There is an old saying – Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.  In reading about the start of the Cold War and the level of misunderstanding that affected history for the next 40 years in many cases personal slights brought on wars and long periods of isolation.  Unlike democratic countries where at minimum leadership shifts back and forth every few years the length of the average dictatorship is far more intractable.  Castro has outlived several US Presidents and his policies remain unchanged.  Much of the disagreement with Castro started with the US baulking at land reform coming down on the side of United Fruit.  Things escalated from articles in the NY Times about Castro and his revolutionaries being slobs leaving chicken bones behind in their hotel room.  The fact is even in the poorest country of the world a dictator can live well and with military force be insured of a long reign (intended – sorry – I am goofy tonight) of terror on his people.  Slights against Castro are not an isolated case.  Mao after the Chinese Revolution came to Washington seeking aid and recognition only to be rudely rejected.  Khrushchev when visiting the US was denied a tour of Disneyland because it was “too risky”.  Disneyland is a park with some of the best security in the nation – probably better than most military bases. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31880905/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

Now Kim is ill (sorry I could not resist) and the chances of the North Korean universal medical system fixing him is less than positive.  There was a great buhaha over the Shah of Iran coming to the US for medical treatment and he was a friend of the US.  While Hillary is changing the language used to describe the US reporters persecuted and imprisoned in North Korea in hopes of getting an early release, why not go all the way and try to kill Kim with kindness.  Bring him to Stanford Medical Center or one to the better ones in the US and give him free treatment on the government tab.  While he is here give him a tour of a Safeway and Disneyland.  Take him to the Napa wine country and let him see a show in Vegas.  The subtle gains in diplomacy will do far more from kindness than pointing cruise missiles at his home.  When a man knows he is going to die he is often embolden to take drastic steps to insure his legacy in history.  Threats to a dying man have little impact.  Perhaps the kindness will be returned in the fashion of better relations.  Hell, while we are at it crank up the US propaganda machine and let Kim see his face on a big screen TV at a ball game.  Tell him he is great and just a victim of circumstance. We would do the same for the Dali Lama and he is equally as much a monster as Kim. Positive reinforcement sometimes changes people more than all the force in the world.

And if not after a Whipple and a little Chemo, he will think water boarding is a walk in the park.  And if he dies on the operating table then we can always bomb North Korea back to the ice age.