North Korea (and Darfur and other humanitarian crises) - What can we do?

Evan Dorkin wrote something in one of this comix along the lines of "one of the reasons that this planet sucks is because the only people in it are the people in it," but that fact shouldn't necessarily stop you.

to go back to the threat title, North Korea and Darfur are dicey as shit and there aint really shit that any of us can do about, aside from letting more and more folks know about what's going on, and to try to apply pressure to elected officials to work peaceably(if possible) at it. oh yeah, and to also insure that the officials elected aren't the kinda folks to go off and invade at a multi-faceted whim.

when you have so many politicos who waver with whichever way the wind blows, then you can go about changing the direction of the air currents, as it were.

You do seem to be avoiding (or maybe I missed your response to) the point that Iraq isn't a typical situation, that it's one where more or less everything that could be bungled has been.

Also, have you been drinking? You sound like you're moderately to quite drunk, but all the letters in your words are in the right order.

its getting dangerously close to us and them, on this thread isnt it? and thats the danger, going in for humanitarian reasons, doesnt really tally with "us and them", especially if 'they' dont think right? a

again, was it justified for vietnam to invade cambodia to take out the khymer rouge? why or why not?

well, we're now talking about non-american/western forces? also we're talking then about a threat on the doorstep. im not really arguing against war per se at all, and i'm sure the vietnamese went in there as much for security reasons as for 'humanitarian' reasons. but the crux of the matter is, this thread isnt really for condemning or praising the actions of other states, this thread is about the actions of our own nations

and as for iraq, i thought i had said i dont believe it to be a 'special case'. i think any action in iran would be equally disastrous, for the same reasons, and sudan, syria, libya all have similarities. although, yes, i agree, that in principle, all situations are special cases with unique circumstances

i'd be more inclined to argue that its actually north korea that is the special case though

Dennis Rodman, in cap, and his traveling companions are now the only Americans known to have met the North Korean leader since he took power more than a year ago.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/mar/01/kim-jong-un-dennis-rodman-video

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10272953/Kim-Jong-uns-ex-lover-executed-by-firing-squad.html

holy shit

whole thing is o_O but

Kim Chol was reportedly executed for drinking and carousing during the official mourning period after Kim Jong-il's death.

On the explicit orders of Kim Jong-un to leave "no trace of him behind, down to his hair," according to South Korean media, Kim Chol was forced to stand on a spot that had been zeroed in for a mortar round and "obliterated."

North Korea: still hilarious

I mean, this was probably the more appropriate thread....

Dear Leader by Jang Jin-Sung should be a compelling read, he is the former N Korean propagandist who defected to S Korea in 2004.

Jang Jin-sung held one of the most senior ranks in North Korea's propaganda machine, helping tighten the regime's grip over its people. Among his tasks were developing the founding myth of North Korea, posing undercover as a South Korean intellectual and writing epic poems in support of the dictator, Kim Jong-il.

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/jang-jin-sung-takes-us-inside-the-sinister-and-absurd-world-of-north-koreas-god-king-regime