North Korea's Threats of War

     “If your side ignites a war of aggression by staging the reckless joint military exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle again under the cover of ‘defensive and annual ones’ at this dangerous time, from that moment your fate will be hung by a thread with every hour... You had better bear in mind that those igniting a war are destined to meet a miserable destruction."

     That's what Pak Rim-su, chief delegate of the North Korean military mission to the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, told Gen. James D. Thurman, American military commander in South Korea earlier today.
     This isn't the first time that North Korea has threatened to spark war; in fact, North Korea often warns of initiating wars whenever the United States participates in such military drills with South Korea as they regularly do. North Korea's government-run news media consistently labels the exercises as preparation for invasion of their part of the North Korean peninsula. Early next month, the United States military will launch joint military exercises called the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle war games with South Korea.
     On February 12th, North Korea launched its third nuclear test, inevitably increasing tension worldwide. There's been a clash going on between the United States and North Korea for years: the United States is adamant about heightening sanctions against the latter while North Korea retaliates with vague warnings. So is this just another chain of words about war, fated to fall apart? Or will North Korea act on its threat this time?

Marco Rubio Embarks on Trip to Visit Middle Eastern Leaders

Marco Rubio speaking at the 2012 Republican National Convention.  Photo courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.

   Only about a week after giving the GOP State of the Union Response, Republican Senator of Florida Marco Rubio left for Jordan and Israel to talk to each of the nation’s leaders regarding foreign policy and their nation’s relations with the United States.  Yet, after Rubio’s “Watergate moment” during his rebuttal, many have not only wondered if Marco Rubio is prepared to make it into big league politics, but have also tried to figure out who he really is.

   After having been the youngest and first Hispanic politician to become the speaker of the Florida House, Rubio was elected as a Republican Senator for Florida in 2010.  Since being elected, Rubio has been a part of both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  Despite having just been elected as a Senator, Rubio has gradually gained fame in both the Republican establishment and the Tea Party due in part to his Cuban heritage and his introduction of Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney in 2012 at the Republican National Convention.  With the tabloids calling Rubio the “Savior” and “New Face” of the Republican Party, Rubio has often been hinted at as one of the possible Republican nominees for the Presidential Election in 2016.

   Although Rubio faces much pressure from his Republican counterparts, he states that he has traveled to the Middle East for purposes relating to his Senate Committees.  Rubio first plans on meeting King Abdullah II of Jordan to discuss the Syrian crisis and its effects on Jordanian society.  He will then travel to Israel to meet both Israeli President Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the peace process between Palestine and Egypt, the Israel-Egypt treaty, and Iran’s threat of nuclear weapons.  While hoping to highlight the United States’ partnership with Israel, Rubio also wants to improve the United States’ relationship with Jordan, who he calls one the United States’ “most loyal allies in the region in trade, cultural exchanges, and … combating terrorism.”

   Thus, could Rubio’s meetings in Jordan and Israel have a large effect on each nation’s relations with the United States? Does Rubio have what it takes to reunite the divided Republican Party? While many have already seen Rubio’s good sense of humor, displayed after the Republican rebuttal through his reactionary Twitter posts, Americans now wonder what Rubio has in store for years to come.

Power

     I would like to start this web log by talking about power. Power is the ability to control the environment around oneself and it is the most valued commodity among nations. Power, in general, is undoubtedly more valuable than money, oil, and even human capital. However, people do not often think about power and how it affects their actions.
     Yesterday, I had a talk with my dad about the ideas of power and money. I suddenly came to the realization that power, like money, is also derived from the control of resources such as land, food, and other essentials. Before, I had thought of power as a very simple thing that could only be bought or earned through social connections.
     When I thought about power a little more, I thought of American Indian society (or at least my limited knowledge of it). Before the philosophy of Manifest Destiny became commonplace and the white man moved out west to conquer the prairie and escape the crowded Eastern cities, Native Americans had control over their vast domain. Land, food, and water were plentiful. They had complete control over their lives; they had power.
     Similarly, British nobility gained immense power because England is a relatively isolated nation with limited resources. Their people gave them the reigns of their nation because the kings and queens had control over the necessities for the Britons' lives and livelihood.
     This was the first time that I thought of power in a supply-and-demand sense. It gave me a clearer view of what power is and how it affects politics.
     When applied to modern politics, especially regarding international affairs, the theory of power's inverse relationship with resources is incredibly useful. A rapid decline in resources instantly creates a power vacuum that is eventually filled by whomever controls the resources, while a rapid incline in resources causes powers-that-be to lose control. These fundamentals allow for well-crafted foreign policy and simplified solutions for complex problems. In my eyes, the United States is an example of a successful democracy because of the expansive amount of resources that are available to its citizens, natural, human, and otherwise. The government is powerful, but it is driven by the efforts of its approximately 300 million citizens. In America, the people have the exclusive power to control their environment. In a country with limited access to resources however, individuals tend to considerably less powerful. In North Korea, the monarchical government regulates nearly all of the necessities that its people need to survive, the most notable of which is information. Such tight regulation has given Kim Jong Un and his closest confidants an almost incomprehensible amount of control of their people while the North Korean general public is starved not only of their food, but of their rights as well. These differences in individual power potential cause civilizations to clash and citizens to break free from their governments. Differences in power make colossal waves that shake every nation.
     We do not always have control over our access to food, water, oil, and land, but we can take advantage of the often ignored resource that is information. This is what I hope to accomplish with this blog. By gaining control of information, we can ultimately become more powerful and able to make a significant impact on society.
     After all, knowledge is power.