Yesterday could have been a productive blogging day.
- Video footage of drunk GIs allegedly behaving very badly on an Uijeongbu city bus. Among the highlights—GIs trying to force open the bus door to leap out of the moving vehicle, GIs escaping through a window and remaining GIs beating bus driver/passengers and using the emergency-use hammer to break bus windows and terrorize passengers. Or so it is alleged. Probably not a Kachi Kapshida moment;
- A whole bunch of arrests involving online prostitution services supposedly hooking up visiting Japanese tourists with Korean women in Itaewon. Watch the TV news video while you’re at it. And we all thought gisaeng tourism was a thing of the past…;
- Korean high school festivals have apparently deteriorated into orgies of sin and vice. They are so bad, in fact, that they may soon rival American elementary schools;
- I haven’t even begun to touch all the fun stuff (and it really is fun) going on with Goguryeo/Balhae history. More on that in a separate post.
54 Comments
우리나라 군인들 정말 자랑스럽지 않습니까?
“Since the government introduced its anti-prostitution law in September 2004, law enforcement authorities have been scrambling to clamp down on the illegal sex-related businesses that went underground.” This is simply bullshit. There’s a red light district on the street in Mapo that connects to Shinchon Rotary, and whenever I take a taxi to Shinchon I see, literally, red lights in a row of “bars” there and women in short skirts in the doorways. I don’t doubt there are other areas in Seoul that openly do business like this.
But of course we have the “Japanese connection” here that makes this “news.”
Since this “crackdown” has been going on for two years now, is it safe to assume that all the pink-light zones have been shut down?
Nope. Just operating at half capacity.
I’d hold off on convicting these guys so quickly. They very well may be complete jerks who just decided to randomly cause problems on a bus, but if you’ll notice there’s a curious lack of context provided in this report. As presented, we are to believe that the soldiers boarded the bus, loud and drunk, and in the next moment the driver called the police. Why? Well, we don’t know, but I’ll suspect it’s just a bit more complicated than SBS would have us believe. In fact, it may be a situation like the one last April, when the infamous taxi thieves were convicted in the court of public opinion and later found to have pretty good reason for doing what they did. See GI Korea’s excellent follow up to that incident. Give these guys the benefit of the doubt.
Well, according to the report, the bus driver called the police because they were causing a scene. Anyway, I did include the work “alleged,” but I will edit the post to give greater benefit of doubt.
Robert, your post wasn’t unbalanced by any means. I was responding to 조엘. I should have made that clear in my comment. My apologies.
ehh…whaddyagonnadu?
Corpy Carly—actually, the post needed to be a bit fairer, regardless of the video. No apologies needed.
About a year ago on a bus in Daegu I saw a drunk Korean guy pull down his pants and take a piss on the bus. The driver naturally flipped out and literally tossed the drunk from the bus.
For some reason, this little incident never made the news. Oh that’s right…only stupid foreigners make the news. Never a stupid Korean.
Maekchu, of course only foreigners are reported doing this kind of thing. Koreans do it so often it isn’t news. When foreigners do such things it is news because it so rarely happens. ^^
The history thing is what pisses me off the most. No one seems to understand that history should be about learning from mistakes and creating a better future. Gaining “identity” or “pride” from history is for the weak and stupid. Things which people did before you were born doesn’t decide who you are or what you should do or think. Only idiots let themselves believe that their ancestors or what other people did who happened to live in the same place they do should impact their lives. How shallow are people that they can’t find a point to live from what is happening NOW. Jesus christ we all have brains and can think for ourselves. People have the ability to look at hisotry and try to understand human nature so they can understand everything a little more clearly. It should never be about starting wars or getting upset which is what too many people do instead. Weak politicians and idiot teachers lead people down this ridiculous path and it only ends in confusion and pain.
I hate when Koreans (or anyone else) says “they stole our history”. As if history is a thing to be owned. No one owns it arseholes. Koreans don’t fucking own it. It just was. Try to learn from the mistakes of the past instead of using it to keep hatred and ignorance alive. All the historians involved on both sides should be ashamed of themselves. They are the enemies of mankind.
Sorry for the rambling, it just really pisses me off.
