Search Results for: barrel of a gun

February 19, 2006

When Power Comes from the Wire of a Modem

The Washington Post has a fascinating look at how the Internet forced the Chinese government to retreat – partially – in its censorship of the journal “Freezing Point” (previous posts here). Why didn’t Beijing simply follow Mao’s old “barrel of a gun” formula this time? Because the Chinese economy must sustain sufficiently high growth to absorb a flood of excess laborers from rural areas to preserve social stability, which places China between the Scylla of rising dissent and the Charibdis...

Categories Censorship/China/Geopolitics/Human Rights/NK Economics/WTF?
December 16, 2005

Congress ‘Expresses Concern’ Over Dongzhou Massacre

My informed source has asked me not to reveal any further information about where this originates, but the bipartisan support is very encouraging. All emphasis is my own. —————————————————————————————– December 15, 2005 His Excellency Zhou Wenzhong Ambassador Embassy of the People’s Republic of China 2300 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008 Dear Mr. Ambassador: We are writing to you to express our deep concern over news reports regarding the December 6th incident; that is, the lethal assault last week on...

Categories Uncategorized
October 20, 2004

Fun With Statcounter

Statcounter! Greetings to my readers in New York, the San Francisco Bay area, Research Triangle Park, Queensland, the First Signal (where I used to be your damn prosecutor, back when Colonel R was in charge and Colonel G was his deputy), and of course, Seoul. I had absolutely no idea so many people actually read this site, and frankly, the sudden responsibility to post content is more pressure than I really need right now with two kids that scream all...

Categories Uncategorized
October 20, 2004

Fun With Statcounter

Statcounter! Greetings to my readers in New York, the San Francisco Bay area, Research Triangle Park, Queensland, the First Signal (where I used to be your damn prosecutor, back when Colonel R was in charge and Colonel G was his deputy), and of course, Seoul. I had absolutely no idea so many people actually read this site, and frankly, the sudden responsibility to post content is more pressure than I really need right now with two kids that scream all...

Categories Uncategorized
October 19, 2004

Today’s Theater of the Absurd

The NKHRA Makes Waves Korean press reaction to Bush’s signing of the NKHRA here, and the Unification Minister’s futile two cents’ worth of regret here. Now, the GNP (Grand National Party, South Korea’s “conservative” opposition) wants to get into the act. So they finally found their voice, now that the song is half over. And it’s a dirge. Meanwhile, the spigot on North Korean emigration has loosened another half-turn with only the second known successful defection by sea: Two North...

Categories Uncategorized
October 18, 2004

Today’s Theater of the Absurd

The NKHRA Makes Waves Korean press reaction to Bush’s signing of the NKHRA here, and the Unification Minister’s futile two cents’ worth of regret here. Now, the GNP (Grand National Party, South Korea’s “conservative” opposition) wants to get into the act. So they finally found their voice, now that the song is half over. And it’s a dirge. Meanwhile, the spigot on North Korean emigration has loosened another half-turn with only the second known successful defection by sea: Two North...

Categories Uncategorized
March 31, 2004

108075249581483522

Today comes the sad news that Kang Byong-sop, one of the courageous defectors who told the world about North Korea’s gas chambers, was seen on Pyongyang TV, reading a forced recantation of his charges. Undoubtedly, his days are numbered; one can only hope that his family will somehow manage to survive. China sent him back, of course, in clear violation of international law and the most fundamental principles of morality . . . both of which are clearly meaningless to...

Categories Uncategorized
March 31, 2004

108075249581483522

Today comes the sad news that Kang Byong-sop, one of the courageous defectors who told the world about North Korea’s gas chambers, was seen on Pyongyang TV, reading a forced recantation of his charges. Undoubtedly, his days are numbered; one can only hope that his family will somehow manage to survive. China sent him back, of course, in clear violation of international law and the most fundamental principles of morality . . . both of which are clearly meaningless to...

Categories Uncategorized
December 4, 2017

Korean War II: What the Joint Statements tell us about Pyongyang’s strategy

“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” – George Orwell On June 15, 2000, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il signed a joint statement agreeing to seek “independent” reunification and an inter-Korean coalition government. It was not the first joint statement between North and South. This relatively modest one from 1972 calls for “both parties [to] promote national unity as a united people over any differences of our ideological and political systems.” In retrospect, this...

