June 8th, 2009 10:31 pm ET
Hello everyone —
The sentencing of the two young journalists is particularly outrageous because, as Amnesty Internation has pointed out, they had no access to lawyers, no access to due process, and their “trial” was conducted secretly. Terrible abuse of their human rights.
We need to get on the stick and seek their release as quickly as possible on humanitarian grounds — as Mike pointed out — before they get caught up in the big, dangerous game of N. Korea trying to become a nuclear power.
To Minou: the reason why the way the U.S. handles N. Korea will send a signal to Iran is because both N. Korea and Iran are trying to join the nuclear weapons club. If the U.S. acquiesces in N. Korean gaining a nuclear capacity — if it does not take serious action to stop them — then Iranians may read that as a signal that the U.S. will acquiesce in Iran becoming a nuclear power, too. Very tough calls for President Obama in weeks ahead.