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Dear Sir or Madam, Permit me to be blunt. A growing majority of the people of my country, the United States of America, believes that the United Nations has no values, no standards, no decisiveness, and a soft, cowardly paralysis in the face of every crisis that rightfully demands action. Preventing another Holocaust was the reason the U.N. was created, but nearly sixty years later, the U.N. lacks the will to act against crimes of comparable horror and scale. As...

Dear Sir or Madam, Permit me to be blunt. A growing majority of the people of my country, the United States of America, believes that the United Nations has no values, no standards, no decisiveness, and a soft, cowardly paralysis in the face of every crisis that rightfully demands action. Preventing another Holocaust was the reason the U.N. was created, but nearly sixty years later, the U.N. lacks the will to act against crimes of comparable horror and scale. As...

Anne Appelbaum gets it exactly right in today’s WP. Whether the allegations are true or not, they are extremely serious, and are backed by enough credible evidence for them to be a major news story. If there are doubts about the truth of these reports, then let the North Koreans resolve them immediately by letting human rights organizations have full and open access to Camp 22. Barring that, the allegations gain additional credibility. Of course, it is not news that...

Anne Appelbaum gets it exactly right in today’s WP. Whether the allegations are true or not, they are extremely serious, and are backed by enough credible evidence for them to be a major news story. If there are doubts about the truth of these reports, then let the North Koreans resolve them immediately by letting human rights organizations have full and open access to Camp 22. Barring that, the allegations gain additional credibility. Of course, it is not news that...

There is no limit to the harm that the stupidity of U.N.-think causes,* and if you doubt me, then check out this story, and this one. That’s right–three international “aid workers” have published a guide to fine dining in Pyongyang. As we never would have doubted, those with money and power can eat very well in Pyongyang, even as millions are going hungry elsewhere in this small country. Here, as elsewhere, size does matter, because these international aid workers, if...

A few days ago, I missed this editorial in the Korea Herald, a left-leaning rag from Seoul, written by former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea (Bush-41 era) Donald Gregg. The editorial mourns the demise of the U.S.-South Korean alliance. It is an astonishing admission from the same diplomatic quarter that had denied for so long that the alliance was even running a high temperature. Of course, the Kremlin is probably still insisting that Brezhnev and Stalin have nasty colds, but...

There is no limit to the harm that the stupidity of U.N.-think causes,* and if you doubt me, then check out this story, and this one. That’s right–three international “aid workers” have published a guide to fine dining in Pyongyang. As we never would have doubted, those with money and power can eat very well in Pyongyang, even as millions are going hungry elsewhere in this small country. Here, as elsewhere, size does matter, because these international aid workers, if...

A few days ago, I missed this editorial in the Korea Herald, a left-leaning rag from Seoul, written by former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea (Bush-41 era) Donald Gregg. The editorial mourns the demise of the U.S.-South Korean alliance. It is an astonishing admission from the same diplomatic quarter that had denied for so long that the alliance was even running a high temperature. Of course, the Kremlin is probably still insisting that Brezhnev and Stalin have nasty colds, but...

Nigeria is the latest nation to buy missiles from North Korea. According to the WFP Web site, Nigeria is not a food aid recipient, but every country bordering it is. So what missile gap does Nigeria need to close?

Nigeria is the latest nation to buy missiles from North Korea. According to the WFP Web site, Nigeria is not a food aid recipient, but every country bordering it is. So what missile gap does Nigeria need to close?

What can I add to something like this? After the glorious day when Kim Jong-Il kicks away his miserable little existence at the end of a hangman’s rope, we will have video of indescribable horrors. Without video, you can’t get media attention; raw facts and numbers don’t seem to matter. Thus, to a shallow mind, countries that let the press run free (Israel) look worse than places like China or North Korea. In Afghanistan, when the Russians were deliberately targeting...

What can I add to something like this? After the glorious day when Kim Jong-Il kicks away his miserable little existence at the end of a hangman’s rope, we will have video of indescribable horrors. Without video, you can’t get media attention; raw facts and numbers don’t seem to matter. Thus, to a shallow mind, countries that let the press run free (Israel) look worse than places like China or North Korea. In Afghanistan, when the Russians were deliberately targeting...

Kudos to Instapundit for making the apt comparison between Walter Duranty, the NYT reporter who got a Nobel Prize for his rosy–and completely false–reporting on the (lack of) famine in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, and flood of ink from the Washington Post’s Glen Kessler on North Korea recently. Kessler was led by the nose to a North Korean Potem-K-Mart and reported on the bounty of vibrancy of the commerce there. Kessler must have missed this report from Amnesty...

Kudos to Instapundit for making the apt comparison between Walter Duranty, the NYT reporter who got a Nobel Prize for his rosy–and completely false–reporting on the (lack of) famine in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, and flood of ink from the Washington Post’s Glen Kessler on North Korea recently. Kessler was led by the nose to a North Korean Potem-K-Mart and reported on the bounty of vibrancy of the commerce there. Kessler must have missed this report from Amnesty...

Kudos to Instapundit for making the apt comparison between Walter Duranty, the NYT reporter who got a Nobel Prize for his rosy–and completely false–reporting on the (lack of) famine in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, and flood of ink from the Washington Post’s Glen Kessler on North Korea recently. Kessler was led by the nose to a North Korean Potem-K-Mart and reported on the bounty of vibrancy of the commerce there. Kessler must have missed this report from Amnesty...

Advocates of getting tough on North Korea over food aid are getting their way. Donations are down, and the World Food Program is cutting back the list of those who will be fed this year. The problem, of course, is that the food wasn’t going to the hungry; most of it probably went to help Kim Jong-Il reward those who keep him in power. Still, some must have found its way to those who needed it, even if only through...

Advocates of getting tough on North Korea over food aid are getting their way. Donations are down, and the World Food Program is cutting back the list of those who will be fed this year. The problem, of course, is that the food wasn’t going to the hungry; most of it probably went to help Kim Jong-Il reward those who keep him in power. Still, some must have found its way to those who needed it, even if only through...

Today, the Korea Times carried this story; a popular South Korean actress is embarking on a guided tour of North Korea, complete with state chaperones–sorry, journalists. The subject of this prop-a-mentary? North Korean food. Once you can watch the North Korean government talk about cooking skills with a straight face, you have officially been swept away by the currents of denial. So while South Korea gulps down more of North Korea’s Kool-Aid about the bounty of North Korea’s feast, four...