It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

just don't. OK?

UPDATE: I think all the attention caused the original site to crash (or the owner to take the photos down because of bandwidth problems?). Similar explorations of Tom's antics can be seen here and here. Does anyone on the planet think that this is for real?

is being done over at Strengthen the Good. I haven't heard much from/or them for a while. Nice to see that they are back in business.

was his 9th. I know this is slightly old news for hardcore, inside the beltway, Korea-watchers. But a brief and interesting report of his trip can be read here. Harrison met with some DPRK heavy hitters (but not the DL):

My meetings in Pyongyang included Kim Yong Name [sic] Nam, President of the Supreme People's Assembly (one hour), Kang Sok Ju (two hours), Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, who has represented Pyongyang until now in the Beijing talks (five hours) and General Ri Chan Bok, the North Korean representative at Panmunjom (two hours).

What does North Korea want? Dignity. Respect. A promise that the U.S. will no longer pursue regime change:

What North Korea wants now is a start toward normalization with the U.S. in the form of direct bilateral talks with the U.S. A direct bilateral dialogue is regarded as an essential first gesture of a willingness to recognize and legitimize the North Korean regime. Six party talks could also be held, but Pyongyang's emphasis is on direct talks.

Kim Gye Gwan emphasized that North Korea is not seeking to impose preconditions for its participation in the six-party talks relating to the agenda, such as a U.S. willingness to discuss its March 31 demands. However, North Korea will not attend, he said, unless the United States "improves the atmosphere for the talks by making clear that it is not seeking regime change."

The formal North Korean position is that Condoleezza Rice should apologize for calling North Korea "an outpost of tyranny." But Kim Yong Nam said, "if they are not prepared to do that, there should be some other way to provide us with a justification to attend. It's up to them to find a way. The ball is in their court."

Similarly, Kang Sok Ju said that it was not enough for Rice to have said: "no one denies that North Korea is a sovereign state." I asked whether it would be satisfactory if she said that "the United States will respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DPRK and is prepared for peaceful coexistence despite the differences in our social systems." "That's something we can accept," he said, but we want to hear it directly in open or secret discussions with the United States."

"We need a springboard to be at the six-party talks," Kang added, "some signal that the United States treats us with respect. We have to convince our Army and our people that we are acting in a way consistent with the dignity of a sovereign state that is respected as a strong military state. It's not a difficult thing to be at the six-party talks, but we can't do so if we are going there under pressure."

Is the Bush Administration willing to give this? Should it? Does a nation that starves and oppresses its citizens deserve dignity and respect? Only when it can threaten its neighbors with nukes? I don't think these are simple or easy questions.

Finally, some tantalizing bits on DPRK nuclear capability (or the lack thereof):

When I asked Kim Yong Nam how he knew North Korea's nuclear weapons would work in the absence of a test, he replied, "The agencies concerned are convinced that they have all the preparations made properly, and that our nuclear weapons are operational." General Ri Chan Bok said, "there's no need for a test, and we don't want to have one, even one underground, because of the fallout. Without a test, our nuclear deterrent will be functional. We are ready to put warheads on our missiles whenever we want."

This statement suggested that the warheads are not yet on the missiles. It also prompted me to ask whether the North Korean deterrent consisted only of missiles, or also included air-deliverable nuclear bombs. "In the twenty first century," he replied, "it's hard for me to believe that any country would use air deliverable nuclear weapons."

is back. Check out what the best and brightest students at The George Washington University (what else can I say? They're intelligent enough to sign up for my classes; they must be smart!) are reading and thinking about all things North Korea.

has come and gone. Another beautiful day on the Ellipse between the Washington Monument and the White House. Not a bad place for a Commencement ceremony all things considered.

This year's festivities were filled with much of the usual. Thank yous to retiring professors. Awards to the best and brightest students, staff, faculty, and alumni. The obligatory cheesy visit of our university's namesake accompanied by his wife. Pres. Trachtenberg has done all this stuff so often he can (and probably does) do it in his sleep. Though he did sport a different sort of headgear today: a Washington Nationals baseball cap.

The main speaker was Andy Rooney. He was accompanied and introduced by his graduating granddaughter (good job Alexis!). Rooney was, if I might say, his usual witty but pessimistic self.

If you're smart at all you should be nervous about facing the world you're entering. If you're not nervous you're not very smart, because there's plenty to be nervous about. First, you're going to have to find a job, then you're going to have to learn how to do it. I don't know whether you're aware of this or not. On a big day like this, graduating, you probably think you've got everything. But it's very likely that nothing you learned in college is going to help at your job.
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Capitalism has gone berserk. It isn't working. There are too many rich people and too many poor people. You don't have to be a communist to think that.

Corporations whose boards of directors used to meet to discuss ways to improve their product now meet to talk about ways to make it cheaper. They also meet to decide how many workers to fire so they can vote themselves million dollar bonuses.

The key word in big business today is "takeover." It means taking over a company built on someone else's brains and labor for another's profit. No product ever got better when a big company took over a smaller one.
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Civilizations have ended before, you know. It's not impossible. It seems so to us, but it is not impossible, and I worry about the future of the world. I worry about my grandchild and my grandchildren's grandchildren.

You get the idea.