Dream landscape. Relax the world. Expensive park of gold dragon. A holidays Village. Cloud beyond. Walk the months in cloud to swim. Thats some DEEP shit!

July 10, 2005 @ 12:35 am | Comment

AM,
“Defend Greenland”, sign I saw on some grass.
All Greenland militia, report for duty! Baffin Island Awake!

July 10, 2005 @ 4:01 am | Comment

Ivan, I have heard that Rumsfeld has plans for Greenland………….He’s got somptin’ against whoever lives there. Greenlanders? Greenlandians. Probably about oil though.We gonna bitch slap them …………….caribou?

July 10, 2005 @ 4:19 am | Comment

AM,
It’s because Greenland belongs to Denmark, and Rumsfeld is an old Nazi who never forgave Denmark for the Resistance.
By the way Rumsfeld’s German relatives have formally disowned him, seriously.

July 10, 2005 @ 6:14 am | Comment

Poor Rummy! Maybe Germany will be after Greenland. He would look good in lederhosen.

July 10, 2005 @ 6:49 am | Comment

Rummy in Lederhosen and rouge, with painted toenails. Many of the SS were transvestites, and some SS prisoners of war were captured while wearing red toenail polish.
This was, of course, a Nazi thing, NOT a German thing. The regular German Army were real men (regardless of whether they were straight or gay, you know what I mean, real men) but there was a cult of sexual perversion in the Nazi Party, and Rummy seems to belong among them.
“Rummy with the red toenails”….there should be a song about that….

July 10, 2005 @ 7:00 am | Comment

This is just me trolling the board to say that I’ve just managed to scramble a few minutes for myself and have posted a new article about The Mainland and Chinese Taipei on my website!

July 10, 2005 @ 7:20 am | Comment

Chinese Taipei?

Begone troll!

July 10, 2005 @ 7:23 am | Comment

Ban the troll, Richard. Thanks.

July 10, 2005 @ 7:24 am | Comment

That’s what they call it in the Olympics!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Taipei

July 10, 2005 @ 7:27 am | Comment

I can’t believe that you actually provided the link for that Mr. W.

July 10, 2005 @ 7:45 am | Comment

and here I was hoping to read more of martyn and lisa’s intriguing conversation…

July 10, 2005 @ 12:29 pm | Comment

I can’t speak for Martyn but I finally went to sleep @ 3 AM PST.

July 10, 2005 @ 12:55 pm | Comment

sigh. well, I *suppose* that’s okay…..

heh. sorry. anyway, anyone remember who kept going on about ‘when was the last time you heard of people sneaking into china for freedom?’? well, apparently they are (were?), from north korea. which seems startlingly obvious once you think about it.

I highly recommend the la times article on north korea. I’m too tired (read lazy) to tiny url it, the link (including instructions on how to read the login only part two) is on my blog

July 10, 2005 @ 1:18 pm | Comment

btw, lots of part two will likely sound quite a bit familiar…

July 10, 2005 @ 1:19 pm | Comment

Oh, is there a new piece today? I read a recent lengthy article in LAT. It was quite good.

And yes, there has been plenty of reporting on N. Koreans sneaking into China. Starvation tends to motivate people that way, and there’s really no question that ordinary Chinese enjoy far more personal freedoms than do North Koreans.

One of the changes in Beijing that really floored me, coming from the days of it being a strictly Chinese city, is the huge Korean population there now. The northwest is practically a Korea Town in places, with Koreans running a lot of small businesses – I think these mostly have absentee Chinese owners.

July 10, 2005 @ 1:33 pm | Comment

anyway, anyone remember who kept going on about ‘when was the last time you heard of people sneaking into china for freedom?’? well, apparently they are (were?), from north korea. which seems
startlingly obvious once you think about it.

This begs an important question. Did those fleeing North Korea choose China because they believed it was a bastion of freedom, or did they do so because it was the only border crossing available? Was this a choice, based on comparing China to other countries and determining it was the best place for refugees, or was it due to more pragmatic considerations, like there was simply no other place to turn?

