What Happens if Dennis Rodman and His NBA Team Beat The North Koreans?

Dennis Rodman is set to travel to North Korea for the third time today. His visit is to help train a North Korean basketball team prior to a game in January when they will play against former NBA stars.

Sponsored for the trip by PaddyPower, an Irish  bookmaker, Rodman is hoping to bring basketball diplomacy to the North Korean regime.

This is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard. It’s about the money. PaddyPower will make millions from bets on the outcome of the game, altruism and world peace have nothing at all to do with it.

Rodman and his new handlers may like to consider what will happen if North Korea loses. We are talking about a regime where the state is everything and individuals count for nothing.

• Rodman could be accused of deliberately not training the North Korean team well enough.
• Rodman could be detained as he has caused the North Koreans to lose face.
• The whole NBA team could be detained for causing the North Koreans to lose face
• The North Korean team could well face harsh punishment for losing and making North Korea lose face
• The North Korean team win and Rodman loses all credibility for throwing the match

I could go on, but you get the picture.

• Rodman is messing with a man that had his uncle executed last week.
• He is dealing with a man that thinks nothing of imprisoning three generations of a family if a member of that family defects or commits a crime the state deems serious.
• He is dealing with a closed regime that is holding American citizens prisoner on spurious charges.
• He is dealing with a regime that is intent on building a nuclear arsenal and probably more intent than any other nation state of using them.
• The United States issued a blanket warning against ALL Americans traveling to North Korea in late November.

So, forgive me for being cynical but I see this as a giant publicity stunt with PaddyPower and Rodman making a fortune out of it.

The potential for something to go horribly wrong doesn’t seem to have entered their heads.

North Korea has a very uneasy relationship with the West, and if this ridiculous stunt goes wrong it may well result in an international incident with repercussions for us all.