Cognac boat drama

According to UN Security Council resolution 1718, countries who chose to do so, may board North Korean vessels carrying tanks or fighter planes, or components of weapons of mass destruction, or, well… hmmm bottles of Hennessey cognac.

Let’s stick with the cognac for now, after all we don’t need no tanks or WMD, but a nice vintage bottle of cognac…

The navies of the UN members states may now impound the crates of cognac found on a North Korean vessel, transfer them to their helicopters hovering overhead and deliver them to Downing Street 10, the Elysee, the White House or the Wetstraat. Perhaps not the Wetstraat, the Belgian navy doesn’t have anything that could take on a North Korean merchant vessel.

Never mind, you get the picture. This is a pure cognac-flambéed recipe for disaster. Professor of History at Tufts University Gary Leupp writes on the CounterPunch.org website that such actions could lead to resistance by the North Korean crews and furthermore could “mushroom into a very ugly situation”. And he wisely adds “Maybe that’s the intention”.

Resolution 1718 is intended to provoke a situation where the U.S. navy sinks a North Korean freighter, leading to naval clashes, leading to all-out war. Preferably before November 7, because Bush needs a war to win the mid-term elections.

China sensibly said it wasn’t going to do inspections of North Korean vessels on the high seas. But it could have vetoed the resolution. It gave Washington an excuse to start yet another war.

There is one consolation: the U.S. will certainly lose. They lost in Vietnam and Iraq, they will lose in North Korea and Iran. Because the law of imperialism says it can only pick up a stone to drop on its own foot (dixit Chairman Mao).

But once again hundreds of thousands of innocent people will die. Thanks to the Texas cowboys.