The NBA, A Gateway to World Harmony Through Dennis Rodman?

Current history dictates the Middle East and North Korea are the biggest threats in the world, and I'm sure their leaders and middle class folk will claim otherwise.

Hall of fame NBA baller Dennis Rodman has been making recent headlines with his frequent trips to North Korea and paling up with North Korea's leader Kim Wong Un. Many Americans claim Rodman is a drunken buffoon. His drunken words that Kenneth Bae deserves to be in a North Korean prison and the fact he is not using his celebrity pull and friendship with Wong Un to help free Bae is not helping Rodman's case for being an upstanding citizen. Rodman has apologized to Bae and his family since his drunken outburst. (http://worldnews.new.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/13/22286285-dennis-rodman-apologizes-again-for-failing-to-help-kenneth-bae?lite)

Forty-four-year-old Bae was arrested recently in North Korea for crimes against it's nation. Among the allegations: Bae was setting up bases in China to topple the North Korean government; he was encouraging North Korean citizens to bring down the government; and he was conducting a "malignant smear campaign." according to Chelsea J. Carter's Jan. 7 article, "Who is Kenneth Bae, and why is he in a North Korean prison camp?" (http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/us/who-is-kenneth-bae/index.html)

In my opinion it's not Rodman's responsibility, nor any other celebrity to exercise political power. I do agree celebrities should use their influence in a positive way to sway justice in the political arena, but the facts are clouded in Bae's case. Maybe Bae does deserve to be imprisoned. If Bae is indeed imprisoned for the above allegations, then I think he should be a free man. One thing is clear to me, if you live in a communist country, you better choose your public words carefully and exercise your individual beliefs privately.

How can professional basketball bring peace to the planet? In reality nothing can beget world peace because humans for the most part are still primitive beings, technology wise extremely advanced, but sad to say in general we all lack meaningful soul. So much mind on the matter, the spirit gets forgotten about Neil Peart wrote for the Rush song "Grand Designs" in 1985.

I think Rodman bringing American basketball to North Korea is awesome. Sports are a fantastic outlet for world unity. The Olympics have been going on since the Greek era and wars were halted for Olympic events, so sports are a good thing in my mind.

Wong Un like his deceased father Kim Jong-il is an ecstatic fan of the NBA. Jong-il even had and autographed basket ball from NBA hall of famer Michael Jordan. The NBA regular season starts in November of every year and ends in June. In simple terms, the U.S. only has four months to worry about North Korea striking U.S. soil with missiles.

If the NBA, because of Rodman or any other representative from the league can bring any type of positive unity between the U.S. and North Korea, I'm all for it.

How can Rodman be friends with someone as nefarious as Wong Un some may state? Wong Un has made headlines recently when he had his uncle Jang Song Thaek execute for crimes against the state.

In a Hong Kong newspaper, Wen Wei Po, Wong Un had his uncle stripped naked and fed to a 120 hungry dogs. The Wen Wei Po news paper had no sources to the heavy claims according to the Jan. 3 article, "Did Kim Jong Un Feed His Uncle To 120 Dogs? Be Skeptical" by Mark Memmott. (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/03/259386090/did-kim-jong-un-feed-his-uncle-to-120-dogs-be-skeptical)

Wong Un may indeed be and evil soul, after all he is a political leader, but the U.S. government is anything but saintly. How many Middle East women and children have been killed by U.S. drone missiles since the 90s and perhaps many decades earlier?

I'm not praising Rodman's friendship with Wong Un, but bringing the NBA to North Korea is a good thing.