Why Ban Ki-moon is the world's most dangerous Korean

I have been saying that Ban Ki Moon is a pariah since last year and finally the media has taken notice...


http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/06/19/nowhere_man



"....though, Ban Ki-moon appears to have set the standard for failure. It's not that Ban has committed any particularly egregious mistakes in his 2½ years on the job. But at a time when global leadership is urgently needed, when climate change and international terrorism and the biggest financial crisis in 60 years might seem to require some—any!—response, the former South Korean foreign minister has instead been trotting the globe collecting honorary degrees, issuing utterly forgettable statements, and generally frittering away any influence he might command. He has become a kind of accidental tourist, a dilettante on the international stage."

Think Again: Asia's Rise

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/06/22/think_again_asias_rise?page=0,0

Don't believe the hype about the decline of America and the dawn of a new Asian age. It will be many decades before China, India, and the rest of the region take over the world, if they ever do.

PORTRAITS OF INSTABILITY---Haunting images from the world's most fragile states

Absolutely stunning look at the world you don't see on CNN...the real front lines of struggle...
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/06/22/portraits_of_instability

Fatal neglect: The magnitude of crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is staggering. Some 45,000 people die every month, the International Rescue Committee estimates, putting the total dead since 1998 at 5.4 million -- more than in any conflict since World War II. All but 0.4 percent of the deaths come from preventable diseases and malnutrition -- a phenomenon that has arisen due to horrid conditions in displacement camps that lack infrastructure, basic supplies, and proper medical care. The displaced children seen here, in a camp in eastern Congo, are among the 1 million displaced from North Kivu province alone.

THE KING IS DEAD

Michael Jackson, Pop Icon, Is Dead at 50

LOS ANGELES — For his legions of fans, he was the Peter Pan of pop music: the little boy who refused to grow up. But on the verge of another attempted comeback, he is suddenly gone, this time for good. Michael Jackson, whose quintessentially American Tale of celebrity and excess took him from musical boy wonder to global pop superstar to sad figure haunted by lawsuits, paparazzi and failed plastic surgery, was pronounced dead on Thursday afternoon at U.C.L.A. Medical Center after arriving in a coma, a city official said. Mr. Jackson was 50, having spent 40 of those years in the public eye he loved....read more at New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/arts/music/26jackson.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

and..
http://www.tmz.com/

MADDONNA CAN'T STOP CRYING OVER JACKSON

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE....'WE HAVE LOST A GENIUS'

LIZ TAYLOR....TOO DEVASTATED TO COMMENT

Myanmar's secret military tunnel network

Missiles and nuclear technology, counterfeiting money and cigarette smuggling, front companies and restaurants in foreign countries, labor export to the Middle East -- North Korea has been very innovative when it comes to raising badly needed foreign exchange for the regime in Pyongyang. But there is a less known trade in service that the North Koreans have offered to its foreign clients: expertise in tunneling. A fascinating new glimpse of this business has now been revealed in secret photos from Burma.
North Korean technicians have helped them construct underground facilities where they can survive any threats from their own people as well as the outside world. It is not known if the tunnels are linked to Burma's reported efforts to develop nuclear technology -- in which the North Koreans allegedly are active as well.... read more from this article....




http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/06/12/200906120027.asp

See videos of Myanmar's secret military tunnels here....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWFCa3iuKLg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish.aljazeera.net%2F%2Fnews%2Fasia-pacific%2F2009%2F06%2F20096258138855326.html&feature=player_embedded

The $134 BILLION Bond Fiasco

Well if you want the 'hyped' version of this story read this link...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a62_boqkurbI

One theory...is that the bonds were manufactured in N. Korea and used to buy weapons...
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/06/24/2009062400686.html

"U.S. says $134B bonds seized in Italy are 'clearly fake' ".....Says another article....

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20090618/usays-134b-bonds-seized-italy-are-lsquo-clearly-fake-lsquo.htm

But my guess is that these are fakes....just like the ones found in the Philippines in 2001....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1180171.stm

The Hidden Pyramids of Peru

http://www.sprword.com/videos/caralpyramids/

One of my favorite documentaries...absolutely astounding from beginning to end...Enjoy.

A Peruvian site previously reported as the oldest city in the Americas actually is a much larger complex of as many as 20 cities with huge pyramids and sunken plazas sprawled over three river valleys, researchers report.

Construction started about 5,000 years ago — nearly 400 years before the first pyramid was built in Egypt — at a time when most people around the world were simple hunters and gatherers, a team from Northern Illinois University and Chicago's Field Museum reports in today's issue of the journal Nature.

The society and its people — known only as the Andeans — persisted in virtually the same form for 1,200 years before they were overrun by more warlike neighbors. That is the longest time any known ancient civilization survived, according to archaeologist Jonathan Haas of the Field, who led the expedition. The results greatly expand understanding of how complex states began in the Americas. They found no evidence of military fortifications or weapons. But they did find cotton, fishing nets, and cocaine.

IT'S WAR!!! Mexico Under Siege

Awesome map of the Mexican Drug War...
http://projects.latimes.com/mexico-drug-war/#/interactive-map

And...this is an amazing gallery...
http://projects.latimes.com/mexico-drug-war/#/multimedia-gallery/

In December of 2006, Mexico's new President Felipe Calderón declared war on the drug cartels, reversing earlier government passiveness. Since then, the government has made some gains, but at a heavy price - gun battles, assasinations, kidnappings, fights between rival cartels, and reprisals have resulted in over 9,500 deaths since December 2006 - over 5,300 killed last year alone. President Barack Obama recently announced extra agents were being deployed to the border and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to Mexico today to pursue a broad diplomatic agenda - overshadowed now by spiraling drug violence and fears of greater cross-border spillover. Officials on both sides of the border are committed to stopping the violence, and stemming the flow of drugs heading north and guns and cash heading south.

World hunger 'hits one billion'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8109698.stm
One billion people throughout the world suffer from hunger, a figure which has increased by 100 million because of the global financial crisis, says the UN.

Stats: Every year 30 million people die of hunger.
Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger...75% are children.