Quote:
Originally Posted by Onkel Neal
I don't know for fact but what I have read is people in NK do not have access to the web, they cannot join forums like Subsim and express their thoughts. They are living in a madhouse society, where they have no dreams or hope, where they see the world in a distorted way. Their news and education are skewed from reality-- the brainwashing starts from the age a child can talk. They have limited freedom to travel in their own "country". Even in the capital, they have limited access to water, they have to fill their bathub once a day and get by on that.
These are real people who do not deserve to live like this, and we in the western world and China go on our merry way, complaining about how many fps our latest PC needs to play Fallout 4. The world should not look the other way. I want to see justice for the dictator who is causing this. Ask anyone if they had the chance to kill Hitler in 1933, etc. Well, it might be better to risk a retaliatory strike from NK now, than in 5 years when they can hit back with nukes. |
The big drawback of the Internet as a means of disseminating information to places like NK is the fact the Net relies on fairly easily controlled portals; unlike in earlier decades where the US could use outlets like the VOA to transmit information the leadership of other countries, particularly dictatorships of all stripes, it is easier to 'turn off the tap'.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Von Due
I would like to see Kim go too but here is the thing:
It's not about human rights, internet (they do have access to a very restricted internet full of propaganda but it's there and outsiders can reach a few sites if they so wish), fresh veggies to all or anything like that. It's about which super power should dominate a united Korea and here is where China and the US are negotiating, China hellbent on not having SK and thus the US dominating, the US hellbent on not having NK and China dominating. Chivalery or rights has no place in those talks. While these talks are going on, the regime in NK laughs all the way to the bank where counterfeit money are produced, where the launderette is full of real money from drug trade, all under the supervision of Room 39.
China supports the crime lord to halt US influence just like the US financed, trained and supported death squads across the Americas in the 70's and 80's to halt Russian influence. Starvation in NK, massacres in sports arenas in Chile, not much difference, is there? None of that worries leaders of nations and if they tell you they do, well they are doing their job by saying they do and indeed doing their job by not caring in the slightest. Expedience above all else.
China is one key and not everything is rosery red between the two, from Kim's anger that he is openly mocked on Chinese social sites with the Chinese state not overly keen on stopping that, to China halting imports and closing airline routes between the 2 countries, signs that China is indeed concerned over whether or not a change is needed. Who they would prefer as replacement is an open question but I wouldn't hold me breath waiting for miracles for the average guy, just like miracles didn't happen in Iraq after the US and the UK installed their puppet: Saddam.
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When I was 14 years old, I spent a summer in Central America, in a country ruled by a dictatorial family much like the Kim family rule. The dictatorship had been established and supported by the US under the old "well, he may be an SOB, but he's our SOB" type of logic. The dictator held virtual total control over all aspects of the citizens comings and goings and kept a tight rein on anything that might have threatened the rulers. When we wanted to travel from the capital to an area in the mountains, we found out special written permission had to obtained from the authorities, which in that country was the military, where we had to give our time of departure, route, stops, estimated time of arrival, and details about all the persons involved in the trip and what they were going to carry; note this was not just because we were foreigners, this was SOP for anybody traveling within the borders. There were severe penalties in the form of stiff fines if any of the info was found to be false and, if you should arrive at your destination late and the time difference was considered by the military to be out f the ordinary, you could be arrested and imprisoned; while were were there, we heard of a couple of cases where late arrivers were deemed to have been suspiciously late and were summarily shot by soldiers who suspected the travelers of being possible rebels; one of the cases was reported to have involved children who were shot. Those three months we spent under that country's rule gave me a practical education in how very, very lucky we in the US are to live under our laws; it also gave an education of how truly horrifying US foreign policy can sometimes make life for people in lands where they live under dictators and/or corrupt governments who exist mainly because they are important to "US interests". The people of NK suffer because the existence of Kim is vital to China's interest and, before China, during the Cold War, NK was was under the wing of the USSR. NK was a thorn in China's side until the fall of the USSR and China grudgingly took on the role of "protector" of NK just as a means of keeping SK and their ally, the US from ending up on their border...
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