The 'Rogue Nation' Contest

Was there ever a failed state as barbaric as North Korea? Not only is this "rogue nation" endangering the security of the planet in its efforts to elbow its way into the exclusive club of nuclear powers but it has now dispatched two Asian-American journalists for twelve-year prison terms in one of its labor camps, notorious for their brutality and appalling conditions. The women, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, work for a TV channel owned by former Vice President Al Gore. According to their friends, the two crossed North Korea's border with China, intent on investigating the alleged trafficking of women.

Leaving aside the obvious fact that the fates and harsh sentences faced by Ling and Lee are tied up with the evolution of relations between North Korea and the new Obama government, let's try to achieve some sense of balance on the charge of barbarism. Let's suppose a country has endured a half-century of continuous attack by assailants based in the United States, suffering nearly 3,500 dead and 2,000 wounded. Let's further suppose that this country faces sabotage of its budding tourism industry, including the bombing of hotels and murder of tourists. Now let us suppose that this country sends investigators to infiltrate the assailants and hands the results of the probe to the FBI. The investigators I'm talking about are the Cuban Five--courageous men who went to southern Florida and penetrated the Miami-based gangs, specifically Alpha 66, the F4 Commandos, the Cuban American National Foundation and Brothers to the Rescue.

In 1998, after Fidel Castro had dispatched Gabriel García Márquez as an emissary to the Clinton White House, the United States sent an FBI team to Havana to discuss the gangs' attacks. Cuba handed over sixty-four files on thirty-one terrorist acts and plans against Cuba in the 1990s.

Subscriber Login

User Name

Password

Subscribe Now!

The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.

There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

• Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 68 cents a week!
• If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.
• Reprint this article. Click here for rights and information.