Population: One

Steven Dan Beste misses the point in arguing that we can defend South Korea and invade Iraq simultaneously. I think he’s right. We could. Except that he’s not really arguing that the US can defend South Korea and invade Iraq. He’s arguing that the US could provide air cover (with help from Japan) while South Korea defends itself.

This is, by the by, multilateralism: the awareness that the US needs allies to successfully pursue its goals.

OK. So, but it’s also beside the point. The worry regarding North Korea is not that they’ll try to invade South Korea. The worry is that they’ll develop their nuclear program. The current US foreign policy calls for preemptive strikes to prevent this, particularly in the case of nations that are hostile. North Korea’s part of the axis of evil, which I assume means they qualify.

In the latter portion of the essay, he points out that “The one thing that the North Korean governing elite apparently wants is to remain in power.” This is a powerful argument, and one with much merit. Maybe North Korea is in fact not a danger to us, or even to our allies in Southeast Asia. The irony here is that this is the exact same argument used by many of those who object to war in Iraq. Hussein’s desire to stay in power is greater than his desire to rule the Arab world. He knows that if he uses any weapons of mass destruction he may have, he’s gonna get vaporized. Etc. Yes, Iraq has invaded neighboring countries. Wasn’t all that long ago that North Korea was at war, either. The leadership has not changed in either case.

Dan Beste also says that we can always remove the atomic threat as and when they’re turning out refined plutonium in quantity. He ought, perhaps, to read the statements by Colin Powell, to which he linked: “North Korea has had nuclear weapons for a couple of years in violation of its previous agreements, he [Powell] said.”

The policy that calls for invasion of Iraq also calls for proactive attempts to defuse the North Korean atomic program. If one is important, the other is also important. If we can’t do both at once, we ought to reexamine that policy and modify it to fit geopolitical realities.

That policy is explicitly designed to contain terrorism. It is directed at rogue nations who may possess only a few nuclear weapons. It’s not designed for Russia, it’s designed for new nuclear powers and terrorist organizations. North Korea fits the profile perfectly. If North Korea is not the kind of nuclear power that requires proactive action, what is?

Annnnnnd it’s more on the Confederate flag issue.

It’s an important article to read for two reasons. First, it describes how white supremacists have hijacked the Sons of Confederate Veterans. These days, the SCV is into talking about how much blacks enjoyed fighting for segregation. This is real. This is not a random accusation from the left wing. This is a major, important Southern organization being coopted by virulent racism.

Second, it also makes it clear that the Sons of Confederate Veterans weren’t all racists or rednecks. Those who formerly ran the SCV are outraged and are working to take back their organization — as they should. These are men who are proud of the Confederate flag, and who are also working against racism.

As pretty much everyone who cares knows by now, Sean Penn recently visited Iraq and was promptly used by Saddam Hussein for propaganda purposes. You have to hope he wasn’t surprised by this. I thought it might be interesting to see what he actually said, though, since it’s been somewhat under-reported. Quotes are from various sources; search Google (for the next 30 days or so, at least) for cites.

“I am a citizen of the United States of America. I believe in the Constitution of the United States, and the American people. Ours is a government designed to function

Glenn Reynolds notes that North Korea supports US unilateralism, but somehow fails to miss the irony inherent in the idea that this new supporter of Bush’s policies is one of our biggest foreign policy headaches. Me, I find it amusing. “You were right, guys; the North Koreans are in our corner!”

OK, OK, some real commentary. This is kind of interesting. Who does North Korea want uninvolved? Answer: Japan and of course South Korea. Japan in particular is likely to be more worried about North Korea than we are, because Japan is a lot closer and definitely within North Korean missile range. In fact, Japan is strongly considering sanctions against North Korea. That’d have a fairly major impact. North Korea would love it if the US discouraged Japan from taking action. Japan’s more likely to take painful action (from the North Korean standpoint) than is the US.

Meanwhile, South Korea is criticizing North Korea for ignoring the world community; it’s no surprise that North Korea would react to that by taking the opposite position.

Daily Kos asks how Southerners get away with displaying the Confederate flag. Well, you know, it is a symbol of Southern pride. Recognizing that is just as important as recognizing that US arrogance pisses off the rest of the world, sometimes.

The issue here is that the Confederate flag has two meanings, and the second darker meaning is not inherently associated with the first. It’s not safe to assume that those who care about the first meaning also care about the second. It is possible to be proud of one’s heritage without being proud of slavery. It’s futile to tell an entire region that their entire heritage is crap because of one prominent blemish.

It is equally important for those flying the flag to recognize that it’s deeply painful to another group of people. Maybe I don’t associate the flag with slavery; that doesn’t mean it’s wrong for you to make that association.

Beating people over the head isn’t going to solve the problem. Gotta step back, say “I understand that you are flying the flag for reasons other than racism” or “I understand that the flag has very bad connotations for you,” and work from there.