Could North Korea be out for U.S. aid?
Apr 8, 2013, 6:32 PM
A personal memo to all Peter Sellers movie lovers: how many of you remember “The Mouse That Roared?”
Even though it was made in 1959, it still remains a marvelous example of political satire of foreign policy comedies like “Wag the Dog,” but the mouse remains a classic.
The tiny mythical Grand Duchy of Fenwick is in serious economic stress when it’s wine industry is threatened by powerful American bottlers. The leadership of Fenwick devises a plan: Declare war on the United States and immediately surrender, then reap the never-ending benefits of the aid that America provides its defeated enemies.
Needless to say, things don’t go as planned and outrageously funny events ensue. But it occurs to me that now in 2013, are we not facing a similar, real-life plot line from the Grand Duchy of North Korea? What do they want?
Isn’t it reasonable to assume that, while President Kim Jong Un is dealing with the pangs of puberty, his old guard generals are saying, “Hey Kim. Let’s scare the hell out of the world and force the U.S. to subsidize our Kim Chee crops with billions in foreign aid”.
Ridiculous? No more so than penniless North Korea warning the rest of us it might get angry.
I’m Pat McMahon.
