An Education View From Korea

For John, BLUF:  These folks have seen the way China and North Korea have changed education and in doing so have destroyed (classic) liberal ideas about education and democracy.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Left-wing education destroying the world’s liberal democratic system

From One Korea Network, by Professor Jebong Lee, 14 April 2021.

Here is the lede plus three:

Many people believed that communism had come to an end after watching the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the communist states of Eastern Europe. And as communist China transformed itself into a more free-market economy, we expected that as their economy developed and its society became more diversified, it would inevitably lead them to develop into a freer and more democratic system.

However, the Communist ideology has not changed at all and its methods have evolved. They have infiltrated into all aspects of society—home, school, church, politics, economy, culture, media, etc., while calling themselves the New Left and Liberals.  Communist China also developed a new method of controlling the people by means of new technologies and have revised their strategies to further communization, such as dissemination of Communist ideas, industrial espionage, and mass indoctrination of pro-Chinese personnel through the Confucius Institutes.  Meanwhile, we were seduced by low-cost Chinese goods and have forgotten about the slave labor of the Chinese people and have even turned a blind eye to the pains of the Uighurs who have become victims of organ harvesting.  We didn’t even know that our children were taught in school that the Republic of Korea should not have been established, and that school education is being destroyed by teachers who reject the liberal democratic system.  Even though they knew that students’ rights were being violated, teachers pretended not to know because they are afraid of radical left teachers’ unions.  This article explains the threat of the world’s left-wing ideologies, specifically the infiltration methods of Communism into education, and will attempt to explain the reality of education in Korea, which has become a tool of left-wing educators.

The Spread of Left-wing Ideological Education

There are five main ways by which Communist ideas infiltrate into Western education, which are explained as follows:  (1) direct introduction, (2) blocking traditional ideas and culture, (3) encouraging a decline in basic learning skills such as reading, writing, etc., (4) infiltration of perverted notions of economic, gender, and class liberation, and (5) propagandizing selfishness, greed, and a mentality of self-indulgence.  On the other hand, in Asian communist countries like China, they destroy traditional culture and slaughter scholars and use “the art of deceiving people with distorted education and propaganda while cutting the pulse of cultural transmission.”  (Gupyong editorial department, 2019: 3-5)

In fact, left-wing ideological concept have continuously evolved.  They have developed into many fields, such as traditional Marxism, Neo-Marxism, subordinate theory, liberation theology, cultural colonialism, leftist feminism, leftist-postmodernism in academia and school education, and ideas and theories related to this are taught as subjects in many universities around the world.  Not all of their effects on academic development are negative.  There have been some modifications to the liberal democratic system, some that are self-declining, and others that have evolved.  However, the most worrisome thing about this is that many of these ideologies are intentionally aimed at overthrowing the liberal democratic system and the fact is that these theories serve as the ideological motivations of radical left-wing activists.

I don't see this as an imminant threat, but I do see it as a possible longer term future.  Of course, in things like this them do seem to be going along OK, and then the bottom drops out and it is too late.

Regards  —  Cliff

What Is Happening in Korea?

For John, BLUF:  You have already seen it.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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City Life Discussion of Korea, North and South

Today on City Life there was a special guest, David Maxwell, Colonel, US Army (retired), who is a Senior Fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Colonel Maxwell talked about Korea, South and north.

Not an “Academic” discussion, but it was, for me, an interesting review for the layperson.

It can be seen again on LTC, "Channel 8”, at 5:00 this afternoon, or at this link, again on "Channel 8”.

Regards  —  Cliff

Why Are There COVID-19 Hot Spots

For John, BLUF:  My working theory is that culture is a factor in the spread of Winnie the Flue.  When I say cultural, I am talking about the social mores that are passed on from parents to children.  As in Europe, in the United States these generally acceptable ways of action vary from place to place, as does the rates of COVID-19 infection and death.  But, this is little examined, except perhaps by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and she does not seem to get it in toto.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"Sickest Part Of A Sick America":  The Region Where Health Officials Fear The Worst COVID-19 Devastation

From Zero Hedge, by Analyst Tyler Durden, 7 April 2020.  Do you think that is his real name?

Here is the lede plus three:

After New Orleans last month emerged as the United States' new southern epicenter for the coronavirus pandemic, threatening other states across the region, a review in Bloomberg Law of how the South as already "the sickest part of America" could be hit hardest before the crisis eventually wanes paints a very bleak picture.

