The Kim Dynasty - North Korea from it's inception to now..

Did you know that when Kim Il Sung was born in a poor hut high up in the mountains hundreds of thousands of Swallows flew above the sky, and his Grandfather proclaimed that this baby was set for greatness.  Actually his Father was a Presbyterian Minister, and Kim Il Sung sang in the choir. His family were actually Middle Class, in equivalent terms they were like a family living in Rathgar, not humongously wealthy by any stretch, but they led a more than comfortable lifestyle.  He also went to School and achieved good grades. Only about 10% of Koreans attended school at this time.

Did you know that the year Kim Jong Il was born, it was the harshest winter in Korea for over 100 years. The snow covered some houses. However, when whilst in the middle of a battle with the murderous Japanese Imperialist dogs, his Mother gave birth on the foot of Mount Peaktu, the sun appeared, melting the snow away in mid winter, the birds flew about, animals came out of hibernation and grazed on the grasses and a triple rainbow appeared. 

In truth Kim Jong Il was actually born in a Soviet Army camp near Khaborovsk, which bordered China, and was a fair distance from North Korea. In 1920, the young Kim Il sung and family fled to Manchuria, and then in 1940 he and wife joined a band of other Korean Exiles and fled to the Soviet Union after Manchuria was overridden and essentially occupied by the Japanese. When the Soviets liberated the Northern Half of Korea, and the tanks drove through Pyongyang, Kim was still in Russia.  The Soviet commanders initially had problems communicating and fraternalising with the locals. The Russians of Korean Descent they had brought with them were deeply mistrusted by the locals, especially as these Korean Russians had little understanding of the traditions and nuances of the people they now mingled with, and tried to help their Soviet Generals gain control over. 

The first de facto leader of what became North Korea, was the famous Linguist, University professor, and politician Kim Tu Bong.  He was a very popular figure, but had little gra for the Stalinists and their modus operandi.  He very quickly snipped the strings on his arms, and began to make speeches and behave in a way that oft made the Soviets aghast.  In a desperate attempt to put some order on proceedings, they framed Kim Tu Bong on flimsy charges and arrested him.  But this left a desperate need to find someone to replace him as the de facto head of the Korean Peoples Assembly, and in a  way that really was sort of like an  eenie-meeny-miney-mo process, Kim Il Sung was picked. But the Soviets did not realise just how cunning and deceptive a man they had picked. They quickly had to rewrite history to make him seem a lot more heroic than he was. “So in truth he and others killed 6 Japanese soldiers, and nicked about 20 rifles from an observation post? Lets scribble that out, and say it was 100 soldiers, and a whole array of munitions that they grabbed, with Kim il sung killing the bulk of them.”

There were essentially 4 main factions in North Korea at the time – 1, The Soviet Koreans, Soviet Citizens of Korean extraction.  2. The Ya’nans, Chinese of Korean origin, whose parents or Grandparents were born in Korea, but who had moved or fled to China,  3. The Domestics.  Those members of the Communist Party of Korea who operated as an underground resistance force under Japanese occupation.  The leaders of this grouping were mostly based in Seoul. When the Soviets liberated the Northern Half of Korea, many fled North. Others who had stuck around in the Southern part were executed by the Blood thirsty Synghman Rhee dictatorship, that executed many people to ensure a strong grip on power. 4. The last group were the Nationalists of whom Kim Tu Bing was seen as their leading light. There were generally right wing persons whose families were quite wealthy, and held various positions of wealth and power before and in some cases during the Japanese occupation from 1911 til the Soviets and US forces pushed them out.

 

Syngman Rhee was the first ruler of what became South Korea.  He was a US puppet.  It is worth noting that South Declared itself a separate state before the North did. At this point Kim Il Sung harboured genuine ambitions that Korea would soon be reunited once again, albeit under his rule.  Many who had been in authoritive positions and collaborated with the Japanese occupiers, were kept in their posts by Rhee’s South Korean administration.  This caused immense anger in Southern Korea at the time.  Rhee was a US born He was born in Korea but moved to the US and was educated there, and attended various Universities and gained a number of degrees and doctorates. Whilst there his accent apparently morphed into a US accent.  Thus when he came back and spoke at rallies etc, some people found it hard to understand what he was saying, and were also wary of him due to his accent. 

