Come to think of it, there’s a discrepancy between Washington’s treatment of North Korea and its treatment of Iraq only if one is searching for a just principle behind the actions. Abandon principle and settle for an abiding pattern, and it becomes clear that animating the administration’s assault on Baghdad is what also puts the spring in the step of every schoolyard bully: the smell of vulnerability.
There’s more. War is beneficial not only to the Fox channel’s ratings, it’s good for the presidency too. The dynamic behind war as a vehicle for political popularity is quite simple. Fox anchor Linda Vester makes a good case study. Her staple act is an aggressive amalgam of furiously gyrating facial muscles and staccato Pidgin English. But the Countdown to Obliterating Iraq segment accelerates the good lady’s fervor. Agog, Vester then becomes even more oblivious to what tumbles from those larded lips. Her last memorable Freudian slip was to express disappointment that there was as yet no “evidence that’ll give us an excuse [my emphasis, her words] to attack Iraq.”
Such faux pas don’t even register, because viewers are as aroused as Vester is. Perverted warpath patriotism gets people hot, and people who are in a constant state of heightened emotional arousal tend to want to remain that way – the emotions are self-reinforcing. The president and his advisers know that to keep the people tuned-out, they must keep them turned-on.
Simpler than the Stay On Heat principle is the bully convention. It explains why the impressive display of aggression by the North Koreans is a winner that keeps The Bully at bay.
It was not Iraq that raised the specter of a “Third World War” after announcing its withdrawal from the world’s foremost nuclear arms-control treaty. And it wasn’t Saddam’s relatively subdued rhetoric that has sent U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly scampering to consult with China, Singapore, Indonesia and Japan.
The Iraqi state-controlled press might not be particularly complimentary about Americans. It, however, pales in comparison to the North Korean press’ call to “turn the citadel of imperialists into a sea of fire.” Or its dictator’s promise to “smash U.S. nuclear maniacs” in a “holy war” if they don’t back off.
There was absolutely no mixed message in the signals that came from North Korea’s man in charge of liaisons with the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency: As the Associated Press reported, Mr. Son Mun San promised that his plutonium reprocessing plant now stands in a state of “readiness.”
Sounds like an unadulterated “make my day” message to me. Surprisingly, Pyongyang’s unambiguous bellicosity was interpreted in the U.S. as a “mixed message.” That the U.S. is diluting a pure threat with some favorable interpretations should occasion no surprise. Show a bully a fist and he will usually retreat, preferring to put a face-saving spin on the affair rather than follow through on the threat.
Which brings me to the multicult cards. Mr. Bush has also enlisted New Mexico’s governor and former Clintonite, Bill Richardson, who has held meetings with the North Korean deputy U.N. ambassador. Diversity Dick put the conflict down to cultural differences, claiming that North Koreans simply “don’t negotiate like we do. They don’t have our same mentality.”
Undeniably, there’s an element of truth to this. Kim Jong Il has in the past used extortion and threats – he isn’t exactly known for a respect for the comity between nations. But just as undeniable is the U.S.’ unneighborly conduct of late. Put it this way: Plunking North Korea on the axis of evil has probably not put Kim at ease.
Geopolitics (Iraq bullying) being what they currently are, Richardson should have concluded the exact opposite. Asian self-control being what it is, when the usually-inhibited Asians froth at the mouth, beware!
Arab effusive demonstrativeness being what it is, when Saddam, the habitual blowhard, tones down his truculence, it’s a sign of resignation. Whereas the North Koreans are genuinely as mad as hell, Saddam and the Iraqi people are truly terrified, as Saddam’s actions prove. He has, after all, allowed Iraq to be transformed into a sophisticated crime scene.
Expect another American conceit to rear its head. A million (doubtless hungry) North Koreans have marched on that nation’s capital, many chanting promises of “revenge with blood” for any country that violates their sovereignty. Just as Americans imagine the Iraqi people are panting for an occupying force to liberate them from Saddam, they doubtless believe North Koreans, at their core, are hunkering for a delivery of U.S.-style democracy.
American sentimentality, childishness and insularity simply don’t allow the possibility of a strong national pride in so wretched a people as the Iraqis or the North Koreans.
However oppressed, people would sooner deal with their homey Hun than submit to a foreign force, even if it comes bearing ready-made instant democracy.
Get ready! America’s new golden era is her
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