Excuse me - just watched Jim Thome take Seo Jae-eung deep the other way.

Oh, and the “not yet but soon to be” wife is, like many of her countrymen, a Tibetan Buddhist/recovering Marxist-Leninist.

Now you die like infidel dog in nuclear boshin-t’ang!

I disagree that NK has “no bullets in the gun.” Underestimating one’s opponent is always, always, always a mistake, in the dojang or on the battlefield. The trick is not to overestimate, of course, but I don’t think I’m guilty of that.

Thousands of NK artillery pieces (as confirmed by multiple think tanks… I went & did the research thanks to Captain Scarlet’s little jibe a while back insinuating he knew more about the Korean situation… then it became obvious from my research that he knew jack shit) are in fact currently aimed at Seoul. NK probably does have a couple low-yield nukes (assume the worst; it’s more practical), and they’ve got a huge-ass army that gets much of the int’l food aid diverted to it. To my mind, this isn’t an empty gun. I remain confident we’d win a war with NK, but vigilance is better than lowering one’s guard (i.e., having more confidence than is warranted).

I do agree, though, that Pyongyang MAY have to act, not WILL have to. Why? The big enablers– SK, China, Japan, and yes, the US. As long as the enabling takes the form of aid that allows the regime to lurch onward (or other concessions), it’s hard to create a timeline for NK’s eventual demise. I agree the regime will go eventually, but the indefiniteness of the departure schedule makes me wary, and the prospect that Kim might finally get desperate and just say “fuck it– CHAAAAAAARRRRGE!” isn’t impossible, though I think he hasn’t reached that point yet, and won’t for a while.

Robert,

Many thanx for the b-day wishes. I have now officially outlived Jesus, if tradition is correct about the length of his life. Was going to have an “I Outlived Jesus” party, but celebrated with my Christian Korean relatives, and they’d have taken a dim view of such a shindig.

By the way, if you’re ever in Seoul, please drop by Hwagye-sa’s Int’l Zen Center (main temple, top floor) on Sunday at 3PM to listen to Hyon Gak sunim’s dharma talk. You might get a kick out of his wacky style. (Ch’am-seon is 1PM to about 2:45PM). Come ON TIME and show these nincompoops proper discipline. Jesus, what a lax bunch. I shouldn’t be looking down my nose at them, but I’m still small-minded enough to notice when people walk in to seated meditation 90 minutes late, or barge in on the dharma talk an hour late, or answer cell phone calls during either. Grrrrrr.

Is your wife also Zen Buddhist?

Infidel and Marmot: do you follow “Kim Jong Il’s Blog”? That shit is genius.

Shalom,

Kevin

http://charlesrobertjenkins.org/