Monthly Archive: January, 2006

First, let me say that I will miss Hidden Nook’s blog, and I will leave the link on my sidebar in the event he returns to blogging, as he’s suggested. Second, I extend him a public invitation to blog here on occasion, particularly if the thoughts are reasonably topical. Your correspondent is a rich lode of eccentrities, which is why it’s so difficult to pick just five things about myself that are strange: 1. My wife and I have always...

I discussed the rising Chinese military power earlier. Here is a contra-indication of that trend (maybe Richardson was right about the personnel quality issues): Three divisions, comprising about 50,000 troops, from the Shenyang military region took part in the four-stage exercises, in which the troops representing the PLA were defeated by the enemy Blue Army – believed to have simulated US battle techniques. In the first stage, the Red Army was ordered to repel the attacking Blue Army. Despite its...

[Update] Debra Saunders says something similar to what I wrote below — that Google is tough with the DoJ and wobbly with the Chinese government, because it takes no courage to confront the DoJ (in fact, such fake “courage” might even help its business) while the Chinese can hurt its business. [Original Entry] Yesterday, I expressed an admiration for what Rebecca MacKinnon wrote about the “we’re just following the laws” defense of American corporations that operate in places like China....

The New York Times has a great historical perspective on Kim Jong-Il’s show-tours of Chinese factories and industrial zones. And astonishingly, all of the show-tours seem to have come to naught. Beyond the question of will is the question of means. Economists cite other crucial differences that may curb North Korea’s efforts to pull off Chinese-style market reforms. While China used its large agricultural sector to expand its industrial base, the North’s economy is already largely industrialized, albeit with hulking,...

The GOP Vixen has more on Google’s kowtow to the ChiComs.

If only we were this hard-headed about international nuclear proliferation. In an interview with Reuters, Mr. Hill said that at a meeting in Beijing last week, Kim Gye-gwan, his North Korean counterpart, said Pyongyang was prepared to follow international rules on money laundering and was also willing to “cooperate internationally.” “We’re not looking here for words. We’re more interested in actions. We’d like to see this activity cease,” Mr. Hill reportedly told the news agency. It’s refreshing to see signs...

My advice to everyone who values his health: do not have children. I think I’ve been sick now for a whole month, courtesy of the adorable little biohazards at my son’s preschool. To save time, I put everything into one post (HT to LiNK for most of these). _________________ . We Are (Not) One! Via MSNBC, we have more evidence, if any were needed, that South Korea’s popular enthusiasm for unification doesn’t necessarily extend to the people of North Korea....

Update: My own entry: Busted! Transvestite finds Iraqi weapons of mass destruction during televised cavity search of anti-American firebrand George Galloway.

In honor of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I’d like to remind everyone that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad–now living out the remainder of his ill-considered existence in the monastic surroundings of Gitmo–is somewhere around his 153rd trimester. If some court decided to retroactively declare Mr. Mohammad to be a postmature fetus and appoint a forward-thinking military doctor as his guardian ad litem, and–stay with me here–have that guardian order a safe and legal medical procedure to be performed on Mr....

The title was just too good not to steal from Glenn Reynolds. The Saddamists and nationalists in Iraq have gone on the warpath against al-Qaeda and its Iraqi followers, and have vowed to drive them out of Anbar, the epicenter of the insurgency. It all began when an al-Qaeda bombing killed 80 local residents: Residents told Reuters on Monday at least three prominent figures on both sides were among those killed after local insurgent groups formed an alliance against al...

No question about it: perception of a threat has a direct relationship to the hospitality–or hostility–with which U.S. forces are received. After a United States Navy sailor was confined on an American base near here, accused of the Jan. 3 beating death of a Japanese woman, 20 people held a protest at the base. One man held up a sign that read, in English, “Dear Sailors, Don’t Kill Local Women.” A decade ago, when three American servicemen were detained on...

The New York Times gets it: Mr. Cheon said the worship of Dr. Hwang was also rooted in the fierce nationalism fostered during the decades of military dictatorship, until the late 1980’s. “We were taught constantly about national interests and that the ends justified the means,” Mr. Cheon said. In this atmosphere, Dr. Hwang became untouchable. “Many of us didn’t trust him,” Kim Jae Sup, professor of developmental biology at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, said of...

Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can Nothing to kill or die for A brotherhood of man Can anyone name one place where there there was not a substantial difference in standards of living between different socioecomic classes? I can’t, but Chung Dong Young can imagine it: Former unification minister and Uri Party chairman contender Chung Dong-young said at a press conference yesterday that if the strength of the army was reduced to 300,000, about half its current size,...

The Unification Ministry is again facing criticism over its laxness toward North Korea, after announcing yesterday it would provide 4.8 billion won ($4.8 million) to repair and complete a project on Mount Paektu on which it has already spent 4.98 billion won. Of that, 2 billion won is to repair faulty construction by North Korean workers, carried out without clear specifications of what the South expected for its contribution. The project happens to an airfield, and I’ve yet to hear...

You have to love this headline: U.S. Investigators Smash Hopes of N. Korea Compromise Investigators? The people who find just the facts, ma’am, have smashed those hopes, as opposed to the protaganists behind those facts (the counterfeiters, anyone)? A U.S. investigation team headed by the Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, Daniel Glaser, on Monday presented Korean officials with its evidence that North Korea is engaged in counterfeiting U.S. dollars. The team was met by...

Kim Jong Il won’t be happy about being second-worst to anyone. It’s not a terribly good neighborhood, overall: The magazine ranked Chinese President Hu Jintao sixth. “Although some Chinese have taken advantage of economic liberalization to become rich, up to 150 million Chinese live on US$1 a day or less in this nation with no minimum wage. Between 250,000 and 300,000 political dissidents are held in “˜reeducation-through-labor’ camps without trial,” the magazine said. “The government opens and censors mail and...

[Warning: This post rated R!] Let me get this straight–horny Korean businessmen go to China, get caught using illegal drugs, and where do they expect to be tried? Where does their government want them tried? EXACTLY! In Korea! Under Korean law, Korean police retain jurisdiction over any crimes committed by its citizens while traveling overseas. Un. Fucking. Real. Possession, though, is nine-tenths of the law, and these fellows are very fortunate to have returned home before the Chinese authorities caught...