Mick Hartley

Politics and Culture

recent posts

email me

  • “It feels like the party is out to start a war”

    It's always difficult to gauge this kind of aggressive rhetoric from Kim Jong-un: it is, after all, what he does, issuing threats against his enemies and stressing the need for constant vigilance and war preparation. It's how he stays in power. On the other hand it's all getting more than a little concerning, given the new Putin alliance, the very real possibility that Russian nuclear technology could be heading his way, and the recent redefinition of South Korea as an enemy state that "we must occupy".

    From the Daily NK today:

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has issued an order calling for full war preparations against South Korea, including the use of nuclear weapons. The order, delivered to officials in North Pyongan province on Oct. 23, instructs the nation to prepare for a possible occupation of South Korea using “all means of attack” at its disposal.

    According to a source in the province recently, the order appeared aimed at promoting internal unity by raising the atmosphere of tension and strengthening the country’s war footing by emphasizing, at least domestically, that North Korea has gone beyond simple self-defense and is preparing for offensive military action to occupy South Korea.

    In the order, North Korea designated South Korea as an enemy state “both legally and physically” and explicitly said that if South Korea attempts to violate the North’s sovereignty, Pyongyang would mercilessly respond by mobilizing all military means at its disposal, including nuclear weapons, the source said.

    The order also called on all munitions factories and related industries to speed up their national tasks to strengthen the nation’s nuclear arsenal, and urged the entire party, military and people to prepare for war with the determination to resist South Korea to the death with irresistible force….

    “The order emphasized that officials must thoroughly block the enemy from creating internal divisions and mercilessly crush phenomena that harm the one-hearted unity of the party and revolutionary ranks. It ordered all party members and officials to conduct their work and life as if it were a battle, always thinking of war preparations for the occupation of South Korea.”

    In North Pyongan province, fear has been spreading since the order was received. People are expressing concern that this time the party may actually be considering war.

    “As the public learns what was in Kim’s order given to officials above the rank of department head, people are expressing concern and fear that a war with South Korea may be imminent and that it feels like the party is out to start a war,” the source said.

  • Chinese concerns

    The disquiet felt by China over the sending of North Korean troops to Ukraine and the increased cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang is shown here in a couple of recent MEMRI TV clips from Chinese media commentators.

    Chinese Media Personality Qiu Zhenhai:

    When news broke that North Korea was sending its elite soldiers to fight alongside Russia against Ukraine, Chinese media collectively expressed shock and serious concerns. Many voiced worries that the close alliance between North Korea and Russia could diminish China's role in Korean Peninsula affairs, with some even suggesting that a "World War Three" could materialize soon.

    In an October 21, 2024 video posted to Bilibili, well-known Chinese media personality Dr. Qiu Zhenhai candidly expressed his concerns about North Korea's actions. He suggested they stem from a desire to sustain its hermit regime and seek a "security guarantee" by strengthening military ties with Russia. This reflects the mutual disappointment both Russia and North Korea feel towards China.

    From the outset, Mr. Qiu emphasized that the deployment of North Korean soldiers to Russia could lead to future deterioration and tension in the region. He suggested that if Russia reciprocates in the future by sending regular army units and even nuclear weapons to support North Korea against South Korea, Japan, and the United States, it could lead to a "quasi-world war" on the Korean Peninsula. Such an outcome, Mr. Qiu believes, would be detrimental to China in every aspect. "It would harm China's national security," he further stressed, because China needs "peace and stability" in East Asia to foster its economic development. At the video's conclusion, he urged China to "prepare in advance."

    Also:

    In a recent viral video, which was posted to Xigua Video on October 21, 2024, by Zhang Bin’s Commentary, Zhang Bin, a prominent Chinese social media commentator with 2.3 million followers on the video platform, provided his analysis of the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia.

    Mr. Zhang warned that this move could have serious implications for China. Not only could it strain China’s relations with North Korea, but it might also provide NATO members with a pretext to escalate their involvement in Ukraine, destabilizing Europe and undermining China's interests.

    Furthermore, Mr. Zhang suggested that the strengthening military alliance between North Korea and Russia could heighten tensions in Asia, reinforcing U.S. efforts to establish a "mini-NATO" with Japan and South Korea.

    Mr. Zhang expressed concern that if tensions on the Korean Peninsula spiraled out of control, China could find itself inadvertently drawn into conflict.

  • Sex testing

    Paper from Adam Rutherford (geneticist, science populariser, head of Humanists UK) et al., arguing that sex testing in sport is not nice because of hurt feelings.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    "Which is why I ended my membership."

    Rebuttal of Rutherford's paper here. And see Cathy Devine.

