North Korea: All Bark and No Bite

This week Yours Truly the Jamaican Tory will  get out of his  usual comfort zone and will be taking a trip to the Far East and land right into the  heart of Pyongyang where a very interesting turn of events seem to be taking shape. North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un seems to preparing for war, war to whom? You might ask , from the intelligence coming from North Korea (note that they keep a very tight lid on what they let escape into the news), the main target is none other than the big bad United States of America (the mainland that is), other targets include Japan, Guam, Hawaii and last but most certainly not least their arch-nemesis South Korea.

                        

                                 

The North Korean Government has been putting out a lot of anti-American propaganda lately (more than usual) depicting fictional stories of them invading the USA and destroying symbols of American sovereignty such as the Capitol and the White House, other films also show North Korean troops defeating a combined force of American and South Korean troops and taking control of the entire Korean peninsula,  other State owned agencies have been shown  the North Korean military training for battle and making ready their attack plans with Kim III  often displayed as “the man in charge”, the North is  making ready all their weapons the most deadly of which are the nuclear rockets which they proudly display in public (at least Iran was  sensible enough to deny any existence of nuclear rockets in their country), the most deadly stunt however was a reporter on North Korean state television (the only TV station allowed in North Korea) proudly announcing that the People’s “Democratic” Republic of Korea was ready to strike the United States of America.

                         

Sounds scary right? Since if that were to ever come to past it would probably be the last war ever fought as both sides would end up destroying each other and the entire world with their Weapons of Mass Destruction. But let’s take a step back for a while, haven’t we been down this road before?, North Korea seems to have very aggressive policies especially when it comes to the United States and South Korea, I cannot count the number of times I have seen sabre rattling exercises between the two Koreas only to have the matter die down and then spring back up and then die down and the endless cycle goes on and on.

                                         

Scaremongering seems to a tool of North Korean policy both foreign and domestic and from what can tell from King Jong Un so far, his bark is worse than his bite, no one even knows whether some of the statistics on North Korean military and nuclear capabilities are even true due to the lack of credible sources of information, everything is strictly controlled by the state. There is speculation by many that the military figures are over-exaggerated  and as for the photos in some of those military parades that have become iconic representations of the world’s most tyrannical communist regime, they are in fact doctored and that the North Korean forces are not as scary as they are made out to be, seems to me like they’re compensating for something, perhaps it’s the fear that if people  should find out how militarily weak they are then the US, South Korea, Japan and the rest of their allies will step in depose the regime, the last Korean War in the 1950s was quite bloody enough and I’m sure no one wants to have a Korean War II

                        

 But then again all of this is mere speculation and nobody knows the truth for sure, nor do they want to take the chance to find out  only to discovering that the North is in fact as deadly as they say it is and which case all stakeholders would find themselves in big trouble. In any case regardless of how much potential they have, I sincerely doubt that North Korea will really be as dumb as try to invade the U.S.A. sure they have nuclear weapons but so does America and they have more of it too, there has been talk that since succeeding his father Kim Jong Il in 2011, the younger Kim has not been able to command the full respect of the communist party due to his age and inexperience, maybe this is just his way to shut of his critics and show them who is boss. 

The Madness of President Kirchener

I wish to weigh in on the Falklands dispute currently on going between the United Kingdom and the Argentine Republic, this dispute has been going on for many years now due to the fact that Argentina insist on asserting that the Islands belong to them, a claim supported by rhetoric and much sentiment but not backed by the rules of international law, British claim to the island on the other hand can be fully supported by certain principles as set out in international law including those of “Terra Nullius”, “Uti Possidetis Uris”  and most important of all the Principle of self-determination.

This last principle is most applicable in the modern scenario as it states that the people living in a particular state or territory have the right to decide their destiny for themselves. This is precisely what happened on Monday March 11, 2013 when the people of the Falklands Islands after holding a referendum on the issue decided to remain a British Territory, the other option would be to become a province of Argentina (I found it kind of odd that a third option for full independence was not considered as well) but at the end of the day the people of the Falklands have decided their destiny and as such that should have been the end of the matter.

