One of my favorite left-of-center political commentators, Claudia Rosett, weighs in on recent happenings up north related to the recent devaluation of NORK currency.  As usual, she is pretty much right on point.  Whether or not this opportunity is something that could be exploited is debateable, but it is certainly a positive indication that even the most severly oppressed have their limits.  We’ll see.

While climate delegates are quarreling in Copenhagen, and President Barack Obama is collecting his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, an important story is unfolding in relative obscurity, in North Korea. Furious over a confiscatory currency “reform,” citizens of the world’s most repressive state have begun publicly criticizing their government.

It is hard to overstate just how bold a move that is. North Korea’s military “is on alert for a possible civil uprising,” according to a major South Korean newspaper, the Chosun Ilbo. Reports have been filtering out of North Korea that the country’s markets have become arenas of protest, with traders–many of them women in their 40s and 50s–publicly cursing the North Korean authorities.

Please read the rest for some fascinating insights and historical perspectives.

On a related note, last week I attended a lecture by Mr. Hwang Jang-yop, the highest level defector from North Korea to date.  He was for the most part pessimistic about any change in attitude from the North as long as Kim, Jong-il remains in power.  As he noted, if China can’t influence North Korea, there is nothing to be gained from the appeasement efforts of South Korea and the USA.

During the Q&A Mr. Hwang was asked about the potential for political upheaval as result of the money devaluation.  He saw little liklihood of any lasting impact, explaining that the people most impacted were the black market profiteers.  As usual, the ruling elite had plenty of advance warning and exchanged their won for Euros weeks ago.  Still, he saw it as one step closer to the destabilazation that will one day lead to the collapse of the North.

Heh.  I’d been working on a long and thoughtful post concerning the global warming fiasco, but it somehow deleted instead of posting.  Thinking it a quirk of fate rather than some cosmic commentary regarding my take on the future of mother Earth, I will likely resurrect those thoughts one day in the future (assuming we have one).

In the meantime, I think this Dilbert panel pretty much captures the gist of what I wanted to say:

Well, there is also this little treatise on the hypocrisy of those attending the Copenhagen climate conference:

The airport says it is expecting up to 140 extra private jets during the peak period alone, so far over its capacity that the planes will have to fly off to regional airports – or to Sweden – to park, returning to Copenhagen to pick up their VIP passengers.

Taking a private jet to a conference on stopping global warming is a bit like traveling in a sedan chair carried by indentured servants to a summit on stopping human trafficking. Except we’re the ones they want to enslave. If they get their way, they’ll crush us with taxes, make our energy bills skyrocket, and otherwise cut our standard of living back to 19th-century levels.

Hmm, it does seem that actions speak louder than words.

You know, the funny thing is I’m pretty much agnostic on the warming issue.  But I never quite bought in to the whole “the science is settled” screed, because the science is never settled. I can accept that the Earth may be experiencing a warming trend, but that’s not to say the cause is man-made.  And even if it were, the proposed cure strikes me as being just as harmful as the “disease” and clearly unlikely to be effectively implemented.

So, if the problem is burning fossil fuels why aren’t our green friends advocating for building more nuclear power stations?  And parking their f’n limos and private jets….

Oh, and I had a mostly friendly discussion with another blogger in Korea (K-blog as we say in the parlance), ROK Sojourn. You should follow the link to read his views and our exchange in the comments. His basic premise was if you don’t believe the Earth is warming, you should just “shut the hell up”.  Seems to me that pretty much means you’ve lost the argument.  Akin to putting your hands over your ears and yelling “LA LA LA LA I can’t hear you!”.

So, if the science is so settled what are they afraid of?

A great Day by Day cartoon that demonstrates that rather than being a miserable failure, Obama has accomplished much of his agenda one year into his presidency…