You Know, For Kids

A while back, Hamas had a kids' television show that featured a Mickey Mouse clone who encouraged his viewers to "help wipe out the Jews." International outrage from individuals both private and corporate put a stop to that nasty little bit of anti-Semitic imagery. Instead, they now have a more generic pink bunny who reminds children how they will lose a hand if they get caught stealing, for example.
That's what's happening on one end of the Axis of Evil. Meanwhile, a little further to the east, we find more Disney characters cavorting about on North Korean television. The most notable thing about this appearance was that they were not spouting anti-American rhetoric, nor were they shouting the praises of their beloved leader, Kim Jong Un. Though Mickey and friends were definitely there for Kim's entertainment, it should be noted that the Korean Central News Agency has announced a "grandiose plan to bring about a dramatic turn in the field of literature and arts this year." If that includes bringing to the Korean masses Disney-fied versions of classic tales of Winnie The Pooh, Beauty and the Beast, and so many others, it is potentially a very expensive one. Disney lawyers threatened to sue the producers of the Oscar telecast back in 1989 when Rob Lowe sang "Proud Mary" with a girl who looked just a little too much like "their Snow White." While they might not have squeezed any cash out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, you can spend a good long time looking for video evidence of such an occurrence on Al Gore's Internet and come up empty. It's like it never happened.
Which brings up back to the new openness of North Korea. Rather than the more traditional shows of dancing pandas that reflect their country's ties to China, the million or so televisions were able to receive pictures of dancing rodents and a cubby all stuffed with fluff. Kim Jong Un probably doesn't fear our missiles as much as he does our Intercontinental Ballistic Litigators. Stay tuned.