Give these guys the benefit of the doubt? Did you see the video? Does that seem like a reasonable way to go about dealing with your problems? Listen to the way they are speaking to the bus driver. Had the video been one of people speaking reasonably to a bus driver or asking someone to translate so they could get off the bus because of something pressing I would give them the benefit of the doubt. Instead it looks just as it was reported 10 drunk soldiers get on a bus, make a scene, probably see that they are having the cops called on them and attempt to get away, when the bus driver refuses to open the door in the middle of the road, they then try to (and succeed in) forcing their way out of the bus by both destroying property and assaulting fellow passengers. Soldiers I meet at Korean cultural events or service activities get the benefit of the doubt from me. Soldiers who behaved like those in the video get no sympathy from me whatsoever.
Maekchu - Stupid Koreans do make the news when they do stuff like this. Go check out one of the Party Pooper’s posts
http://partypooper.blogs.com/p.....ching.html
Of course the news is in Korean and rarely reported on English language blogs so nobody hears about it.
Agreed with Joel. What is this myth about the stupid Korean tricks don’t get reported in the Korean media, only the foreigner ones?
Here’s one famous scene that would have made the foreigner blogs in Korea up in arms over racist coverage if this involved a foreigner. But as it happens, it’s all Korean, so it’s OK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh6RC4Vb8A8
HOLY SHIT!
They’re acting just like the Korean adults around them!
I’m not seeing anything “alleged” in that video.
Regardless: Thank you members of USFK, for taking the heat off of us teachers. Your sacrifices shall long be remembered.
조엘 - I think you may be missing the point I’m trying to make. An unfortunate drawback of language and legal difficulties for soldiers involved in incidents here in Korea is that they rarely have a chance to defend themselves in a public forum. They are gagged by the JAG lawyers on the, usually reasonable, suspicion that they’ll say something stupid and only worsen their situation. So, typically the only people talking about an incident are Korean nationals, often involved in the fight themselves, who obviously have motive to tell an often embellished version of the events. It is possible that their violence was unprovoked - I acknowledge that. However, is it not also possible that they were assaulted by one of those 3 other passengers? Perhaps they were called a racial epithet?
Imagine, for example, you are assaulted by a Korean man with a knife but manage to kill him before he does you. If this were reported in the media as “Foreigner Kills Korean Man” would that be an accurate description of the actual circumstances? Is that responsible reporting?
I jumped on the bandwagon earlier this year when those soldiers in Dongduchun ’stole’ a taxi and chocked it up to drunk, irresponsible soldiers acting like the idiots they often are. That’s how the media reported it and I, along with most others in the Korean blogosphere, bought it. However, If you followed that link I provided in the last comment, you know that the truth was far from what it was initially reported as. Perhaps this is also not exactly what it appears as well?
Corpy Carly -
I’m not missing the point you are trying to make. I read GI Korea’s post when he made it (and even followed the link to read the full story). But what makes you think you can believe those soldiers side of the story anymore than the Koreans? The truth obviously can be found somewhere in the middle. Listening to both sides sounds like children telling their parents “what really happened” when they get in trouble at school or fight with a sibling. Nothing is ever as innocent as people want to make it seem.
The real point is that it doesn’t matter whether or not these soldiers get to defend themselves in a public forum. That means little in the eyes of Koreans or the law and even less to a Korean public that has now seen this footage. This video has been released because the press sensationalizes things. The press is a business and their business is getting people to read (which frankly is no small feat these days). If you read the papers in America you will see the same stuff. Shootings on a military base, school shootings, rapes, deaths in Iraq, etc. That stuff sells. You might uncover issues of abuse or depression or a set of circumstances that might make the behavior seem less offensive somewhere in the article, but you’ll never see these kind of justifications thrown in the headlines. It doesn’t draw people in. Asking for responsible reporting is a near fruitless endeavor.
It is possible that one of the soldiers was assaulted by one of the passengers. But then one would have to explain why they were standing up and screaming and attempting to break the window before any of the Korean passengers stood up. That theory doesn’t really fit. Racial epithet? Possibly, but what are the odds that 10 drunk soldiers who can do nothing more than shout, “Open the f****** door” would even know what a racial epithet in Korean sounds like? I doubt it. But then those are my issues.
I knew the soldiers from that infamous “taxi incident” were innocent from the moment I read the story.
It happens ALL THE TIME HERE!!!!!!!!!!
Korean guys are cowards, and love nothing better than to group-stomp the hell out of an English teacher or G.I.
You fight back? Lol, random Koreans will join their cause, and REALLY put a hurtin’ on you.
You win? You can guarantee that you’ll be paying “blood money” to the cowards. Oh, and they’ll LIE and LIE in court. Believe me, I know first hand.
