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2005-06-23 China-Japan-Koreas

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Posted by Fred 2005-06-23 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I just heard on the radio driving home today that we're giving North Korea several 100 thousand dollars worth of aid in food.
I think that there are several other places on this earth that need our assistance of food alot more than North Korea.
Is this act making us more amicable?
I didn't see this one coming.

Posted by Jan 2005-06-23 00:41|| 2005-06-23 00:41|| Front Page Top

#2 As I understand it, from an article about a month ago, that has been delayed and, if not cancelled altogether, the soonest it would actually begin would be December. Can anyone back me up / correct me on this?

Posted by .com 2005-06-23 01:12|| 2005-06-23 01:12|| Front Page Top

#3 Jan,

If the US doesn't donate the food, 2 million people will starve in NKorea. I just added that information link to Rantburg. It is for the people, not the leadership. I am sure the 2 million people will find out somehow where the food came from.

Posted by RG 2005-06-23 01:43|| 2005-06-23 01:43|| Front Page Top

#4 I am sure the 2 million people will find out somehow where the food came from.

I'm not - Pyongyang has a formidable track record of hiding donor sources, especially the US, in the past.

That said, it's awfully hard for me to ignore 2 million starving people.

Posted by rkb 2005-06-23 06:10|| 2005-06-23 06:10|| Front Page Top

#5 North Koreaâs ultimate goal is a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and it would have no use for nuclear weapons if the United States were friendly...

Can't get the song from Team America out of my head..."I'm so ronry..."

Posted by Darth VAda 2005-06-23 06:41|| 2005-06-23 06:41|| Front Page Top

#6 It's not as hard to ignore 2 million people as it is one nutter with a nuke. I'd trade everybody in North Korea for Kimmie gone and no nukes.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-06-23 06:55|| 2005-06-23 06:55|| Front Page Top

#7 I propose ye olde thought experiment.

How would folks feel about 2 people starving? Not 2 million, just 2. If you know about it and can do something, how is this any different? Is it about the numbers -- or the people?

How about if they were not on the other side of the planet? What if they were in the neighborhood, say, Mexico? Any difference because of geography?

How about 2 homeless folks on the streets of any large city - your city? Any difference because they might be someone you once knew personally -- or easily could be?

The key is that Kim Jong Il created this debacle. Mugabe. Darfur. Slightly less insane, since less man-made, we have Ethiopia, et al. And an endless stream of et ceteras.

Do we save the North Koreans? Do we save the Mexicans? Do we save the street people in LA? If we feed them today, have they been saved? What about tomorrow? They'll be just as desperate then. Send more food aid?

Responsibility is a cause=>effect chain - traceable. Feelings of responsibility, likely born of the fact that we recognize we can do something - irrespective of any consideration of whether we should, are another thing entirely - a very quirky sombitch.

I reiterate a similar point I've made before:
When 6 people die everyday in some strife-torn locale - day in, day out - the human interest folks of the MSM pay a little lip service, but no more. But if 60 people die at once - whoa - our broadcast news anchors are on the scene the next night. Why is that suddenly newsworthy? It happened in Sarajevo - and to this day, I still don't "get" why.

Logic fails to explain it for me - so it's gotta be something else. Propaganda? Disinformation? Selective sympathy?

This is insane. To save the NorKies is to hand those who created this unnecessary tragedy the power to repeat as desired. A one-trick pony. I've seen it, already. Hasn't everyone here? How will paying to see it again change anything? Isn't change the real answer? And what will change this situation for the better? Isn't THAT action the one we should pursue - even if it means not saving Kim Jong Il's people from Kim Jong Il?

In the here and now... Sometimes it can be a lousy world, but that's demonstrably only true, given available advances, because lousy people are allowed to live in it.

Posted by .com 2005-06-23 06:58|| 2005-06-23 06:58|| Front Page Top

#8 good rant .com.

if you teach a man to fish...

Posted by 2b 2005-06-23 07:04|| 2005-06-23 07:04|| Front Page Top

#9 Good questions, .com. But like Robin, I also find 2 mill starving people hard to ignore (I guess it's the Christian in me;) I realize that Kimmie is to blame, but that's a hell of a way to punish him.
On the other hand, can we be sure the food goes to needy civilians (young, old, sick) rather than the military? I'd like to have a hand in distributing it, not so much to get credit, but to assure it gets to the right people. Unfortunately, it looks like Kimmie's blackmail machine is working (the Talks-for-Food program).

