Kyle Brady: Blog » China

The Marginalization of North Korea [OpEd]

Kyle Brady — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:05:07 +0000

North Korea, Kim Jong-Il specifically, is known for its blustery antics in the world theater, and the past few months have not been unique. The anti-Western rhetoric and threats of war tend to come at times when North Korea needs something it can’t provide for itself: food, money, or other forms of aid. The country itself is very poor, and the people outside of the military have a restricted and stringent existence, even compared to other totalitarian regimes.

Theirs is a culture of extreme disinformation where the United States is an “imperialist regime” interested in adding their country to a roster of conquered peoples, any so-called “journalism” is state sponsored and controlled, and their military might is both considerable and formidable. In reality, Kim Jong-Il has succeeded in only embarrassing himself militarily, proving time and time again anything more than short range missiles are beyond their technological reach, especially after having a satellite launch fail spectacularly in the public eye. Still the tirades against the American way of life continue, most recently celebrating the anniversary of the Korean War while openly threatening to bring war to the Western World – the American military believes a long-range missile may be launched towards Hawaii on July 4th as “test”, and is acting proactively no matter how laughable the threat.

In the past, sanctions have been imposed only half-heartedly, as North Korea toys with the idea of nuclear weaponry and the sale of such munitions to other unfriendly parties, with aid eventually being given in exchange for concessions – likely what they wanted in the first place. This time, however, things may be different: China is actively decrying the actions of their Korean neighbor. China and Russia have long given North Korea the blind eye, with Russia often encouraging their communist brethren – but China is now interacting heavily with this problem country in terms of trade, and perhaps due to extra scrutiny from outside eyes, are interested more in their own red state future than needling bothersome Americans via proxy.

All seemed to be progressing as best as could be expected, considering the circumstances, until last week – the United Nations was once again criticizing North Korea, America and her allies declared embargoes as well as intentions to inspect ships if necessary, and, as previously stated, China publicly sided with the rest of the world. Kim Jong-Il had the attention he wanted, but perhaps not the intended results since no aid was forthcoming. But due to a slew of celebrity deaths in America, Michael Jackson in particular, and the potential revolution in Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea largely faded from the public eye.

This is, as shown by numerous occasions throughout modern history, quite dangerous. All out war is not to be desired with the DPRK: the Western Allies are decidedly superior in military prowess, and could likely end any conflict via air support only, but disaster would undoubtedly ensue as South Korea, Japan, and potentially even China receive military strikes in one form or another, destabilizing the entire region. The DMZ in Korea remains a particularly hostile location, but armed conflict hasn’t been seen in decades despite almost constant threats - the U.N., American Presidents, and other international leaders have all acquiesced to demands of aid for fear of military retaliation over the years, all at times where North Korea had appeared to fade from all modern global relevance.

Once again, the DPRK seems to have faded quietly into the political background, only a few short days after threatening war on one of the most powerful countries in the world. This, perhaps, is not the best place for the global media to be placing such stories, since Kim Jong-Il is nothing if not attention hungry. Less than a week remains until July 4th, where actions will speak louder than words – will North Korea launch a weapon, targeting a region within the borders of the United States? If so, will such a launch even be successful, thanks to their proven three-state rocket booster failures?

Time will tell whether or not the ailing dictator will try to be remembered with a memorable final-days military conflict against his most hated enemy, but America is ready – it’s not as if such an attack would be a surprise, either calendrically or technologically.

Chinese Lies – Followup II [Expose]

Kyle Brady — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:43:22 +0000

I wrote something about the state of the Olympics in Beijing, China, and the IOC a week ago, and a followup, but since then there have been some answers to my questions, which I wanted to publicly note.

The IOC has apparently had enough of the public (aka "free world journalist") criticism about ignoring certain *ahem* details about China, and they're now fully investigating the age of the Chinese women's gymnasts. Not just doing a quick China-provided passport check, but the real deal.

Journalists inside the Beijing Olympic compound city are getting frustrated. The daily press conferences, when they happen, are full of over-smiling Chinese government officials and oddly obsequious IOC representatives. Not to mention that their questions are largely ignored, and used as "you're not being very nice guests!" fodder.

If you want an inside voice on the Olympics and it's very obvious problems that has a cynical and "take no prisoners" attitude, check out Marina Hyde of The Guardian. She sounds alot like if I were writing full inside coverage of the events... which is awesome.

Chinese Lies – Followup [Expose]

Kyle Brady — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:23:07 +0000

In a followup, of sorts, to my original post of outrage at the IOC and China's ignorance/deceit/lies, I found two posts (via Valleywag) by someone who is a "privacy consultant" and digs up dirt for a living on people.

And he just happened to have investigated the "Chinese Gymnast Incident" for kicks and giggles. Check out the original post, and his second foray into it.

In a nutshell, he finds that everyone is right. Official Chinese documents (a spreadsheet that was public, and then removed for what I'm sure were "innocent" reasons) point to one of the female gymnasts being 14 years old. Which is definitely less than the requirement of 16.

I don't want to seem like a broken record here, but there's another glaring feature of China's attempts to control reality: after the investigator looked at the same results from within the Chinese Google, the results (and their cached versions) were quickly removed.

Google China has openly admitted that they filter results for the Great Firewall of China, but there had been no mention of limits, definitions, or reaction times. The most disturbing part of all this is that Google bent to the Chinese will to help lie to the IOC and the rest of the free world... and did it in record breaking time.

My conclusion? Google China has the Chinese government more in their pocket (or maybe "in their throats" would be a better description of the depth of control) than they want people to believe.

And that's just complete bullshit.

--- ---

Update (8/20/2008 2:45pm PST): As if all the lies and deceit weren't enough... 5 U.S. bloggers have been detained by the Chinese government, for reporting on some Tibetan protests. And no-one saw this coming, right? *sarcastic/angry wink* See full details on RW/W

Chinese Lies [Expose]

Kyle Brady — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:52:35 +0000

I have many strong opinions on the state of China, how they deal with issues/people/truth, and the current Olypmics... but this article on the Chinese "women's" gymnastics team sums up most of it.

Oh, the gracious land of the oppressed!

China believes the rest of the world is just as gullible, cow-eyed, and afraid to speak as their native population is. So it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone when they think problems are solved by just stating they are.

Age verification of Chinese athletes with only Chinese created documents? Check.

Proving there's no pollution, just "mist", in Beijing by merely saying so? Check.

Destroying your people's homes and building walls around others, for "state purposes" related to the Olympics, and then pretending like you didn't... when the rest of the world has proof? Check.

I love the Olympics, but the IOC has failed miserably. Allowing them to be held in China was the first mistake.

How could you even begin to believe all the promises made about the "progress" they'll make before they're held, when China hasn't told a single truth to anyone in years?

How could you even imagine that Beijing's pollution problem could be fixed/magically go away in a few short years, let alone when the government pretends like it's not an issue?

Their second mistake is to turn a blind eye to all of this with the intent of not upsetting their gracious hosts. Do some research and you'll find some interesting stuff.

The IOC refuses to do anything about:

Chinese "womens" gymnastics team's age issue

the blatant lies about the levels of Beijing's pollution

the human rights atrocities committed in preparation for this Olympics (house demolition, house quarantines, indefinite jailtime for protesters/"the unharmonious", etc.)

journalistic freedom failure, thanks to watchdogs (both human and computer), the Great Firewall of China, and many other restrictions about what is "harmonious" and allowed

It's not like the world doesn't have Internet connections, or watch non-Chinese media. The IOC is playing a game of "let's hope they're really stupid", and it's not working. Funny how China's been doing the same thing for years...