Home to the highest rates of obesity, hypertension, heart attacks, and strokes, combined with expansive rural and impoverished areas that have poor health care access, the South is especially vulnerable for a "virus that is particularly lethal for people with underlying health conditions," according to the report.

“Covid-19 is going to be a disaster in the Southeast,” Aaron Milstone, a Tennessee pulmonologist, told Bloomberg Law.  “We’ll see higher morbidity, which is getting sick from the virus, and higher mortality, which is dying from the virus.”

Further, the report reads, "Four of the five states with the highest diabetes rates are in the South.  And eight didn’t expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, leaving thousands of families without access to routine care, even as financially troubled rural hospitals wither away."

Here is how The Old Gray Lady describes the situation:

“This is a call-to-action moment for all of us,” said Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago, who announced statistics of the outbreak in her city this week.  African-Americans account for more than half of those who have tested positive and 72 percent of virus-related fatalities in Chicago, even though they make up a little less than a third of the population.

“Those numbers take your breath away, they really do,” said Ms. Lightfoot, who is the city’s first black woman elected as mayor.  She added in an interview that the statistics were “among the most shocking things I think I’ve seen as mayor.”

In Illinois, 43 percent of people who have died from the disease and 28 percent of those who have tested positive are African-Americans, a group that makes up just 15 percent of the state’s population.  African-Americans, who account for a third of positive tests in Michigan, represent 40 percent of deaths in that state even though they make up 14 percent of the population.  In Louisiana, about 70 percent of the people who have died are black, though only a third of that state’s population is.

Even Boston's member of the House Squad, Representative Ayanna Pressley is raising the flag on this disproportionate impact on the Black and Hispanic communities.

Before we lock in on why there is this disparity, we need to understand the why.  It could be poorer overall health of minority groups.  But then why?  Lack of medical services or health habits over time?  Or is it something to do with other factors in how minority communities live, perhaps not assimilating with the larger Caucasian population?  One thing to keep in mind is that crying racism is not the same as adopting useful life styles, adopting them even if they are a little strange or uncomfortable.

As a stark example of how different actions can achieve different results, from Dr. Tara O and the East Asia Research Center♠ we have "A Tale of Two Models: Taiwan and South Korea in the Handling of the Coronavirus Pandemic - East Asia Research Center".  Taiwan did two things differently from South Korea.  One was banning of travel between Mainland China and Taiwan.  The other was stopping the export of masks and distributing them to the population.  South Korea continued shipping of masks.  One wonders if mask wear was being avoided in US hot spots?

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The founder of the Center is Dr. Tara O.  She has worked at the Pentagon and the Republic of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command as a U.S. Air Force officer focusing on East Asia issues.  Her research areas include national security, alliance, human rights in North Korea, defectors, unification, and political and economic systems.

Going to Singapore

For John, BLUF:  What is the skill set required here?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Is Trump Unprepared to Negotiate with Kim?

From Pajama Media, by Mr Roger L Simon, 7 June 2018.

Remember, experts built the Titanic, while amateurs built the Ark.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Happy Birthday Karl Marx

For John, BLUF:  Karl Marx unleashed a lot of death and destruction on the world in the 20th Century.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Marx’s defenders should explain why his ideas never actually work

From CAPX, by Kristian Niemietz, 3 May 2018.

Here is the lede paragraph:

This week will mark the 200th birthday of Karl Marx.  It will be an occasion for a deluge of articles repeating the well-worn cliché that even though Marx’s predictions ultimately did not materialise, his analysis of capitalism was nonetheless spot on, and remains hugely relevant today.  (In fact, it’s already started.)

If you guessed The Old Gray Lady for the source of the URL for "It's already started" you are correct.

Then there is this from Mr Michael Moore:

Happy 200th Birthday Karl Marx!  You believed that everyone should have a seat at the table & that the greed of the rich would eventually bring us all down.  You believed that everyone deserves a slice of the pie.  You knew that the super wealthy were out to grab whatever they could.

And I am sure it will, at some point.  In the mean time "the greed of the rich" has only served to elevate the living standards of the rest of us, since the time of Karl Marx, and before.  Think South Korea vs North Korea.  Or West Germany vs East Germany.  Think Venezuela.

As a side note, South Korea has a higher GDP than Russia.

