(December 31, 2010 at 12:53 pm)Ubermensch Wrote: Eliminating all traces of loyallty to the North Korean government would lead to the deaths of tens of millions of innocent civillians, better to cut the head off the snake and then buy out its successors.
(December 31, 2010 at 4:31 pm)Meatball Wrote: I don't think it would be very difficult to "win hearts and minds" in North Korea. Those people are starving. A sandwich wrapped in an American flag would go a long way if done right.
This is the same kind of hubris that Westerners seem to have had in the planning and follow through of Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Lebanon.
The buy out strategy hasn't worked one bit in Afghanistan, for example. There are numerous cases of tribal chieftains just taking the money and doing whatever the hell they want.
I'm sorry, but money is not the ultimate end all, be all, as many Westerners seem to devoutly believe. In Islamic countries with poor quality of life, it is religion. I fear that in North Korea, it would be devotion to the Party. As there is a lack of hard information regarding the cultural biases of North Korea, I hold that statements containing the thought of "buying them out" is not only woefully inadequate - it is stupid. Stupid in being overly confident, western-centric and overly self-absorbed.
These people in North Korea, for the most part, have the capacity to be quite, quite different to us. A lack of information is dangerous. Very dangerous.
