Dealing With Bullies 101 and Phone Tag
North Korea said Wednesday it wants direct talks with the United States over its apparent plans to test-fire a long-range missile, a day after the country issued a bristling statement in which it declared its right to carry out the launch.
North Korea said in comments published Wednesday that its self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range missiles from 1999 no longer applies because it's not in direct dialogue with Washington, suggesting it would hold off on any launch if Washington agreed to new talks. Of course, we all know that North Korea, which has deliberately boycotted the six-nation diplomatic talks channel for the last six months, could easily return to these talks at any time with any concerns it may have.
This is classic bullying at its worst -- on an international scale, and with nuclear weapons! The bully taunts and attempts to gain the upper hand through threats and intimidation. And where I grew up, in New York City, where there are plenty of bullies, I learned pretty quickly that there is only one way for a nerdy little kid to stop the bully: You have to stand up to them, no matter what it takes. Once you do that, they will stop. Oh, they may not ever become your friend, as my bleeding heart Liberal friends would hope, but at least they'll stop throwing rocks at your head.
Rephrased into a modern and somewhat vulgar Confucianism:
Confucius Say: "Bully not go away by self. Must disable to remove threat."
I think its time the United States stopped worrying about how we appear to the rest of the world from a diplomatic "Good Guy Rating" perspective, and take care of business. These bullies like Kim Jong-il and Ahmadinejad in Iran need to be handled in a bit more forthright manner. Once you put a stop to this tyrannical BS the whole landscape changes and the tension level goes down for everybody. If we had enough guts to stop Hitler in the late 1930's when it was all too obvious what he was doing, a very large number of American and European lives could have been saved. Not only that, but this guy has people who are starving because he is so determined to build his power, at the expense of basic human needs and dignity.
Do you really think we should "take the high road" and negotiate diplomatically with this kind of Schmuck?
Now this is funny; foreign minister says:
"North Korea as a sovereign state has the right to develop, deploy, test fire and export a missile," he said. "We are aware of the U.S. concerns about our missile test-launch. So our position is that we should resolve the issue through negotiations."
Negotiations? You throw a rock at my house and then you ask me if I want to negotiate? I'll negotiate, you little bastard! You'll be a member of the Memberless Dictator Club when I'm done!!
That's my two cents.
On a side note, this from Digg:
When two people are trying to get a hold of each other but each time one calls the other they get the answering machine/service. The tag part is when it goes back and forth:
10 Person One calls Person Two, leaves message
20 Person Two returns Person One call, ends up leaving message
30 Person One again tries to call Person Two but there is no answer so they leave a message again.
40 GOTO 20
The real solution? Leave meaningful messages. I hate when people leave a message of "hey, call me back" When they could have left "hey, I need to know X, Y and Z, give me call when you get a chance." That way, if I call them back and they aren't there I can leave a message answering X, Y and Z and if that's all they need then the loop is broken.
It all boils down to one thing: Communication.
Wired has an Article "Laptops Give Hope to the Homeless".
Sure! If you open it up, you can put it over your head to protect you from the rain! Of course! Just send your donations my way.
North Korea said in comments published Wednesday that its self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range missiles from 1999 no longer applies because it's not in direct dialogue with Washington, suggesting it would hold off on any launch if Washington agreed to new talks. Of course, we all know that North Korea, which has deliberately boycotted the six-nation diplomatic talks channel for the last six months, could easily return to these talks at any time with any concerns it may have.
This is classic bullying at its worst -- on an international scale, and with nuclear weapons! The bully taunts and attempts to gain the upper hand through threats and intimidation. And where I grew up, in New York City, where there are plenty of bullies, I learned pretty quickly that there is only one way for a nerdy little kid to stop the bully: You have to stand up to them, no matter what it takes. Once you do that, they will stop. Oh, they may not ever become your friend, as my bleeding heart Liberal friends would hope, but at least they'll stop throwing rocks at your head.
Rephrased into a modern and somewhat vulgar Confucianism:
Confucius Say: "Bully not go away by self. Must disable to remove threat."
I think its time the United States stopped worrying about how we appear to the rest of the world from a diplomatic "Good Guy Rating" perspective, and take care of business. These bullies like Kim Jong-il and Ahmadinejad in Iran need to be handled in a bit more forthright manner. Once you put a stop to this tyrannical BS the whole landscape changes and the tension level goes down for everybody. If we had enough guts to stop Hitler in the late 1930's when it was all too obvious what he was doing, a very large number of American and European lives could have been saved. Not only that, but this guy has people who are starving because he is so determined to build his power, at the expense of basic human needs and dignity.
Do you really think we should "take the high road" and negotiate diplomatically with this kind of Schmuck?
Now this is funny; foreign minister says:
"North Korea as a sovereign state has the right to develop, deploy, test fire and export a missile," he said. "We are aware of the U.S. concerns about our missile test-launch. So our position is that we should resolve the issue through negotiations."
Negotiations? You throw a rock at my house and then you ask me if I want to negotiate? I'll negotiate, you little bastard! You'll be a member of the Memberless Dictator Club when I'm done!!
That's my two cents.
Microsoft Aims to End Phone Tag
On a side note, this from Digg:
When two people are trying to get a hold of each other but each time one calls the other they get the answering machine/service. The tag part is when it goes back and forth:
10 Person One calls Person Two, leaves message
20 Person Two returns Person One call, ends up leaving message
30 Person One again tries to call Person Two but there is no answer so they leave a message again.
40 GOTO 20
The real solution? Leave meaningful messages. I hate when people leave a message of "hey, call me back" When they could have left "hey, I need to know X, Y and Z, give me call when you get a chance." That way, if I call them back and they aren't there I can leave a message answering X, Y and Z and if that's all they need then the loop is broken.
It all boils down to one thing: Communication.
in other news...
Wired has an Article "Laptops Give Hope to the Homeless".
Sure! If you open it up, you can put it over your head to protect you from the rain! Of course! Just send your donations my way.
Sorry, Rick, disagree.
ReplyDeletePresident Kennedy stood up to the bully during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The only time that's too late to stand up to the bully is -- when its too late.