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December 28, 2005
More 2005 All Stars
Hate them for what they represent, but no denying that those two leaders of the "Evil Empires", Kim Jong Il, the North Korean dictator and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were major players throughout the year.
Kim Jong Il played the U.S., China, Russia, Japan and South Korea to perfection. Never wavering from his goal of sitting with the big boys, he refused to accept any agreement which might diminish his self-appointed status as a major regional, if not international player. He faked, shimmeyed, and slide his way to gains any way he could. The coalition partners thought he had agreed at one point to start dismantling his nuclear program only to find that Kim interpretations of their so-called agreements were very different than theirs. Just this week a South Korean official insisted that North Korea was more interested in establishing normal relations with the U.S. than continuing their nuclear program. I ask, where is the proof? I believe this is just conjecture on the S. Korean's part. Up to now Kim Jong Il has been exceedingly successful at getting the coalition partners to play his game. Why should he change strategy?
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has become a lightening rod for criticism from the West for his statements concerning Israel and the Holocaust. First, he comes out of nowhere to win the Presidency. Well, that is not exactly true, since he had major help from the ruling mullahs. Then he advocates wiping Israel off the map of the Middle East and moving it to Europe and recently he denies the existence of the Holocaust. That is certainly no way to score with the international community, however that was and is not his goal. He wants to lead the disaffected in a way that Al Qaeda can't. He has a state and resources that Al Qaeda can only dream of. He wants the entire Muslim world following him against the West. He devises a new game plan, distinctly different than the one presented by the West. He offers an even more defined target for the failed politics and poverty of milllions of religious poor in the region. He is not the first to attack Israel and the West, but he is the first leader to elevate attacks to such a fever pitch.
Posted by Chip Spear at December 28, 2005 2:24 PM
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