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| Korea |
| U.S. Talking ’Regime Change’ for North Korea |
| 2003-04-21 |
| NEW YORK - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld recently sent a memo to top officials at the Pentagon suggesting that the United States, with China's help, should try to oust the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il from power, the New York Times reported Sunday. That is in contrast with Washington's official policy objective - to disarm North Korea of its weapons of mass destruction. The report quoted U.S. government officials as saying that Mr. Rumsfeld's team was not proposing a military solution to depose Kim, but diplomatic pressure. But the classified memo, drawn up by officials opposed to opening talks that could eventually end up benefiting North Korea economically, shows how the handling of the crisis has become the newest subject of internal struggle over how to pursue U.S. President George W. Bush's determination to stop the spread of unconventional weapons. |
| Posted by:g wiz |
| #9 Sassafrass - regime change. Like Germany. Unification. Capital Seoul. Capitalistic democracy. Bigger trade with China rather than a drain. Non-nuclear. No need for American troops on the Asian mainland. It's a feature, not a bug. |
| Posted by: Don 2003-04-21 18:47:17 |
| #8 How about a regime without KIM, with no secret police, no million-man army trained to kill anybody and everybody, no nuke weapons, and no DMZ. That's just for starters. Follow that with the ability to own property, the right to be secure in your home without some government flunky barging in at any time, and the right to a little peace and quiet. How about the ability to move freely around inside your own country, and even (gasp!!!) travel to the south to visit family members separated for 50 years without being shot either leaving or returning? We can work on refinements after these "minor" points are taken care of. As for Dr. Spock, the best thing I can say about him is he's no longer an important part of the "boomer" experience. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-04-21 18:39:26 |
| #7 On the other hand, you boomers *did* get Dr. Spock, so maybe we'll just call it even. |
| Posted by: FormerLiberal 2003-04-21 17:04:15 |
| #6 Ah, but Sassafrass, the truly committed "left" are really incapable of seeing anything outside of the context of "political repression, generarating electricity, and blowing stuff up." My use of the term "moral imperative" is sarcastic, but not absurdist, and I meant nuclear in terms of weaponry, not the generation of electricity (I'm a supporter of solar, myself). The "left" *will* want NK to have exactly the things they want the United States to NOT have. At least, that's my prediction based on having listened to these guys my entire freakin' life ("Boomer" conservatives should feel lucky; at least they got one or two decades withOUT having 60's radicalism shoved down their throats). Anyway, winks and grins and all that, I stand by my prediction. ccwbass |
| Posted by: FormerLiberal 2003-04-21 16:51:30 |
| #5 Since when does anybody, except Machiavellians, experience a "moral imperative" to become a nuclear power? My point is that North Korea needs to go back to being a regular old everyday kind of place, where people have a chance to focus on a few other activities besides political repression, generating electricity, and blowing stuff up. |
| Posted by: Sassafrass 2003-04-21 16:38:56 |
| #4 Changed into a huge, glass-lined, gently glowing hole in the ground. |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-04-21 16:27:04 |
| #3 My prediction: The same loony left who decry our own use of nuclear power and yell for us to abandon it will protest for North Korea's right - nay, moral imperative - to become a nuclear power. |
| Posted by: FormerLiberal 2003-04-21 16:18:47 |
| #2 Regime change. Could we please be a little more specific this time as to what we want this regime to change into? North Korea's in pretty rough shape, so simply herding the population into a voting booth, yelling "Democracy," and heading home won't solve things. It may appear politically expedient at the moment to start talking about "regime change" instead of "Korean re-unification." However, in the long run, only solid working relationships between South and North Koreans can provide the stable, ongoing partners needed on a day-by-day basis, for the task of (*gasp*) nationbuilding and reconstruction. |
| Posted by: Sassafrass 2003-04-21 16:18:42 |
| #1 Don: you forgot "millions of voters brainwashed to hate America". Whoops. |
| Posted by: someone 2003-04-21 22:40:11 |