Shim Jae Hoon at PostGlobal

Shim Jae Hoon

South Korea

Shim Jae Hoon is a Seoul-based journalist and commentator writing for a variety of international publications including YaleGlobal Online, The Straits Times of Singapore, The Taipei Times and Korea Herald. He was a correspondent for Far Eastern Economic Review in Seoul, Taipei and Jakarta. Close.

Shim Jae Hoon

South Korea

Shim Jae Hoon is a Seoul-based journalist and commentator writing for a variety of international publications including YaleGlobal Online, The Straits Times of Singapore, The Taipei Times and Korea Herald. more »

Main Page | Shim Jae Hoon Archives | PostGlobal Archives


What’s In It for Iranian, North Korean People?

Iran has fallen under the control of an increasingly erratic leadership that needs more and more such "incidents" to keep its revolutionary fervor going in the face of protracted sanctions that are beginning to affect the lives of ordinary Iranians.

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All Comments (8)

Mohamed MALLECK, Swift Current, Canada:

Honestly, Mr. Sim Jae Hoon, I am totally disappointed with this comment. But, as they say in the West, different strokes for different folks!

German Voice:

Shim Jae Hoon,

Thank you, Sir! You're absolutely right! Irans childish actions are always nonsense and nobody is able to understand such a behaviour, right? The world is not a kindergarden and playing with human lives doesn't make friends. That's what Islamofascists do not understand. Well, it's the same as with Germany and Japan during WWII. The only way to stop them is to defeat them.

Tarik:


Old Atlantic: Brilliant analysis?

But what have we done since Iwo Jima.
Vietnam,Combodia,Korea,Panama,Grenada,Nicaragua etc.
Iraq where 6 million people in the Sunni Triangle have bogged down a super power of 300 million now well into the 5th year of the war and over 400 billion dollars spent, and not withstanding the tremendous advantage in armaments and weaponry.
The US of A has the worlds dumbest Generals.

This is a lousy performance by historical standards.
If you compare with the world's history of great military feats and conquests. I could give you some examples that will truly astonish you. But I will let you do your homework.

Michael:

North Koreans may wonnder that now, but they didn't in 1968. What Iran did was much like what Iraq did when it would report on shooting down American planes over the no-fly zones, what Korea did, and what any other isolated country that has large control over the message: when support at home begins to wane, pull a stunt like this to show people you're standing up to the West, whom you label their true opressor, remp up the rhetoric, and drive people to the streets while calling critics traitors. It's the same the world over and without a strong counter-message, it works time and time again. This is why engagement and reducing the posture of isolation is so key. The more we isolate these regimes, the more domestic power we give them, if they're shrewd enough to use it. Get an effective countermessage in that shows what a fraud the regime is, and the whole system collapses.

Old Atlantic:

Invade Iran from Iraq. We didn't invade Iwo Jima to nation build.

We invaded Iwo Jima to get closer to the main enemy homeland. Iraq puts us on the ground next to two main enemy homelands, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

We should use Iraq to invade Iran. That saves lives. A Nimitz class carrier has over 5000 men on board. If Iran sinks one we lose more men than if we invaded Iran. We lost under 175 killed in the ground combat phase in Iraq. Mutliply by 10, 1750, its still less than losing a carrier to a Russian supplied anti-ship missile.

http://oldatlanticlighthouse.wordpress.com/

Anonymous:

The Brits and Yanks have lied to the world about Iraq and their empty promise of bringing democracy, freedome, prosperity and .....to the Middle East. Why should one bother to believe them any more?

Tarik:

Shim Jai Hoon:
You have not given an alternative: of what Iran and North Korea are supposed to do : let foreign powers continue spying in their waters!
Why you forgot that the Chinese brought down the American spy plane and dismantled it and put in a box. Why do you think China did so.

JRLR:

"We will know what really happened now, as they return home..." -- I do not believe so. Eating humble pie is too difficult for a government bent on lies and deception for years on end. Unfortunately, in the end, it does not even have enough credibility to tell the truth. Who would believe what it decides to say, anyway?

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