State of the World

Jerry reports that North Korea's Kim Jong Il may be stepping down.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il finally decided not to make the same mistake a s Saddam. It can dangerous to portray oneself as staunch anti-American and try to rule a country that really has no real friend. Saddam's biggest problem was he was over confident about what America and allies would do! He made a mistake in 1990 when he occupied Kuwait and stayed there for a while in spite of American warnings. He again made a mistake in not opening the doors for UN inspectors wide enough to really reveal that he did not have Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Kim Jong II of North Korea decided it is better to step down than be challenged by the world. Sources say his age and vigor are not favoring either.

Jeff reports that the facade of Kim is slipping

Yet another coup for the Bush team if this pans out. It seems that Bush's multilateral approach will work with North Korea after all.

Jeff and I discussed (among other things) Iran last night. Iranians largely think favorably on the United States. We are in the process of killing off Iranian agents that have crossed into Iraq. I can only hope that having representative democracies to the left and right of Iran incent them to do the same.

Other events triggered by the Bush doctrine:

• Pakistan no longer actively supports terror organizations (the Taliban and the Khan nuclear smuggling group) and are now killing terrorists on their own soil. They're not as effective as the US military and arguably some in the Pak military side with the enemy, but it's 100% better than before.
  
• Saudi Arabia announced that it intends to hold elections. Again, it's not perfect as women are not eligible to vote, but it's a step towards the right direction. Remember that it took over 100 years for women to be able to vote in all but a handful of states in the US.
  
• Libya surrendered WMD materials and opened up to UN monitoring agencies. This is a full-blown win for the western world. Yes, they keep trying to hide programs, but there is pressure there that didn't exist prior to December 2003.
  
• The following countries have agreed (and in some cases requested) a permanent or long term military base for US forces:
  
  1. Romania
     
  2. Kazakhstan and here
     
  3. Azerbaijan
     
  4. Uzbekistan, and possibly Kyrgyzstan
     
  
  
• List of countries training with the US military (with the aid of US dollars)
  

Let's not forget that a major impediment to Arab Palestinians long-term wellbeing is now worm food. Let's see what they do with it. If we don't see anymore suicide bombers in Israel, then I foresee an independent Arab Palestinian state in the near future.

Is the situation all peaches and cream? No, however, it is a long shot from the dire agony the media presents to us every day. I'm betting on the can-do attitude and fighting spirit of America. If you don't believe in that, then pick up a history book and look at our long history of accomplishment and see for yourself.