Open The Door, Mr. Kim.

Greetings, Kim Jong-un.

I have no idea how you feel about your father, Kim Jong Il, passing away.  You might be happy, sad, or indifferent.  But I suppose one thing you definitely are now is scared.  If things go as your father desired you are about to become the leader of North Korea.  And therefore you've inherited one hell of a mess.  At the very least you probably have to worry that you'll be promptly overthrown by whatever factions are competing with yours.  Should you hang on to power you've got a country full of starving people, a backwards economy that pretty much exists at the whim of the Chinese, and various foreign powers that are just waiting for you to screw things up.

It's time to open the door.  Let the world in.  Sure, you'll probably want to do it slowly,  But you have no choice.  Your regime isn't going to last even as long as your dad's unless you save North Korea.  And the only way to do that is to find a way to end its isolation.  North Korea is far enough behind as it is, and it's only going to get worse.  You've seen the outside world, you know what it's like.  You can see what your people could have if they're allowed to.  So give them the chance.  Find some way to make a peaceful change, before everything comes crashing down.

Fun On The Border.

Have a thought for the border guards along the US-Canada border today. June 1st sees the introduction of new regulations for travelling to the US from Canada. To cross the border you must have a valid Canadian passport or one of several other alternate documents. But you know that a whole bunch of people trying to cross over the next few days don't know they now need a passport, despite ads announcing the changes running for months on TV. So border guards will have to deal with a bunch of irate people who are having trouble totally of their own creation.

Has Pat Robertson shot himself, and perhaps US style conservative Christian evangelism, in the foot in Latin America? The US televangelist and former presidential candidate said on his 700 Club program Monday that the US should assassinate controversial Venezualan President Hugo Chavez, who he described as wanting to spread Communism and Islamic extremism. However unpopular Chavez, who himself has accused the US of wanting to assassinate him, is in certain quarters in Latin America even many of his opponents will not appreciate an American advocating gross interference in their affairs by killing a head of state. I can't help but wonder what effect such statements will have on some folks who were tilting towards the US brand of conservative Christianity.

US officials today stated that Robertson was speaking only for himself and had no influence or involvement on US policy. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld also noted that assassination of foreign heads of state is contrary to US law.