Category: Uncategorized

Chieu Hoi Taliban. Rejection at the ballot box, economic prosperity, and a widely held belief in a better future are death for insurgencies. When you start seeing signs like this a few months after an election, it suggests a movement in terminal decline. That’s particularly true in Afghanistan, where the “fighting season” generally begins in March and April when the snow in the passes melts. With springtime just a month away, fewer and fewer people are eagerly counting down the...

South Korea’s government is feeling the pressure of reality. For now, says Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, there will be no “large-scale” investments in North Korea, other than those for humanitarian purposes. The Korea Herald hisses: The government’s announcement is viewed by some analysts as a change in Seoul’s attitude, which was influenced by hard-liners in the U.S. administration. The piece claims that South Korea has not yet made a decision to send 500,000 tons of fertilizer to the North (given...

Spot the Real Headine: a. Roh Urges Pyongyang to See Reason b. Carter Urges Zarkawi to Embrace Tolerance c. Chirac Urges Annan to ‘Come Clean and Name Names’ d. Roh Describes Sights, Smells from Rectal Self-Exam Answer here.

Someone was conspicuously absent from his own party, at least judging by press reports so far. Yes, for some time now, we’ve been wondering who would appear on the reviewing stand to wave stolidly at the missile trucks. So here’s one theory we can’t quite put to rest just yet. Oh, and in addition to spending millions on nuclear weapons, the world’s fifth-largest army, and a lavish celebration for a guy who might not even be in charge any more,...

After all this, where exactly has the Please Don’t Hurt Me, Just Take My Wallet Sunshine Policy gotten South Korea? As Dave at No Illusions has noticed, South Korea still can’t even claim to have a direct channel of communication with Pyongyang. It must be hard to get the lean, hungry barbarians to the North to take you seriously when you’re a decadent, soft-eyed milquetoast with ‘nads of Nerf and a loose wallet. What else has appeasement not accomplished? Disarmament....

The North Korean Human Rights Conference appears to have blown through Seoul with barely a whisper in the Korean press. Count the Korean faces in this picture: The Korea Times printed this testimony from a former nurse at a North Korean gulag hospital: “I heard the cries of both mother and child through the curtain (at a hospital). And through the partially open curtain, I witnessed the nurse covering the infant’s face with a wet towel on a table, suffocating...

The North Korean Human Rights Conference appears to have blown through Seoul with barely a whisper in the Korean press. Count the Korean faces in this picture: The Korea Times printed this testimony from a former nurse at a North Korean gulag hospital: “I heard the cries of both mother and child through the curtain (at a hospital). And through the partially open curtain, I witnessed the nurse covering the infant’s face with a wet towel on a table, suffocating...

Chieu Hoi Taliban. Rejection at the ballot box, economic prosperity, and a widely held belief in a better future are death for insurgencies. When you start seeing signs like this a few months after an election, it suggests a movement in terminal decline. That’s particularly true in Afghanistan, where the “fighting season” generally begins in March and April when the snow in the passes melts. With springtime just a month away, fewer and fewer people are eagerly counting down the...

Spot the Real Headine: a. Roh Urges Pyongyang to See Reason b. Carter Urges Zarkawi to Embrace Tolerance c. Chirac Urges Annan to ‘Come Clean and Name Names’ d. Roh Describes Sights, Smells from Rectal Self-Exam Answer here.

The Joongang Ilbo reports that Congressmen Tom Lantos and Frank Wolf are working on a new bill that will “End Dictatorship and Assist Democracy.” From where I sit in Northwest, I can see eyes rolling all the way from Georgetown to Foggy Bottom. I will try to get you some details. I don’t yet know whether the bill will be merely symbolic or will have real consequences for the targeted dictatorships, but I have come to believe that in the...

Someone was conspicuously absent from his own party, at least judging by press reports so far. Yes, for some time now, we’ve been wondering who would appear on the reviewing stand to wave stolidly at the missile trucks. So here’s one theory we can’t quite put to rest just yet. Oh, and in addition to spending millions on nuclear weapons, the world’s fifth-largest army, and a lavish celebration for a guy who might not even be in charge any more,...

After all this, where exactly has the Please Don’t Hurt Me, Just Take My Wallet Sunshine Policy gotten South Korea? As Dave at No Illusions has noticed, South Korea still can’t even claim to have a direct channel of communication with Pyongyang. It must be hard to get the lean, hungry barbarians to the North to take you seriously when you’re a decadent, soft-eyed milquetoast with ‘nads of Nerf and a loose wallet. What else has appeasement not accomplished? Disarmament....

After all this, where exactly has the Please Don’t Hurt Me, Just Take My Wallet Sunshine Policy gotten South Korea? As Dave at No Illusions has noticed, South Korea still can’t even claim to have a direct channel of communication with Pyongyang. It must be hard to get the lean, hungry barbarians to the North to take you seriously when you’re a decadent, soft-eyed milquetoast with ‘nads of Nerf and a loose wallet. What else has appeasement not accomplished? Disarmament....

The Joongang Ilbo reports that Congressmen Tom Lantos and Frank Wolf are working on a new bill that will “End Dictatorship and Assist Democracy.” From where I sit in Northwest, I can see eyes rolling all the way from Georgetown to Foggy Bottom. I will try to get you some details. I don’t yet know whether the bill will be merely symbolic or will have real consequences for the targeted dictatorships, but I have come to believe that in the...

The Joongang Ilbo reports that Congressmen Tom Lantos and Frank Wolf are working on a new bill that will “End Dictatorship and Assist Democracy.” From where I sit in Northwest, I can see eyes rolling all the way from Georgetown to Foggy Bottom. I will try to get you some details. I don’t yet know whether the bill will be merely symbolic or will have real consequences for the targeted dictatorships, but I have come to believe that in the...

NYT story here. Ban Ki-Moon is telling Condi Rice that North Korea might be bluffing about its nukes. Sure, they might be–I personally don’t believe most of what North Korea says–but given the North’s chosen absence of transparency, at some point we have to make assumptions for strategic purposes. Ban wants us to assume the best, notwithstanding the fact that the evidence points in the other direction. Bits and pieces of evidence that help us make that assumption include a...

A Fresh New Idea from Seoul: I know! Let’s give them more money! If only I’d thought of that . . . .

This certainly doesn’t look very encouraging: – Will your criminal record for tax evasion hinder your diplomatic activity? “That is a tough question. I’ve never heard anything from the United States. It is a relief to me that I was appointed ambassador by the [progressive] Roh administration, the successor to the Kim Dae-jung administration [which indicted him]. It means that my punishment for tax evasion in 1999 could be viewed from another perspective.” Note that this guy wants to be...