Winds of Change.NET: Paging Mel Brooks...

March 3, 2005

Paging Mel Brooks...

by Armed Liberal at March 3, 2005 3:01 PM

Franz Liebkind: Not many people know it, but the Fuhrer was a terrific dancer.
Franz Liebkind: Hitler... there was a painter! He could paint an entire apartment in ONE afternoon! TWO coats!
Max Bialystock: That's exactly why we want to produce this play. To show the world the true Hitler, the Hitler you loved, the Hitler you knew, the Hitler with a song in his heart.

On the front page of the L.A. Times today:

N. Korea, Without the Rancor - A businessman speaks his mind about the U.S., the 'nuclear club' and human rights issues.

Now one thing to note is this:

This North Korean, an affable man in his late 50s who spent much of his career as a diplomat in Europe, has been assigned to help his communist country attract foreign investment. With the U.S. and other countries complaining about North Korea's nuclear weapons program and its human rights record, it's a difficult task, he admitted.

So "businessman" might be the wrong word to use? "Government functionary?" "Diplomat?" There's a kind of complete lack of understanding of how a Stalinist government operates here that's breathtaking. You know who gets to be diplomats? You know who gets to enter into foreign trade? Hint: they aren't representatives of the private business sector. But wait, it gets better!

"There's never been a positive article about North Korea, not one," he said. "We're portrayed as monsters, inhuman, Dracula � with horns on our heads."
So, in an effort to clear up misunderstandings, he expounded on the North Korean view of the world in an informal conversation that began one night this week over beer as North Korean waitresses sang Celine Dion in the karaoke restaurant, and resumed the next day over coffee.

See Mel Brooks quotes, above.

The North Korean, dressed in a cranberry-colored flannel shirt and corduroy trousers, described himself as a businessman with close ties to the government. He said he did not want to be quoted by name because his perspective was personal, not official. Because North Koreans seldom talk to U.S. media organizations, his comments offered rare insight into the view from the other side of the geopolitical divide.

And if I described myself as the king of the Space Unicorns, would the Times cite me in a headline as "your Majesty?"

You've got to read the whole farcical thing...

Printer-friendly Version

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.windsofchange.net/windsopcentre-cms/trackback.cgi/4182

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference
"Paging Mel Brooks..."

Tracked: March 3, 2005 7:47 PM

North Korea - In Their Own Words from L'Ombre de l'Olivier

Excerpt: The LA Times has a remarkable (login required try bugmenot) article on a North Korean "businessman" which, it seems to me, deserves a good Fisking since it shows a picture of the regime that is rather different from the one we normally see.

Tracked: March 4, 2005 8:22 PM

Call Me Ishmael... from My Sandmen

Excerpt: Nevermind the fact that Mrs. Demick's surreal editorial indulgence, purchased for Kim Jong-Il divine forgiveness from the world Left for his crimes against humanity, and likewise justification of more of the same...or worse.

Tracked: March 8, 2005 8:38 AM

Asia by Blog from Simon World

Excerpt: Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here. **Note: The new Daily Linklets posts will also contain links to interesting China, Asia a...

Comments

#1 from Robert M at 5:02 pm on Mar 03, 2005

this is not about the subject above.
Please take a look at this article. It's about FCC control of the Internet and campaign financing laws. I still to much of a novice isn this medium to give a quick link:
news.com.com/The+coming+crackdown+on+blogging/2008-1028_3-5597079.hmtl?tag=st.prev
this is on a cnet site posted today thurs 3 Mar 05

#2 from Mike at 6:50 pm on Mar 03, 2005

All you have to do is read a few pages from the North Korean news agency, KCNA:

KCNA

... where you can read about the "Japanese imperialists", how we (the US) are "blatantly interfering in Syria", and so on.

Kim's idol status has come down a notch, though. He's hardly ever called "Dear Leader" any more, but still gets the lion's share (of everything).

Part of a review of a concert goes:

"The concert truthfully represented the glorious path covered by the Korean revolution and the steadfast faith and will of the army and people of the DPRK to accomplish the revolutionary cause of Juche and the cause of building a great prosperous powerful nation without fail under the uplifted great banner of Songun."

The L.A. Times is scratching the bottom of the barrel.

#3 from Thorley Winston at 7:21 pm on Mar 03, 2005

Hail to the King of the Unicorns!

#4 from GeneThug at 8:08 pm on Mar 03, 2005

This brings to mind that Monty Python sketch...

"As a naval officer I abhor the implication that the Royal Navy is a haven for cannibalism. It is well known that we now have the problem relatively under control, and that it is the RAF who now suffer the largest casualties in this area.... Yours etc. Captain B.J. Smethwick in a white wine sauce with shallots, mushrooms and garlic."

#5 from praktike at 8:30 pm on Mar 03, 2005

AL, this is OT but there may be a project here for you and SoA.

#6 from AMac at 8:32 pm on Mar 03, 2005

I am so glad that LAT reporter Barbara Demick can see North Koreans as just plain folks. Why didn't anyone think of this earlier? Our grandparents--the little Eichmanns--fought a whole war, just because Ms. Demick wasn't around to enlighten them. Or many Koreans living south of the 38th either. But then a lot of them ended up dead thanks to the plain-folks commissars of the day, so they don't count.

Barbara, if you read WoC, don't check out this 2000 article by Steven Bradner for the UN Command on the nature and policy objectives of the Kim Family Regime. It says they aren't very nice, even by crime-family standards. So it's probably wrong.

#7 from Richard Heddleson at 8:53 pm on Mar 03, 2005

Outstanding post, Your Majesty.

#8 from Laughing Wolf at 11:36 pm on Mar 03, 2005

Hail Your Majesty!

You know, if you go and try to take Dan, Queen of the Space Unicorns, you could make a fortune off the video. Come to think of it, just the mere thought of such would drive certain left-of-center types into an orgiastic frenzy...

Well said take down of that ridiculous piece of tripe.

#9 from Glen Wishard at 1:26 am on Mar 04, 2005

With the U.S. and other countries complaining about North Korea's nuclear weapons program and its human rights record, it's a difficult task ...

Notice that the problem is not North Korea's brutal repression, nuclear militarism, mass starvation as a means of social control, etc. The problem is the the United States complaining about this stuff.

#10 from Raymond at 8:36 am on Mar 04, 2005

The article confirms all you want to know about the M Moore/Chomsky/Churchill/Singer et all left does it not ?

Totally morally obtuse, think of it next time they say they would not impliment the same gulag death camps progrom and purges and mass murder if they was to ever get power.

And if those maximum evil creatures are marking their ballot the same as yours, perhaps its time to pause, and reflect.

#11 from SteveMG at 2:50 pm on Mar 04, 2005

This is reminiscent of Eason Jordan's admission that CNN failed to report on Saddam Hussein's repression in order to maintain access to the Iraqi regime.

It looks to me that this reporter was so thrilled to get access to a "real North Korean" that she, and the LA Times, didn't want to threaten future access by challenging this "businessman's" credentials and views. My guess - just a hunch - is that this "businessman" told the Times that he could provide them further access to representatives of the PRK in the future.

Don't be surprised to read more stories in the Times about the internal dynamics of North Korean politics from this and other "businessmen."

SMG

#12 from Matt McIntosh at 8:42 pm on Mar 04, 2005

I think TM Lutas has exactly the right response.

#13 from Tai F. jacob at 8:26 pm on Mar 31, 2005

I was wondering that because you are my influence in life i wonder who is your influence? Is that person still around today?