geopolit:

I have been working on this map, collecting news articles and documenting trends over the past couple years, and was surprised when it revealed that the world is deeply divided by two major spheres of influence that dominate and dictate global affairs.

The two major organizations at the center of this are NATO, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) headed by Russia and China. Both are military organizations with each member state promising to protect each others interests and come to aid in the event of war.

This setup creates an interesting situation whereby, at its most basic level, if any two nations from differing alliances go to war, it has the potential, through the domino effect, to bring war to every continent of the world. It is this fear of global conflict that creates such tension points as North and South Korea, Israel and Iran and Pakistan and India.

Ultimately, the global powers of the United States, Russia and China don’t want to go to war but neither is willing to cave to the influence of the other. This simple division of the world helps to explain almost every decision made on the global stage in recent years and will be a good prediction of how nations will interact in the years to come.

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Soo… I’m curious about a few things: 

Firstly, I really don’t think it’s possible to divide the world so neatly into spheres of influence. Not only is it no longer the Cold War Era, but every country frankly has rather complicated politics. I have personal experience in some of these countries, and quite honestly South East Asia, for example, is divided between being in China’s bed as it rises or banding together to resist its influence. 

Vietnam, in particular, has had a hard time warming up to China because, well, China invaded it several times. They haven’t forgotten that. 

Turkey might not be all that approving of its European allies but it IS still part of NATO. It’s certainly not closer to China than it is to the West. 

What is Belarus doing there in blue at all? Last I checked… Luvchenko was anything but pro-Western. 

Also, Africa is really not so cut-and-dry… 

Basically saying, countries may not be pro-Western but that doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily pro-China. 

In any case, with development going so fast in so many countries, analysts are still leaning towards a multipolar world. where America is the strongest of several strong nations all with their own spheres of influence. Although the BRIC idea is losing tract, other predictions haven’t quite nudged it off the pedestal… and yet it still poses an interesting hypothetical future. 

inothernews:

North Korean defectors who live in South Korea prepare to fly balloons carrying anti-North Korea leaflets near the demilitarised zone which separates the two countries. The slogans on the balloons read “Liberate North Korean compatriots”, “Terminate three generations of hereditary power transfer”, “Go to hell, Kim Jong-il”, “No condolence call for devil” and “North Koreans, rise up”.  (Photo: Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters via the Telegraph)

Life is really hard for North Koreans who get away. They’re totally unprepared for life outside and have a crazy time adjusting. Not just that, but South Korean companies are disinclined to help them out because they tend to need so much handholding and re-training. 

The fact that North Korea is poor is only the start of the huge humanitarian crisis that it is waiting to happen. Re-education into a capitalist, democratic system is going to be hell. At least Eastern Europe and Russia had smuggled jeans and LPs and some ideas of how it worked in the West. North Koreans get nothing. 

Not just the Internet, but also online gaming. 

Interesting to watch and read. 

I have to say, Asian online games are far more intensive and grind-y than Western ones. 

Reading the new Wikileaks intercepted diplomatic cables about various ideas and plans to do with “What to do about North Korea?” is really interesting.

From these cables, it seems that the different various actors are considering what to do if (or rather, when) North Korea collapses, and how viable a united Korea would be.

Indeed, there’s the very interesting tidbit:

Chun argued that, in the event of a North Korean collapse, China would clearly “not welcome” any U.S. military presence north of the DMZ. XXXXXXXXXXXX Chun XXXXXXXXXXXX  said the PRC would be comfortable with a reunified Korea controlled by Seoul and anchored to the United States in a “benign alliance” — as long as Korea was not hostile towards China.