There is moral decline here but it's confined to the elites in the media and the arts who are out of step with the average American and held in contempt by many of us. On the other hand, in Israel the Left is more pervasive and infects the political leadership too, so your moral decline is deeper and much more advanced. e.g., not even hardened USA Socialists would tolerate a president who allowed the shelling of an American city for seven years.

It's the same thing. What about the left that is defending the terrorists in gaza and ramallah? They have reached the same low level.

There is a big difference here. Like China when Nixon opened the door to them, N. Korea will also be joining the family of nations that will live in peace with other countries. It took China more than 30 years to become one of the world's leading economies.today. It will take time. But the process has started. Hence, don't equate them with fanatical Islamist-Jihadist regimes or with the Nazis.

Who doesn't remember Barenboim running to get PA citizenship? We have rot and it is at the top with ex-generals in buddy-buddy relationships with the terrorists there were supposedly fighting while in uniform. Just ask Danny Rothschild how that works.

Here Plocker is right. This visit can in no way change the ugly regime there, only strengthen it. Pyonyang is only receiving and giving nothing. Non-members of the communist elite probably don't even know of the visit.

North Korea succeeded in building an atom bomb, so now they belong to that club of nations who have nuclear weapons. The orchestra was the welcoming committee.

The conductor is just another liberal who is stupid enough to believe, if you kiss a donkeys ass you won't get kicked. As far as the U.S.'s part in this, what can you expect? This is the same country that tells Israeli Jews to sit on their hands while bombs are falling on their heads. All thats left in this world, are liars, haters and murderers. Am Yisrael Chi Dovid Ben Leizer Hakohain Lt.Col.Ret. Novi Michigan USA OMNI-BERATUS

This article is right on target ! The little bit that gets out of North Korea speaks to the punishment of whole families for years or generations in slave labor camps for the most minor of infractions, the total absence of any freedom, and the cruelest kind of totalitarianism. It makes Orwell's 1984 look like an open society. Those (like Cameron) who say 'it can't be that bad' or 'the truth is somewhere in the middle' are keeping their heads in the sand and are complicit with evil.

"Look whos talking". Whilst everything you say about N.Kora and is right on the mark, we Jews in the Diaspora ask the same questions of a country which we hold dear to our hearts namely Israel. How much criticism over the years since Oslo did we hear about our own flocking and kissing Arafat? Or smile photos with Abbas? How many of our own and still to this day defend arab terrorists at the expense of theyre fellow citizens? When was the last outcry in the Israeli media about Israels High Court when it justified the expulsion of its own citizens from theyre homes and sanctified it with "democratic law"? Did you Sever cry out in this media when young girls aged between 14-17 are held in prison for weeks on end without trial or cause? Or the severe punishing recently of those who merely blocked roads as many other from the past, only these were "settlers" and got hefty prison sentences that no other segment of the community would have got. Did you cry out when your Police force cossack style went into a Jewish demonstration on orders to beat Jewish heads? Bottom line you have got some Chutzpah to claim the moral high ground with whats happening in Israel to our Jewish brothers and sisters. Clean your own fu.... house FIRST!

For 40 years we talked and talked with the Soviet Union, until finally change began to be possible, and with Mr. Gorbachev realizing something was terribly wrong, he set in motion what ultimately brought down the whole rotten mess. If we hadn't been talking, there prob wouldn't be a world left today, and the cockaroaches would have inherited the planet, for they are very immune to radioactivity. As someone in our gvt said, hold your friends close, and your enemies closer. As for moral decay, we have in America the most immoral government of our history. Bush with his war of lies has killed 4000 Americans, several hundred Brits, etc, while meanwhile letting Bin Laden go free in Afghanistan. Meanwhile Bush's oil buddies have quadrupled the price of oil, so the world is more and more funding the other side of the war on terrorism. Of course, Bush, Cheney, etc and their pals don't care, for all that matters to them is their God of Greed, and the profits they make courtesy of the maniacs who live in the 10th century in the middle east.

US Orchestras can visit, without criticism from YNET's columnists, a state in defiance of scores of UN resolutions, a state that has occupied and settled illegally on the territory of a neighbour for over 40 years, a state currently in the process of ethnically cleansing an entire people from off the land where it has dwelt for centuries, a state so degenerate that decent people, Jews and gentiles the world over, boycott its products and institutions and loath its racist government and murderous army. Musicians from the US visiting such a disgusting place is of course perfectly okay with your Mr Plocker.

