A rare political foray

Now, I've never had a knack for political cartoons, but every so often I'll whip one out. Did you hear the thing about North Korea firing on a South Korean island? NK artillery bombarded the island while SK troops were on military maneuvers; several people were killed. There followed an exchange of artillery fire in which 175 shells were used.

Trés exciting, non?

Figure 1.1: "The Damoclean Sword".

(Sorry, I did misspell "Damoclean" on the image).

Just the thought of two small nuclear powers slugging it out, especially with Kim Jong Il being slightly senile, puts one one edge. Then again, India and Pakistan have been doing the same thing off and on for the last twenty years, and nukes never came into play. Still scary, though.

A word of explanation, in case you didn't catch the reference:

Damocles

[Damocles]...was an obsequious courtier in the court of Dionysius II of Syracuse, a fourth century BC tyrant of Syracuse, Italy. Pandering to his king, Damocles exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority surrounded by magnificence, Dionysius was truly fortunate. Realizing the folly of this courtier, Dionysius offered to switch places with him, so he could taste first hand that fortune. Damocles could think of no other place he would rather be and quickly accepted the King's proposal. Damocles, sat down in the king's throne surrounded by every luxury, but Dionysius arranged that a huge sword should hang above the throne, and his head, held at the tip only by a single hair of a horse's tail. Damocles finally begged the tyrant that he be allowed to depart, because he no longer wanted to be so fortunate.

From this story are two morals: First, "Uneasy rests the head that wears the crown." Second, and perhaps more prophetically, "The value of the sword is not that it fall, but rather, that it hangs." The first moral supports the age-old understanding that, while it may appear to be enviable to wear a crown of power, there are threats--at all times--to the one who wears the crown. The second moral is more relevant particularly to the 20th century and beyond; namely, it blends the theory of MAD (mutually assured destruction) as it relates to those with a nuclear potential, and that of terrorism; namely, that the threat of terrorism is greater than the act thereof.^[5]^[6]

- From Wikipedia.

From the looks of it, everything should blow over - North Korea, like most Stalinist-style dictatorships, has a need for set-piece incidences to flex its muscles. There are various factors involved in this one: the succession of Kim Jong Il by is son, Kim Jong-un; the need of North Korea for food due to embargoes; and, as usual, the desire to demonstrate that North Korea will do what it wants, whenever it wants to. Like a small, ill-tempered student in a classroom, North Korea acts out of desperation and sheer arrogant bravado, kicking the teacher, picking fights with other students, and failing his tests. He's the little guy that you can't cheer for, even if you wanted to, because you know he'll take any support he gets and give you a black eye for your trouble. So much for sympathy.

Here's hoping for a peaceful resolution.

Rick Out.

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The Penguin

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