If you haven’t seen this, check it out: http://english.chosun.com/w21d.....30027.html
And about the bus ride? It wouldn’t surprise me if the bus driver called the police, and then started driving to the police station. We’ll see.
If a bus driver tried to keep me on the bus against my will, I’d be breaking the windows too.
The way Korean media coverage works, it ALWAYS appears as if a GI attacks without provocation. This leads to a warped perception that instead of being a regular old drunken brawl, like those that are so common in Korea, it’s an innocent and virtuous local, obscenely violated by a murderous-thug GI. That’s my objection. Two groups of drunken fools arguing is not news. Many of these situations are exactly that, but no one ever knows it because one side of a story is silent. In that naver video, the video begins at 10:52 and ends at 11:09. I think it’s very probable that there is much more to that piece of footage that is not shown to us because it wouldn’t fit the standard GI-as-bastard hit piece. I might be wrong, but I doubt it. Anyway, we’re arguing about something neither of us can be sure of. I’m just going to wait before I decide on the severity of these particular GI’s misdeeds.
Seth Gecko - I’m not a lawyer but I do believe Korea’s standard for libel is much lower than most other nations. That could account for much of the higher rates vis a vis Japan which Kim Dae Joong uses in his piece.
From the history article:
So the answer when faced with perceived distortions of historical fact is: distort back. That’s logical, I suppose. I guess it’s better than actual fighting over present-day territory, but damn… These idiots really need to get a bit of perspective.
우리나라 군인들 정말 자랑스럽지 않습니까?
The boys in uniform need recreational outlets. Someone should organize full contact, tackle football games between the USFK and the American English teachers. The Canadiens, Aussies, Brits, and Kiwis can wear drag in the manner of Eddie Izzard and be the cheerleaders. A special stadium, designed in the style of an ancient Roman colliseum should be built for this purpose. Many Koreans would gladly come and pay to watch.
How convenient that the boundary between the traditional Chinese sphere of influence and the traditional Korean sphere of influence (as seen from Chinese) eyes lines up so neatly with the DMZ! There couldn’t possibly be any retroactive reading of history in light of China’s possible future plans going on here, could there? Nahhh….
Misplaced parenthesis:
(as seen from Chinese eyes)
Haven’t watched the video, but from what it sounds like, it would be a case where the GIs acted/reacted in a way that brought disgrace on them - which I could give a rat’s ass about, because the justice system (both Korean and USFK) will handle that - but also brought disgrace on the military and the US and through the trickle down effect, on a lot of you guys still in Korea - whether GI, Canadian, or whatever - which pisses me off as much as when I get the most pissed the really ugle moments in the anti-US culture in Korea - like the KTU-used video “lesson plan” that included footage of the 9/11 attacks.
In the infamous 1995 Subway Brawl, it was eventually clear that a more than viable interpretation of why so many GIs got involved with the incident had to do with the number of Koreans who jumped in (50 or so).
We have also read several stories each year about “good citizen” mobs stepping in to handle 1 or 2 or 5 or so GIs acting badly.
In this case, so far, I have heard nobody say the it began with 1 or 2 GIs getting into a conflict with 1 or 2 Koreans, and then more Koreans joined in, and then more GIs….or so on.
However, in reference to the quote above and the next 2 of 조엘’s ——
The point many of us make is exactly tied to the sensationalism of the media —– but even more to how that sensationalism plays in the receptive Korean audience.
I can remember seeing fairly regularly police camera footage in Korea at the local mini-police stands where they handle the drunks or in regular local police stations where some drunk and his/her crew of drunk friends come in — and they slap the police officers and push and pull on them and cuss them up one side and down the other and argue and fall down and passout and cause a scene and destroy property and act like jackasses - and a good number of times don’t even get arrested —-
but, even the bulk of those stories does not lead Korean society to feel a great sense of national shame and disgrace and make people feel terrible about being Korean and lead to real national campaigns to end alcoholism or create tougher drunk laws (that are enforced)….
well…..let’s cut this short…….all these stories that DO make the news - when a new one comes out - does not make millions of Koreans remember why they are anti-Korean and remind each other how much they don’t like (or hate) Koreans….
…but, when a story comes about at a GI behaving badly?
