Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1510

Professor Andrei Lankov: Here’s what should be done when North Korea goes south

Nowadays, North Koreans appear to be too terrified, isolated and distrustful of one another to emulate the Tunisians or Egyptians. Nonetheless, the regime’s control is steadily getting weaker, fear is diminishing, and the knowledge of available alternatives is spreading. So in the long run, a “Pyongyang Spring” isn’t impossible. Read more

Kinesiske bloggere raser mot Nord-Korea

Kinesiske bloggere er nådeløse i sin dom over Nord-Korea og Kim Jong-un. Mange krever at lederne i Beijing bryter alle bånd med regimet. Les mer

Kina og USA enige om Korea

I en felles erklæring sier Kina og USA at de vil forsere arbeidet med å "befri" den koreanske halvøy for atomvåpen. Spørsmålet er bare hvordan de skal gjøre det. Kina har ennå ikke klart å stagge nord- koreanerne. Les mer

Neste stopp: Bokbyen Tvedestrand

Imorgen, lørdag, holder jeg tre foredrag i Bokbyen Tvedestrand. Om Burma og om Kinas eldre og nyere historie. Også sakprosaforfatteren Astrid Sverresdatter Dypvik, kjent for sin kritikerroste bok om livet i DDR, kommer på besøk. Les mer

''En bokby er fantasi satt ut i praksis. La meg kalle antikvariatene og bokstedene for bokbyens gledeshus: Gleden over bøker, gleden i bøker, gleden av bøker.

Sidney Rittenberg on China’s New Leadership

Rittenberg is an American journalist, scholar, and Chinese linguist who lived in China from 1944 to 1979. He witnessed first-hand much of what occurred at upper levels of the CCP and knew many of its leaders personally. Later, he was imprisoned in solitary confinement, twice, for a total of 16 years. He was the first American citizen to join the Chinese Communist Party. Read more

China's North Korea options limited

Unprecedented Chinese criticism of North Korea is unlikely to mean tough new
action against Pyongyang because if China pushes too hard and its troublesome
neighbor collapses, the result would be disastrous for Beijing. Read more

China tourism surge: Readers' emotional responses

We knew even while researching Tuesday's feature on the global impact of Chinese tourism that the story was likely to generate strong reactions among readers. But even we were taken aback by the intensity of the emotions -- often thoughtful, sometimes ugly, always illuminating -- the story elicited among our global readership. Read more

How does North Korea make its money?

North Korean citizens, including
government officials have been involved in drug trafficking for years, according
to the CIA World Factbook. It said in recent years North Korea had
been linked to large shipments of heroin and methamphetamine. Read more

China walks fine line on Korea

Over the weekend, President Xi Jinping said that no country "should be allowed
to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain", in an
apparent reference to North Korea. Although veiled, it was the strongest
statement against Pyongyang ever uttered by a top Chinese leader. Read more

Fersk norsk rapport: Nord-Korea kan ha nok plutonium til over 30 atomvåpen

Kim Jong-uns regime sitter på et stort lager av tidligere produsert plutonium, viser en ny rapport fra Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt. Mandag denne uken publiserte Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt (FFI) rapporten «Atomprogrammene i India, Pakistan, Nord-Korea, Israel, Iran og Syria», der de går disse landenes befatning med atomvåpen nøye etter i sømmene. Les mer