Pay no attention to the bomb behind the curtain

When news broke on around the 23rd about Myanmar’s commitment to enforce the U.N. sanctions against North Korea, I remember getting a little excited. I thought to myself ‘Man, if Than Shwe is publicly acknowledging that you’re a dick, it may be time to put on a little Man in the Mirror and self-reflect’. But deep down I was, understandably, a bit skeptical. Turns out that, deep down, I was right.

WASHINGTON — The United States expressed concern on Monday over news reports that North Korea may be helping the Burmese military regime to achieve its nuclear ambitions. “It is an issue of concern and it is an issue that we continue to focus on intensively,” the assistant secretary of state for public affairs, Philip J Crowley, told reporters at the State Department headquarters. Although he refrained from making any comment on the alleged underground nuclear facility being developed by North Korea inside Burma, Crowley said the US was concerned about “the nature of cooperation between North Korea and Burma.” “We do have concerns about the nature of cooperation between both Burma and North Korea, and North Korea and any other country. As the Secretary [of State Hillary Clinton] did during her recent trip, she argued quite forcefully that all countries have responsibilities regarding the UN sanctions and we are [working] hard at implementing them,” Crowley said. “I think over time, we would like to clarify with Burma more precisely the nature of its military cooperation,” he said. “The Secretary was encouraged that Burma said that it would abide by its responsibilities under the sanctions that were recently passed by the UN, and we will be looking to see them implement those sanctions,” Crowley said. [Source: http://www.irrawaddy.org/].

This is what sucks about global politics. There is no way to overemphasize the importance of conversation and understanding in world affairs, but every so often you come across dicks that just won’t play fair. It’s moments like this when otherwise rational people buy Toby Keith albums.