  • Tehran billboard

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  • Social justice in action

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    The Jerusalem Post:

    A man convicted of terrorism and sentenced to life for his involvement in the murder of four Jews in a French synagogue bombing, is an active Professor of Sociology at a Canadian University, and teaches a course on "social justice in action."

    Carleton University in Ottawa stands by Diab, and has worked to prevent his extradition in the past.

    Dr Hassan Diab, a Lebanese terrorist, was convicted by a French court over his involvement in a 1980 bombing that killed four people and injured 46 outside the Rue Copernic reform synagogue in Paris.

    Diab fled to Canada, and after being arrested in 2008, entered into a six-year legal battle to avoid being extradited to France. However, Diab was extradited in 2014, but after two years in prison, a judge allowed him to be released to house arrest. He escaped to Canada on the same day.

    The subsequent trial was held in absentia, and the court unanimously ruled that Diab was guilty and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

    Despite the international arrest warrant against him, Diab will be teaching a sociology course this year at Carleton University in Ottawa.

    The sons of one of the victims of the bombing, Aliza Shragir, an Israeli TV presenter, said that reinstating Diab as a lecturer was "outrageous."

    "It is outrageous that an academic institution that is supposed to promote values of equality and justice decided to employ a cold-blooded murderer, who was unanimously convicted in a court in France. Apparently carrying out a murderous terrorist act against a Jewish target does not go against the values of Carleton University," the sons said in a statement.

    Apparently not. But then, this is Canada.

  • The voice of the UN

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  • Imane Khelif revisited

    Back to the case of Algerian boxer and Olympic women's gold medal winner Imane Khelif, from Reduxx:

    A shocking new development has emerged in the case of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif after a French journalist reportedly gained access to a damning medical report revealing Khelif has “testicles.” The news comes months after Khelif seized a gold medal in women’s boxing at the Paris Olympics.

    The report was drafted in June of 2023 via a collaboration between the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital in Paris, France, and the Mohamed Lamine Debaghine hospital in Algiers, Algeria. Drafted by expert endocrinologists Soumaya Fedala and Jacques Young, the report reveals that Khelif is impacted by 5-alpha reductase deficiency, a disorder of sexual development that is only found in biological males….

    At the end of October, French journalist Djaffar Ait Aoudia obtained a copy of a thorough physical examination that was conducted on Khelif in order to verify the presence of a disorder of sexual development.

    According to Aoudia, the clinical report reveals that an MRI determined that Khelif had no uterus, but instead had internal testicles and a “micropenis” resembling an enlarged clitoris. A chromosomal test further confirmed that Khelif has an XY karyotype, while a hormone test found that Khelif had a testosterone level typical of males….

    This report coincides with an earlier admission by Khelif’s coach, Georges Cazorla, that the Algerian boxer had been subjected to an assessment at the Kremlin-Bicêtre Hospital after being disqualified from women’s boxing by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in March of 2023.

    In an interview from August, Cazorla tepidly conceded that the endocrinologists had determined there was a “problem with [Khelif’s] chromosomes” at the time. Despite this fact, Cazorla insisted that Khelif should still be allowed to compete against females.

    Cazorla also stated that Khelif was placed on testosterone suppressants following the 2023 medical assessment. However, the International Olympic Committee has not submitted athletes to chromosomal testing since 1999 and, at the Paris Olympics, the only requirement to participate in women’s boxing was to have a female sex marker on legal documents.

    So there we have it. He's a man – and they knew he was a man.

    In collaboration with the Independent Council on Women’s Sport (ICONS), Reduxx was the first outlet to break the news of Khelif’s participation in women’s boxing at Paris, raising alarm bells due to his previous disqualification from women’s boxing by the IBA. The news sparked a firestorm of controversy, with the IBA coming out in opposition to the IOC’s decision to allow Khelif to fight women in Paris.

    Speaking to Reduxx on this latest revelation, ICONS co-founder Marshi Smith slammed the IOC and the Algerian Olympic Committee for allowing Khelif to continue his journey to Paris gold despite being fully aware he was genetically male.

    “The IOC and the Algerian Olympic Committee are complicit in endorsing male violence against women under the guise of public entertainment on the world’s largest sports stage,” Smith said. “They stood by as women were subjected to physical assault for spectacle, stripped of safety, fairness, and their lifetime achievements. All those involved must face swift and serious consequences.” Smith adds that she believes Khelif should be stripped of his gold medal, but doubts any action will be taken to rectify the injustice.

