The UN Still Doesn't Get It

The horrors of the North Korean totalitarian state are well documented. As expected, massive amounts of the North Korean populace are starving to death from years of brutal central-planning of the economy.

The most interesting nugget from this article was the UN's World Food Programme take on North Korea's plight:

North Korea faces its worst food shortage in a decade, with six million people at risk -- a consequence of poor economic management of its centrally planned system, a series of bad harvests caused by harsh winters, flooding and exhausted agricultural land, and the regime's unwillingness to spend its dwindling hard currency reserves on buying food for its 24 million people. 

As usual, the UN misses the mark. Ludwig Von Mises  and F.A Hayek both aptly pointed out decades ago that there is no such thing as a good centrally-planned economic system.  The problem isn't that the economy had "poor...management," but that it was managed at all.  Perhaps the UN could use a reminder of this excellent video:

US Dismisses Treaty To End Korean War

I am a little surprised that Obama's administration would reject this treaty. This inane conflict was initiated in 1950, but apparently the deaths of thousands of soldeirs and millions of civilians are still not enough to cease this unnessecary conflict.  Isn't more than half a century enough of a long, sensless conflict for Washington?

Us officials have said that "they will not pay North Korea to come back to the six party talks." North Korea abandoned talks in early 2009 after the United States has been critical of its sucessful nuclear weapons test -- a test which was legal under international treaty law.

North Korea wants direct peace talks

The Wall Street Journal reports:

A delegation of North Korean diplomats told New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that Pyongyang was prepared for expansive disarmament talks with the Obama administration, but wants to talk directly instead of in the multicountry format Washington prefers.

The comments made to Gov. Richardson Wednesday in New Mexico are the clearest signal yet from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that his reclusive state is prepared to resume negotiations over its nuclear program following Pyongyang's May detonation of an atomic device and a string of missile launches that have rattled Northeast Asia. Gov. Richardson met two North Korean diplomats Wednesday at his office in Santa Fe.

Once again, it appears that Congressman Paul was correct in saying that we can achieve more through working peaceably with foreign nations than we can by invading them.  While the US has certainly not been non-interventionist in regards to North Korea, we at least have not mounted a military attack.  And now it would seem that the situation is heading further towards peace and away from war.

Mixed Signals to North Korea

As the small and poor communist nation continues to make its way toward developing a nuclear arsenal, State Department nominees and officials have clearly stated their absolute intolerance of such a situation:

Speaking at his Senate confirmation hearing Kurt Campbell, the administration’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian affairs, declared that if confirmed he would “make

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