Trump to announce decision on North Korea's place on the State Sponsor of Terrorism List

IJR.com

Experts believe that re-designating North Korea would represent another rung up the ladder of pressure options on North Korea.

Good thing we have experts around to explain things.

Scott Snyder, Senior Fellow for Korea Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, believes that there are grounds for this designation in light of the DPRK's assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim-Jong Il.

Rockets launched over Japan and threatening Guam and threats to attack the U.S. with "tremendous muscle" might be another. I'm guessing.

“The past use of the list as part of denuclearization negotiations with North Korea under the Bush administration suggests that redesignation of North Korea as a sponsor of state terrorism should also come with a more explicit explanation of the conditions and performance — or grounds for executive waivers — that would be required for North Korea to be removed the list in future,”

Pffft.

I'm finding it hard to care. North Korea is boring. And so are watchers of North Korea. And so are watchers in North Korea. And so is the demilitarized zone, an odd term for a highly militarized no-go zone.

I'll be frank. I must be shallow. The only thing I find interesting is the photo of North Korean watchers. They crack me up. They're eminently Photoshoppable. They'd be straight up comical were they not already straight up tragic and that combination would make you think that they're doubly dramatic but instead they're just pathetic and there's only so much drama available in 100% pathos. The entire country is certifiable. You read this week where a South Korean doctor is reporting one the last defectors, shot while defecting, has worms inside him the likes of which he'd never seen except in medical text books.

Maybe one day China will send a second pair of binoculars. 

What an incredibly boring job, waiting for South Korea and the U.S. to attack them. 

One time in Cancun our little traveling group drove over to Puerto Juarez to the Gran Puerto Cancun ferry dock to ride a creaky old boat to Isla Mujeres. We could have flown. And we could have taken the modern air-boat, hydrofoil, I think. But what fun is that? We have all day, after all. What's the rush? The boat ride was interesting as the island famous for its coral reef. Actually, our own rented house has its own jetty with its own built up coral life abounding. Not quite as colorful as the fish at Isla Mujeres. And wouldn't you expect to see a lot of women at a place named Isla Mujeres? Just saying. It was all tourists. 

The boat ride was wild. People were carrying live chickens in small wooden cages. They were carrying everything across to the island. 

That was the time while waiting on the top deck of the boat that I noticed two men on the dock talking animatedly in sign language. I thought, "Oh goodie gumdrops! Two of my favorite foreign languages at once. This is where the two shall meld." 

I sat there and studied their language and for the life of me I could not discern one single word. Not one. Not "house," not "eat," not "food," not "chicken," not "box," not "boat," not "water," not "time," not "noon," not "air," not "brother," not "mother," not "come," not "return," not "money," not any basic usual expected word not one single thing came through and I sat there totally dismayed at how useless everything that I know is, at how I don't know anything at all. All my skills = 0.

Right before we got to the dock we passed a very nice looking area shaded with palm trees and standing at the edge facing the water stood a Mexican Army soldier watching guard of... 

I don't know. The whole gulf, I suppose. He was guarding against invasion from Cuba. And all I can feel is pity.

Know what's more interesting than standing guard in North Korea against invasion from South Korea, or standing guard in Cancun against invasion from Cuba? Watching oxygen bubbles rise in steady stream from a plant leaf. That's what.