  • UNIFIL’s symbiotic relationship with Hezbollah

    Tony Badran at Tablet – "Like UNRWA in Gaza, UNIFIL in Lebanon underwrites terrorists while safeguarding the underground bases in which they store weapons and plan to murder Israelis":

    Just how blatantly Hezbollah operated with UNIFIL’s blessing became clear after Israel launched its invasion of southern Lebanon on Sept. 30. IDF units operating close to Israel’s northern border uncovered the openings of elaborate, large-scale Hezbollah tunnel networks a few yards away from UNIFIL positions. It was clearly impossible for UNIFIL commanders not to have been fully aware of the construction of those positions and their use by large squads of armed Hezbollah militants who moved in and out. Needless to say, the construction and deployment of Hezbollah’s tunnel network, which made a mockery of UNIFIL’s supposed role in demilitarizing southern Lebanon, was never reported back to the U.N. through official channels or made public. Instead, UNIFIL paid local Hezbollah operatives and supporters to act as contractors and provide other services, essentially melding its functions with those of the terrorist army for which it was providing cover.

    To be sure, the existence of a large network of Hezbollah attack tunnels near Israel’s border was hardly a secret, even if the scale of the network would surprise the Israeli military. In December 2018-January 2019, the IDF first uncovered cross-border tunnels all in UNIFIL’s area of operation. The tunnels were cut into the rocky terrain of south Lebanon, and would have required the movement of a tremendous amount of earth. Yet the U.N. force in the area somehow heard nothing, saw nothing, and until Israel uncovered the tunnels, said nothing. UNIFIL only bestirred itself to comment when the IDF moved in to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure—not to denounce the terror organization for blatantly abusing its hospitality and violating its mandate, but by refusing to withdraw from its positions adjacent to the terror group’s fortifications in order to keep Israel from blowing them up….

    Recently captured Hezbollah fighters have reportedly told Israeli interrogators that the group had bribed UNIFIL personnel to use their positions. Moreover, Hezbollah allegedly took control of UNIFIL cameras installed in their positions near the border and used them to collect intelligence on Israel troop placements and movements inside Israel.

    It's almost as though the UN organisations tasked with keeping the peace are doing all they can to aid the enemies of Israel. Who'd have thought?

  • South Korea as a foreign nation and enemy state

    More from the Daily NK on North Korea's increasing emphasis on the idea of two separate states, rather than a Korea waiting for reunification:

    North Korea has enacted new legislation governing its national anthem and quickly organized mandatory training sessions for officials on the law. Authorities distributed lecture materials explaining the purpose and background of the law, and official study sessions began on Oct. 26….

    According to the source, the lecturer said that the passage of the new law “redefined the national image and embodied the political significance of instilling a concept of state and public patriotism.”

    The lecturer also explained that the symbolic notions of “unification” and “ethnic nation” had been excluded from national law and stressed that “relations between the north and the south are defined as two different states.”

    In particular, the lecturer said, “We want to strengthen our status as a nuclear state and (build) awareness of our independent existence in the international community,” urging officials never to use the term “North-South” again.

    In addition, the lecturer said the latest law is aimed at “rallying the people more firmly around Comrade Kim Jong Un with one mind and one goal, unified in the determination to put our state first.” He said that “the era in which putting the ethnic nation first has turned into putting the state first has already come a long way, and we must strengthen the identity of putting the state above the ethnic nation.”

    He continued: “We must never allow our class resolve against our enemies to be blurred by prioritizing our independent existence over a meaningless unification and pass on our perpetual state — not North and South — to our descendants. Our nation and South Korea are clearly two different states and we must achieve unity and solidarity with the Workers’ Party and the leader, not unification between North and South.”

    The lecturer called on officials to “work to intensify public ideological indoctrination so that all people erase from their minds the understanding of North and South as one people and support and perpetuate the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and come to understand South Korea as a foreign nation and enemy state.”

    Earlier on Oct. 25, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that the 33rd Plenary Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly had met the previous day at the Mansudae Hall in Pyongyang and passed a “national anthem law.”

    The report did not disclose the specifics of the law, but the legislation likely includes regulations that entirely erase the concepts of unification and ethnic nationhood in line with Kim Jong Un’s “two hostile states” theory.

    North Korea had already erased the phrase “3,000 ri” – a reference to the entire Korean Peninsula – from its national anthem. Accordingly, the line “My beautiful homeland of 3,000 ri” was changed to “This world, my beautiful homeland.”

    All this exhortation, as we've seen, is contrary to the teachings of Great Leader Kim Il Sung, who emphasised the importance – the inevitability – of reunification. Of course that was predicated on the belief that this unification would take place on North Korean terms, but the ship has long sailed on that one, with the South an economic and cultural powerhouse and the North an economic and cultural basket-case….but a basket-case, unfortunately, with nuclear weapons.

  • A self-selecting group of men

    Sums it up nicely:

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js