Seoul Is Not the Example
Juan Cole cites the recently intensifying anti-Lee-cum beef protests (and open season for any progressive grievance in ROK) to protest Senator John McCain's notoriously long-term strategy for Iraq.
Do you notice how Iraq and South Korea are not actually very much alike? Do you really think they will become alike in the next 4 years? Could Republicans please stop using John Gaddis's brain-dead "analogy", which never made any sense to begin with?
On one hand, let's validate that theory about anti-Americanism as a cause for the protests. But, on the other, rightly, Seoul's past is sui generis, and not even a good example for its own future. Beijing's and Tokyo's competition for regional hegemony, even as two Korean states vie for diplomatic influence, is unprecedented. This works, too:
The analogy would make slightly more sense if Seoul were in NORTH Korea. Otherwise, you should compare having troops in South Korea to having troops on the Kuwait/Iraq border.
Only the US Army, and this is the salient constituency he needs to impress, would appreciate McCain's thin grasp of trivia.
Sphere: Related Content
Barrapunto
CoRank Español
Delicious
Enchílame
Fresqui Ocio
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Menéame
Netscape
Newsvine
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Yahoo MyWeb
Write a comment
No trackbacks
RSS 2.0
Bloglines
Live
MyAOL
Netvibes
Newsgator
Rojo
Write a comment
If you want to add your comment on this post, simply fill out the next form:
You can use these XHTML tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>.
No comments
Be the first to write a comment on this post.
No trackbacks
To notify a mention on this post in your blog, enable automated notification (Options > Discussion in WordPress) or specify this trackback url: http://www.radicalcontrapositions.com/left_flank/2008/06/13/seoul-is-not-the-example/trackback/