The Wave Of The Future
SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS
From The Economist:
In the ivy-covered towers of our eastern universities, no one asks the question about why North Koreans put up with their government. Most of the focus seems to be on why Israel has a harsh approach to anything regarding the Palestinians. Yet one could make the case that there is a great similarity between the so-called leaders of the Palestinians and the rogue government of North Korea... both leading to misery of the people living under the rule of those "leaders."The country’s crushing poverty is on parade. The biggest block of flats opposite the Chinese border town of Tumen, where the rent-a-binoculars trade flourishes, has no lights on in the fading daylight and its inhabitants can be seen drawing water in buckets from a well. The North Korean farms that run down to the river are so dilapidated they make the regimented red-and blue-roofed housing blocks on the Chinese side look cosy by comparison. Farmers work close enough to the river to see you waving. They do not wave back. [read more]
North Koreans have given up hope. The iron fist of the government-military siphons all of the resources within that geography or going into it. The people survive on bare subsistence... if they survive at all.
In the areas where the Palestinians live, people are subject to the whims of Hezbollah or Hamas or both. Before that Yassar Arafat become wealthy on the backs of the refugees. These leaders and organizations rely on the misery of the Palestinians. It is part of the grand scheme of power. By making Israel the bogeyman and provoking military responses from Israel, these organization solidify their importance and power.
The fact is that had the Palestinians been led by peacemakers instead of those intent on the destruction of Israel, the "Ivy Towerers" would not have taken notice. They need suffering and a cause. So why the focus on the Palestinians and not the North Koreans? Good question.
For one thing, the Ivy Towerers see what is happening in North Korea as an "internal matter." They see Israel's reaction toward the hostile Palestinian organizations as evidence of the "Zionist problem." The Ivy Towerers have bought into the notion that the only impediment to Middle East peace is the existence of Israel... in direct alignment with Hezbollah. Oh, maybe not in so many words, but in the condemnation of everything that Israel does to defend itself against the aggression from Iran, Syria, Lebanon [and now Turkey?] and their Palestinian proxies.
How many more countries need leaders like North Korea's, Iran's, and the Palestinian's... where power based on misery is the goal... before the Ivy Towerers notice that no one is waving back?
From 
