North Korea

I have been told by my parents, PSAs, movies, books, psychologists, ABC After School Specials, Dr. Phil, and just about anyone else who can speak that you ignore bullies. Well, not ignore exactly; you are watchful, you defend yourself if attacked, but you do not provoke them, you do not acknowledge them, and you do not give them what they want. In this way, you take away what they need most-- your attention. Bullies are bullies because they need attention. If a person can't get the positive attention he/she craves from someone or something, he/she attempts to get it through negative practices (i.e., bullying) to get any sort of attention.

North Korea has been a bully for many years. Its leader, Kim Jong-Il, is at it again. He is threatening to start up his nuclear power plant so he can get more weapons-grade nuclear material with which to make weapons. He is doing this to get attention from the UN and the United States so that either will relent and give him attention and "stuff."

But, as we are always taught, you shouldn't give concessions to a bully. You don't acknowledge a bully at all.

So, rather than playing HIS game, how about we treat him like the bully he is? Instead of going into negotiations with him, we stop sending him food. Instead of listening to demands, we stop sending medical supplies. Instead of offering concession if he'll "play nice," how about we stop importing anything into the country of any sort.

North Korea cannot feed its people. Without our food, medical supplies, goods, and services, and the people we send to help them develop these things (including the very same nuclear program that they are now threatening us with), North Korea goes back to being a third-world nation.

I'm not saying we should be stupid; we should monitor North Korea and its weapons program intently. We should protect ourselves and our allies as needed from aggression. But we do NOT acknowledge a dying leader's need to make himself feel powerful and to show his people he can make the mighty USA bow to him. We take that away and what do you have? A pathetic loser who cannot feed his people, who is dying, and who has no real immortality or legacy to his illustrious reign.

If we can go one small step further and somehow let the poor North Koreans know that every day they go without food and medicine is because of their leader and his demands, we might even get the people to rethink their choice of leadership. If we can get the people to understand that we WANT to help, but Jong-Il's saber-rattling and bullying tactics are keeping us from doing it, they might rise up and question that leader.

That, or a sniper's bullet from 1000 yards.