And I don’t know if it is on the same level yet now or not - but it looks like each new ESL expat story is going to be the light switch exposing the society’s penchant for racial bias too…..
ain’t it grand? rather than look at the soldiers’ assinine behavior, the expat looks for ways to excuse the behavior. and you wonder why koreans think of expats as low class?
re koguryo
yeah why would china take north korea? for what reason, can you tell me? my opinion is the average expat who goes around telling koreans that china is going to invade is really just telling us what he’s hoping for.
re koguryo
‘would koreans in the south fight a country like china?’ expat
bet money on it. behold:
iraqis vs states
hizbollah vs israel
palestininas vs israel
vientam vs china
vietnam vs us
vietnam vs france
afghanistan vs russia
china can look forward to war should it take any part of korea’s historical homeland. bet money on it.
‘who would help korea?’
should china invade and the us decides not to help, that day will be the last day for the us in asia.
Pawi: The only person who writes with any consistency about China’s invading Korea is Baduk! I’m not saying anything about invasion, but something more like an issue of creeping influence. It just seems to be convenient that the southeastern projection China’s traditional territory (according to the Northeast History Project) neatly ends down the middle of the Korean Peninsula, just about where the DMZ is today. Very convenient (for the Chinese) indeed.
Consider that South Korea seems unofficially reluctant to assimilate the North right away (if the prospect of unification ever comes), in order to not pull down the Southern economy in trying to bring the North up to Southern standards too quickly (German-style). So under this scenario, some kind of democratic state in the North in a loose confederation with the South would be the natural option. It may be in China’s interest, too, to have a separate state in the North, if it means they won’t have to then worry about US troops on the Yalu River (echoes of 1951)—for them, it would function as a buffer state. And if this state were to gradually reform and open up to capitalism, China stands to gain much from the arrangement, due to its transportation links and the investment it already has in the country. So China and South Korea could end up competing for influence in the North. Since South Korea obviously has a much more natural ethnic, cultural, political, and historical claim to the North, China needs to make its case by reaching far into the distant past.
…So doesn’t a Korean peninsula divided up into “Han” territory in the south and Sinitic “Yemaek” territory in the north (see the Donga article) very conveniently line up (for the Chinese) with a projected future peninsula divided into a free South and capitalizing, client buffer state in the North? It’s very nifty indeed!
Koreans should confront (and are confronting) this insidious development. I don’t think for a minute that the Northeast History Project is being conducted out of some innocent, scholarly desire for historical investigation.
Somehow, I think that in the situation you described, the competition for influence in North Korea is going to be far less about ‘common history’ than ‘cold hard cash’. Ultimately, regardless of history, such a client state relationship would depend more or less on how much China was willing to help out North Korea, especially if South Korea couldn’t do a whole lot to assimilate North Korea without causing the ruination of its own economy.
The share of bad apples drawing out general images about the USFK and the US.
Anti-Americanism or Anti-US culture? I think, its more like “Anti-GIs” to most of ordinary Ajumma, Adjussis, and HakSeng. And it doesn’t just arise out of an empty vacuum.
BTW
Are GIs causing problems only in Korea?
Please realize this one thing, even if some refuse to accept it: The difference between the attention given to a GI/ ESL teacher, and some ajushi, is the same as the attention given to Paris Hilton vs some other spoiled, talentless rich girl.
No matter what you do and where we go, freaky waegooks are always at the center of attention and are being held up to higher standards.
It sucks, but hey, we’ve all benefitted from it as well.
Such a hyperbole addict…
Really?
A story about a GI committing a crime does not remind “millions” of Koreans why they don’t like (or hate) GIs?
The same story does not remind millions why they really wish they didn’t have to have USFK?
Remind millions they really don’t like how bad it has been to have to suffer the “master-servant” relationship they have had to “endure” with the US?
Since Kushibo is dead and waiting to be reborn, I will address the common point he would make about now:
I am not saying these millions are obsessed, jinbo types who actively think about how rotten the US has been to Korea every waking moment — or even “obsessed” any significant time during any period of each year.
I AM saying that “the culture” that IS enjoyed by the society as a whole is what produces things like the recent Korean version of Swamp Thing - to just name one of the minor cultural artifacts that nonetheless is a sign of a major social factor.
Does it happen in a vaccumm? Nope.
Do GIs commit crimes all over the world? Yup.
Do Koreans? Yup.
Does that make the jackasses on this bus any less than jackasses? Hell no.
Does this mean Korea does not have a culture of anti-US thought that is shared by literally millions? No.
And since I miss Kushibora, I’ll add another defensive play to counter his usual offensive discrediting of what I actually try to say:
Anti-US does not mean “anti-American” - that “millions of Koreans” hate all Americans or even Americans.
But - it does mean more than “just anti-US policies”.
