chenGOD

Ummm hi.

North Korea basically is a weaponized nuclear state. Again, if the US invades now, North Korea launches at the very least all of their conventional artillery toward South Korea and Japan, causing millions of deaths. Discussion at the official level is not appeasement. The day China signs on to any sort of agreement where the US invades is the day I eat an entire raw onion on live webcam for y'all.

he knows a bit about NK literature. his book "the cleanest race" is really poor for an academic work. the university he teaches at in South Korea is a diploma mill. if you want to read about NK, i would suggest andrei lankov. Bruce cumings is alright too although he gets a little too anti-US in his later writings.

no im not a communist lol. on phone so no long posts but myers is no expert on NK. he did his academic work on German literature.

I just had to comment on this, since you know, I've actually had some experience with NK refugees. The one I know best is my friend's girlfriend. They live together in Seoul, and she has a great time there. Some of the other NK refugees do not have such a wonderful existence, it's true. However, the general trend is that it tends to be discrimination on the part of South Koreans that causes much of their unhappiness after escaping South Korea. as to the other stuff: http://www.nknews.org/2013/04/north-korea-threatens-to-permanently-close-kaesong/ Sensationalist headline, rational article. http://www.nknews.org/2013/04/north-korean-military-has-approval-to-launch-nuclear-attacks-on-u-s/ In the second article, note the following phrases: "Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the U.S. thought “that the ban ought to be lifted”." The ban here refers to the ban on SK workers entering the Kaesong complex. Now, that seems totally reasonable yeah? But think of yourself as a North Korean - who for years have been saying , "we think the sanctions on our country should be lifted." "Several moves made by the United States in the past few weeks, including the use of B-2 bombers and F-22 fighters during joint military exercises with South Korea, indicate that it is taking North Korea’s threats seriously." From a North Korean perspective, it is taking the threats posed by the US/South Korean military exercises seriously, especialy with B-2 bombers in the region. You know, it's tempting to think of the North as evil, after all, you've been fed the line about them starving their people for decades and swallowed it whole (never mind those pesky famine conditions - it must be the evil government!!). You're probably even thinking about how North Korea started the Korean War (which I am not disputing). Those godless communists, attacking a free nation. Whose president had recently been elected in a scandal filled election, with his primary opponent assassinated by Korean military, and the US still called those elections fair and transparent. Never mind the oppression of communists and violent uprisings that happened in the southern part of the peninsula prior to the war (by the way, did you know that at the time of the split, there were actually more communists in the south than in the north?). Never mind that the division of the nation was undertaken without consulting any Koreans, and done by two junior US officers at the request of MacArthur. Never mind any of the history...just concentrate on the modern day rhetoric and propaganda....(from which government though?). ps. NKNEWS is actually a fantastic site if you're interested in following North Korea.

surely that would be a kneegrist?

north koreans must have been hacking you.

Jlolhn Terry edit: I lol more every time I watch that. possible gif of the year that one.

Ok I lied - it's not gonna be lengthy, because I just don't have the time. First - axis of evil. Perhaps it is speculation on my part, but the avoidance of Islam bias seems clear to me. Regardless, use of the term "axis" implies that the nations involved had coordinated foreign policy goals (which they clearly didn't). Use of the term "evil" puts the discourse into a stark black and white, us vs. them context. We are always right, and they are always evil. It's such a simplistic foreign policy. During the Sunshine Policy - there were not only family and business exchanges, there were also two trips to North Korea by the incumbent president of South Korea. There was a mass crossing of hundreds of South Koreans and the reopening of the border liaison office. It was a period of relatively little conflict between the two nations, (and as an aside, the 2002 naval skirmish that left 4 South Koreans dead also reportedly left 19 North Koreans dead) with fewer incidences than during the previous decade. Dialogue increased and economic progress was achieved which could have provided the North with some much needed upgrades to their infrastructure. Sanctions do not harm the leadership, they harm only the ordinary citizen. They are virtually unenforceable, with China being unwilling to actively pursue sanctions (regardless of their rhetoric in the UN) as they fear the collapse of North Korea. Coupled with famine-like conditions, sanctions are proving deadly to the population. Military intervention will result in the deaths of millions as the NK leadership responds in a panic by launching all the conventional artillery at their disposal toward South Korea and Japan. In addition, the increased US military presence on the Korean peninsula would be met with fierce resistance by many in the South. Finally, recent history shows that military intervention simply does not work (the cases of Iraq and Afghanistan being the two most obvious examples). Discourse worked remarkably well in comparison to the other alternatives. eugene: in fact the North did trade extensively with the Soviets and Chinese. The North's economy was actually stronger than the South's up until the mid-70s. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the assassination of Ceausescu (NK had strong relations with Romania), their alternative was China, whose economy was not really strong enough to be the sole trading partner until the mid 90s.

