To Beat a Dictator, Ignore Him
Not so long ago, when we wanted to learn why hostile leaders were hostile, we studied their ideologies. Nowadays, having learned that ideology is either dead or an arbitrary system of signs, we analyze leaders by “putting ourselves in their shoes” — in other words, by assuming that everyone thinks the way we do.
So it is that North Korea watchers who speak no Korean can confidently tell the rest of us what motivates Kim Jong-il. His country is poor, so he wants aid. We bombed his country flat in the Korean War, so he’s afraid of us. That missile launching Pyongyang has said it will carry out next week?… Seguir leyendo »