I am going to download the video and offer it at http://www.usinkorea.org as an example of what some of us do to keep this think alive and functioning year after year.
I hate to say it.. but if I was trapped on a bus for 13 minutes… and was asking for the door to open and the bus driver refused… and was not moving… I might do a little more than just smash the window out of the bus to get out.
Because of a language barrier.. I’d honestly be a little panicked at what the hell was going on… and escape would likely be the only thing on my mind.
(And granted I doubt these guys were angels.. and were likely loud/obnoxious/annoying/etc. but I need more evidence before I blame them for just trying to get the hell away from the situation.)
the chinese are f*cking with the koreans right now; they’re letting the koreans know that they mean business about their borders. the changs are now doing what they’re doing not to lay claim to any part of korea, but rather, to deny any claim made by a united korea on any land north of present day north korea.
this all is really korea’s fault. this history project came about the same year in which korean tourists to manchuria started running around telling people about gando. my understanding is the chinese government complained bitterly to south korea about this.
i have to wonder if the chinese in private haven’t asked the koreans in seoul to publicly declare that a united korea will have no interest in expansion of it’s borders. i have to wonder if the koreans rebuffed them.
this is korea’s fault, and they better act quickly and start talking to the chinese. drop any claim to gando and do it in public. if the south koreans do that, i’d bet my bottom dollar that the chinese would lose interest in the ‘chinese’ kingdom of koguryeo.
random stuff about this flap:
1. many expats envision a china invading north korea.
2. china had 2,000 years to invade.
3. china directly ruled vietnam until
around the year 1000. is vietnam next?
4. the people of shilla saw the history of koguryeo as integral to it’s own history. that’s why they called it the samguk sagi. the korean claim to koguryeo is ancient. china’s claim is recent and politically motivated.
I think China tried to invade ‘Nam in ‘79 and it didn’t work out so well for them. Filling the vacuum of an imploded
Greater KoguryoNorth Korea would be a relative walk in the park.I couldn’t figure that bus vid out at all. Can anyone decipher anything?
The report itself, what the GI’s said, or the crazy editing job?
I have to admit I am somewhat poleaxed by the responses to the whole Kogury/Gando/Balhae/Northeast Asia Project phenomenon in this thread, especially from regulars of the Marmot’s hole who I thought were more familiar with this topic. The whole situation seems to me a bit queer and dare I say quixotic. Metaphorically speaking, Korea has been slapping China in the face with a white dueling glove for the past decade nee, the past century! Yet when China pushed back, the Koreans and their know nothing flunkeyist (channeling the North here) western media allies become all indignant and lecturing and insinuate that China is committing belligerance and stealth irridentism.
Lets go over the details here shall we?
Number of Chinese citizens going to Korea as tourists and claiming it as Chinese territory: 0
Number of Chinese politicians tabeling legislation to demand Korean territory: 0
Number of Chinese cabinet ministers claiming that the present border with Korea is invalid: 0
Number of Chinese prime ministers offering race based voting rights to ethnic Chinese citizens of Korea: 0
Number of Chinese protestors outside the Korean embassy: 0
Number of Chinese protestors eating South Korean flags: 0
Number of best selling Chinese books claiming that all of the Korean peninsula should belong to them: 0
Number of economic pogroms launched to drive all South Koreans out of China: 0
Number of Chinese committees, ngo’s, “vankers”, and assorted miscellany agitating for Korean territory: 0
Percentage of Chinese who think “we wuzz robbed!” and “dey tuk R land!” in regards to Korea: 0
Now lets do this list in reverse juxtaposing instances China for Korea and vis-a-vis and see what we get.
Who exactly is the irridentist here?
Pawi acknowledging Korean fault happens once a century, but he’s right here. Jing also is basically right here, except that he overlooks the fact that Chinese “legislators” merely rubber stamp party decisions and NO Chinese are permitted to protest at embassies unless they are directed to against the missions of, say, Japan and the United States. I have seen Chinese people (PRC, ROC and even Singapore) point to a Qing-era map and describe “lost territories” to include Korea, Mongolia, Siberia and even Kirgyzstan. China’s case with Tibet, logically, legally and historically is no stronger than any case they might make for Koguryo lands, so why trust the PRC?
I wonder if the Russians, especially during the USSR times, ever kicked themselves for selling Alaska (Seward’s folly) to the US for a million bucks.
