Another new find today, this blog is as opinionated about Korea as I am about that big country up north. I particularly enjoyed his outspoken analysis of a CNN report on China’s out-of-the-blue criticism of the DPRK’s constant preparations for war and sudden urging for a kinder, gentler Pyongyang. One of his conclusions:

The fact that party sources are feeding this to western media 2 days before the talks start is a pretty clear signal that they’re attempting to deflect any (American) criticism of indifference. They obviously want it well-known that they’re on the right side of the table and are working hard to give themselves a “well, we did our best” response when the talks are stuck in neutral.

The entire post is too long to quote, but I strongly recommend it to those cynical about sudden fits of altruism from Communist dictators. Much of it is quite hilarious.

I just read a detailed, eloquent and well-researched post on the staggering gender gap in China. Just a sample:

Perhaps by forcing down the percentage of women in society China will finally come to value them more equally with men. For the time being however, the imbalance is, in my mind, a damning indictment of a culture that values one half of its population more highly than the other half. For those who believe that every human being is endowed with intrinsic and equal worth and rights for the fact of being human, it is an intolerable realization to know that in China this is not so, to the point that abortion, infanticide, and abandonment, are used to underline how worthless a female’s life is.

For those who want all the figures and charts on this phenomenon, the same poster led me here.

Internet Ronin has an interesting take on the huge imbalance of men vs. women in China that I wrote about a few days ago.

All of this may lead to what must be the largest unintentional experiment in sexuality in history. It would appear that, with millions of males likely unable to find a female partner within their lifetime, we may gain some insight into whether circumstances and environment contribute to homosexuality.

Before anyone gets all huffy about this entry, don’t take this all that seriously because it isn’t really meant to be. The ramifications of forced family planning in the Peoples’ Republic are serious, however.

I’m skeptical, frankly, that they’ll become gay simply due to the lack of women. More likely adulterous affairs will blossom, as will pornography. It will be interesting to see. Sad, too. It did not have to be this way, and the butchery of baby girls will come at a very heavy price.

Interesting article on how China sells nukes and other weapons to countries that may not be ready for them (like North Korea) as part of its foreign policy plan.

China uses missile and nuclear transfers to Pakistan and North Korea, both widely regarded as rogue states, to keep countries that it sees as adversaries, such as Japan and India, on their toes. Given the ambivalence of the US Administrations to the Beijing-Islamabad-Pyongyang `Axis of Proliferation’, New Delhi will have to dealing on its own the security challenges it may face from the axis, says G. Parthasarathy.

The author is an Indian official, so there has to be some pro-India bias, but it appears to be a pretty level-headed piece. He writes that both the Clinton and Bush administrations are to blame for giving tacit approval to China’s strategy, and I have to agree with that.

Given the ambivalence and obfuscation that have characterised the approach of both the Clinton and Bush Administrations to the activities of the Beijing-Islamabad-Pyongyang Axis of Proliferation, it is obvious that New Delhi will have largely to act on its own in dealing with the security challenges it faces from the axis. Washington is deeply divided on how to deal with China, which now has powerful commercial, diplomatic and military lobbies across the US, arguing for a policy of constructive strategic engagement with Beijing.

Those who speak of an India-US partnership to deal with Beijing are, therefore, living in an unreal world.

UPDATE: At the same time, the Chinese are apparently “talking tough” to Pyonyang, criticizing its obsessive, never-ending preparations for war and demanding an end to its development of nuclear weapons. [Via Conrad.] Is it talking out of both sides of its mouth, or is China truly seeking to force the DPRK to clean up its act? Let’s hope for the latter. Let’s see.

It’s a terrible, terrifying story. I couldn’t quite believe it as I read it. Could a bunch of zealous church goers really hold down an 8-year-old autistic boy and try to “exorcize” the autism out of his body by blows?

The story itself is frightening, but the post is most remarkable for the beautiful thoughts of its writer, himself the father of an autistic child.

Via Atrios.

Pretend that the city under the fireworks is Beijing and not Hong Kong.

At last, my beloved friend in China, Ben, got the job of his very most lofty dreams. The call came just a few minutes ago. What seemed so impossible yesterday is today a magnificent reality.

To everyone who helped and who offered to help (and there were certainly a few), I can never thank you all enough. I wish I could convey just how much this means to me.

This was Ben’s dream, and seeing him attain it washes away months of anguish — mine and his. There is a god; there are miracles.

[The stunning graphic is stolen from Gweilo Diaries; thanks Conrad!]

I just watched in astonishment a piece on the BBC on how many in South Korea believe they were brainwashed with anti-Communist propaganda, and that North Korea is a better, more fair model of government than that of the repressive Americans. They interviewed college students who, with a straight face, praise their northern divided half.

This reflects an apparently growing mindset that the American troops should leave the peninsula so reunification can be achieved.

I don’t have to go into the surreal brutalities and psychoses of the DPRK. All I can say is, Be careful what you wish for — it just might come true. I can understand wanting to get foreign troops off your soil. I can’t understand anyone seeing any redeeming qualities in the living, breathing hell created by Dear Leader and his goons.

70 million men in China are currently unable to find wives due to a staggeringly high imbalance of males vs. females.

Men outnumber women as a result of the country’s one-child policy which leads to many female foetuses being aborted as girls are traditionally discriminated against….

The traditional Chinese thinking that men are more valuable than women has dominated the country for many centuries. Some rural people just dump their baby girls outside orphanages, Ms Pan said.

The minister said 99 per cent of Chinese children adopted by foreigners were girls. There were millions more boys under the age of 10 than girls of the same age group.

‘Although the Chinese government has banned gender selection of newborn babies by ultrasound and selective induced abortion, many doctors secretly provide such services for extra fees, sometimes as high as 1,000 yuan,’ Xinhua said. One thousand yuan works out to S$213.

In a country where getting married and raising a family is all-important, this situation is a catastrophe for the millions of men who will not find wives. It reflects an attitude that goes way back in China’s history, and reading Wild Swans last month drove home to me just how horrific it can be for women. (I still cringe whenever I think of the author’s detailed descriptions of what foot binding actually encompasses.)

A sad story about how Singapore maid agencies are “displaying domestic helpers in agency shop windows, prompting a women’s activist group to describe the practise as ‘appalling.'”

The article explains:

Mostly shy and some as young as 19, they sit without moving or talking as strangers peer at them.

“It presents a good opportunity for potential employers who can just walk in and interview them in person,” an agency spokesman told the newspaper Today, “better than looking at a photo.”

Some observers compared the scene to prostitutes who appear in window displays in the red-light districts of Amsterdam or Russia. Others expressed concern about displaying maids as commodities.

I find it truly repulsive, and I want to believe that most Singaporeans do as well.

Another great post by Orcinus today on how Republicans are rewriting history a la 1984 with their use of the latest meme, “Bush Haters.” As usual, David digs deep into what the Republican spinmeisters really said about Clinton, and proves that there is no comparison between the Clinton Haters and today’s so-called Bush Haters. Quite the contrary.

The Bush Haters meme is now all over the media, the latest attempt by Republicans to use languaging to convey what they want . They really have honed it to a fine art, and the way they all sing from the same songbook with no dissonance and no beat skipped is something I look at with a true sense of wonder. Until the Democrats learn how to jam the air waves with their own tunes and drown out those on the right, I’m afraid the Republicans will continue to win in the all-important area of messaging.

Sorry for overdoing the songbook metaphor.