Posted on 12/24/2004 4:03:10 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
This is one of the most outstanding summaries on the effects and eventual results of "Personality Cults" that I have seen. Kudos to you for cogent thinking!
AMERICA, F*** yeah!
I think only Pol Pot could compete with the Kim Family for the claim. Only Pol Pot brought his own people lower than the Kims. That's what communism does.
Thanks for your comment.
1. N. Korean hereditary dictatorship is the result of Kim Il-sung's dogged determination to escape the fate that befell on Stalin and Mao, who were disgraced after their death. Kim watched it happening and made sure it would never happen to him. He wanted his subjects to continue to exalt him long after his death, by putting his son in charge. The personality cult continues even after his death. The dictatorship added another disturbing twist when Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-sung's son and the current ruler, digested the implication of communist collapse in Eastern Europe. He concluded that the moderation and liberalization are not the way to survive. That is the sure way to collapse, in his opinion. Especially, Romanian case gave him the vivid impression. His prescription is to tighten the screw harder. Create confrontational situation with Americans, using nukes and missiles. His goal is a nuclear-armed N. Korea which can exact economic concessions from other countries. It is a long shot, but, in Kim Jong-il's mind, its odds are far better than liberalization. So he clings to his hugely expensive missile and WMD programs, while letting millions die of starvation. As with his dad, the son learned a terrible lesson from the fate of fellow communists. Everytime other communist countries move forward voluntarily or involuntarily, N. Korea's Kim family learned lessons from them which made their country stay behind or go even backward, creating all kinds of outlandish pathologies in N. Korea.
2. N. Koreans are not what they used to be. Crushing famine left million dead. Those who survived cannot count on the state to provide even tiny amount of food. They all fend for themselves or die. After nearly a decade of this situation, Dear Leader does not loom as large as he used to. His security agents, and officials are into scams or corruption themselves. They cannot keep track of general population as they used to. State control is frittering away at the bottom level. People feel that they would rather have an war, not to fight against alleged enemy but because they figure it will change their situation one way or the other, and they will get to eat somehow. No faith in the system what so ever. At the first sign of trouble, they would rather bail, and find their way to have more food.
And for what? Does anyone here really give a damn about n.korea?
Or Africa or even South America.
I wish all those countries well, but not at the expense of my hard-earned money.
Yes, Capitalism is alive and well, but free enterprise, the cornerstone of the American experiment is dead.
Yeah, for some wacky reason, nuclear proliferation, regional stability, containment of China, promotion of democracy and elimination of communist regimes seem to interest quite a number of FReepers.
"Remember how agitated Bush looked during the debate when J Kerry said he would get rid of the nuke bunker busters."
You know, maybe that explains why the Repubs didn't go after Kerry on this issue. Maybe they wanted the issue to go away so they wouldn't tip their hand as to what was going on.
Our interests are often served by helping other countries. We wouldn't be 'saving' any money by letting Asia fall into chaos.
It's pretty bad, when an invasion by the ChiComs would be an improvement.
Whats everyone knocking North Korea for? Didn't you read the news the other day? North Korea is the only nation on earth that has zero AIDS cases. None, zip, nada.
They are a model society right? /sarcasm off
remember when kim took his train trip + re-entered no korea, there was a huge explosion, just inside the boundaries of korea.
was it ever determined whether that explosion was an accident, coincident to the arrival of kim, or an attempt on his life?
i never saw any follow up.
Everybody knows what an open society North Korea is.. /sarcasm ...so I'm sure we're not hearing the real or whole stories on those incidents. It very well could be the death throes of the Kim regime.
You should have looked a littler closer. There is an article posted here, which says that N. Korean security believes that it was an assassination attempt, and cellphones were used. More recent article posted had a follow-up. It says that some N. Koreans from privileged family background did it, with the tacit approval of Chinese.
North Korean Security Believes Ryongchon Explosion an Assassination Attempt(Cellphones now banned)
N. Korea: Kim Jong-il's Distant Relative Tried to Kill Him With Chinese Blessing
Ah! Touche'!
Touche', indeed!
OH PAGING North Korea ping list
Thanks for early Christmas present Tiger rack itt
OMG I just think of good plot time for just in case creators of South Park want do sequel to Team America ROFL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.