Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com MUMBAI — Indians have a great word for the plethora of petty bureaucrats who run all the ministries and agencies that make life difficult if not miserable for millions of people. The word is “babu,” which can be a term of respect for an elder but now is […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Dennis Rodman while in North Korea might have asked his friend “Kim” about North Korea and Syria. Too bad he missed the chance, along with any notion of getting “Kim” to “do me a solid,” as he once put it, and let him bring Kenneth Bae out of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Looks like Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize is safe for now. He won’t have to return the bauble he received in 2009 for doing his utmost to curb “nuclear proliferation” and talk nice to Muslims. He can keep the money too. Not too trivial a sum — about […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Could aircraft carriers be the next big thing for Korea’s enormous shipbuilding industry, the world’s best and biggest? With orders down during the global economic slowdown, it would seem logical that Hyundai Heavy Industries and some of its rivals bring up the topic of aircraft carrier production with […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Edward Snowden seems to have considered just about every conceivable option for asylum. At least two countries, Venezuela and Nicaragua, whose leaders are deeply critical of U.S. foreign policy, are happy to accept him. He would no doubt be glad to live in either while disclosing still more […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com We keep hearing about all the countries where Edward Snowden is looking for asylum ― Ecuador and Venezuela would love to have him just to show they can’t be intimidated. Now it seems Ecuador is chickening out while Venezuela vies with Nicaragua for the distinction of defending the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Sometimes you have to wonder when reading the top stories how much people are really thinking about some of the implications. Take this running story about Edward Snowden. It’s a fun read, and it would not be a good idea to put him in jail for a lot […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com NEW DELHI — The late “Great Leader” Kim Il-Sung no doubt drew upon the teachings of Mao Zedong when he formulated his philosophy of “juche” or self-reliance, but one word you never hear on visits to North Korea is “Maoism.” If North Korea recognizes Mao Zedong as an […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com NEW DELHI — Chinese forces have staged an “intrusion” into Indian territory that would have been top world news had they been North Korean troops straying across the DMZ into South Korea. On China’s outer fringes, a few dozen Chinese troops huddled in tents at an altitude of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Memories and images of Margaret Thatcher and her legacy as displayed in the media this week evoke an obvious question: What would the Iron Lady have done about North Korea? The answer would seem clear. It’s hard to imagine the woman who dispatched troops to the Falklands in […]
