North Korea Folds

"North Korea says it will not retaliate despite 'reckless provocations' from the South, which held live-fire drills on the flashpoint island of Yeonpyeong. The North shelled the island last month after similar drills and had threatened more retaliation this time. But state media quoted the army as saying it was 'not worth reacting. UN Security Council talks ended without a deal on the weekend, reportedly after China refused to agree to a statement critical of its ally, the North.'"

BBC 12.20.2010

Liberal Imperialism and Global Security

Jedediah Purdy.

“Liberal Empire: Assessing the Arguments”

Ethics and International Affairs 17/2, (Fall 2003).

The Global Security Argument for liberal imperialism holds that imperial policy promotes global security. The combined threats of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction mean that “global security may require that entire regimes be brought forcibly to heel” (37), and that this would entail forcibly removing them from power and replacing them with a democratic government.  Purdy advances two arguments against this argument. 

First, he claims that liberal empire presupposes the existence of hegemony, a single “dominant superpower,” when in fact the world is rapidly shifting from post-Cold War uni-polarity to economic and military multi-polarity.  As Russia regains its military momentum, as China slowly liberalizes, as India continues its massive economic boom, and as the European Union matures, American dominance begins to look less and less stable.  In the new multi-polar world, as in the old, respect for the rules of sovereignty have a great deal more practical importance to human welfare than they did during the period of alleged American ascendancy, since no single entity had, nor presently has de facto authority over matters of global security.

Second, he claims that an American policy of unilateral intervention is likely to have perverse incentives for nuclear proliferation.  Some states will take such a policy not as a deterrent to seeking nuclear arms, but as a prod.  He does not say so, but this claim, if true, would buttress the prior objection, because if and when nuclear proliferation accelerates, the prospects for US hegemony will dissolve more rapidly.

Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Peace Prize

Bjoern Amland
AP 12.10.2010

Liu Xiaobo

"China was infuriated when the prestigious prize was awarded to the 54-year-old literary critic, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence on subversion charges brought after he co-authored a bold call for sweeping changes to Beijing's one-party communist political system. Beijing described the award as an attack on its political and legal system and has placed Liu's supporters, including his wife Liu Xia, under house arrest to prevent anyone from picking up his prize. On Friday, uniformed and plainclothes officers guarded the entrance to the compound in central Beijing where Liu Xia has lived since the October announcement that her husband would receive the prize. China also tightened a wide-ranging clampdown on dissidents and blocked some news websites ahead of the awarding ceremony. China has also pressured foreign diplomats to stay away from the Nobel ceremony...17 other countries have declined to attend, including Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba...China warned that attending the ceremony would be seen as a sign of disrespect."