                    

But unfortunately that is not so as Argentine President Christine Kirchener has maintained that the vote is invalid by claiming that                                                                                                                                        

1.The Falklanders have no right to self-determination in the first place                                                                

2. The Falklands occupation is illegal                                                                                                                             

3. The Islands are adjacent to Argentina and as such belongs to them.                                                             

Looking at it from a sentimentalist anti-colonial point of view one might be tempted to agree with the President but let’s forget sentiment for a while and examine the claims made by Mrs. Kirchener. Argentina asserts that the British settlement in the Falkland is a violation of international law as such they have no right to self-determination, the truth  however is that it is Argentina and not the UK who are the real violators of  international law as set out in both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that all persons have the right to self-determination and to choose their own destiny, by denying that the citizens of the Falklands have that basic right the Kirchener administration have demonstrated that they have no respect for the rule of law.

                      

Argentina’s second claim is also invalid for two reasons. First of all  British claim to the Falklands go all the way back to 1690 when the Islands were first discovered by officers of the Royal Navy, long before Argentina even existed as a state, unlike most other areas in the Americas at the time the Falklands had no indigenous population as such the Brits were the first occupiers of the islands, Argentine claims on the other hand go back to the mid-19^th century when they launched their first invasion of the islands, such claims were short lived as they were expelled from the islands in 1833, the British descended citizens have been living peacefully in the territory ever since that time until now except for the upheaval in 1982 when Argentina again tried to unsuccessful “retake” the islands that were never theirs in the first place.  The Argentine claim that the current Falklanders are descendants of British colonialist are also invalid as the Argentines themselves are descendants of Spanish colonialist who unlike the British wiped out the previous indigenous population in order to gain control that area, how then can they call the Falkland Islands a product of colonialism when Argentina itself is a product of colonialism? If that’s not hypocrisy then I don’t know what is.

President Kirchener’s last claim is just as bogus as the ones made before, anyone following that  faulty line of reasoning   may as well conclude that Alaska belongs to Canada and not to the United States  or that Aruba belongs to Venezuela and not the Netherlands, there is nowhere in international law that states that if one territory is adjacent to another when the larger territory has the right to exercise sovereignty over the smaller one, what counts in this case is not geography  but rather the will of the people.

                   

Still not satisfied with the fact that she is being ignored as many people are starting to see this smokescreen for what is truly is, President Kirchener has gone ahead and enlisted the help of the newly elected pope, who also  happens to be Argentine, quite frankly that will achieve nothing for two reasons

1. The Pope as an Argentine Citizen can hardly be described as neutral and as such is not the best figure arbitrate on such matters

 2. The Crown is under no obligation to the Pope, the Sovereign as head of the Church of England is a religious head in her own right and has no need to fear excommunication or any other action the Vatican may take.

 Most are of the view that Francis will not get involved in the dispute as he already has too much on his plate to deal with, but the very fact that La Senora Presidente would attempt such a move shows who the real colonialist is  this move reeks of 15^th century imperialism  when  the catholic rulers of Europe tried to get the Pope to recognize their claims to the Americas, I wonder if Kircherner expects the pope to draft up a modern day Treaty of Tordesillas for her to sign?. If that what she expects then she should probably brush up on her history, The rulings of the papacy had no effect on protestant nations back then who by and large ignored the papal bulls, what makes her think that time around will be any different?

                           

 Argentina claims to support the rules of democracy and international law yet they refuse the recognize the result of a plebiscite held in a free or fair manner, the President even has the nerve to refer to it as a parody announcing days before the vote was even held that she will not accept any result that is not in her favour, how then can anyone expect Argentina to be objective and unbiased when they have already made up their minds as to what the results should be. Whether Kirchener likes it or not, the people have spoken loud and clear that the Falklanders are British Territory as such The President should stop behaving like a sore loser, accept the results for what it is and move on. 