Regards  —  Cliff

Beggared the Opposition

For John, BLUF:  I worry that Mrs Clinton and her followers would turn this into this nation into a third rate banana republic just to get back at Donald Trump.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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South Korea’s ousted president gets 24 years in prison

Here is the sub-headline:

Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was sentenced on Friday to 24 years in prison on a variety of criminal charges, in a case that exposed the entrenched, collusive ties between South Korea’s government and huge conglomerates like Samsung.

I got this from The Boston Globe, which got it from The Old Gray Lady and Reporter Choe Sang-Hun, 6 April 2018.

Here is the lede plus two:

SEOUL — Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s impeached and ousted president, was sentenced Friday to 24 years in prison on a variety of criminal charges in a case that exposed the entrenched, collusive ties between South Korea’s government and huge conglomerates like Samsung.

A three-judge panel at the Seoul Central District Court also ordered Park to pay $17 million in fines, in a ruling that marked a climactic moment in an influence-peddling scandal that shook the country’s political and business worlds.

Park’s conviction on bribery, coercion, abuse of power, and other charges was the first lower-court ruling on a criminal case to be broadcast live in South Korea.

South Korean Presidents are turning out to be like Massachusetts General Court House Speakers, but perhaps with longer prison sentences.  It will be interesting to see if Mrs Park's sentence is reduced upon appeal.

I know we all want justice in this world, and in the words of Conan:  "To crush your enemies.  See them driven before you.  And to hear the lamentations of their women."

However, as they say, what goes around comes around.

Regards  —  Cliff

Making the World Great, For Once

For John, BLUF:  Do you think the Nobel Committee would deny President Trump the Nobel Peace price just because he was being impeached.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Saudi crown prince shocks Islamists with bold moves in Egypt

From The American Thinker, 6 March 2018, by Mr Thomas Lifson.

Here is the lede:

It is hard to overstate the significance of a hugely symbolic move by the reformist crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).  American media mostly are clueless about religion and lack any understanding of the momentous changes underway in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the full support of the Trump administration.  The fact that MbS is reputed to be close to Jared Kushner seals the deal: the mainstream media have little interest in extolling the world-historical transition underway in the nation that is pre-eminent in Sunni Islam, the Guardian of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, and which has been the moneybags for radical jihadists for three generations.

It is not necessarily because we have the Great Disrupter in the White House, but there is change in various locations, and with it a chance for a reduction in tensions and violence around the world.  In particular on the Korean Peninsula and in the Middle East.  Whatever President Trump, and his advisor, Jared Kushner, are doing, I hope it continues.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Responses to Provocations

For John, BLUF:  It is like when you are young and your younger sibling is trying to provoke you.  You want to slug the dear, but that might not be the proper response.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Here's How U.S.-North Korea Crises Typically End

From The Atlantic, by Reporter Uri Friedman, 7 February 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

How will the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons end?  Will Kim Jong Un buckle under pressure and roll back his nuclear program, or will he press forward in completing an arsenal that can threaten the whole world?  Will Donald Trump make good on his threats to take military action against the North, or will he focus on deterring Kim from ever using his nukes?

It's impossible to answer these questions with certainty.  But it's possible to find clues in the historical record.  And history suggests that the current crisis is unlikely to devolve into fighting—that the more probable outcome is one or both leaders backing down and reaching a compromise.

Long before North Korea was antagonizing America with missile and nuclear tests, it was seizing American spy ships, downing American planes, and hacking American soldiers to death.  In 2007, the Congressional Research Service catalogued well over 100 North Korean provocations against the United States and its allies over the previous 57 years, ranging in severity from the digging of a cross-border tunnel to the invasion of South Korea in 1950.  That invasion sparked a three-year war that left millions dead. Since then, however—from the bombing of a South Korean airplane in 1987 to the more recent sinking of a South Korean warship and shelling of a South Korean island in the same year—no North Korean provocation has resulted in a major military conflict.

There is the long history, at the link embedded above, to the shorter history in the article, but here is the article's conclusion:

Donald Trump has argued that episodes such as the Pueblo and EC-121 crises have led the Kim regime to interpret "America's past restraint as weakness"—and that it "would be a fatal miscalculation" for Kim to draw the same conclusions this time around.  But Trump nonetheless confronts the same conundrum that Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton all confronted well before North Korea had nuclear weapons.  To paraphrase Henry Kissinger, the least-risky military options are insufficient to meet the challenge from North Korea and the sufficient military options are very risky.  And even if the military plans are limited, the planners must be prepared for unlimited war on the Korean peninsula.  Since the horror of the Korean War, no U.S. leader has been willing to assume those risks. Not yet, at least.

