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Recent Posts
- A Postcard from Málaga
- More Exciting than a Thriller
- A Hundred Years Ago, someone kept his New Year’s Resolutions, but didn’t care about the Lives of Others – February 1921: Winston Churchill
- “The Impostor” by Javier Cercas
- Mauthausen
- A Postcard from Las Vegas
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- The Danger of Digits and Digitalization
- A Postcard from the Mount of Beatitudes
Category Archives: North Korea
“Sovietistan” and “The Border” by Erika Fatland
Hier gibt es diese Rezension auf Deutsch. Do you also have so many travel guides at home for countries you never made it to? I still got a Lonely Planet guidebook for Central Asia, which I bought in 2007. Apparently, … Continue reading
Posted in Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Books, China, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Korea, Norway, Poland, Ukraine
Tagged Finland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, MacLehose, Mongolia, Pegasus, Soviet Union, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
11 Comments
Ceaușescu in North Korea
When I lived in Romania, some people said about the long-term dictator, who was overthrown in 1989: “You know, in the beginning, Ceaușescu was not even that bad. After he came to power in 1965, he distanced Romania from the … Continue reading
Posted in Cold War, Economics, History, Music, North Korea, Politics, Romania, Travel
14 Comments
Two Books on North Korea
If there will be a nuclear war in 2018, it will most likely have something to do with North Korea. So you may as well use your last weeks alive to read about that country. Suki Kim pulled off a … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Economics, Human Rights, North Korea, Politics, Religion
Tagged christianity, Crown Publishing, Granta, Rider, Spiegel & Grau
11 Comments
Random Thoughts (18)
“Time is more valuable than money could ever dream of being.” (Dan Kieran in The Idle Traveller) Thanks to Thomas Kuban for pointing me to The Ultimate Productivity Blog. Thanks to Priscila Serrano for the book 60 Degrees North, in … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Brazil, Europe, Germany, North Korea, Religion, Romania, Time, UK
Tagged Brexit, christianity, solitude, Targu Mures, Turkmenistan
4 Comments
Random Thoughts (16)
Finland has some weird sports competitions. Each time I return to Europe, rents have doubled. Tweets cannot change laws, regulations or rules. Each time Donald Trump tries to do so, he should be laughed at. Why can’t Microsoft Windows move … Continue reading
Posted in Bolivia, Czech Republic, Language, Military, North Korea, Philosophy, Poland, Politics, Religion, Sports, Technology, USA, World War II
Tagged Czech Republic, Donald Trump, Finland, prison, railroad
5 Comments
Random Thoughts (14)
If I am ever on a quiz show, my telephone joker will be the dude who wrote Wikipedia. Suki Kim has done impressive undercover reporting in North Korea, fooling both her employer, by pretending that she was a devout Christian, and of course the … Continue reading
Posted in Bolivia, Books, China, Colombia, Economics, Health, Language, Life, Mexico, North Korea, Religion, Saudi Arabia, Technology, Travel, UK
Tagged children, christianity, journalism, Spanish, wikipedia
19 Comments
The Disadvantage of the Home Office
Or should I say the disadvantage of having children, a family, or anyone else living at your house?
How far can you get by train?
Zur deutschen Fassung dieses Artikels. One of my readers wrote that he had been wondering how far he could get if he took his local commuter train and continued traveling with no other means of transport than the railway. As a train enthusiast, … Continue reading
Easily Confused (20) Two Koreas
South Koreans acting in a silly and uncontrolled way: – – – North Koreans acting in a silly but controlled way: – – – Imagining a combination of these two styles makes me afraid of Korean unification.
North Korea’s Military Strategy
I have studied a great many wars, but I am not aware of an example where the aggressor state revealed its detailed step-by-step strategy in advance. In public. In a colourful video. North Korea has the courtesy to do so and lays … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, Military, North Korea, Politics, USA
Tagged Hollywood, Korea, movies, war
3 Comments