NB. Korea was a country with a rich and varied past. It was said, in the 1700;s and before, if a foreigner was unlucky to stray into Korea, he would be killed almost on the spot, with many cannibalised.  The Koreans were a very inward looking population who had a massive distrust of foreigners. 

So Kim slowly and cunningly played a slow game of political dominoes.  He firstly placed some of the lead persons of the Yan’an and Domestics groups into his inner circle, and used them to direct their peoples into helping to purge the Nationalist group from any positions of influence and power they may have had.  Once they were out of the picture, he then rounded on the Yanan’s, andt then the Domestics.  He elft the Soviet Koreans well alone (Well until the mid 70’s anyways) as he knew not to overplay his hand visa vis the Soviets,  

On June 25^th 1950, the Two Korea’s went to war.  Kim Il Sung was itching to do battle for sometime, but only moved after receiving assurances of a military nature from Stalin.  EG The Soviet Airforce would be used to help the North Koreans overcome the South.  This never happened.  Whilst the US and British forces forced the North Koreans back as far as the banks of the mighty Yalu River (And for a time the North Korean leadership fled to Manchuria, the Soviets stood still.  It took a massive intervention by Chinese troops to force back the US and British commandeered South Korean Troops, and a stalemate ensued on the 37^th Parallel. After truce talks, China, USSR, USA, and North Korea signed a peace treaty, but the South Refused to be a signatory. Hence the  two states are still technically at war. 

Til the day he died Kim Il Sung remained very bitter by what he saw as his ‘betrayal’ by Stalin.  But he badly needed the economic support of his neighbour, so fiercely bit his lip and danced to the tune of whomever was offering the most gifts at that time, be it China or USSR.   Up until 1972, officially, the Capital of North Korea was Seoul! But Pyongyang was then designated the Capital officially in that year.

One of the first major programs Kim il Sung sought to initiate was the mass collectivisation of farming.  The North Korean army and implementation officials from the various departments of the state met very hostile responses almost everywhere they went. There were many examples of Soldiers and officials being ran out of villages, whereupon they would have to return a few days later with a much bigger force to violently quell any dissent.  Many farmers preferred to burn crops and slaughter animals rather than hand them over to the state.  Initially the state tried to effectively implement a produce tax, ie the farmer would have to hand 60-70% of his crops/animals to the state, and was allowed to sell the remaining 30-40% at local state sanctioned markets, were prices were fixed. But by the Mid 60’s the regime implemented the collectivised farming model in full. Many huge industrial factories were also built in North Korea.

In fact, up until the mid to late 60’s the GDP per Capita Ratio in North Korea far surpassed that of the South.  By 1970, the South had caught up with the North, and signs were it would surpass it. In desperation North Korea sought huge loans from Western banks to further develop it’s economy.  But it spent a fortune buying in industrial machinery, for example, that it’s workers hadn’t an iota as to how to work them, or even had huge machines delivered that were too big and powerful to be fitted and operated inside any North Korean factories.  Thus scores of very expensive machinery and the like lay in storage gathering rust. Also due to very bad planning money was wasted on badly constructed infrastructure projects.  Many apartment complexes were built, but toilets would not flush due to badly designed piping/sewerage systems, Electricity supply was not enough to meet the full needs of the cities, and domestic supply was oft cut off for a time in order to ensure the factories and hospitals had an unfettered supply.  Pyongyang became the first Stalinist state to officially enter into a default.  The North Korean economy went into a tailspin, and it was blacklisted by the Western Financial conglomerates, and the value of it’s exports plummeted almost overnight too. 

Yes there was Central planning in North Korea, but just like the Soviet states you could in no way characterise it was being democratic.  If an order came from above, you got on and did it, regardless of whether you KNEW it to be correct or not. There are numerous examples of people being arrested and sent away for merely pointing out to his Factory head etc, that a there was serious flaws in a design his boss and drawn up, with the employee explaining a better solution to the design and so forth.  People were oft put into position of influence in factories simply due to their loyalty to the regime, in a lot of cases with no proper know how as to what the factory manufactured.  This was also quite evident in planning too, when officials with no knowledge of the subject matter, would often make disastrous decisions, that simply could not, and were not questioned/ countermandered.  Thus you had yields for crops that were far lower than the Western average, goods manufactured in factories that were of a very poor quality and the like.