Celebrating the Commonwealth in 2013

Today Monday March 11, 2013, marks another Commonwealth Day, which is used to celebrate the unity of nations that are within the British Commonwealth celebrating both the shared nature as well as the diversity in the histories, cultures and ideals in our 54 nation strong alliance that were all once part of the British Empire (with exception of Mozambique and Rwanda). The Theme of this year’s Commonwealth Day is “Opportunity Through Enterprise” and as the Queen’s 2013 Commonwealth Day message rightly puts it “We are all born with the desire to learn, to explore, to try new things.  And each of us can think of occasions when we have been inspired to do something more efficiently, or to assist others in achieving their full potential. Yet it still takes courage to launch into the unknown, ambition and curiosity open new avenues of opportunity” A message resonating with the common man something that everyone can relate to, Her Majesty’s messages have often been a source of courage and inspiration to many and this year is no different.

Unlike previous years however Commonwealth Day 2013 also has some controversy attached to it even though I’m sure this was never the Queen’s intention, this has to do with the Commonwealth Charter of Rights agreed upon by the Commonwealth Heads of Government that some are now calling the “Magna Carta of the 21^st century”, This document originally meant to promote equal rights for all and total non-discrimination is being used as a front by gay rights groups to promote their agenda, some media houses even have the nerve to boldly proclaim in their headlines that the Queen by signing this charter is now fighting on the side of gay rights, a very presumptuous and preposterous claim as Her Majesty has never made any such statement yet it is being interpreted as such when the truth of the matter is that The Queen has no known views on the issue. Those who spread such stories present themselves as being friendly supporters of the monarchy pretending to congratulate the Queen on taking such a bold step in support of human rights and LGBT movements however their true motives are far more sinister than it appears. If interpreted the wrong way the signing of the charter will have serious consequences for Commonwealth countries that refuse to support the agenda of these deviants who are now seeking to use the monarchy as a scapegoat, those responsible for the drafting of this document certainly have no interest of preserving the monarchy or maintaining the unity of the Commonwealth. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if I were to find out later on that this whole thing was a charade, deliberately crafted and schemed from the very beginning to bring down both the monarchy and the Commonwealth.

The truth of the matter is that this document regardless of the so called “positive spin” being put on the this whole issue, serves no one’s best interest and will do more harm than it does good as many traditionalist will find themselves alienated and even be made to feel as though the Queen is deliberately sticking it to them while taking sides with their opponents in a monarchical system where the sovereign is supposed to be apolitical, this is little more than the heights of hypocrisy on the part of liberals, who have for years been very critical particularly of the Prince of Wales for his open political views, of course if the Queen had chosen not to sign the Charter you would never hear the end of it as the liberal media, the LGBT power elite and their collaborators would all go out of their way to vilify the Queen and the royal family, the long and short of it is that monarchist who uphold traditional values are likely to feel offended and betrayed should it be seen that the monarchy is siding with the LGBT community whereas republicans who  hold pro-gay views will continue to advocate for  abolishing the monarchy in other words everybody loses and the monarchical institution is the one being set up for the greatest backlash.

As a devout monarchist I will continue to remain loyal to Her Majesty as well as her heirs and successors, as a conservative however I will certainly not support an alternate lifestyle that contravenes the law of nature and any measures put in place that makes things more difficult for them to practice that lifestyle regardless of how discriminatory or draconian it may seem will certainly have my support. That being said we must do well to remember that the charter speaks to equal rights not LGBT rights and as such the media should stop misrepresenting the facts,having read the Queen’s Commonwealth Day message I've seen where it  spoke to innovation, enterprise and equality of opportunity for all nothing was ever mentioned about special rights for a special group of people  yet that is all the press keeps focusing it, it makes me sick.

                           

All that being said I really think that Commonwealth Day is not getting the attention that it deserves for many years, apart from an “Interfaith” service in Westminster Abbey (I’m still trying to figure how they manage to pull that off)  and the broadcast of the Queen’s Message there is not much else to talk about, (although I was very privileged to attend a special forum and reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last year put on by the ministry in conjunction with the Royal Commonwealth Society), the day is more likely celebrated in official circles but not by the general public , the least they can do is publicize it in the media so people can be more aware of the significance of the day, so by and large the day goes unnoticed and ignored by many when it should not be so.

 2013 message by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth: 

http://www.royal.gov.uk/LatestNewsandDiary/Speechesandarticles/2013/CommonwealthDayMessage2013.aspx