No Longer Scratching My Head

Caption: South Korean corvette ROKS Sinseong. The sinking of her sister ship, ROKS Cheonan by a North Korean submarine this year had me scratching my head. No longer.

Image credit: Wikimedia/U.S. Navy

Someplace or another recently, I wrote a comment stating that I didn't understand what was going on in the minds of North Korea when they sank a South Korean corvette in March. Turns out, as is so often the case, our news forgot to provide historical perspective. This is what was on the minds of North Korea, in all likelihood:

The Battle of Daecheong was a skirmish between the South Korean and North Korean navies near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) on 10 November 2009 off Daecheong Island. A patrol boat from North Korea was seriously damaged while the navy of South Korea sustained no casualties.

The incident began around 11:27 am when a North Korean navy patrol boat crossed down through the NLL even though boats from the South Korean navy warned them twice. After one more warning announcement, one of the South Korean patrol boats fired a warning shot. In response, the North Korean boat began firing upon the South Korean ship. This resulted in a short exchange of fire between the sides. The North Korea vessel expended approximately 50 rounds, and the South Korean craft returned fire with 200 rounds.

Wikipedia: Battle of Daecheong

I know this now thanks to an excellent diary by scrowder at FireDogLake. If you want to get some more historical perspective, I recommend going there and reading it.

And the next time you hear of something like this coming seemingly out of the blue, keep in mind it's as likely that the people talking about it don't know, or don't want to know, what the explanation is behind it as that it's really something completely crazy.

Still Waiting ...

image credit: John Pritchett

The jury in the Libby trial is still deliberating. Looks like it's going to be a long one, so get out your sunblock.

Meanwhile, there are actually things going on in the world that aren't related to living or dead celebrity bimbos. No, I'm not going to provide links. If you want that kind of news, go to CNN or MSNBC. Isn't the twenty-four hour news cycle just wonderful? You can always be informed about all those important developments that affect your life, no matter what time of day you turn on the TV.

Juan Cole writes today in Salon that the British withdrawal from Iraq may not be quite the good thing the Administration is protraying it as. As Prof. Cole points out, Patrick Lang doesn't think so, either. Meanwhile, some Democratic Senators are supposedly drafting a bill that would limit our role in the conflict. If you've read some of my past writings you'll know I don't think it's enough, but it's at least a start, and it is trying to keep us out of the civil war.

Meanwhile, in that forgotten war, Afghan warlords have, it would seem, been busy trying to obtain pardons of their own. The BBC's Lyse Doucet writes about the situation there:

Afghans have, in some ways, made an impressive journey since a hastily assembled group of Afghans and foreign envoys forged what became known as the Bonn process.

With some difficulty and delay all the ambitious targets were met: a traditional assembly, or loya jirga, approved a new government in 2002; a second loya jirga came up with a constitution; and presidential and parliamentary elections were held for the first time in decades.

But for many Afghans it is a job half done.
...
Afghanistan is still a place awash with guns, where commanders and local officials can impose their will with impunity, where many Afghans say their lives have changed little.

Most startling of all, the Taleban have made a comeback in the south, fighting with unexpected ferocity and firepower.

Afghanistan: A job half done

The only good news I see this morning is that the North Koreans are talking about dismantling their nuke program. Like the Democrats in the Senate, the North Koreans are going to have to do more than talk to convince me, but it's a good sign given that they're willing to negotiate giving up their ability to reprocess plutonium in exchange for oil and food. Of course, that was such a bad deal in 1994, how could this "tough" Administration make the same deal now?

Tom Vilsack has dropped out of the Presidential race, citing lack of financial backing. Other than that he was the chairman of the DLC and that he was one of the first Presidential candidates to speak out forcefully on Iraq, I don't know much about him.

And I hear Britney's got a new doo?

UPDATE: It looks like the British will be increasing their forces in Afghanistan soon.

UPDATE 2: Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake reports that the Libby jury has been sent home for the weekend. Looks like justice will have to wait until next week, if not longer.