In the USSR we had at first Leninism, then Stalinism. In China we had Moaism, in Yugoslavia what was known as Titoism, and in North Korea they developed their own ideology based around the cult of the leader, Jucheism. The first known reference to Juche as a domestic, North Korean ideology was an anti-Soviet speech given by Kim Il-sung on December 28, 1955. Titled "On Eliminating Dogmatism and Formalism and Establishing Juche in Ideological Work".  Kim realised that whilst both China and the USSR got pissed off with him from time to time, neither wanted to fall out with him and see him side firmly with the other (Or more importantly for South Korean Capitalism to gain a foothold in the state), so both continued to indulge him.  The official North Korean Calender was switched to the Juchean Calender, where day 1 was Kim il Sung’s Birth date.  As well as being an attempt at further tightening his grasp on power, it was also a way of the regime trying to proclaim (or pretend) that it was powerful too, and that it also had an ideological ferment that should be feted and praised around the world, like many groups did of Stalinism or Maoism.  Large sums of money were spent setting up Juche learning centres, in other Third world countries, especially in Africa.  But in reality many of these persons in Africa who claimed to be adherents of Jucheism and were given money to supposedly spread it’s influence across Africa, were little more than charlatans, who spent most of the money either on themselves, or furthering the reach of their own organisation, who’s actual ideals and policies were in truth anything but like those espoused by Pyongyang.

Even to this day each village, and area in the cities have their own Minomin.  These persons are supposed to conduct an audit of their area every night. Are the Family next door in? If not, where are those not present? Oh look, they have a visitor from elsewhere. Have they got their identity papers with them, and their authorisation letter allowing them to be here?  Also have the family been reading the Juche texts as required, and are the portraits of the Two Kim’s properly positioned and polished?  Right that’s my check list filled in, and additional information added in were necessary.  I’m off to the police station to hand in my report as required.

There are also many detention camps in North Korea, were many people have been worked to their deaths, if not tortured to death before then.  These make many goods for sale in China, and some also make very fine suits for sale in Japan. For example, a Japansese trader could buy suits from these camps, and easily sell them at 20 times that amount in a store in Tokyo.  Many Chinese businessmen are nw dealing with the North Koreans too, as they can get goods produced there at far lower prices than it would be to have them made in a Chinese factory.  It is getting to the sickening stage now, were people are being sent to these camps on ever flimsier charges as they simply need more “workers” to keep up with the illegal supply and demand.  Obviously those places are kept far from the tourists eye when they visit North Korea on an organised trip.

Kim il Sung passed away in 1994, amid scenes of crazy mournful adoration across all of North Korea.  Many people genuinely believed he was a demi god who would rule forever and so forth.  His son then took over the reigns.  He was a recluse who was rarely seen in public, loved to drink good Cognac, and the company of pretty women.  In fact in each of the handful of mansions across North Korea that the leader resided in had a harem of young pretty women in them. If of an evening he got bored, he would ring for one or more of the girls to be sent to his chambers. In fact there were “scouts” who used to travel around the country visiting various secondary schools to source these women for the leaders pleasure.  Once one was identified, she would be soon whisked away to be trained in etiquette and manners etc, before being placed in one of the mansions.  Once she reached her early 30’s she would then be released from duties, and placed in a nice apartment in Pyongyang, with a huge monthly payment by North Korean terms, on the agreement that she would never seek to contact her family again, or tell anyone of her recent “duties”.  In Korean society, especially North Korean society, it is a cherished norm of parents that their son or daughter would still be a virgin at marriage. So if word of Kim’s trysts became public knowledge, it would likely cause outrage.

Kim Jong Il passed away on the 17^th December 2011, and was succeeded in power by his third song Kim Jong Un.  One of Kim’s other 3 sons now lives in Macau, loves gambling, and has at times spoken out publicly against the regime, which angered his father enormously. Then the other of the 3 was arrested in Japan after travelling there on a false passport.  It was said he had planned to visit Disneyland in Tokyo, and was found with quite a bit of money on his person  This also annoyed his father somewhat.  The elite in Pyongyang live in a sealed off gates part in a fine houses, with shops that sell imported goods smuggled into the country from Japan and elsewhere.  Many are truly oblivious to the suffering that people all over North Korea, outside Pyongyang are suffering. 

