DRIBBLE DIPLOMACY
Dennis Rodman told George Stephanopolous in an ABC interview today that North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, had whispered to him that what he really wants is not war, but for "Obama to call me."
The State Department has already "distanced itself" from basketball star and noted cross-dressing eccentric Dennis Rodman, who made an unexpected visit to North Korea last week where he spent more time with the North Korean leader than any other living person outside of North Korea, a fact which one State Department official called "frightening" in Stephanopolous's opening segment featuring Rodman on ABC 's This Week.
Stephanopolous gave Rodman a copy of the Human Rights Watch Report outlining North Korea's violations of human rights, and sanctimoniously suggesting Rodman might want to read it before consorting with the heads of governments which commit such atrocities as imprisoning 200,000 citizens in concentration camps.
Really?
Should Churchill and Roosevelt have refused to consort with mass-murderer Stalin?
Should Nixon have refused to meet with Mao, also a mass-murderer?
Should Reagan have refused to meet with Gorbachov, whose country kept millions in subjugation?
Perhaps Stephanopolous (a former White House Press Secretary himself) and the State Department are a bit envious that they didn't arrange the first meeting ever between North Korea's new leader and a Western official, if Mr. Rodman can be called an "official". And isn't it interesting that Rodman got Kim's ear while Google's president Eric Scmidt was snubbed on a recent "private" trip to North Korea.
Maybe envy isn't the cause of the irritation . Maybe it's just the same stupid pride which has kept us from normalizing relations with Fidel Castro's Cuba long after the "communism" he espoused had disappeared from both Russia and China.
I have six words for President Obama: "Mr. Obama, pick up the phone.""
No comments:
Post a Comment