Well, could be possible if the protests sponsored, or allowed, by PRC Gov just like anti-Japanese protests in Chinese cities last year. Otherwise it would be blocked as we witnessed on Student demonstrations for democracy & human rights, protests over Tibet, and protests of Falun Gong practitioner…etc.
And since when PRC allowed NGO’s and sort of “Vankers”?
Unfortunately, History is not just about facts but reflection upon past events. In writing a history, events and facts can be manipulated, excluded, and twisted by any willing spirit. The People’s Republic of China is nothing but historically inaccurate propaganda just like the ‘Northeast Asia Project’ .
But my blames are much more on clueless-stupid Korean diplomats, politicians, and Roh Admin. as ‘Northeast Asia Project’ known for years.
I have to say, Jing’s comment was one of the best I’ve read here in a long time, both in terms of content and entertainment value.
Number of Chinese people demanding apologies for the 127 Chinese who died in a pogrom at Korean hands in colonial Korea (1931):0
I don’t get the humor of Jing’s nationalist apologetic, unless it’s the “laugh at” rather than “laugh with” variety. How exactly has Korea been “slapping China in the face with a white dueling glove for the past decade nee[sic], the past century” unless he means through having the gall to claim sovereignity?
China, a nation that has long played fast and loose with its own history, is on a big land grab with the so-called “Northeastern History Project.” It’s also on a sea grab:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14758310/site/newsweek/
All of what Jing mocks with his “scorecard” came after China began the project. In fact, Korea should focus less on Dokdo hysteria and confront the very real prospect that China will absorb N. Korea.
Montclaire, on the cosmic scorecard, how about that number of Chinese deaths versus the mass slaughter by the Red Army in the Korean War? And Koreans aren’t even demanding an apology for this–not that they’ll get one of course.
i fail to see jing’s point. so his “number of chinese…” results in zeroes across the board. if anything, his results support the belief that chinese look at koreans as an inferior nation. apply that to japan or the us, for example, “number of chinese protesting outside the japanese/us embassy,” and you get thousands, as recent history shows. why? because they see the us or japan as legitimate threats (countries) while they view korea as anything but. korea, a country not worth fussing over. so based on that reasoning, i would think what china is trying to do as in fact a threat to the border. now, if his point was that chinese people are more rational, then i’ll go to the nearest chinese embassy and chew on a korean flag.
but i did learn a new word today, irridentism. thanks!
Mass slaughter by the Red Army - you don’t really mean the Soviets?
Do you mean the Chinese troops? Of course you wouldn’t be calling the wartime killing of well armed combatants a slaughter, and you wouldn’t be comparing war to the killing of civilians in a pogrom.
So I assume you are implying that the Chinese conducted a mass slaughter of civilian Koreans during the Korean War, something the Koreans could demand an apology for but do not. Can you elaborate? I’ve always wondered if the Chinese had a Nogunri up their sleeves too, but all the sources I’ve read attest that they treated civilians best of all.
Michael, I will forgive your ignorance on account of your froggy nature, but allow me to enlighten you on a few facts.
A) China has not laid any claim on territory presently under the control of either the RoK or DPRK. (Aside from possibly a few rocks in the yellow sea also claimed by the DPRK, but that is a separate issue)
B) The NE Asia history project is about a reinterpretation of the status of ethnic minorities in the continuum of the Chinese body politic, in light of continued and vocal Korean revanchism.
C) The “land grab” as you call it covers territory that is ALREADY part of the PRC.
D) Ditto on the “sea grab”, position of the drilling platforms is on the Chinese side of the EEZ. You cannot grab territory that is already yours.
Seems like interfering with means of transportation is an american thing, eh?
Unruly passenger on cross-country flight subdued
MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press
…
Seward’s Folly was purchased for US$7.2 million in 1867 dollars (about $1.6 billion today) — it’s easy to look back in hindsight and say, “We got rooked”, but in 1867 it probably looked like a really good deal.
I think the comfort women myth was just ajumma hooking up Korean women with visiting Japanese tourists.
What an irresponsible comment.
And that coming from an academy trained officer. If the officers think that way, what more could one expect from hillbilly privates from such places as north dakota?
When they are not knocking down bus doors, they are torturing prisoners in Iraq or knocking down ski lifts in Italy or raping women in Subic…
The american military is a bunch of thugs.
irresponsible? perhaps…but ironic for certain considering the subsequent comments. the small element of truth in Mark’s comment being siphoned from the tragedy of the comfort women reality is on par with all military members torturing and raping…ya’ll go get each other a couple beers and stop extrapolating crap.
Thug fo’ life, homey.
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