Kim Jong-il dies

[opposable_crumbs]

His death has reportedly been announced in North Korea, and his son, Kim Jong-woon, designated as his successor.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16239693

[chiwhisoxx]

what's the opposite of RIP? also, sad that Hitch missed this. I would have paid to see the piece he would write in reaction to this.

[Wonderment]

He was grotesquely dictatorial. No wait, that's the SCOTUS, according to Newt.

Ok, pop quiz: Who wants to arrest judges and drag them before the Supreme Leader? Newt Gingrich or Kim Jong-Il?

Answer found here.

[graz]

Originally Posted by Wonderment

He was grotesquely dictatorial. No wait, that's the SCOTUS, according to Newt.

Ok, pop quiz: Who wants to arrest judges and drag them before the Supreme Leader? Newt Gingrich or Kim Jong-Il?

Answer found here.

Leave Newton le Roi aloooooone!

Why must you demonize him? After all, Intrade has your acceptable alternative well ahead:
http://www.intrade.com/v4/markets/?eventId=84328

[Sulla the Dictator]

Fantastic news. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

[sugarkang]

Originally Posted by Sulla the Dictator

Fantastic news. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Cautious optimism. Sometimes the devil you know...
We'll see if Kim Jong-eun doesn't get assassinated shortly.

[rfrobison]

Vaclav Havel (whose work I cannot claim to have read, regrettably) has died. The Economist has this has this obit.

Anyone who thinks the Cold War was nothing more than an amoral power struggle between two giants would do well to reflect on Havel's life.

[AemJeff]

Originally Posted by rfrobison

Vaclav Havel (whose work I cannot claim to have read, regrettably) has died. The Economist has this has this obit.

Anyone who thinks the Cold War was nothing more than an amoral power struggle between two giants would do well to reflect on Havel's life.

The loss of Hitchens and Havel with days of one another - that's a significant tragedy.

Kim Jong Un will no doubt follow in the footsteps of his father and his grandfather - if he survives the internal politics of the transition. Either way, what are the odds that things will change in any meaningful way?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdug6yHJB40

Originally Posted by rfrobison

Anyone who thinks the Cold War was nothing more than an amoral power struggle between two giants would do well to reflect on Havel's life.

How does Havel's life refute that the means used by both great powers were often not only amoral, but positively immoral? One need not be a Blame America Firster to recognize, like Christopher Hitchens did, that American policymakers have engaged in immorality that rivals the immorality of the Soviet leadership. To give a couple of example, supporting Pinochet's coup in Chile, supporting Suharto's genocidal regime and its murder of hundreds of thousands, and supporting radical Islamist throat-slitters aka "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan.

Look up Hitchens' Trial of Henry Kissinger. Let's get that bastard before he croaks.

[kezboard]

You ought to. His political essays, at least. The plays and so forth you can take or leave.

I feel like I've groused a lot about Havel on these boards, mostly because I'm irritated by his use as a symbol in American (and sometimes Czech, in fact) politics. I have a lot of conflicting feelings about him and his politics. But I lit a candle for him in front of the town square last night, too. He was a hero, first and foremost.

ETA: You can read some of Havel's essays here.

[miceelf]

It couldn't have happened to a more deserving gnome weirdo.

[Don Zeko]

Here are two visual representations of Kim's legacy: incredible suffering and death for the millions of people imprisoned in his country:

[kezboard]

If this means that anything is going to change in North Korea, that's good, although scary. It probably doesn't, though.

Ugh, Kim Jong Il.