Addfwyn

I understand China prefers to the take as non-interventionist geopolitical position as possible. Personally speaking, I don't agree, but I am also not Chinese nor affiliated with the Chinese government and can't tell them what is best for China. There's the argument to be made that it makes them better mediators for large scale international conflict, and I would certainly prefer China in that position to the US.

I could very well be wrong, and China knows what they are doing better than I do. They've certainly had success in settling international disputes in other arenas, but I don't think the same approach works here. I think the Chinese strategy works brilliantly when you can expect the other country to behave rationally and in their own self-interest, but that isn't the case here.

It's worse than we thought, Russia has agents operating out of Germany! They're abducting children and forcing them to uh...live with their families!

Disappointing but not remotely surprising, I don't think anyone expected any other outcome, but it's another in a long line of examples that the US stands in opposition to basically every civilized country in the world.

Personally speaking, it's exceedingly rare I am proud of my country (Japan) for standing on the right side in an international political issue, especially in direct opposition to our overlords.

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the council the U.S. veto “does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood,

That is literally what it reflects. That is the ONLY thing that the veto says, you absolute ghoul.

Erdan listed the requirements for U.N. membership — accepting the obligations in the U.N. Charter and especially being a “peace-loving” state.

“What a joke,” he said. “Does anyone doubt that the Palestinians failed to meet these criteria? Did anyone hear any Palestinian leader even condemn the massacre of our children?”

Did his "country" condemn the massacre of Palestinian children? No, they celebrated them. If being a peace-loving state is a requirement for membership, it sounds like Erdan's "country" should have their membership revoked. They can have the honour of being the second territory kicked out!

The meme will live forever, but at what cost??

I would be happy with just residency.

Which remains possible, our regional head office is there and I have been angling for a transfer for years. Hopefully in the next couple years it pans out.

"China is going to collapse any day now and there is no stopping it, which is why it is imperative that we focus all of our efforts into making sure it happens. Preferably by buying my book"- Gordon Chang probably.

Sorry comrade for the slow reply, I try not to look at my PC too much on weekends. Those are the "spend time with partner and/or community organising" days.

A large part of my daily living arrangements were provided for, including the dorm I stayed in, but I did have some time to head out a bit on my own. Mostly was dealt with DPRK won when I did have expenses to pay. I didn't try to pry into anyone's personal situation in great detail, my research was on security policy more than economics, but at the same time nobody seemed unduly burdened by their costs of living. I won't try to say that everything was utopian, they are a country suffering under western sanctions after all and some things that were harder to manufacture locally were harder to get, but people seemed to have enough. My understanding is that a lot of people were participating in informal markets as a matter of course, especially in the countryside areas. Whether that was something they did out of necessity or not, I am not entirely sure on.

Hi, sure, be glad to. Pretty sure I have talked about it here before somewhere, but it was a while ago.

I went when I was in grad school, which was about 18 years ago at this point (Yes, you can do the math and figure out my age pretty well if you care to). I was there for a few months to do research back when it was maybe a little bit more feasible to make that kind of arrangement. I spent a few months there, at Kim Il Sung University. There were a number of other foreigners there working as faculty as well. Most people I talked to were fairly friendly, my Korean is not amazing but I got by (and many students at the university were studying foreign languages). They generally provided a lot of the materials I asked for, though since I was studying security there was obviously some military documents I requested that were denied. Which you get used to hearing in that particular field of study anyway.

To answer some common questions, I didn't really have a government minder following me around or watching what I took pictures of/who I talked to. Basically as long as I behaved like a sane human being, there were no issues and little oversight was required. They did check what I brought with me out of the country, but literally nothing was a violation. I was notably, not considered a tourist because well...I wasn't one. Pyongyang is a generally nice city, I loved a lot of the mosaics painted around, but I actually enjoyed the areas in the countryside I visited more, lots of really beautiful spots around the country. Paekdu is gorgeous and worth visiting. A lot of things have locally made versions because of sanctions, but like afforementioned pizza it does all exist.

Work-life balance is night/day compared to ROK, which has one of the worst in the world. People finish work/classes generally on time, a lot of adults go to community centers after work to learn different skills. Several people were excited to practice English with me. The ROK on the other hand (I spent a few months here as well, a bit longer overall) is basically work until late hours, drink until you pass out, and repeat.

If you have any specific questions I would be glad to answer them.

I love to cook, but prices have been getting steadily higher for less in my country too. These days I have largely stopped buying much food (my office supplies lunch, so I just make that my one meal for the day). Which sounds insane, but even if I can afford groceries it just feels painful to spend so much on a fairly small amount. When I do buy groceries now I jyst buy eggs and flour and make a lot of pasta, mostly cacio e pepe or aglio e olio. It's the most cost efficient thing I can think of.

I spent a few months there (and ROK) when I was a grad student. I was studying international security and my thesis was about korean peninsula security.

Nothing too special, I went to an Italian restaurant when I was living there.

Good, traditional Italian style margherita. People just lose their shit that not only does food exist, but that there are a variety of cuisines.

I think that's all of them actually. That is literally every 'joke' they have.