Postcards from the Edge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEaKX9YYHiQ

A study in contrasts, insofar as the insular, single-minded propaganda machine of a totalitarian state (and no, I don't mean Entertainment Weekly, smartass) can have contrasts. Exhibit A, regarding the increased ankle-biting of Dennis Rodman's new buddy:

Kim Jong Un Convenes Operation Meeting, Finally Examines and Ratifies Plan for Firepower Strike
Pyongyang, March 29 (KCNA) -- The moves of the U.S. imperialists to violate the sovereignty of the DPRK and encroach upon its supreme interests have entered a grave phase.

....

He said he has judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation.

If they make a reckless provocation with huge strategic forces, the KPA should mercilessly strike the U.S. mainland, their stronghold, their military bases in the operational theaters in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in south Korea, he said. He examined and finally ratified the plan of the Strategic Rocket Force for firepower strike.

....

He said the heroic service personnel of the KPA and all other people, their hearts burning with irrepressible resentment at the reckless war provocation moves of the U.S. imperialists, are now waiting for a final order of the WPK Central Committee, hardening their will to turn out in a do-or-die battle with the enemies.

And here we were given cause for hope from this rundown of flirty spring fashions, just two days prior:

Spring Costume Suitable to Koreans

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- A change has taken place in the Korean people's costume with the advent of spring season.

Seen in streets of Pyongyang are women dressed in chima (skirt) and jogori (coat), an elegantly and beautifully looking traditional costume.

In this regard, KCNA met Pak Hyon Sik, director of the Clothing Institute under the Ministry of Foodstuff and Daily Necessities Industry.

Pak said:

People choose to wear in spring clothes convenient for movement, with their colors light bright and soft.

Anyhow, mode of spring costume should be taken to suit one's countenance and figure and one's age.

It is advisable for the people in the 20s or 30s to dress themselves freshly and vividly and the middle-aged to wear light-colored clothes. Chima and jogori is suitable to most of Korean women. The old persons' attire should be neat and comfortable.

My institute works hard to develop colorful clothes of various fashions conforming to the socialist way of life and sentiments of the Koreans.

Awesome. Can't wait for the swimsuit issue. Kerry and Hagel have their work cut out for them with this guy, don't they? Even the Russians and Chinese are at their wits' end with these goofballs. Kim the Third, steeped in generations of top-dog cultism, may be in danger of believing his own hype. He wants to get to the negotiating table, but for what? Didn't anyone steep him in the nuances of Kissingerian/Metternichian top-level diplomacy we typically approach these sorts of situations with, that since only Nixon could go to China there is no way a Democratic administration will risk looking like appeasers to a lunatic?

It's like an entire nation decided to make this their national anthem. The "Ministry of Foodstuff and Daily Necessities Industry", fuckin' seriously?

Then again, from the NK POV, they just watched us spend an entire decade waist-deep in the Big Muddy, not once but twice, spending ungodly amounts of blood and treasure trying to bring down loose collaborations of irregular militias. It's entirely likely that Kim and his generals think that with one of the world's largest armies, a nascent nuclear arsenal, and a healthy dose of weird (if not flat-out cray-zay), they might just be able to leverage whatever the hell it is they think they want out of us.

It's past time to get the rest of the neighborhood at the table, to have an intervention for the local meth addict.