Posted by Spot">Spot 2005-06-23 08:30|| 2005-06-23 08:30|| Front Page Top

#10 IOW, as with the USSR during the Cold war the USA must give up its nukes first.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2005-06-23 08:50|| 2005-06-23 08:50|| Front Page Top

#11 Spot, you're "spot on." It is VERY hard for me to ignore 2 million (maybe it is the large #), but like 2b, I've almost come to the point (even with the Christianity in me) of cutting 'em loose. Yes, I'd feel guilty, BUT it's NO ONE's fault but Kimmie's (not the U.S.'s fault)! If (and that's a BIG if) I knew the food was actually getting to those who really need it, I'd have NO problem with this, but we all know it doesn't (much like most of our foreign aid, it only props up the goons in power). I'm with 2b (on a personal level), give a man a fish.... BUT, in this case, I'm sure the citizen WANT to know how to fish, but aren't allowed by the goon in power.

Posted by BA">BA 2005-06-23 08:58|| 2005-06-23 08:58|| Front Page Top

#12 North Koreaâs ultimate goal is a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and it would have no use for nuclear weapons if the United States were friendly, Pyongyangâs top delegate to inter-Korean talks said Wednesday.

Honestly, does anyone take these guys seriously anymore?

If the US doesn't donate the food, 2 million people will starve in NKorea. I just added that information link to Rantburg. It is for the people, not the leadership.

[...]

On the other hand, can we be sure the food goes to needy civilians (young, old, sick) rather than the military?

Unless the NorkS are willing to allow outside parties to distribute aid (a very unlikely development), there is no guarantee whatsoever that whatever is sent is not going to be diverted from its intended destination.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-06-23 10:31|| 2005-06-23 10:31|| Front Page Top

#13 I agree BAR, there isn't a way to keep Kimmie's hands off the food. After all, he has a Songun, Army-first policy, which makes it even harder to watch the Nork people suffer.

Posted by Spot">Spot 2005-06-23 10:46|| 2005-06-23 10:46|| Front Page Top

#14 Maybe we can put something in the food, ya know, like the polio vaccine that was gonna make Muslim women sterile?

Posted by Bobby 2005-06-23 13:06|| 2005-06-23 13:06|| Front Page Top

#15 Guilt has always been a powerful motivator in the charity industry. Feed the starving children. Yet the starvation we see here is not caused by abject poverty or environmental catastrophe. The root cause is political.

Nobody in South Korea is starving.
Zimbabwie used to be the breadbasket of Africa.
Hard to raise a few goats and maize in Sudan when your village is burned and your women are raped.

If you feel bad about it, drop a few dollars in the box, but next week be prepared to drop a few more.

Posted by john">john 2005-06-23 13:08|| 2005-06-23 13:08|| Front Page Top

#16 What about the many more millions who've been starving for decades in Africa? Why are they less worthy? I have a real problem with this.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-06-23 13:15|| 2005-06-23 13:15|| Front Page Top

#17 Perspective. The fundamental question: Why is this the US's problem?

In the MSM & "Int'l community", it's because we can be counted on to feel guilty. For anything. For everything. And it's okay to bash us, screw us over, skim and relabel the aid, the worx. We're not The World Police - we're The World Suckers.

The logical answer:
Leave the issue of NorK's survival to it's parents to save or not, the Russians (standing in for the Soviets) and the ChiComms.

Pfeh.

Posted by .com 2005-06-23 15:02|| 2005-06-23 15:02|| Front Page Top

#18 This is a bad idea. If we feed these people while Little Nuclear Elvis is still in power we are helping to prop him up. How many millions will die if he puches his 'rittle red button? Not to be heartless but nothing causes revolutions quicker than starvation -- and revolution is what everybody needs in this situation.

Posted by Secret Master 2005-06-23 15:18|| 2005-06-23 15:18|| Front Page Top

#19 Hell, blockade the harbours and destroy the bridges, and if there's any Angent Orange left using that would be a real mercy.

Posted by Shipman 2005-06-23 19:25|| 2005-06-23 19:25|| Front Page Top

#20 not hard for me too ignore them. maybe they should try and overthrow their repressive regime and eat for a change or die trying too anyway

Posted by Thraing Hupoluper1864 2005-06-23 19:41|| 2005-06-23 19:41|| Front Page Top

#21 Let 'em eat Kimmie.

He'd feed quite a few.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2005-06-23 21:36|| http://www.ariellestjohndesigns.com]">[http://www.ariellestjohndesigns.com] 2005-06-23 21:36|| Front Page Top

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