Honduras enjoying a North Korea moment…

Posted By David Rothkopf Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - 7:18 PM Share

Yesterday at lunch I ran into a very senior official who is deeply involved in the negotiations with Honduras. He said, "It is a very strange situation. Here you have on one side officials from Honduras and on the other side you have the United States, Hillary Clinton, Brazil, Michelle Bachelet, the rest of the world. They seem to be enjoying it ... they have never had so much attention."

And so the government of Honduras learns the first lesson of weak-state diplomacy as taught by the Sun Tzu of diplomatic tantrums, Kim Jong-Il: the more big powers you can irritate, the better off you are. They almost never manage to apply real pressure and more importantly, wherever they go, the cameras go. If North Korea were a poor Stalinist agricultural enclave on the northern bit of the Korean peninsula that didn't have nuclear weapons they would be getting roughly the publicity of...well, Cameroon, which is a near neighbor on the CIA GDP chart. (Some other neighbors on that chart like Cyprus and Yemen have also managed to ratchet up the attention they get by being festering sores on the political map.)

Whatever the case, the diplomat advised the Hondurans not get too used to the limelight, that their 15 minutes were almost up. What's the matter with these guys? A call to Pyongyang or A.Q. Khan and they could become a first tier nuisance to the world and enjoy all the rights and privileges thereto appertaining.

MAYELA LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images

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BRETT

4:56 PM ET

July 23, 2009

Whatever the case, the

Whatever the case, the diplomat advised the Hondurans not get too used to the limelight, that their 15 minutes were almost up.

One can only hope it ends up with Micheletti still in power, constitutional institutions and authority intact, and Zelaya out of power.

I think it's astonishing to see the degree that Zelaya has been supported outside of Honduras - the man was a blatant violater of the Constitution and constitutional authority in Honduras, which is probably why so many Hondurans didn't like him (along with his own political party).

JCHAIN

5:54 PM ET

July 23, 2009

ZELAYA is the one enjoying his 15 MIN, not HONDURAS

ZELAYA, has never gotten so much publicity, now he is up and down in Venezuelas private JET. Wasting the Venezuelan's people Money. Honduras, just wants this to be over, we are calm people, not enjoying our 15 minutes of fame. At least, know people around the world know we exist. That is because it was consider a Millitary coup, not a succesion as it is.
The US, cannot back know from the first position they took. That is why they are being critizice for sidong with Chavez.
LET us live our democracy, they way it is stipulated. Do not force us to go againts our constitution and see Zelaya back. He is Gone, and gone for good.....

ANTONIOSOSA

12:12 AM ET

July 24, 2009

The U.S. should be supporting

The U.S. should be supporting Hondurans and the rule of law, NOT Zelaya, a Chavez clone sending drugs to the U.S. and enslaving Hondurans! It's terrifying for freedom-loving people in Latin America and all over the world to see that, rather than defending the human rights of Hondurans and Latin Americans, the Obama administration is siding with the Marxist thugs who are trampling on human rights and working with drug cartels and Islamic terrorist to destroy the U.S!

I guess it was to be expected from Obama. As his parents, relatives, friends and mentors, Obama is a Marxist who hates the U.S. As such, he sides with Marxist dictators and would-be dictators who seek to enslave their countries and destroy the U.S.

Zelaya committed serious crimes and violated the Honduran constitution, so the country's Supreme Court ordered the military to remove Zelaya. As per the Honduran constitution, Micheletti was appointed interim president as the person next in line. This is Constitutional Democracy in action combating illegal behavior by a sitting President.

Zelaya was implementing in Honduras the scheme devised by Castro and implemented by Chavez and the rest of the Marxist thugs to gain absolute power. Thanks to Clinton, now Chavez and Zelaya have Oscar Arias, whom they can use as a "democratic" front to get a stronger hold of their prey, the Honduran people!

Millions of Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Bolivians, Ecuadorians, etc. wish we could have done what Hondurans are doing before the Marxist thugs working for Castro and Chavez enslaved our countries like Zelaya is trying to enslave Honduras.

ANTONIOSOSA

12:14 AM ET

July 24, 2009

In agreement with Obama’s

In agreement with Obama’s policy of hurting our friends and helping our enemies, Clinton handed democratic Hondurans a poisoned apple -- Oscar Arias as a mediator.

Arias’s recommendation that a criminal thug like Zelaya be reinstated in Honduras is insulting and despicable to any honest and law-abiding human being!

But it was to be expected from Oscar Arias, who PRETENDS to support peace, but has never really defended peace.

Arias helped Chavez/Ortega enslave Nicaraguans. Ronald Reagan wanted the Sandinistas and their leader Daniel Ortega vanquished. But Arias got the Sandinistas to “agree to hold internationally supervised elections.” And we can see the results now -- Nicaragua is now enslaved by Castro/Chavez/Ortega.

Oscar Arias is the perfect example of how the Nobel Prize, which has been politicized, is biased and corrupt. It’s seldom if ever awarded to the really deserving, like Pope John Paul II. It is often awarded to people who can be used by the forces of evil to manipulate public opinion, as it’s happening now with Oscar Arias regarding Honduras.

Oscar Arias has NOT advanced and will NOT advance the cause of peace. On the contrary, as we can see in Honduras, Arias is doing the opposite – he is helping the forces of violence and evil – Castro, Chávez and Zelaya – trample on the law and on the human rights of the Honduran people.

We pray Hondurans are able to defend themselves from Chavez, Zelaya, Obama, Clinton, Insulza, Arias and other forces of evil who PRETEND to protect human rights and to 'care for the poor,' but are actually trampling on human rights and multiplying poverty, corruption, violence and despair.