North Korea Launches Long-Range Rocket

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Going back to North Korea, I don't think Kim Jong Un (the son of the last leader) is really pulling the strings fully as yet or if he ever will. I had hoped his experiences and education in the outside world may make the North of Korea more approachable and ready to join up again with the South. Maybe not.

It was always in the interest of China to have a supposedly independent vassal state as North Korea on its doorstep to act as a smokescreen for its plans for the region, without it seeming to involve China. China has been the real power behind North Korea since its inception, despite the best wishes of the Russians to act in this capacity.

The fact that North Korea has always been an ultra left-wing military run dictatorship, using the "cult image" of a "revered leader" does seem to draw a comparison into the carefully managed images both of Chairman Mao and Josef Stalin as other "revered leaders" and until recently, both China and Russia were carefully managed security minded states, closed to much of the West.

 

[jon0844]

Seeing how truly awful a lot of the world is, it makes me glad to live in the UK. That said, I suspect some of the trouble is deliberately stirred up sometimes to detract from issues we have in this country (or at least, foreign troubles take reporting priority in the media!)

When I was driving to Heathrow Airport earlier this week, I remembered (and nearly always do when I drive there) when Tony Blair put soldiers on show before you go under the runway - to put us all on edge and in fear of an impending attack.

Of course, it's a trick that has been used many times - but this stood out as one of the most obvious attempts to use fear to have us all accepting war. In reality, loads of people were protesting here against it. And on that day, I was flying to New York and took part (unintentionally) in the protests there, which were barely covered by the US media...
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I think its a bit of an exagerration to say attacks are still quite common in NI -most activity is related to crime rather than politics these days.

Wasn't it mostly about organised crime even then? The politics often seemed like an excuse to legitimise their operations.

If it wasn't about organised crime, the IRA seemed quite good at it!

 

[WestCoast]

North Korea: The teenager of the international political scene. Another failure. In 20 years time that country will have fundamentally changed...

It's a scary place North Korea. It's not going to see a Middle Eastern style uprising any time soon, that's for sure. From the various journalists that have done reports on it and from the few people that managed to defect to South Korea, we know a little about what goes on. The citizens are literally indoctrinated from birth to love and worship the "dear leader" like a God, and if your whole family aren't massively devoted, loyal party supporters you're destined to be a poor peasant, going hungry for the rest of your life. If you dare speak out or do anything against the Government's oppressive and demanding rule, your whole family gets thrown into a 'prison' very much like a Nazi concentration camp. If the Government says cry, jump, smile for the camera or whatever, you do it!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

While the matter of North Korea is being discussed, let us never forget the utmost end-game of politically motivated social engineering that afflicted Cambodia under the "back to year 0" ideology which led to the "killing fields" of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime.

Is fatalism specific to the mind-set of the peoples who inhabit that part of South-East Asia ?

 

[LE Greys]

Well, they're in good company.

Apologies to America for bringing this up.
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Seriously, though, unless it was cover for a test for a short-range weapons system, it was most likely an explosion on second-stage ignition.