Vaclav Havel, Former President of Czech Republic, Dies at 75OK, a bit late on that one, but here's some hotter shit:
Kim Jong-il, the reclusive dictator who kept North Korea at the edge of starvation and collapse, banished to gulags citizens deemed disloyal and turned the country into a nuclear weapons state, died Saturday, according to North Korean state news media.Will this have any effect on anything that matters to us? Our immediate guess is no, other than an increase in inane droning blather on which spawn of Kim/mystery man will now take the reins, what that will mean, blart. Probably not even floods of refugees.
Called the “Dear Leader” by his people, Mr. Kim, the son of North Korea’s founder, remained an unknowable figure. Everything about him was guesswork, from the exact date and place of his birth to the cause of his death to the mythologized events of his rise in a country formed by the hasty division of the Korean Peninsula at the end of World War II.
North Koreans heard about him only as their “peerless leader” and “the great successor to the revolutionary cause.” Yet he fostered what was perhaps the last personality cult in the Communist world. His portrait hangs beside that of his father, Kim Il-sung, in every North Korean household and building. Towers, banners and even rock faces across the country bear slogans praising him.
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na
Well, if Dear Successor behaves like Bush II, he might have some oedipal resentments to work out. What better way to get back at dad than to blow stuff up and kill a lot of people? On the other hand, N. Korea's been strangely well-behaved since they torpedoed that South Korean Navy ship, but if a few of their subs suddenly disappeared at sea with all hands lost, they probably wouldn't admit it. I predict that downloads of "Team America: World Police" will spike in the coming days.
ReplyDeleteInt'l. Ed.:
ReplyDeleteWe didn't want to over-excite ourself w/ nihilistic possibilities, but anything could happen, esp. if the military decides two generations of Kims are enough.
Plenty of Photoshops & that T.A. marionette when one Googles images of the late dictator.