all the news that fits

The news is really annoying at times. On the Drudge page are two articles that fit that description.

The first is from the NY Post and it's pretty much a run-of-the-mill "we're in World War III and we're all going to die"-type piece. Journalists love to link together four or five semi-related stories to prove a point, to indicate a trend toward something or other. So the writer of this piece does. Mainly he uses North Korea's unsuccessful (in more ways than one) missile launchings of the last week as proof-positive that Armageddon is upon us.

The thing is, people could have said that, and I'm sure did say it, at any point during the last 70 years. There are always crises to deal with. If it's not Hitler, it's the Russians. If it's not the Russians, it's Kim Jong Il or Gaddafi or Saddam or that looney president of Iran.

You know the saying, "Let's stop scaring ourselves to death?" It appears it is used very selectively.

The second article is from the new edition of Time, proclaiming the end of 'cowboy diplomacy.' Again, they use as proof North Korea and the U.S. approach to dealing with it. The simple, and simple-minded, reasoning goes like this: if the U.S. thinks it's a good idea to attack one country, then surely it must attack every country it has disagreements with, or else the policy is a failure. How ridiculous! Every country is different, every situation is different, hence the approach the U.S. takes in each situation is different. In the case of North Korea, it's very obvious what they want, and that is to blackmail the U.S., get it to change its policies and make demands on it. That's why they insist on one-on-one talks. But the U.S. has refused to be drawn into this and instead insists that North Korea's neighbors and trading partners be included in the talks; further, that Russia and China use their influence to rein in North Korea.

Regardless of what administration is in power in Washington, it's a very familiar story for America. If the U.S. goes it alone, it's a 'cowboy.' But too many times when we try to involve other countries, they say, 'Hey, leave us out of this!' At least when it comes to any sort of concrete action, not just endless debate, which they are always up for.