Categories Diplomacy/Korean War II
October 11, 2014

Silencing Park Sang-Hak won’t end North Korea’s threats (updated)

For the first time since 2010, North Korea has fired across the border into South Korean territory, this time with 14.5-millimeter anti-aircraft guns. The North Koreans were shooting at the second of two launches of balloons carrying a total of 1.5 million leaflets, by North Korean refugee Park Sang-Hak and the Fighters for a Free North Korea. The North Koreans didn’t respond to the first launch of 10 balloons at noon, but at around 4:00 in the afternoon, they fired...

Categories Activism/Censorship/Korean War II/North-South/Terrorism (NK)
February 12, 2013

Good Sanctions and Bad Sanctions

Weeks before North Korea’s latest nuclear test, it was clear that the political climate surrounding North Korea policy was ready for a big shift away from honor-system diplomacy and toward tougher sanctions.  This test is likely to mean a major legislative push here in Washington — not just to punish North Korea, but to craft and enact sanctions that attack the regime’s structural weaknesses, with the intent of either coercing its disarmament or destroying it.  For all the tension that will...

Categories Anju Links/Famine & Food Aid/Sanctions
August 27, 2012

Syria the Model

Before I go any further, let me clear the air about something. Back on the First of July, after reading this New York Times story, among others, I wrote that “if these new reports are correct, I see little to criticize in President Obama’s current Syria policy.” Unfortunately, most evidence now suggests that those reports were wrong, even allowing for what ordinary citizens don’t know about CIA activities in Syria. Whatever support we’re giving the Free Syrian Army is modest...

Categories Anju Links
June 9, 2011

Open Sources: Gates Disclaims Intent to Destabilize N. Korea

Did you really have to say that? According to a transcript released by the US defense department on Sunday, Gates, speaking at the annual Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore Saturday. said that Washington has no interest in carrying out regime change against Pyeongyang. Rather, the defense secretary stated that the US is interestsed (sic) in helping that regime become a normal state abiding by the norms of the international community. This is disappointing because I actually admire Gates very much; I’d...

Categories Anju Links
February 20, 2011

Is Khaddafy a goner?

He’s lost Benghazi and he could lose Tripoli by tomorrow morning, America time: Libya’s unrest spread to the capital Tripoli on Sunday after scores of protesters were killed in the second city Benghazi, which appeared to have slipped out of control of forces loyal to strongman Muammar Gaddafi. [….] In the first sign of serious unrest in the capital, thousands of protesters clashed with supporters of Gadaffi in Tripoli. Gunfire could be heard and police using tear gas to disperse...

Categories Africa/Regime Change
October 19, 2010

The Boy Who Cried “Sheep!”: One Man’s Mass Murderer Is Selig Harrison’s Reformer

For someone who judged the evidence of North Korea’s uranium enrichment program so skeptically, Selig Harrison sure doesn’t set a very high bar to perceive evidence of “reform” in North Korea. But Harrison’s latest op-ed in the Boston Globe is in equal parts breathless and baseless, and might just extend his dismal predictive record into the next decade. In his desperation to find some sign that North Korea’s new Inner Party is a hothouse of reforms, Harrison pounds the square...

Categories Humor/Satire/Kremlinology/The Camps/Useful Idiocy
July 13, 2010

Götterdämmerung Watch

Open News reports that banditry by hungry North Korean soldiers is turning the population against the army: According to our source, this kind of situation, where soldiers clean out cattle pens, steal pickled cabbages, take everything from people walking in the streets, and rape women in broad day, has been going on for a long time ““ ever since Kim il-sung’s death. The source revealed, that North Korean residents looking at rice bags with American flags say, “They once said...

Categories Famine & Food Aid/NK Military/Propaganda
October 18, 2009

Extortion for Domestic Consumption

This, coming from a regime that offers little more than propaganda for its people to consume: Upon seeing signs that the food situation is becoming serious, factory managers are moving to soothe workers, saying, “Great amounts of food will come from foreign countries in January, so don’t worry so much. However, the workers reactions are not ones of great relief, because it is not clear whether that foreign food aid would be distributed to workers even if it did arrive....

Categories Famine & Food Aid/Propaganda
September 29, 2009

Obama Administration Says First Words About Human Rights in North Korea

Eight months, a missile test, and a nuclear test after President Obama’s inauguration, he has finally gotten around to nominating Bob King to be Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea, a move mandated by the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 and the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2008. The United States said Friday it was “very concerned” about human rights violations in North Korea, as President Barack Obama named an envoy to focus on...

Categories Activism/Diplomacy/Human Rights/U.S. Politics