FLOL

fwp: lack of shotgun with which i can shoot people who dont like polvo in the face.

people who dont like polvo should be shot in the face with a shotgun.

yessir bossman!!1

i hvent responded yet cause i havent had time (or internet beyond cell phone) will do tomorrow since i seem to be not working...

too much to go into on a phone. ill post a lengthy (and i mean lengthy) response later.

No, I'm pretty sure Hitchens is very forward about his war against Islam and all religions. Maybe you should watch the clip instead of assuming. edit: @ Hoodie, no one really knows, but it is of my belief that there appears to be no real end to the tremendous suffering of the NK people unless the dictatorship is overthrown. And that only seems possible with military intervention at this point. In the Hitchens clip its noted that at the line where NK and SK soldiers stand and face each other, the NK government rotates their strongest/most committed soldiers.. which are on average 6 inches smaller than those of SK. Why? Because from birth the lack of food and nutrition stunts the brain/body from growing. The NK people are literally in a totalitarian hell. Watch the Hitchens clip if you want to hear a much more raw and blunt description of what it would be like to even live a day in a place like NK. I'm not referring to Hitchens' use of the term - I'm referring to the inclusion of North Korea in the "axis of evil" in Bush's original State of the Union address. It is very likely that NK was included in that speech specifically to avoid the criticism of being a war against Islam. Military intervention would be a surefire means of ensuring the deaths of millions of people in South Korea and Japan. The NK people are in a totalitarian state, but to call it a hell1 is the worst kind of rhetoric, that does nothing to promote discourse, which, if you'd actually been paying attention to North Korea at all in the last two decades, was something that worked remarkably well (see the "sunshine policy" and the 1994 "agreed framework"). And to say that change is not happening from within is also some ridiculous hyperbole. Yes, it is slow, and it can sometimes seem as if NK is taking one step forward and two steps back, but change is inevitable, especially as the proliferation of communication technology proceeds. The NK government has already lost control of the internal cell phone network for example. University students and professors have been engaging in overseas studies, and the more NK people who see the outside world the better. Especially if they get to engage with foreign intellectuals. Are North Koreans wary and paranoid? Yes, of course they are. That's the nature of life in a totalitarian state. But they are also people who, at the end of the day, don't want US "liberation" any more than the Iraqis did. pattern recognition: if you think it's financially irresponsible of the US to send 2 bombers across the Pacific, wait until you see the plans for the missile defense shield to defend against North Korea's missiles! http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/world/asia/us-to-bolster-missile-defense-against-north-korea.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 1: OK, their domestically produced goods are terrible, especially the alcohol and cigarettes.

lolwithout watching the hitchens clip NK was only included in the "axis of evil" so that it wouldnt look like a war against Islam.

balvenie? No, it was a Laphroaig quarter-cask. It was fucking beautiful. We had a warm-up glass of Bowmore 15 year old which was quite good.

the scotch i was drinking last night was too good and now i dont want to drink anything else.

Last two episodes of this season. Bet war doesn't start until next season. lulz.

i dont think the hotel mattress was memory foam. im gonna email and find out cause hot damn i wanna buy that same brand.

The hotel that i stayed at in Whistler over the weekend was so nice that I don't want to sleep in my bed anymore.

fuck that i want some mansions and shit.

Still no internet at home. Lack of work makes my second month of rent shaky lol. fuck my life. Was supposed to go to dentist next week, doubtful can afford to take time off work (if work is there) or dental bill.

kill them both with a hammer. then blame it on video games.