At least on prominent American is not afraid of the US
government’s propaganda machine aimed at the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea (DPRK) and anyone who might treat the leadership there with any king of
respect. Dennis Rodman is flying to DPRK, with a documentary crew to spend four
days helping train a team of DPRK basketball players for a January exhibition
in Pyongyang.
A CNN
article about Rodman’s trip actually looks more like an editorial then an
actual news story.
The article states this opinion as fact: “one of the world's
most repressive regimes.”
The CNN article
brought up a whole pile of charges made by both the US government and its
lap-dog press. The US press is supposed to be free and independent but seems to
parrot the US government and none of these new organizations seem to say
anything different from one or another.
For a look at those charges:
*“People are subjected
to torture and thrown into prison camps based on political charges. Those who
have managed to escape describe horror that includes beatings, starvation and
executions.”—The US
now had more of its citizens behind bars than any other country in the world.
So how does a country, with this distinction, get the right to tell another
country it mistreats its people with its prisons? It looks like this country is
violating the human rights of its own people. The US is one of the few
countries left in the industrialized world that puts its citizens to death.
*…But in a sign of
internal political upheaval, North Korea announced last week that the regime had
executed
Kim's uncle, Jang Song Thaek— The
US still executes people in contrast to Europe, where most leaders want to
end executions worldwide, Executions are bad because they can lead to innocent
people being killed. But the US does that routinely and most politicians just
don’t care if innocent people die.
*Tensions in the region
were ratcheted up as North Korea carried out a long-range rocket launch a year
ago and an underground nuclear test—the US has the largest stockpile of
weapons in the word, including long range missiles that work. The US also has
the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world. On top of that South
Korea, the US puppet government, is
also experimenting with nuclear materials for either nuclear power or weapons.
The US, under President George W. Bush, called DPRK a part of an “axis of evil”
and soon after invaded and deposed the government of another so called axis of
evil country Iraq. So it makes sense that DPRK needs to defend itself against a
possible imperialist invader.
According to CNN;
….That January 8
exhibition -- said to be against a yet-unannounced team of former NBA players
-- will celebrate the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom Rodman
has called a friend and a "very good guy" despite international
condemnation of the country's human rights records.
Rodman's trip --
sponsored by the online betting company Paddy Power.
…..Rodman said he
struck a friendship with Kim, a basketball fan, during Rodman's first trip in
February. After the two men sat next to each other watching a basketball exhibition
in North Korea's capital, Rodman told Kim that "you have a friend for
life."
CNN also quoted
someone they claim has authority to speak on Rodman’s trip:
Rodman is "really
important" to the North Korean regime, said North Korea expert and
Forbes.com columnist Gordon Chang.
"Got to remember
that Kim Jong Un needs to show that his regime, his government, is united,
which it isn't," said Chang, author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea
Takes On the World."
"With Dennis
Rodman, we're going to see a lot of made-for-television events. Everybody's
going to be smiling, everything will appear normal, and this will bolster the
regime," Chang told CNN Newsroom on Wednesday.
When it comes to human rights, the US is the most
Hypocritical nation in the world. President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, former
United States Secretary of State, shed crocodile tears over DPRK’s human rights
abuses, while they support such countries as Saudi Arabia, a nation that offers
its people no more democracy or human rights than in DPRK.
We can be thankful for Rodman's willingness to explore
the possibilities of ending hostilities between the US and one of the last cold
war states. That is better than the ridiculous goal of the US—to wipe the DPRK
out. -សតិវ អតុ
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