July 10, 2005 @ 1:44 pm | Comment

ol, I don’t know how new it was. new to me’s all I can say. 2 parts, about 7 pages each.

richard, it’s a matter of perspective. when compared to north korea china is free. you don’t have time for idealogy when you don’t know if you’ll eat tomorow.

however. once out some took the free ride to south korea. but a lot seem to have stayed in china. mind you china doesn’t recognise them as refugees, south korea does.

July 10, 2005 @ 2:58 pm | Comment

But getting through the DMZ is rather tricky. It is literally one of the most guarded strips of land on earth. Most refugees couldn’t possibly get across. Getting into China is no picnic either, but the odds are somewhat better.

N. Korea is literally the most unfree place in the entire world. China is a relative paradise — so is Haiti. I would literally bet my life that few if any of these refugees decided of all the countries on earth China was the best choice, the land of freedom and hope, where refugees would be greeted with the most warmth, love and acceptance.

I think the original point remains — that when refugees consider making a bid for freedom, they almost never choose China, except of course if it’s the only possible way to get out of their own country. Aside from those living in countries on the immediate border, I can’t think of any stories of people risking their lives and the lives of their families to get into China. While literally tens of thousands of Chinese every year do just that to get into England, the US and other free countries.

As for the joyful life awaiting North Korean refugees in China, there’s been intertesting testimony about that.

How does China treat these starving, malnourished, terrified men, women and children who flee to their country as a last desperate hope for survival? It puts a price on their heads, and it penalizes its own citizens if any one of them offers food or shelter while rewarding people for turning them in.

The North Koreans must hide in caves, in holes in the ground, in safe houses in utter terror. Some are constantly on the move going from town to town trying to stay ahead of the Chinese police. Orphan children scavenge in the streets begging for food and sleep on roofs and in alleys at night.

China knows that to return these defectors to North Korea is to guarantee their imprisonment, torture, and possible death, but it continues to repatriate them in violation of the international documents that it has signed. China calls them “economic migrants,” but as Seung-yong Lee, of the humanitarian organization Good Friends, has stated “Their flight to China is their last resort for survival not a means to accumulate wealth. The simple crossing of the river makes them political offenders regardless of their initial motivation.”

Because it is a crime in North Korea to leave the country without permission or to complain about the food situation, these North Koreans are automatically guilty of a crime against the state for their simple desire to survive.

According to field surveys conducted by the Citizens Alliance and Good Friends on these refugees

~~ over 50 percent of the women have been subjected to some form of human trafficking, sold as wives to Chinese farmers, sold as sex slaves to brothels, sexually exploited and subjected to hard labor;

…You have on the one hand a refugee population in desperate need of assistance and on the other hand a humanitarian community willing to provide that assistance at great personal sacrifice and risk. Yet, the policy of the government of China is to persecute both groups.

Now, some would say that we should keep quiet, that we should not speak out about this situation because it is forcing the government of China to increase its repression. That is simply not factually correct. The repatriations have been occurring for years. One group of seven North Korean refugees was actually granted refugee status by the UNHCR in December, 1999, yet China forcibly returned them to North Korea in January 2000.

China is notorious for repatriating North Korean refugees and sending them to their inevitable deaths. China may be paradise compared to North Korea, but pity the poor NK refugee who ends up there.

July 10, 2005 @ 3:16 pm | Comment

richard, once again we’re having two very different conversations.

‘night all

July 10, 2005 @ 3:32 pm | Comment

Sorry echo, didn’t mean it that way.

To me, it’s all about the contention, Anyone remember who kept going on about ‘when was the last time you heard of people sneaking into china for freedom?’? well, apparently they are (were?), from north korea. which seems startlingly obvious once you think about it.

To me, absolutely n oone is sneaking into China for freedom, but to avoid death by starvation or torture. Again, apologies if I misunderstood something. Sleep well.

July 10, 2005 @ 3:37 pm | Comment