The American people have lost their way and allowed George Bush and the rest to steal the constitution from them. They are now closer to North Korea's police state than anyone knows. See last weeks San Francisco Chronicle article on the American Concentration camps and railroad cars. If you listen you can hear the jackboots in the streets already. In addition Allan Greenspan has just called for the Arabs to dump the dollar. This will cause an economic crash that will bring on the martial law. The Israeli people can no longer depend on America either can the American people they will soon be it's prisoners.

intelligent beings and distorting their vision. The world is full of usefull idiots and moonbats. The disease seems to be especially rampant in the USA today, as it seems to be in the begining stages of dying out in Europe (although not very apparent yet). It will have to run its course in USA until it dies out. I hope it won't be too late! Wake up moonbats and flower people ! The 70's will never return.

Surely there are more things to complain about than a concert in North Korea. Anyway, such cultural presentations have often been breaking points in tension, allowing two fighting nations to begin the process of coming to terms with each other. North Korea may be signaling a desire to phase out the extremity of its current situation to something more sustainable. Kim Jung Il has made hints of this, especially given the lack of a clear successor.

Who in the hell gives a rats ass what an Israeli thinks, much less their opinion on morality. Israel is the most immoral regime on the planet today, and their immorality is only overshadowed by their sheer arrogance. The US should cut off all aid to Israel tomorrow as the only thing that is hurting America’s moral values today is our association with the despicable people of Israel.

Art is not above politicis when the artistes naivite, believing they can change the fevered brow to a calm one, supports cruel regimes

Had them all standing and clapping like crazy over the rendition of our National Anthem...

When Obama gets elected the US will play music and talk to every dictator in the world. That Israel has Barenboim and many other useful fools doesn't make the concert less despicable.

"Who in the hell gives a rats ass what an Israeli thinks"? Well, obviously you do! Otherwise why are you spending your time reading an Israeli news site, especially it's "opinion" section and reply to an Isreali's opinion article. If nobody really cared what we think we would have shut up, but with caring readers like you it's all worth it!

Good points were made in comparing former communists regimes to N. Korea. However, threats of war and handcuffing the N. Korean regime has gained little thus far, expect to arouse Kim Jong IL to fire sharp hard line retoric, and thus, elevating the intensity already present at the DMZ. Playing in Pyongyang doesn't concent to N. Korea's philosophy, but in essense slighty undermines it by showing the people of the communist party that Americans are not the animals they've been taught to believe and more importantly, that diplomacy, the ability to find common ground, even if it does have to begin with music can be possible

I agree with the article completely, North Korea is the most horrible regime of our times. Not for Israel, lets take ourselves out of the equation for a moment, but the way it treats its own citizens there hardly can be worse than North Korea. So the question is: would not performing music for them or shouting out accusations help their oppressed people in any way? (after all it's about them, isn't it, it's not about our satisfaction). The North Korean leadership has a huge experience dealing with foreign criticism and turning it to their advantage as a tool to brainwash their people into patriotic slavery. You really think that an orchestra conductor making a bit of a scandal would help the situation in the slightest? There is one question: what is justice, and there is a different question: what is constructively the best thing to do, and unfortunatelly the answer is not always the same. If it were the same people would start telling each other: you look fat and your dinner party was boring.

I don`t think that the musicians including LM really understand the nature and evil of the N. Korean regieme. They don`t want to know. That might force them to get their head out and confront reality not dreams.

Well stated, Sever. Exactly so. The lines between moral and immoral are more and more blurry.

"The US should cut off all aid to Israel tomorrow as the only thing that is hurting America’s moral values today is our association with the despicable people of Israel. " Listen up, you callous hateful Barbarian. Agree with Plocker's POV or don't, he is criticizing the regime that governs North Korea, not its people. You are levelling your libels and slanders at the whole "despicable people of Israel." If that's how you feel, then get the hell off their websites, and go back to your jihadi site. Yallah, Imshi, Haywan!

It is all too common to make comparisons to Nazi Germany. There are no comparisons, period. The premise of the article, however, is correct.

Yitzi, you are the very personification of why I view the Left with such utter contempt. I regret I'm not Reality itself, so I could grab you by your collar and start bouncing my foot off your tail until your grey matter starts working. In contrast, #16 reassures me that Israel does indeed have a healthy future.

It was reported from the outset of the plan that the State Department was fully aware and supportive of this visit. So quitcherbitchin about left wing conspiracies