Comments on: Kim’s Last Days?

By: The Glittering Eye

The Glittering Eye — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:21:13 +0000

Eye on the Watcher’s Council…

As you may know the members of the Watcher’s Council each nominate one of his or her own posts and one non-Council post for consideration by the whole Council. The complete list of this week’s Council nominations is here.
Marc Schulman of A…

By: Jimmie

Jimmie — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 07:26:30 +0000

JT – Overreact much?

By: Blue Crab Boulevard

Blue Crab Boulevard — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:50:54 +0000

If True, This Is Big News…

The Australian is reporting that Beijing appears to be considering backing a coup against Kim Jong Il. There have been unprecedented criticisms against North Korea's leader allowed on the internet ever since the nuclear test.
THE Chinese …

By: Blue Crab Boulevard

Blue Crab Boulevard — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:50:54 +0000

If True, This Is Big News…

By: JT

JT — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:45:12 +0000

I love it! It's the new age of colonialism! We'll just divide the world between us and China and call it good. Don't like the 2 party system? Wait until you see the "2 party" world!

By: Joshua Xanadu

Joshua Xanadu — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:57:32 +0000

So China will show the U.S. and the Bush administration the proper, less cumbersome and more deft method of "regime change"? Should the CIA be taking notes?

I'd like to see this happen, to bail out the U.S. and the world, but I just don't see any institutional process in China for real meddling into another country's internal affairs since Deng Xiaoping launched the 4 modernization program. If this were Mao-era China, we'd long stopped debating this issue, 'cause he would have taken him out pronto. But China's foreign policy in the last 30 years have been pretty consistent. They just don't have the measures to institute such direct foreign meddling.

By: Jimmie

Jimmie — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:21:48 +0000

I think you missed the references to Chinese diplomats, including the quote from one of those diplomats. I expect that we here would accept the word of unnamed Chinese diplomats with exactly as much eagerness as we would those of unnamed US government sources trying to bring down President Bush, wouldn't you?

And as for the "five years", I do note that there were a few years prior to those five where North Korea got the nuclear material and technologyh necessary to build the weapons as well as the diplomatic cover necessary to do the work. That and you can hardly blame the President to insisting on multilateral solutions to the problem, considering how loud the call had been for "engaging our friends" to help solve our problems. That is, unless you want to admit to rank hypocrisy.

By: zen_less

zen_less — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:13:12 +0000

Notice that the article you cite doesn't quote anyone in the Chinese government, just some academics and online commentators (and none of those by name). In short, it is trying to make something out of smoke. I can quote similar sources to the effect that the Chinese don't want to destablize a country on their border which has nuclear weapons. There is also the issue of how low our international standing has sunk that the Chinese have to bail us out of the mess that this administration created by five years of bluffs, hostility and neglect.