My strategic advice to the President♠ is to stick with deterrence and sanctions, but to be ready to support South Korea in any response needed to a provocation.  If Kim Jung-un attacks the US or Japan then we should go with a proportional response led by the US.

Regards  —  Cliff
-2, Sun 4.10

♠  Worth what he paid for it.

North Korea Maneuvering

For John, BLUF:  Kim Jung-un and the North Korean Government are using the Olympics to try to maneuver for a breakup of the ROK/US alliance, to make it more easy to gobble up South Korea.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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N. Korea says Seoul's military alliance with U.S. may end momentum for dialogue

From Yonhap News, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 27 January 2018.

Here is the lede plus three:

SEOUL, Jan. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea strongly condemned the South Korea-U.S. alliance Saturday, accusing their joint defense efforts of being aimed at toppling its communist regime and saying such efforts may also lead to an end of ongoing dialogue between the two Koreas.

"The South Korean government must realize its foul military consultation with the U.S. may be a foolish act that will put out the hard-earned chance of improving the North-South relationship and ruin its own fate," Rodong Sinmun, a daily newspaper published by the North's ruling Workers' Party, said in a signed commentary.

The commentary was largely aimed at criticizing the two-plus-two Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group talks held last week between Seoul and Washington, in which the allies agreed to continue maintaining U.S. defense assets around the Korean Peninsula.

However, it also came one day after the allies confirmed a resumption of their delayed joint military drills in South Korea immediately following the 2018 Winter Olympic Games to be held in South Korea's PyeongChang from Feb. 9-25.

The Kim Family Regime (KFR) is all about taking control of all of Korea, and preserving the KFR.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Kim Dominates the Olympics

For John, BLUF:  It seems that North Korea's Kim Jung-un is winning the public relations game at this time.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Frosty reception for South Korea's Winter Olympics detente with North

Here is the sub-headline:

Young people and conservatives in South Korea accuse President Moon Jae-in of sacrificing Olympic ideals for diplomatic expediency

From The Guardian, by Reporter Justin Mccurry, 19 January 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

South Korea is facing a public backlash over its sports rapprochement with North Korea, with critics accusing the government of turning next month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics into the “Pyongyang Olympics”.

After three high-level meetings along their border in little over a week, North and South Korea have proposed forming a joint women’s ice hockey team and allowing their athletes to march together under one flag at next month’s games in South Korea.

Despite the logistical challenges posed by North Korea’s eleventh-hour agreement to compete in Pyeongchang, the International Olympic Committee is expected to give the proposal a sympathetic hearing when it meets officials from both countries in Lausanne on Saturday.

But young people and conservatives in South Korea have accused the country’s president, Moon Jae-in, of sacrificing Olympic ideals for diplomatic expediency.

Moon’s approval rating fell to a four-month low of 67% on Friday, in a reflection of the public’s lukewarm response to his attempts to promote an Olympic détente he hopes will lead to a diplomatic breakthrough over Pyongyang’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

In the US it is all President Trump's fault for being belligerent with regard to Leader Kim Jung-un.  However, in South Korea, it turns out that President Moon is in trouble for being too easy on Leader Kim.  That Leader Kim is one foxy operative.

EXIT QUESTION:  Do you sometimes feel reports confuse sentences and paragraphs?  Back when I was young, before the earth started to cool, I thought paragraphs were a collection of sentences, not single sentences.  Then, later in my life, I was taught that sentences shouldn't be more than twenty words in length.  Oh, it was so long ago.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Threat From North Korea

For John, BLUF:  Wishing won't make North Korea's nuclear capability go away, and neither will blaming President Trump.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Tweet of the Day

This is a Tweet by Ms Jamie Lee Curtis, yesterday, 13 January 2018.

This Hawaii missle scare is on YOU Mr. Trump.  The real FEAR that mothers & fathers & children felt is on YOU.  It is on YOUR ARROGANCE.  HUBRIS.  NARCISSISM.  RAGE.  EGO.  IMMATURITY and your UNSTABLE IDIOCY.  Shame on your hate filled self.  YOU DID THIS!