Make no doubt about it Kim Yong Nam is a stooge. His Auntie, Kim il Sung’s daughter, and the military top brass call the shots. In a nod and a wink way, they’ve told him – “Leave the politicking to us, and we’ll leave you and your fancy wife alone to live your life of luxury”.  So as peoples living standards continue to plummet, many especially older persons begin to (secretly in their own minds) question the way country is being run. They genuinely thought Kim il Sung was the real deal, but are not sure about his successors. How do you maintain a grip on your people?  Why ratchet up the fear doctrine, claim that barbarous forces are intent on invading and killing one and all.  They also keep pushing mountains of propaganda painting South Korea and the United States as in a far worse predicament that they are in – As bad as things are now, you wouldn’t like to be in the position they’re in, trust me!  Did you hear that the US population are so poor, that millions are forced to live on the streets and eat snow, and drink cups of hot snow (Snow mixed with boiling water) as food supplies are reserved only for the rich elite in the US?  No, no! That video clip of people queuing at a van really IS people queuing for a cup of hot snow, (as the North Korean voiceover person claims) NOT coffee...

North Korea has long harboured ambitions to be a nuclear power, as Kim il Sung saw this as a guaranteed way of ensuring South Korea or Japan would never think of invading etc, once they knew the North could use nuclear weapons in response.   Thus the North Koreans asked the USSR, and then Russia, what the going rate was to receive Nuclear materials, and have their own personnel trained in the area of Nuclear science, and then handed over the cheque.  It is estimates that about 4 years ago, The main Nuclear reactor in North Korea, Yongbong, was repaired and retrofitted by Russian contractors for a considerable sum, while many died due to an unprecedented famine.

On 9^th October 2006 North Korea detonated what is now known, was a very small nuclear device.  This was merely seen as a tool of brinkmanship, trying to send a signal to the outside world that they were not bluffing, when they claimed to have nuclear capabilities.    On July 4^th 2009, US Independence Day, North Korea fired of 2 missiles, thought to be scud missiles, with a range of up to 400 KM into the Sea of Japan.  This evoked worldwide condemnation, and further sanctions were imposed on the hermit kingdom.  These rockets had no GPS devices on them, which most countries would have put onto their rockets, as they didn’t have the capability to develop such a system. Thus they had no real control over the rockets, and they could have landed anywhere. A big question now is as to whether or not North Korea have the ability to attach nuclear warheads to conventional missiles, and thus could be in a position to target Japan, South Korea, or the US dependency of Guam with such weapons.  The view of most analysts is that they have not, and that despite all it’s rhetoric North Korea really hasn’t the ability to carry out it’s threats, so we shouldn’t be too worried about them.  On the other hand, others are of the opinion that we don’t REALLY know what’s going on inside North Korea vis a vis it’s military and nuclear capabilities. It has the 4^th largest standing army in the world. 

Whilst they may not have the ability to send nuclear missiles to Japan or the West coast of the USA, they might very well have the ability to nuke Seoul for example. The North Korean TV, the official newspaper Radong Signum are ratcheting up the rhetoric, will the regime now have no choice but to do something, be it launch another missile or otherwise to justify all the rhetoric?  Surely if it does a total climbdown, and ends up doing nothing, this would lead it with a lot of explaining to do amongst it’s own people? So whilst mad men in Colorado are busy buying goods at Wal Mart to store in their bunker, as they convince themselves that Obama being re-elected is going to lead to a nuclear attack on San Francisco by North Korea, many South Koreans go about their business as normal, as they’ve heard it all before, and have long stopped caring or being afraid.  So when will all the talking stop, and some if any action be taken by the North Korean Military? Only time will tell. 

   

Telling porkies re debt Reduction deal..

I predicted what  happened yesterday in Brussels, in a letter I wrote to the Tallaght Echo last November!

Dear Sir/Madame

A lot of our Government ministers and backbench TD's are attempting to pull the wool over peoples eyes at an unprecedented level. They have taken stretching the limits and definitions of the English language to a level surpassing even that of James Joyce himself. I am talking particularly about the talks between the ECB/IMF and the government.

