Category: Uncategorized

When I was a kid in elementary school and Carter was president, I began to believe, as many others did, that America had entered a phase of terminal economic and political decline. The advance of Communism everywhere seemed irreversible. I saw the same worry in my parents, who represented both sides of the political spectrum. Unfortunately, both bought into the myth that Reagan was an “extremist” and threw their votes away on John Anderson as a protest vote (they knew...

Andrew Petty at the Korea Herald has written a story on the latest outrage of anti-American bigotry in Korea. I was actually quoted for the story, but it took Owen Rathbone to find it (minor correction–I left the Army several months ago). Read his whole post, along with his kind words about President Reagan. And be sure to read the story he posted about earlier examples of Korea’s xenophobic blood libels. Haven’t I heard that one somewhere else? Or was...

It’s apparent that the Korea blogosphere isn’t alone in its enjoyment of the delicious ironies surrounding our impending withdrawal from the Korea. U.S. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard apparently told a crowd of Korean brownshirts at Seoul National University that the U.S. was withdrawing its troops from Korea to reduce the risk of more dangerous training accidents! If that one wasn’t obvious enough, check out Budaechigae today, which quotes a Pentagon offical (via the Korean MoFA) as saying that “the United States...

If you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want our national policy based upon what we know in our hearts is morally right. We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion now in slavery behind the Iron Curtain, “Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skin, we are willing to make a deal with...

If you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want our national policy based upon what we know in our hearts is morally right. We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion now in slavery behind the Iron Curtain, “Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skin, we are willing to make a deal with...

When I was a kid in elementary school and Carter was president, I began to believe, as many others did, that America had entered a phase of terminal economic and political decline. The advance of Communism everywhere seemed irreversible. I saw the same worry in my parents, who represented both sides of the political spectrum. Unfortunately, both bought into the myth that Reagan was an “extremist” and threw their votes away on John Anderson as a protest vote (they knew...

From Norbert Vollertsen, some mixed news from Beijing. The good news is that five defectors got in. An American and a South Korean ran the operation together. The bad news is that they refused to let in a sixth, refusing to accept his ID papers as proof of his North Korean nationality. One wonders who else would want shelter in a German school in Beijing. Does anyone else see some stupendous historical irony there? Norbert also included some interesting biographical...

Not sure how I missed this IHT piece when it was published. It appears that we are indeed headed for bigger troop cuts, and soon.

NK Gulag was organized just a year ago. In that time, they’ve endured official hostility and the threats of thugs. Of course, they’ve been through worse and lived to tell about it. If only we’d listed. I linked the newsletter here, on my main site.

From Norbert Vollertsen, some mixed news from Beijing. The good news is that five defectors got in. An American and a South Korean ran the operation together. The bad news is that they refused to let in a sixth, refusing to accept his ID papers as proof of his North Korean nationality. One wonders who else would want shelter in a German school in Beijing. Does anyone else see some stupendous historical irony there? Norbert also included some interesting biographical...

Not sure how I missed this IHT piece when it was published. It appears that we are indeed headed for bigger troop cuts, and soon.

NK Gulag was organized just a year ago. In that time, they’ve endured official hostility and the threats of thugs. Of course, they’ve been through worse and lived to tell about it. If only we’d listed. I linked the newsletter here, on my main site.

Rebecca has posted the newest permutation of Kerry’s North Korea policy on NKZone. It has attracted the usual mix of comments, including the usual ratio of scary ones that appear to have been texted in from Phish concerts. If Kerry scared you before when he talked about carrying on with one-on-one AND five-on-one talks and paying all kinds of blackmail, Kerry’s statement today contained some encouraging contact with reality, such as, “The North Koreans have made it clear to the...

Rebecca has posted the newest permutation of Kerry’s North Korea policy on NKZone. It has attracted the usual mix of comments, including the usual ratio of scary ones that appear to have been texted in from Phish concerts. If Kerry scared you before when he talked about carrying on with one-on-one AND five-on-one talks and paying all kinds of blackmail, Kerry’s statement today contained some encouraging contact with reality, such as, “The North Koreans have made it clear to the...

Rebecca has posted the newest permutation of Kerry’s North Korea policy on NKZone. It has attracted the usual mix of comments, including the usual ratio of scary ones that appear to have been texted in from Phish concerts. If Kerry scared you before when he talked about carrying on with one-on-one AND five-on-one talks and paying all kinds of blackmail, Kerry’s statement today contained some encouraging contact with reality, such as, “The North Koreans have made it clear to the...

It’s come to this–Kang Chol-Hwan tells us that North Korea is building a border fence and tiger traps to kill and maim refugees. If there were a futures market on North Korea, I’d be indicted for insider trading. As you heard me speculate here, the NK secret police suspect an assassination attempt by “rebellious forces” was behind the Ryongchon explosion; they’re in full purge mode and are confiscating every cell phone they can find. The Korea Herald may be onto...

It’s come to this–Kang Chol-Hwan tells us that North Korea is building a border fence and tiger traps to kill and maim refugees. If there were a futures market on North Korea, I’d be indicted for insider trading. As you heard me speculate here, the NK secret police suspect an assassination attempt by “rebellious forces” was behind the Ryongchon explosion; they’re in full purge mode and are confiscating every cell phone they can find. The Korea Herald may be onto...

We haven’t heard from that chorus much since the war in Iraq started, but Rebecca at NKZone posts a warmed-over blog post to that effect. I posted a partial response in the comments. Here is my response in full: I would first offer my congratulations to the Lightweight for managing to contradict himself in his very first paragraph. So is North Korea really “a meaningful military threat to its neighbors, who are our allies/trading partners” or “too impoverished to invade...