Well, thanks to Ms Curtis we now know who was responsible for the Hawaii false alarm.

Here is the other bit of news.  The North Korean nuclear capability, such as it is, is not going away.  It is there to provide protection for North Korea from an American response to North Korean incited incidents and acts of aggression.

The other thing to think about is that the North Korean nuclear capability is not sufficient for a disarming first strike against the United States.  Rather, it is a capability held in reserve, to deter the United States.  Striking first means, for North Korea, giving up the deterrence and going straight to the elimination of the Kim Family Criminal Regime in response.

To make the North Korean nuclear capability go away there must be motivation for China to pay attention.  The only thing I can think of that could do the trick would be for South Korea or Japan to start to obtain their own nuclear weapons capability.  Of course, it could turn out that we end up with three nuclear armed nations, not just one.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Trump Foreign Policy

For John, BLUF:  It isn't a safe world out there, but it wasn't two years ago, either—plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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What's Dangerous About Donald Trump's Foreign Policy?

From The Atlantic Monthly and Analyst Uri Friedman, 25 November 2017.

Excerpts:

The Trump administration "has handled things in a ... measured and firm way that will prevent North Korea from miscalculating," Han argued.  "I do not know if it is wise to push North Korea to the extent they feel they have to react in a non-peaceful way.  But North Korea has shown some degree of restraint as far as deeds are concerned, although their rhetoric has also been quite blustery."

"The most important thing is not to make the situation worse," he continued.  "We can't expect to resolve the problem in a short period of time.  But we have to patiently work on it while all the time maintaining deterrence and defense capabilities, and that the United States [under Trump] has done."

"So far," Han noted, "the present U.S. administration hasn't really made any major mistakes."

After the Thanksgiving meal, with the politically inclined at one end of the table, one person brought up Judge Roy Moore, looking, I expect, for a reaction from his staunchly Democratic Party inclined Father-in-Law.  With some deftness, and a lot of luck, I diverted the conversation to North Korea, where I figured months of reading daily proffered about North Korea gave me escalation dominance.  The Democrat, let's call him Jim, wanted to do something about Kim Jung-un.  I argued for patience, deterrence and propaganda (propaganda like the folks using balloons to send information filled USB Thumb Drives over the north).  Put me down as favoring the stats quo.

But, I am happy to hear arguments about WWHD.  Any opportunity to learn.

Regards  —  Cliff

Hope on Korean Peninsula

For John, BLUF:  Some regret the lack of continuity in US Foreign Policy under President Trump, but the old ways weren't working.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'Trump administration offers better chance for Korean reunification'

This article, from The Korean Times, is authored by Kim Hyo-jin, (m.koreatimes.co.kr), dateline 20 November 2017.

Under the leadership of U.S. President Donald Trump, the two Koreas have a better chance for reunification, activists and Korea watchers said Wednesday.

Their view, presented at the International Forum for One Korea international forum held on Nov. 14 to 15 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, and Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, is an assessment of the escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula amid the war of words between North Korean and U.S. leaders.

They pointed out that Trump has put the peninsula high on the United States’ foreign policy agenda, unlike the previous Barack Obama administration whose approach of strategic patience had led to the U.S.’s inaction; they said the attention Trump brought shed light on advocates of the reunification of the two Koreas, who are seeking larger support for their campaign.

Then there is the fact the President Trump's poll numbers are running ahead of the three M's, Merkel, Macron and May.

Regards  —  Cliff

PRC and ROK

For John, BLUF:  Diplomacy is almost always better than war.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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South Korea, China agree to manage North Korea issue peacefully, in stable manner

This is from the Reuters Staff, 11 November 2017.

Here is the lede:

The leaders of South Korea and China on Saturday agreed on the need to manage the security situation on the Korean peninsula in a stable way and to resolve North Korea-related tensions peacefully after a summit meeting, the South’s presidential office said.

As Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds said this morning, "Sounds like the North Korea diplomacy is working."

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Down the Rabbit Hole

For John, BLUF:  People like this could get us in trouble.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Dangerous provocations:  North Korea’s missiles and the risk of war

Since this OpEd is from Nation of Change, a decidedly Progressive publication (Mr Derek Royden, author, published 6 August 2017), the "Dangerous Provocations" are not from North Korea, but from us here in the US.

