was the same as Carter's... on occasion they
honored international covenants... in this case the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, an
East-West agreement that created a multilateral forum for discussing security
concerns, economic and scientific issues, and human rights... and had this been
continued it is doubtful that North Korea would be the basket case it is today.
And don't forget the lesson from Iraq... sanction, cripple, and then attack.
This wasn't lost on North Korea after Clinton's six-nation promise of nuclear
power was ended by Bonzo Bush.
Miles Tompkins
Canada (Dec 1, '10)
[Re The lunatic who
thinks he's Barack Obama, Nov 29] Spengler has been wrong so many times
that I sometimes wish he would start recommending stocks because you can be
damn sure that those stocks are going down. Such contra-indicators are
invaluable in finance. Go on Spengler, that can be your value added to the
world.
Yusaf Khan
United Kingdom (Dec 1, '10)
Julian Assange. Hero of Humanity. WikiLeaks Guru. Distributor of the Truth.
Deflator of Imperialist Hypocrisy. And now Interpol Hunted Sex criminal? Oh
yes, who among us is surprised that the man who aired some of the Evil Empire's
dirty laundry is now being framed for alleged sex crimes?
The tried and true tactic of all fascist states is to not deny the Truth but to
defame the TruthTeller. Since the Truth is itself unassailable, the hope is
that if sufficient merde is hurled at he who speaks it, somehow the Truth
becomes less "Truthy" and hence, less worthy of acting upon. Of course, the
more pragmatic tyrants will be more concerned about the next WikiLeaks
revelations, which, among many many other unsavory things, will probably
uncover the real sex criminals amongst the high and mighty plutocrats.
Is there anything more delicious than seeing the powerful rendered powerless by
the simple act of lifting the rock under which they connive, lie, subvert, plot
and conspire and expose their evil machinations to the harsh glare of public
scrutiny? Watch as they scurry like frightened cockroaches to the nearest talk
show demagogue or radio nutcase to squeal about national security, endangered
troops, damaged credibility and the tooth fairy's hurt feelings.
Huffing and puffing helps deflect attention from the fact that they are still
invertebrate life forms who depend for survival on poisoning people's minds.
Julian Assange, my new Hero, is the bug exterminator who knows that massive
doses of what these vermin detest will never eradicate these filth-eaters, but
he can sure make them uncomfortable.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Dec 1, '10)
November Letters
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