Hm... But it is the US and the EU who put trade embargoes on buying goods from North Korea. And this is mainly the reason of why people are starving there. THis country made a truly heroic effort of producing EVERYTHING itself.
By the way there are thousands of kids like that in Chicago and Bronx.
The US has historically used food aid for North Korea as a bargaining chip; NK tests missiles, US sends less food. Not sure what this source's bias is, but here's a quote:
> It has been widely reported that any food aid that arrives in North Korea is diverted away from ordinary citizens and doled out to key constituents, especially in the military. It is precisely for this reason that Pyongyang refuses to allow aid workers the ability to conduct routine monitoring of humanitarian aid delivery.
Would trade embargoes be lifted, NK0reans could provide for themselves, no need for foreign aid. Foreign aid is a source of much corruption in the 3rd world, and you well know it.
I've lived in Chicago all my life (on the south side where I grew up, on the north side, and now right up on Austin on the west side), and no you don't. Not to mention that your assertion is so out of whack that you can refute it with a single Google search.
Hm. You probably never went into Harlem.
Googling returns this: http://www.mercyhome.org/homeless-youth
2.3 – 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness at least once a year, effecting different ages, races and genders.
1/3 of the total homeless population families with children.
1 in 50 (1.5 million) of the total homeless population are estimated to be under the age of 6.
1.3 - 1.6 million unaccompanied or runaway youth annually.
50,000 youth experience long-term homelessness (six month or more) each year.
> it is the US and the EU who put trade embargoes on buying goods from North Korea. And this is mainly the reason of why people are starving there.
That's not true. People are starving because the government is totally inept in making sure that enough food is produced each year, not because people can't buy it.
Huh? You can't blame how fucked up NK is on the US or the EU. Not at all.
>> By the way there are thousands of kids like that in Chicago and Bronx.
Yeah, same in Africa and other places too. The difference is that each countries respective government doesn't lump 250,000 of them and their families into prison camps and exploit/torture/execute them.
The US has the largest population of detainees in the world per 1000 inhabitants. And most of them are in fact used as slaves. Clean your own house, buddy.
It's amazing that the author acts like no one knows that the North Koreans are starving to death, it's in the news all the time.
I would love for things in North Korea to change, but you can't do that without getting rid of their current government. If we tried, we'd end up with a mess much larger than the one we have in the Middle East.
Like North Korea, Iraq was run by a ruthless dictator who enslaved his people and squandered the nation's resources. He raped children, used biological weapons on minorities, tortured and imprisoned millions, and murdered hundreds of thousands. You don't hear about it much on the news, but there are mass graves in Iraq similar to the ones used during the holocaust.
Even though the world knows all of this, the U.S. is still looked at like we are the world's biggest assholes for trying to change things in Iraq.
You might say that's because the Bush administration lied about the evidence. Did Iraq have nuclear weapons? No. Are nuclear weapons the only thing that Qualifies as a weapon of mass destruction? Of course not. The U.S. and over 2'dozen of our allies' intelligence agencies believed that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons before the war started. After the invasion, everyone else pretended that they had always disagreed with us. In reality, Iraq most likely did have biological weapons. After all, it's not that hard to hide/dispose of/ move chemical weapons when you are surrounded by countries that hate the Western world.
You might also say that things went to shit in Iraq, and that we didn't really help. Well you might be right about that. It's pretty heartbreaking to see how fast things got worse after we left. Like a day or so after the last troops moved out, There was a story in the news about 90 children being rounded up in Iraq, who were smashed to death with rocks for wearing jeans and t-shirts.
So that brings us back to North Korea. Yea we could dethrone the false demigod, probably in about 3-6 weeks if we wanted, but without the military support of the entire world, we'd just end up turning North Korea into another hell hole.
I think a free N. Korea would be different than a free Iraq. While it would be a burden on S. Korea, I would imagine that a unified peninsula is of interest to them.
China is something else and continues to prop up that government. N. Korea would've broken up by now without China, much like the communist bloc countries did without the USSR.
It's a weird relationship that they have with China. China props them up and gives them stuff, but at the same time they wish that N. Korea would quit fucking with their number one customer, the United States.
There are a lot of people in N. Korea who would probably embrace change, but at the same time, there are probably millions that are so brainwashed that a significant insurgency would grow there as it did in Iraq.
Once again, look at the middle east. Logically, there's absolutely no reason that a woman would want to buy into fundamental Islam. It offers them nothing but violence, abuse, and a lifetime of being treated like livestock. That doesn't stop women who have already been indoctrinated from becoming suicide bombers.
Very true, but fundamental Islam is different that Communism. N. Koreans are currently offered nothing by their country. I'm not sure who is being served by it. I would think the people might be more interested in regime change when you start bombing them with masses of bread and rice.
I don't think there would be much insurgency, especially if the Chinese and the S. Koreans helped. The people have no weapons and you wouldn't see an influx of foreign fighters into the country (like we did with Iraq and Afghanistan). The real question is: who cares? The humanitarian in me does but my pragmatism isn't willing to trade 1 American life for the entirety of N. Korea. Although, I feel the same about Iraq and, partially, Afghanistan.
>> Yea we could dethrone the false demigod, probably in about 3-6 weeks if we wanted
maybe not, since China is right there, and they will definitely NOT sit idle as the US tries to mess around in their back yard (this has happened before, and it didn't go that great)
actually, I think China is the main supporter of the situation in NK, had it not been for the Chinese protection, the NK dictators wouldn't have made it so long, IMO
They are allies, but the relationship between them has changed quite a bit since the Korean War. A few years back, when N Korea was launching missiles in Japan's direction, China was actually going to impose sanctions on them if they didn't stop.
They definitely don't want us in their back yard, but I don't think they are eager to rush to N. Korea's defense this time around.
In the end, China only cares about what's in China's best interests. Here we are, the Unites States, buying trillions of dollars of stuff from China. Meanwhile, all they ever get from N. Korea is instability in the region and propositions for handouts.
> The U.S. and over 2'dozen of our allies' intelligence agencies believed that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons before the war started.
Yes, but not strongly enough to start a war over it until there was some other motivation.
Opinions aren't a binary thing. You can have 55% credence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, but at that point it's not necessarily a good idea to start a war over it. If you have 95% credence it's a different story.
23 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 64.0 ms ] thread> It has been widely reported that any food aid that arrives in North Korea is diverted away from ordinary citizens and doled out to key constituents, especially in the military. It is precisely for this reason that Pyongyang refuses to allow aid workers the ability to conduct routine monitoring of humanitarian aid delivery.
http://www.cnas.org/node/5958
Child starvation deaths in DPRK are common. Child starvation deaths in Chicago are extremely rare and almost uniformly investigated as homicides.
That's not true. People are starving because the government is totally inept in making sure that enough food is produced each year, not because people can't buy it.
>> By the way there are thousands of kids like that in Chicago and Bronx.
Yeah, same in Africa and other places too. The difference is that each countries respective government doesn't lump 250,000 of them and their families into prison camps and exploit/torture/execute them.
I never said I was pro-US-locking-people-up, did I?
ok...
I would love for things in North Korea to change, but you can't do that without getting rid of their current government. If we tried, we'd end up with a mess much larger than the one we have in the Middle East.
Like North Korea, Iraq was run by a ruthless dictator who enslaved his people and squandered the nation's resources. He raped children, used biological weapons on minorities, tortured and imprisoned millions, and murdered hundreds of thousands. You don't hear about it much on the news, but there are mass graves in Iraq similar to the ones used during the holocaust.
Even though the world knows all of this, the U.S. is still looked at like we are the world's biggest assholes for trying to change things in Iraq.
You might say that's because the Bush administration lied about the evidence. Did Iraq have nuclear weapons? No. Are nuclear weapons the only thing that Qualifies as a weapon of mass destruction? Of course not. The U.S. and over 2'dozen of our allies' intelligence agencies believed that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons before the war started. After the invasion, everyone else pretended that they had always disagreed with us. In reality, Iraq most likely did have biological weapons. After all, it's not that hard to hide/dispose of/ move chemical weapons when you are surrounded by countries that hate the Western world.
You might also say that things went to shit in Iraq, and that we didn't really help. Well you might be right about that. It's pretty heartbreaking to see how fast things got worse after we left. Like a day or so after the last troops moved out, There was a story in the news about 90 children being rounded up in Iraq, who were smashed to death with rocks for wearing jeans and t-shirts.
So that brings us back to North Korea. Yea we could dethrone the false demigod, probably in about 3-6 weeks if we wanted, but without the military support of the entire world, we'd just end up turning North Korea into another hell hole.
China is something else and continues to prop up that government. N. Korea would've broken up by now without China, much like the communist bloc countries did without the USSR.
There are a lot of people in N. Korea who would probably embrace change, but at the same time, there are probably millions that are so brainwashed that a significant insurgency would grow there as it did in Iraq.
Once again, look at the middle east. Logically, there's absolutely no reason that a woman would want to buy into fundamental Islam. It offers them nothing but violence, abuse, and a lifetime of being treated like livestock. That doesn't stop women who have already been indoctrinated from becoming suicide bombers.
I don't think there would be much insurgency, especially if the Chinese and the S. Koreans helped. The people have no weapons and you wouldn't see an influx of foreign fighters into the country (like we did with Iraq and Afghanistan). The real question is: who cares? The humanitarian in me does but my pragmatism isn't willing to trade 1 American life for the entirety of N. Korea. Although, I feel the same about Iraq and, partially, Afghanistan.
maybe not, since China is right there, and they will definitely NOT sit idle as the US tries to mess around in their back yard (this has happened before, and it didn't go that great)
actually, I think China is the main supporter of the situation in NK, had it not been for the Chinese protection, the NK dictators wouldn't have made it so long, IMO
They definitely don't want us in their back yard, but I don't think they are eager to rush to N. Korea's defense this time around.
In the end, China only cares about what's in China's best interests. Here we are, the Unites States, buying trillions of dollars of stuff from China. Meanwhile, all they ever get from N. Korea is instability in the region and propositions for handouts.
that and a perfect proxy for shady stuff, should they ever need it. proxies can be quite helpful in this age
Yes, but not strongly enough to start a war over it until there was some other motivation.
Opinions aren't a binary thing. You can have 55% credence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, but at that point it's not necessarily a good idea to start a war over it. If you have 95% credence it's a different story.