So, Virginia, there really are people out there who think that we are the evil aggressors and poor Kim Jung-un, bless his little heart, is really an innocent democrat, being thwarted at every turn by the evil Americans.

What can I say?

Regards  —  Cliff

The NYT Vice Trump

For John, BLUF:  A media in opposition would be a bad thing if it came to war.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Next to the top story of the looming conflict with North Korea, the NYT gives us a cartoon image of Trump.

From the Ann Althouse Blog.

Here is the original NYT link.

An interesting point by Professor Althouse and an interesting discussion in the comments.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

How Others See Us

For John, BLUF:  Not everyone around the world sees our politics the way we do.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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U.S. 'Could Spend THAAD Money Somewhere Better,' Senator Warns

This is from the English version of the Chosun Ilbo, out of Korea, 2 June 2017.

Here is the lede plus two, to set the stage:

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin on Wednesday warned President Moon Jae-in that Washington could divert the money for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery that has been stationed here somewhere else.

The peevish outburst came after Moon pledged to have the National Assembly reexamine the process of the THAAD deployment, which was rushed through by the previous administration.

Durbin is a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and therefore has a say in how the U.S. spends its defense budget.

But, here is the payoff paragraph:

But Durbin is the Democratic whip, and his party has been completely routed in both houses of the U.S. Congress, so it is unclear how much sway his opinions hold.

By the way, the THADD Missile installation is a sunk cost.  The only ongoing expenses are stationing costs and they will come up in the periodic negotiations with Korea over the expenses of stationing US Forces in Korea.

Regards  —  Cliff

Has Socialism Ever Worked?

For John, BLUF:  It is a plan.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From a Brian Micklethwait post at Samizdata, yesterday, we have this quote from Robert Tracinski:

Socialism has been tested out more times and in more variations than probably any other social system.  It has been implemented in every continent, every culture, every stage of economic development.  It has always led to disaster, to the extent it has been implemented.  If you’re lucky, your country gets off with a mere economic crisis, as in Greece.  At the worst, your country is in for decades of living hell.

The source is a longer post on "Holocaust Denial for the Left", in which Tracinski takes on British athlete (and potential MP Candidate) James Cracknell.  It seems Mr Cracknell cited North Korea and Cuba as examples of how to “get a handle on obesity”.  They, of course, like Venezuela, do it the old fashioned way.  They starve their people..

Regards  —  Cliff

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China Unhappy

For John, BLUF:  This is a delicate issue, and North Korea and China, which will do nothing concrete, are implacable.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Exclusive:  Chinese women golfers may shun LPGA event amid China-South Korea tensions

From Reuters and Mr Peter Rutherford, reporting from Seoul, today.

Chinese golfers on the U.S. women's tour may decide not to play in a tournament next month in Hawaii sponsored by South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group, a sign that fallout from a diplomatic row between Beijing and Seoul over a missile defense system is increasingly spilling into the sports world.

Rio Olympics bronze medalist Shanshan Feng decided not to play after she and three other Chinese players - Simin Feng, Jing Yan and Xiyu Lin - were informed it was in their best interests not to take part in the event due to its association with Lotte, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

This is a sign that China is unhappy with our deployment of the THAAD missile defense system, to protect South Korea from the nuclear missile armed North Korea.  Of course it is better than an alternative that involveS a nuclear armed South Korea.

In this area I think SecState Tillison and President Trump are effectively threading the needle.

Hat tip to Zero Hedge.

Regards  —  Cliff

nKorea's Nucs

For John, BLUF:  Doubtful but plausible.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Defector: North Korea's next nuclear test could lead to collapse

United Press International and Reporter Elizabeth Shim, today.

Here is the lede plus 2:

The senior North Korea diplomat who defected to the South from Pyongyang's Embassy in London said Kim Jong Un's nuclear ambitions could bring about state collapse.

Thae Yong-ho, who recently compared Kim to the Roman emperor Nero, said North Korea is headed down a dangerous path as it seeks recognition as a nuclear weapons state like "India or Pakistan," Voice of America reported Tuesday.

"The Kim Jong Un regime will never give up nuclear weapons," Thae said.

Note that last paragraph.  The criminal enterprise known as the Kim Family is not giving up its hold on power.  Experience (e.g., Our invasion of Libya) has shown the Kim Family that it should never give up nuclear weapons.  Those who think that negotiations will get us through this are hoping Kim Jung Un is someone he isn't.  Hope is not a method.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff