Educating Korea

The story of North Korea’s cooperation to “abandon” the development of nuclear weapons marks real progress and an end to the strong-armed tactics by the Bush gang in the region. The deal was negotiated by several countries including China, Japan and Russia. Remember, North Korea is part of the "axis of evil", according to President Bush.

Meanwhile, Starbucks has announced a 5 million dollar promotion fund for education in China. According to Howard Schultz, chair of the company, “ it mirrors what we did in the past 25 years in America in creating profitability and balancing that with a social conscience." I’ve often found that the odds are always tipped in favour of the house, when it comes to corporate social responsibility. Starbucks, the great American invader, needs more outlets. Apparently, they only have 140 stores which really means that the Chinese just aren’t being served! [This looks like a bribe to me.]

North Korea has to have a deal: its bureaucracy is starving the people and isolating it from the rest of the world. China is slowly becoming the leader in world economics. North Korea is a neighbour of China and good neighbours need to get along in order to keep the peace and open for business. Maybe Starbucks will set up a 5 million dollar education fund in Pyongyang.

Bush has to reconsider his “axis of evil” notion of world politics. When he said it in 2002, Saddam was still in power in Iraq, and North Korea was being sold as an evil empire with missiles capable of hitting the American midwest. The case against Iran is still under construction by the Pentagon.

So, no more tea in China, no more nukes in North Korea and all is right with the world. Time for a frappuccino: after all, it’s the American Way.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.