Ian Clifford Interview

Good interview at gm-volt.com covering recent thoughts of Ian Clifford.

Could EEStor Technology End North Korea's Evil Regime?

I'm not typically a political person. Most political dialogue in the USA is, to me, a little bit boring because I'm such a neophyte. But there are some issues that do get my blood boiling. Apart from my deep desire to see the USA achieve energy independence from our good friends in the Middle East, I get a bit out of sorts when I read about evil masked as legitimate government. Examples: Iran, North Korea, Sudan. I always come to the same conclusion: the absence of real LEADERSHIP is what allows such scenarios to grow into major problems. Unfortunately, individual citizens have limited options to encourage action on the part of our leaders and those around the world, ie, to complain....more or less.

In this regard, Blaine Harden from the Washington Post Foreign Service deserves some significant praise for his Front Page article on the topic of North Korea's Hard Labor Camps. Harden points out that these North Korean camps now exceed those of the Soviet Gulag & Nazi concentration camps. One of the camps covers an area the size of Los Angeles, CA. We know from former guards that the prisoners are mostly political and are tortured, malnourished and occasionally imprisoned with 3 generations of their family. Women are raped, executions are mini-terrorism lessons for teenagers and essentially, the whole thing amounts to mass scale sanctioned evil.

Sanctioned? That's a strange word to insert here because it means that something is done with approval. In fact, the recognition of North Korea as a sovereign nation is exactly that--a sanction to allow it's evil leaders to persist in power. And every free person whose free government allows North Korea to participate in any trade with any other nation is guilty by association (freely practiced in NK by the way) of this sanction. In my personal political belief system, at some point nations who conduct their affairs in such a way cease to be nations and warrant nothing less than WAR! Countries who treat their citizens shabbily are always the first to complain about such philosophies.

Of course, the key problem in North Korea is the South Koreans whose culture allows the conditions of the North to be largely ignored by its populace! In my opinion, we ought to express displeasure with South Korea for not taking care of it's problems with the North. Of course, they will claim that an attack on the North would imperil the millions of people in Seoul. So basically, you have a high stakes standoff with a thug regime. What's the answer? EEStor? Certainly nothing could be more ridiculous??!!?

What does EEStor have to do with North Korea? Everything and nothing. Let's start with nothing first. North Korean citizens are not perpetually tortured due to lack of basic energy storage. Check. An EESU does not represent a political philosophy more compelling to the Korean cultured mind. Check. Sure, North Korea could benefit from renewable energy sources with better storage like anyone but again, it could provide no change. Check.

But look at who props up North Korea: China. They have now replaced the Soviet Union, who used to keep Kim Jong Il in power back in the 1990s. Yes, of course, their other trading partners are from the middle east. And of course, various approaches to North Korea have been tried over the years. All have failed. So what's the EEStor answer?

Nothing would please me more than to have Dick Weir strictly impose a ban on the use of his products in China, the Middle East and the Soviet Union until North Korea is liberated and unified with South Korea. Set aside for the moment whether or not you can imagine that EEStor has exactly what it claims: how fantastic would be it be to see a hard headed Dick Weir beat his chest against world powers to effect real change??? I know, I know....it's completely crazy!!! ...but were it to be possible, can you imagine the drama? An interesting question to ask is whether or not EEStor is so disposed to do such politcal things? Well, reader, it is rumored that EEStor's incorporation rules prohibit the sale of EEStor to any Asian entity...specifically. So, if it's true, there may be some room for expansion of that sentiment. And relatedly, when Dick Weir was a pilot, where exactly was he flying around and why?

Of course, I can see the first major obstacle to the EESU becoming a political weapon: Zenn Motor Company. I don't think Zenn's shareholders would allow the company to block the use of EEStor technology in China.....unfortunately....even if Ian Clifford and team suddenly reflected deeply about the opportunity they may have to impact innocent and deserving lives. ( After all, if EEStor's technology is what they say it is....the corresponding creation of political power is a given.) I mean if you're going to fantasize about the reality of EEStor technology, you can't confine your thoughts to the stock price of Zenn. It's much bigger than that. And so, an interesting question to ask is whether or not Zenn Motor company and any other EEStor partner will take a stand with their goods? After all, why must global politics be played out only by governments? [Note: I am purposely not mentioning the Chinese Flag on the Kleiner Perkins website in this article. ]

I understand that the thrust of my article here may be a bit shocking and especially troubling if you follow EEStor for the prospect of Zenn stock or you think EEStor is a fraud. But the question is an interesting one: what if individual businesses with unique and important breakthrough innovations ceased doing business with China until North Korea was liberated? Picture a rag tag collection of innovative nuts (similar to moi) agreeing to do one thing: make it difficult for China & South Korea to allow North Korean human beings to suffer so much. (Or insert your favorite political cause here. )The prerequisite of course would be two things: truly transformational technology and the lack of public company regulation baggage.

Finally, I should address the technical aspect of this topic briefly as a non-SME. What would be great would be a series of satellites, ships and aircraft with electric powered lasers containing North Korea's missile ambitions by downing them as soon as they leave their air space. Next, we could selectively point a few of those lasers at key government buildings in NK. Nothing too serious: just raise the ambient air temperature a few degrees....like a polite tap on the shoulder. Or how about carving the letters U S A into the courtyard in Pyongyang? Far fetched? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

This article is dedicated to Laura Ling and Euna Lee . “The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by a despotic government” -Thomas Jefferson