North Korea

yeah, the uighur situation has been fucked up for a loooooong time

when i briefly lived in shanghai i saw a crowd of people surrounding a uighur man who was on his knees, accusing him of stealing something. it was fucking awful

unfortunately uighurs don't have the correct religion for people in the western world to care about them

anyway yeah, wrong thread for this

Also China has a lot of money.

What the fuck—had no idea about the situation with the Uighurs and I read the news for 18 hours per day.

American news?

it has a long, long sad history. it's not covered here.

the thing about north korea is that sure its gov't isn't helping more than half of that country's population (due to other, more developed countries cutting off economic ties with them) but sanctions make helping the people who need help way worse

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-28/nail-clippers,-shovels-banned-under-north-korean-sanctions/9367858

more on sanctions

http://imperialmilitarywatch.com/read.php?my_data=70299

The findings of another, larger study "utilizing time-series, cross-national data for the period 1981—2000" suggested that "economic sanctions worsen government respect for physical integrity rights, including freedom from disappearances, extra-judicial killings, torture, and political imprisonment." The study concludes that "economic coercion remains a counterproductive policy tool, even when sanctions are specifically imposed with the goal of improving human rights."

That's always the argument against economic sanctions, back to South Africa and beyond. (xp)

Hankyroeh: "Matthew Pottinger was reported as saying in a recent closed-door meeting with US experts on Korean Peninsula issues that a limited strike on the North 'might help in the midterm elections.'"https://t.co/zm8QrkfRrD

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) February 2, 2018

*gulp*

tremendous

Cool election strategy, I guess votes don't really matter if we are all dead.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/09/kim-jong-uns-sister-arrives-in-south-korea-for-winter-olympics

First member of the Kim family to visit S.Korea since the war.

Incredibly awkward to snub her at the pre-ceremony dinner, only to sit next to her at the ceremony

Well, she is a woman who is not his wife...

omg, you're right

was pence's wife with him? i mean, i think you're joking, but that's real, and...

jfc

Was joking, but who knows?

oh wait, pence's rule is that he can't have dinner with a woman alone without his wife being present as well. and there were other people at this dinner table to protect pence from the temptation of sex with the sister of kim jong-un. ok, we're all good here, eveything is normal

i bet they still fucked though

i think we’d all fuck mike pence given the chance

this deserves either to be posted in its own thread or in a better thread than this but i don't know the better option so here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG-ivV-ps50

S Korea's Munhwa Ilbo reports Seoul and Pyongyang plan to announce an end to the military conflict between the two countries at the inter-Korean summit, citing an unidentified diplomatic security official https://t.co/R1c56pCvTh

— Joseph Kim (@josungkim) April 17, 2018

Wow

i mean this is just some random tweet, idk how reliable it is

It's about time, nobody wins in the current situation.

It's a lovely thought. I await confirmation.

I want to believe, there have been some signs lately that something like this could happen.

Good for Korea, but I'm sure Pyongyang would demand U.S. base closures. Less good for stated U.S. policy (at least under Obama) of pivoting to the Pacific/China.

Are we witnessing the rise of the new East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere?

https://msh-1984.wikispaces.com/file/view/world1984.gif/305533582/704x352/world1984.gif

trump's done it again lads, credit where credit's due

this strikes me as fishy, what game is being played here? are we actually going to have donald trump end the korean war

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/world/asia/north-korea-american-troops-withdrawal-trump.html

i genuinely can't think of anything funnier than donald trump ending the korean war and getting a nobel peace prize as he's getting impeached for sex crimes and i hope it happens

— chris hooks (@cd_hooks) April 19, 2018

are we actually going to have donald trump end the korean war

the cold war ended during George HW Bush's tenure, but he sure as hell wasn't the reason it ended when it did

It could absolutely be the case that the entire Korean peninsula was so horrified by the Trump admin's gross incompetence on this matter that they felt they needed to fast-track the peace process.

that's what I think

makes sense xp

The Trump years may well end up validating those people who cheer for the worst possible outcome because it's the only way to bring about real change, and thats a horrifying thought.

don't worry he'll say something to fuck it up in the next 48 hours

A 9.0 earthquake or a Category 5 hurricane always bring about real change. What I want is positive change.

It could absolutely be the case that the entire Korean peninsula was so horrified by the Trump admin's gross incompetence on this matter that they felt they needed to fast-track the peace process.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Thursday, April 19, 2018 3:03 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's what I think

― sleeve, Thursday, April 19, 2018 3:04 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

makes sense xp

― global tetrahedron

thing is, a trump supporter would replace "gross incompetence" with "American courage" and believe that trump's unpredictability and impulsive decisionmaking were the things that drove the change (that is, if a peace deal is struck in the first place)

It would validate idiots of all stripes

Yep, just like Reagan's military spending forced the Soviet Union to collapse, which is still the official story for righties.

last three posts totally otm

nah it's Trump's "Master Persuasion"...he knew what he was doing all along. it's you rubes, who are the stupid ones.

US-NK summit has a good chance of going badly (if it happens) given that each of the parties involved probably have diffferent understandings of what “denuclearize” means.

but imagine a world where trump is tweeting about what a fantastic man kim jong un is, how strong and so very smart, open to trade deals, etc