Michael Noonan, and our own TD for Dublin South West, Brian Hayes in particular, have been resolutely parroting the line that we WILL be getting a debt reduction deal, and that it WILL be very beneficial for Ireland in the long run; so people should bite their lips, accept what it thrown at them in the budget, as it will aide their job of guaranteeing a better path for this country to get it's way out of recession

But the simple truth is, they are lying to the people of this state on a grand scale. We will NOT be getting a "debt reduction deal, that will benefit this country in the long run". The very best we can hope for is a lengthening of the payment terms (I.E. in a way it's like extending the term of your mortgage from 25 to 30 years). Though the yearly repayments will come down per se, we will end up paying MORE than the country is at present, due to interest on the debt. We will merely be paying back the same amount as currently, plus more, but over a longer timeframe than is currently the case.

This debt is totally unsustainable, we cannot implement a full repayment schedule AND grow our economy out of recession at the same time. Burn the bondholders, and spend the money instead on essential things like, developing new college campuses, building much needed new schools and public transport systems, reopen closed hospital wards etc. Think of all the jobs this would create.

Ask yourself this - Why, if the government are so certain of getting a debt reduction deal, are they still planning to go full steam ahead with the savage austerity plan they have set out? Surely if we were definitely getting a debt reduction deal, the budget would be changed, and cuts and tax rises would be lowered to take account of this?
These have not been changed, as the Government knows damn well we will not not be getting a debt reduction deal, and that we the ordinary Irish taxpayer, is going to have to pay a bigger price in the long run, if they get their way, to ensure the greedy bondholders, and property developers continue to live in obscene luxury. This while many families cannot afford to provide 3 basic meals a day for their kids, as they go to bed freezing due to living in a substandard dwelling they paid way over the odds for.

I call on the Irish people to rise up off their armchairs, and start taking action! Take to the streets, refuse to pay property/water taxes, FORCE THIS GOVERNMENT TO BURN THE BONDHOLDERS ONCE AND FOR ALL! There is a budget day demonstration starting at 17.00, outside The Dail. I urge everyone to turn up and show the government just how angry we are with their policies.

Yours etc,

Sean Heffernan,
Dominic's Parish.

Time for a re-Think???

A real bug bear of mine relates to so called “Think Tanks” and a lot of “agencies” that are employed at the expense of the state to supposedly improve things for you and I, Mr & Mrs ordinary Joe Soap.  But they don’t!  I was prompted to write about this, after hearing of another report from some think tank, which basically went beyond stating the bleedin’ obvious, of which details of it I heard on the news.  For a start, many of the people involved in heading up such organisation are paid ludicrously obscene salaries, with, in many cases, just as obscene expenses scales to boot.  I’m involved in my local community Centre, and also the Youth Club, that operated within the falls of the building.

 They are the ones who rabbit on night and day about “inclusiveness” or “Empowering people” But after enduring another bout of their “flipchart diplomacy”,  You mentally find yourself tied to a chair with black tape on your mouth, as the meeting /consultation draws to a close.   These people have mastered the art of ASSUMING what people need/want, without actually asking them;  And they then dump some strategy onto their shoulders, and expect them to follow it to the letter without so much as a blinking of the eye.  

But you see, they have their masters degrees in UCD and Trinity, and sure haven’t they studied Socioogy for 4 years, and thus have the imprimatur to foist things on us, because clearly we don’t know anything, and need to be spoonfed, as we don’t have any fancy letters after our names!

Many good honest people who want to volunteer in their communities have been ground down and totally worn out, slowly but surely by the red tape, and the rigid top down, looking down on us ordinary plebs, attitude many agencies adopt. (Can someone find me an agency/Think Tank that even meets 80% of their “mission statement”? – Nope.. I thought so!) They get involved in a group or groups in a voluntary capacity, bundling with energy and ideas.  But they soon become aware of the constant Merry go round of so called consultations and meetings, were they are asked for their opinion, and duly give it.  But they soon realise the farcical nature of the process, and that, no matter what ideas they bring to the table, they will either fall totally on deaf, uninterested ears at the top, or else they will be quietly forgotten about, only to re-surface sometime later, with some head honcho in the agency/Think Tank claiming the idea totally as his/her own. 

