19 January, 2006

not dumb; maybe crazy and evil

Curzon at Coming Anarchy produces an item by Stratfor arguing that leaders of large countries generally cannot get there by being insane or morons.:

Evildumb


One of the ways to avoid thinking seriously about foreign policy is to dismiss anyone who does not behave as you would. Such a person is unpredictable, scary, and cannot be controlled. You are therefore relieved of the burden of doing anything about him. In foreign policy, it is sometimes useful to appear to be insane or stupid. Insanity is a great tool of unpredictability, and the less predictable you are, the more power you have. Stupidity lulls opponents into falsely believing that they can deal with you at any time they like. Thus some leaders deliberately cultivate an aura of insanity or stupidity to their own advantage.

    However, people who climb to the leadership of nations containing many millions of people must be highly disciplined, with insight into others and the ability to plan carefully. Lunatics rarely have those characteristics. Certainly, there have been sociopaths—like Hitler—but at the same time, he was a very able, insightful, meticulous man. He might have been crazy, but dismissing him because he was crazy—as many did—was a massive mistake.


Stratfor has noted on several occasions that the above description applies to a number of politicians, namely President Bush, Kim Jong Il, and President Ahmadinejad. In truth, all these men rose to power through a complex process by which they were vetted by a number of different powerful interests and groups. All three men must answer to a number of backers, many with differing if not competing interests. And none got to where they are by being dumb or nuts. Labeling them as such might feel good, it is neither helpful nor clarifying.

AsiaPundit would argue that none of the three is dumb, though he would say that "evil" and "crazy" can be applied to at least one of the above leaders. Crazy does not have to imply that someone is incompetent - as Stratfor notes, Hitler was a sociopath. This is not to suggest that we should dismiss the man because he is crazy; AP would suggest that he should be taken as a more serious threat because of that fact.

Kim actually fits the archetype of the evil genius or mad scientist quite well.

Here we have a reclusive tyrant with a massive cult of personality, lording over a land of peasants while engaging in criminal activities and spending most of the land’s resources on building advanced weaponry.

Latveria

That said, AsiaPundit thinks living conditions in Latveria would still exceed those in North Korea.

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by @ 1:36 pm. Filed under Asia, East Asia, Northeast Asia, North Korea

3 Responses to “not dumb; maybe crazy and evil”

  1. lonniebhodge Says:

    Krackpot Kim shut down my adopted Guangzhou the other day…And took up 400 plus rooms at the White Swan my FORMER favorite hotel in the area…
    I am not a conspiracy type but, Internet service on both my ADSL lines went down the same day…
    Maybe it was interference from his Armored Train…jeez…

    Great pics…Could be a Bush cabinet shot…

  2. lonniebhodge Says:

    Krackpot Kim shut down my adopted Guangzhou the other day…And took up 400 plus rooms at the White Swan my FORMER favorite hotel in the area…
    I am not a conspiracy type but, Internet service on both my ADSL lines went down the same day…
    Maybe it was interference from his Armored Train…jeez…

    Great pics…Could be a Bush cabinet shot…

  3. Michael Turto Says:

    Stratfor’s argument has that peculiar naivete that often manifests itself in “tough-nosed” looking arguments (”leaders are beholden to interests”). Bush is neither very bright nor very sane; further, available evidence suggests that he is some kind of sociopath. Moreover, it is an error to regard Bush as beholden to interest groups when it is not him but his handlers who are so beholden. The classic example of this is of course Reagan, who was both relatively stupid and very ignorant, but he was well handled by the businessmen who made him governer of California, and later President.

    Here we have a reclusive tyrant with a massive cult of personality, lording over a land of peasants while engaging in criminal activities and spending most of the land’s resources on building advanced weaponry.

    That is a pretty good thumbnail of Bush too, the difference being that Bush’s followers simply deny reality, whereas Kim’s are not allowed to perceive it. The difference, I suppose, between victims and fellow-travelers.

    Michael

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