07-10-2018, 01:00 AM
(07-09-2018, 05:03 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote:(07-09-2018, 02:34 PM)Warren Dew Wrote: > John, is it your opinion that the Idealist North Korean generals
> win against their Civic dictator? I don't think the average people
> of North Korea really care about keeping nuclear weapons; they'd
> rather have sanctions loosened so they starve less.
My opinion is that the development and manufacture of an arsenal of
nuclear missiles has taken on the status of a state religion, and the
North Koreans could no more agree to denuclearize than Iran could
agree to give up Shia Islam or Myamar could give up Buddhism.
..but the Germans could give up Nazism, and the Japanese could give up the concept of their Emperor as a god.
Sometimes it takes a catastrophe to force people to give up patterns of thought that lead to defeat that comes with great shame and utter ruin.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.