Worswick,
Once again, what a great piece. Thanks for taking time off from you reading and from the sad, sad stories that keep appearing on this thread. As I was reading the piece on Kim, I kept thinking how he sounding like Lincoln in the latter's many speeches on the importance of preserving the Union and the true revolutionary spirit of the Founders of the US--and then I find out that Lincoln was one his heroes! How rare and appropriate this is. One must wish him the best luck and success.
But the real question for Kim, for S. Korea, and for all of Asia is a more starkly Machiavellian one: will Kim or any other honest, well intentioned leader be able to get the ambitious "me" group which is used to power and the ever continuing accumulation of wealth (no matter how insanely huge that accumulation gets and no matter how poor the broader masses remain) agree that they have to introduce and maintain policies conducive to a the development of a large middle class, even it means that their own wealth won't be quite so obscene? Can these people get on top of their own paranoi (their "pissing fear" I think you or Mohan put it a few weeks ago, speaking of India), and see that they would actually live better, even if they were poorer, if a broad middle class actually existed in their country? Will they be able to change their fundamental stance from an export driven, Korea Inc. economy to a more diversified economy which is oriented toward growth in internal markets (something like that, anyway--help me out here, not enough sleep last night)? |
