Word: kim
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...easy dealing with liars. Or maniacs. And Kim Jong Il is a lying maniac--a bizarro fascist who breaks his promises and starves his people. It would be nice if we could just denounce him, isolate him, ignore...
...going nuclear. Then North Korean border guards seized Euna Lee and Laura Ling, two journalists from Al Gore's TV network. The ensuing clamor for their release raised compelling questions. (Aside from, Al Gore has a TV network?) Is it naive to talk to totalitarian whack jobs like Kim, as Hillary Clinton argued during the 2008 campaign? Or is it counterproductive to stick our fingers in our ears, as Barack Obama replied...
Clinton ended up as Obama's Secretary of State, so on Aug. 3, her husband Bill--no slouch in the high-stakes-diplomacy department--flew to Pyongyang to execute Obama's strategy. On Aug. 4, after meeting with Kim, he took Lee and Ling home to California...
...hypocrisy is part of diplomacy. Refusing to engage with vicious nutcases like Kim can feel virtuous, but tarring our enemies as irredeemable warmongers can be self-fulfilling. We can't wish North Korea off the map, and it's a good sign that Kim was rational enough to modify his behavior to get what he wanted; it's an even better sign that he wanted to talk to us. This week, at least, the saber rattlers who claim there's never anything to gain from talking to rogue states should tell that to the families of Euna Lee and Laura...
...they've bought. Netflix offers "Movies Most Like ...," but the similarities can be baffling. Rent the Indian drama Fiza and you'll be pointed to Season 1 of Scrubs and the Bakker biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye. This is when I yearn for the guys behind the old Kim's counter. Not that every video-store clerk is a budding Quentin Tarantino, eager to point renters toward some arcane masterpiece from Italy or Hong Kong, but you do miss out on a face-to-face with a knowledgeable cinephile...