North Korean Blood Feud is ‘Richard III’ with Nukes (Gordon G. Chang) from the Daily Beast
"The executions and blood-letting in Pyongyang are only going to get worse as a dynastic purge threatens to destabilize the entire region."
The Scariest Thing About North Korea's Murderous Boy Tyrant? from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
This item gives a nice summary of what's been going on lately in North Korea. Deeply disturbing.
"The condemned man was told to stand in a deserted spot on an army range where North Korean troops regularly carried out manoeuvres. Mortar shells then zeroed in on him and he was blown to pieces — or ‘obliterated’, as the South Korean media reported it. Kim Jong-un had ordered that ‘no trace of him, down to his hair’ should remain. This week, the South Korean government confirmed long-standing rumours that its northern neighbour had publicly machine-gunned members of a female musical group, Unhasu Orchestra — which included his ex-girlfriend — apparently for watching pornography and filming themselves naked. (Intriguingly, Kim’s current wife, whose name is Ri Sol-ju, was a former singer with the group.) The number of mass public executions have soared — with estimates of between 40 to 80 so far this year in towns across the country, when last year the total was under 20. It is compulsory for the public to attend these gruesome spectacles — even for children as young as seven."
His Final Purge (S.C.S.) from The Economist [of London]
"... it suggests he resisted the regime’s sacred “pivot to the Cabinet principle”. Mr Kim has already made clear that the Cabinet, the state’s top executive body, is supposed to lead the state’s economic policies. The implication is that Mr Jang was undercutting its reformist efforts. ... Mr Jong does not take Mr Jang’s execution as harbinger of a tough new anti-China stance. Rather he expects it to “speed up internal reform”, including the expansion of special economic zones and the reorganisation of control over state finances."
North Korea Could be in Store for a Purge — and Destabilization (Nicholas Eberstadt) form the Washington Post
"This spectacle of public humiliation — and liquidation — of a royal marks a radical departure from business as usual. ... There are three immediate implications of this affair. ..."
The Kremlin, the Press and the Protesters: A Case Study of Rule by Paranoia (Serge Schmemann) from the New York Times
"The closing of a news agency reflects President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly pronounced view in which enemies at home and abroad plot against Russia."
Russia in Stagnation: Putin Speech Hints at Big Problems (Uwe Klußmann) from Der Spiegel [of Germany in english]
"In his annual state of the nation address on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the need to rein in corruption and called for technological progress. But he also hinted at the bigger problems that will plague his country in years to come. ... Putin is acting a bit like Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor of the German Reich between 1871 and 1890. Outwardly professional and in many ways successful, the Iron Chancellor ultimately failed because of his refusal to reform domestic politics and as a result of his repressive treatment of the opposition."
I've been saying for years that, among the "great powers" club, Russia has been the biggest gas-bagging poseur. Unlike others such as China, India, and Brazil that are rising, Russia is doing all it can to simply retain the image of a "great power." Corruption, economic rigidity, political paralysis and undue reliance on an extractive energy sector have sent the country on an economic trajectory more akin to many developing countries rather than one that is part of the "developed" world.
Far Right in Eastern Europe Makes Gains as Syrians Arrive from the New York Times
"Membership of the local branch of Ataka, he said, had surged in recent weeks as “people come up to me in the street and tell me that our party was right.” Ataka, which means attack, champions “Bulgaria for Bulgarians” and has denounced Syrian refugees as terrorists whom Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest nation, must expel. An Ataka member of Parliament has reviled them as “terrible, despicable primates.”"
France Broadens Its Surveillance Power from the New York Times
"The French are hardly innocents in the realm of electronic surveillance. Within days of the reports about the National Security Agency’s activities, it was revealed that French intelligence services operated a similar system, with similarly minimal oversight. And last week, with little public debate, the legislature approved a law that critics feared would markedly expand electronic surveillance of French residents and businesses."
Turning the Corner? In California, At Least, Obamacare Signups Zoom (Charles Ornstein) from the National Memo
"The statistics released yesterday from Covered California could bode well for health insurance exchanges that have their act together."
Americans Left Out Of Medicaid Fight Back Against GOP Guvs from Talking Points Memo
"Obamacare advocates are actively recruiting those left out of the Medicaid expansion in Republican-controlled states to lobby state officials to change their minds and participate in that key provision of the health care reform law. So far, the effort is most organized in Texas, which is also the state with the most people in that Medicaid expansion gap: 1 million. But it's likely to pick up elsewhere as the Obama administration and outside advocates apply pressure to the 25 states that have resisted expansion for the first year."
Even Gifted Students Can’t Keep Up from the Editorial Board of the New York Times
"With its best students far behind their foreign peers, America needs new ideas to nurture their talent and produce new innovators."
A Formula for Happiness (Arthur Brooks) from the New York Times
"Social scientists have determined three sources of supreme contentment: genes, events and values."
