Merry Christmas, Everybody!
North Korea, which President Bush removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism on October 11, 2008, has threatened a “sacred war” against South Korea. Well, that’s just great — even godless atheists are getting in on the whole “jihad” thing.
If your thoughts turn to the unfortunate people of North Korea this Christmas, LiNK is raising funds to help them.
Hmmm. Can’t link it, but I’ve just been passed an assessment by a respected publication that says there’s a 70% chance that the Kaesong Industrial Park will be shut down in 2011. I’d say so, too. Like I say, Lee Myung Bak can talk as tough as he wants and hold threaxercises all year, but Kaesong still screams “business as usual.” Lenin himself could not have imagined that the Capitalists would pay for the torpedoes and shells fired into South Korean ships and villages.
Well, that was cute.
Larry Niksch, formerly with the Congressional Research Service and now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has written a very good analysis of the possible scenarios for more North Korean provocations, and South Korean responses. Opens in pdf.
Thomas P.M. Barnett on the future of China:
Deng chose wisely: Reversing Mikhail Gorbachev’s subsequent logic, he focused on the economics while putting off the politics. This decision later earned him the sobriquet “the butcher of Tiananmen” when, in 1989, the political expectations of students quickly outpaced the Party’s willingness for self-examination. But it likewise locked China onto a historical pathway from which it cannot escape, or what I call the five D’s of the dragon’s decline from world-beater to world-benefactor: demographics, decrepitude, dependency, defensiveness, and — most disabling of all — democratization.
Well worth a read, even if you’re not a Barnett fan (I only am on odd-numbered days). Hat tip to Chris Badeaux.
Now this is just a wonderful feel-good story.
Aside from the rope-peddling capitalists, the ROK left’s support for the KIP (where workers have zero rights on the job) shows what craven hypocrites they are as well.
That Larry Niksch piece sounded like chess analysis. If white moves here, black moves there, … . I’d like to know what experienced military guys think of it.
Mr. Stanton – great punchline – and I am right there with ya. However for those uninitiated in the K-blogs, I have to clarify: North Korea is the most religious state on earth outside of Saudia Arabia and the DPRK’s jihad is indeed motivated by a theology that posits Kim Il-sung as the eternal leader (and god) of all Korea with the “sacred purpose” (their words, not mine) of unification of Korea under Kim Il-sung’s deity.
The DPRK is not actually godless; they openly acknowledge Kim Il-sung as their god.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you, Joshua, and the same to everyone else. And thanks for the linkage; there’s something oddly cathartically Zen about writing the news in haiku, and I’m starting to look forward to my annual tradition.
Merry christmas joshua, and kushibo, I read your blog too. Thanks for all the attentive work you do to keep us informed and entertained. And I agree with kcj, they basically spout things from the christian bible and other religious texts but in a contemporary fashion, appearing ridiculous. I’ll keep my comparative analysis to old religions to myself, but all supernatural religious stories sound the same, whether recent or not.
Hey Joshua, have you seen Bill Richardson’s new project?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/12/22/new.mexico.bonney/index.html?hpt=Sbin
Meryy Christmas to you all also. In case none of you here have seen this video, I warn you that you may pee a little after watching it. Pyongyang Traffic Girls from the Heavens.
New strategy to win Norks’ hearts and minds: choco pies!
Seriously, though, a policy shift for 2011: