- Coping with North Korea: Korean Roulette
- North Korean Tensions: Inside the Cult of Kim
- Sudan: Cash, Aid and Diplomacy
- Regulating the Weapons Trade: A Killer Deal
There are fewer articles due this week, so you should consider them more deeply than you normally would. As you read, take notes on how different forms of security management--Balance of Power, Deterrence, Collective Security and Disarmament--do or may apply to the conflicts inherent to each story.
For additional participation credit, share (in the comments) similarities you find between the situations in these stories and the plot lines of Charlie Wilson's War, and discuss what you think that says about either conflict.
A similarity I found between "Charlie Wilson's War" and the article "Coping with North Korea: Korean Roulette" was how both have the idea of using individuals to create change in the state. In "Charlie Wilson's War", the US helped the mujaheddin in Afghanistan take down the Soviet helicopters, while in the article from the Economist, the idea of educating the merchant class and mid-ranking officials about the market economy could be used to establish long term change in North Korea. This means that both of the conflicts found in the two stories could be resolved by empowering the individuals of a state, as long as the change is supervised even after the conflict has settled.
ReplyDelete-Gizman Abdijabar
"Regulating the Weapons Trade" discusses new regulations on the illicit global arms trade, a market that plays a significant role in Charlie Wilson's solution to the problems in Afghanistan. In the movie, Russian-supplied arms were purchased from neighboring states by Afghanistan to use against the occupying Soviets, then used against Afghanis themselves in the ensuing near-civil war, and finally against Americans. Foresight was severely lacking in this solution, which was made possible by the ease with which weapons could be traded, both legally and illegally. The Arms Trade Treaty addresses just such a problem by requiring states to establish regulations on weapons they import and export, as well as to assess the consequences of these transactions in terms of possible violence against citizens and humanitarian abuses. Should this treaty effectively change norms governing the illicit and conflict-fuelling trade in weapons, conflicts such as that in Afghanistan could be lessened, as well as the many internal conflicts and humanitarian violations that occur around the world.
ReplyDelete- Maggie Butcher
Strong contributions.
ReplyDeleteI would like to add to the contributions above on the topic of North Korea. The new ruler of North Korea considers himself a God; therefore, why would he feel that any American figure would be his peer? God does not relate to King, this was disproven back around Louis XIV and then was even further refuted after the American Revolution. Gandhi was an intelligent man to have used peaceful protest. Gandhi’s student was Martin Luther King Jr. who used this teaching to implement the Civil Rights Movement in American cities. MLK himself said that what influenced him the most to fight for the Poor People’s Campaign, was his time in a Northern “slum” (modern day “hood”).
ReplyDeleteKim Jong Un is a third generation dynastic ruler, who has his own people, almost literally eating out of the palm of his hand. This uncultured, uncivilized, and uneducated human being, thinks himself to be that of a God. The same as all youth think that they will live forever; Kim Jong Un was probably told that he will live forever- by his father (who probably was told that by his father, the first God-King of North Korea).
Our conceptualizing surpasses Kim Jong Un’s. Has he ever even left North Korea?
IF the U.S. wants to change this crazy child’s perspective, than why not just invite him to come to the White House, all expenses on the U.S.?
A small price to pay, the actual price- the offer alone would be mocked!
- Taylor Gardiner
To me, the situation in Darfur can easily be related to "Charlie Wilson's War." In the interest of protecting the Darfuri's from rebel group fighting, the UN has continuously been raising money to fund peacekeeping efforts. While the UN technically is not a private individual such as Charlie Wilson, its efforts to fund aid in the Sudanese nation can easily be seen as the type of help that Charlie Wilson gave to the Afghani's.
ReplyDeleteThe article, "Regulating the Weapons Trade: A Killer Deal," discusses the Arms Trade Treaty which calls for the strict regulations on arms imports and exports. This article relates to managing security (collective security) in that in the past, looser regulations on weapons have led to unlawful aggression. But, with the proposition of enacting this treaty it is the goal that the ease of getting weapons to commit unlawful actions on states by other states will be reduced.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Ward