House Republicans Rise Up Against the Right Wing (Kathleen Parker) from the Washington Post
"What’s clear is that the era of Boehner’s bottom-up approach to leadership has ended. Not again will he allow the obstructionist wing of the party to force showdowns and shutdowns that hurt the American people and the Republican Party. Even if he has to draft Democrats to help him, Boehner enjoys the further benefit of speaking the truth."
Paper Tiger, Past Their Prime or Something Else (Josh Marshall) from Talking Points Memo
"... as long as we're talking about the contemporary phenomenon, I think we should speak of two 'Tea Parties'. There's there's that 20% or so of the electorate that is right-wing and moving further right, deeply hostile to President Obama and generally feeling they're trying to hold their ground in what is likely a losing fight against the transformation of America by immigrants, urban values, 'socialism' and the rest. Then you've got the 'outside groups' Boehner focused on. And it's always the same three - Club for Growth, FreedomWorks and Heritage Action."
Tea Party Congressman Warns Salon: Another Shutdown May be Coming! from Salon
"GOP firebrand Tim Huelskamp adds: "Rumors I’ve heard is [Boehner's] not going to be running for speaker again”
Yeah? I will believe it when I see it (both on the shutdown and the speakership issues). Boehner loves being speaker. The only way I could see him choosing not to run for speaker is if he decided that he wanted to spend next year actually building some kind of record where he accomplished something as speaker. So far he has nothing to show for his tenure. To accomplish something (such as immigration reform), he would probably have to include large numbers of Democrats and risk pissing off the Tea Party caucus -- and thus risk his speakership. On another shutdown, I've already heard enough to convince me that this is the LAST thing Boehner would want -- as it would take away from the Obamacare messaging their developing for next year's election.
Mr. Limbaugh if You’re Nasty: How Right-wing Mean Media Keeps Conservatives on the Fringe from Salon
"More than anything else, the sheer volume of outrage media today sets it apart from political media of days gone by, giving it density. ... As newspaper readership and nightly national news viewing on networks have declined, outrage news analysis audiences have simultaneously expanded, and the number of outrage venues has grown."
Kelly: Outrage Over 'White' Santa Comment Was 'Race-Bait' from Talking Points Memo
"Fox News host Megyn Kelly insisted Friday that her earlier comment that Santa Claus was "just white," which invited significant backlash, had been a joke -- and that her critics were just looking for an excuse to call her a racist."
Since the earliest years of Lush Bimbeau, this has been the standard response from right-wing talking heads who say what they really think and then get savaged for being the divisive racist neanderthals that they are. Kelly will say these profoundly offensive things, and then, with a not-even-remotely-concealed wink-wink to her audience, say "Oh, I was just kidding!" What she's really saying to her critics and anyone who isn't in on the "joke" is "F--- off"!!
The Right's Obsession With Obama the Flirt: We're not Saying it's Racist, but… (David Corn) from Mother Jones Magazine
"... remember when George W. Bush gave German Prime Minister Angela Merkel an impromptu back rub at a G8 meeting in 2006? The video went viral, and the episode launched a flood of jokes and spoofs. Yet, there wasn't much talk of Bush being an impulsive flirter driven by sexual temptation."
WORLD WAR I ANALYSIS NUGGET!!
The Great War’s Ominous Echoes (Margaret Macmillan) from the New York Times
Macmillan's recent book, The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 is outstanding and interested folks should check it out.
"World War I still haunts us, partly because of the sheer scale of the carnage — 10 million combatants killed and many more wounded. Countless civilians lost their lives, too, whether through military action, starvation or disease. Whole empires were destroyed and societies brutalized. But there’s another reason the war continues to haunt us: we still cannot agree on why it happened."
GOP HISTORY NUGGET!!
Teddy Roosevelt Failed to Save the GOP From Its Crazies in 1912: Can John Boehner Do any Better? (Thomas Patterson) from Politico Magazine
"Acentury ago, the Republican Party chose to become a permanent minority, not wittingly or directly but inevitably. It spent most of the succeeding decades trying without great success to overcome its mistake. Today’s GOP is at a similar crossroads that could take it into the political wilderness for years to come."
CIA HISTORY BOOK NUGGET!!
America’s Great Game by Hugh Wilford (Scott Anderson) from the New York Times
"Hugh Wilford traces the efforts and influence of the first generation of C.I.A. operatives in the Middle East
INTER-PLANETARY NUGGET!!
The Hunt for Alien Life Just Made a Pretty Big Breakthrough from The Week
"Unfortunately — or perhaps fortunately — we're not anticipating flying saucers on the White House lawn anytime soon. Instead, scientists discovered a (relatively) easily-accessible source of hydrogen and oxygen — which together make water, one of the most basic ingredients for life — on one of Jupiter's moons."
HOPE-FOR-PAWS DOG RESCUE VIDEO!!
A Homeless Dog Living in a Trash Pile Gets Rescued from Hope for Paws
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