And what of those god awful think tanks?  I’m a 31 yr old who is from a solid working class background, and lives in a part of Dublin, that has been classed as an area of Social depravation.  Though it must be said, that my upbringing, and the area I lived in, was to an extent quite different to that of people who had to live 40 mins walk from me, in large swathes of council housing, with little or no services, or supports in the 80’s.  And while that situation has technically improved since then, it is still miles off were it needs to be. (And now is heading back to a level even lower than that seen in the 80’s, but to the massive cutbacks across the board)  I’m just waiting to pick up The Guardian someday soon, to read of a study that cost £250,000 to conduct, where the think Tank Claimed it was trying to find out why so many Everton fans hate Wayne Rooney! It sounds kinda far fetched, but you wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out a study like that, WAS being carried out as I typed!  (Reminds me of the $1M study once done in American by scientists/academics, who were studying why Native American Indians didn’t like being studied by scientists/academics – I kid you not!)

If you were to spend hours looking at websites and the like to find information on the myriad of agencies and Think Tanks that are out there, you’ll soon be struck at fact that there is 4 different groups, basically claiming to do the same thing.  Each one trying to out topdog the other, with the people they are supposed to be helping, taking a back seat, and largely ignored, until they become useful tools to exploit at the Agencies whim.  

If a mass cull was to descend on these agencies/think tanks, just think of all the money saved by the state, never mind the amount of trees too, as their useless reports after useless reports will be no more.

Imagine they were replaced by one central funding group, who alone was responsible for handing out money to voluntary groups etc, instead of 20 different groups fighting for the spoils out of one pot.  

Imagine this funding provider had very limited criteria, eg, nothing unlawful could be done with the money doled out etc;  BUT that, in the main, the community groups/organisations themselves would have the freedom to decide THEMSELVES, with genuine consultation with their fellow inhabitants, as to what the money would be spent on.  There would be a lot more people thus volunteering to help out in their parish, feeling confident and with quite a spring in their step, as they know the valuable effort they are putting in, would be properly recognised and valued, and they would also be a genuine stakeholder, and have a full and authoritive say on how things are done and so forth.  

There would then be more groups and local services in place.  And thus, more people, be they old or young would be able to play sports, act on stage in local theatre productions, or even just meet in a room with others of a like minded interest to drink tea, and have a sing along.  The possibilities would be endless. 

But sadly, so long as these agencies and Think Tanks continue in their modus operandi, sucking their lifeblood out of communities, the isolation, and fragmentation of so

Another poem from moi

THE WORLDS BIGGEST BANK ROBBER

Oh I am the leader of the IMF, the ringleader of the Worlds biggest theft. 

I’ll lend the Africans some money today, but charge them interest they can never repay.  Their leaders will build grand palaces of gold, whilst many of their citizens die before their one year old. 

The finest banquets they will serve, whilst most of the people struggle and starve. 

Their wives will go on shopping sprees in New York, while many are unable to find work. 

The finest of fashions they will buy, as over their dead babies, many mothers cry. 

For the price of a handbag from Christian Dior, they could have saved a hundred kids, maybe more. 

A $3,000 fur coat her treat for today, whilst many children just whittle away. 

I’ll give him some money to build an army, maybe 3 or 4, so he can quell any opposition by the score. 

Any students dare protest against his rule, he’ll have them all shot by the back of the school. 

If any of their parents dare protest in vain, he’ll do the same to them again.

 An open grave full of human debris, a lesson for all the others to see. 

‘This is what happens to those who start protesting, tis better to walk away and thus say nothing’.  

As sure as the summers sun, and winter snows, the foreign debt just grows and grows.  The flow of repayments always get higher, whilst the conditions for the poor get dire and dire. 

What do I care how leaders spend their money, in so brazen a fashion to be considered funny. 

Just think of the Apartment view pf the Hudson River, that playing piper to African rulers can deliver. 

They can spend it on BMW’s Mercs and other perks, So long as the oil is in US hands, we’re happy to support any of their plans. 

‘Our Children are dying!’ the people will cry, but you don’t see me crying, I’m jumping for joy! 

Their leader’s just bought another little toy, in a private jet round the world he will fly.  He bought by borrowing some more millions, whilst upping the taxes on his minions.  One less loaf a month they’ll be able to afford, while he increases his financial horde.   

In some bank in Geneva lie his ill gotten gains, he’ll murder some more to keep his hands on the reigns. 

And yes you’ll all be happy to know, that the debt repayments continue to flow...

A poem from moi...

THE SEAGULL

As I wandered along the windswept shore, on this cold and lonely night, my step was halted by a screech, twas a Seagull in full flight. 

As white as an angel up on high, racing back and forth across the sky.  She then did a loop, stormed up in the air, then flew back down, without the slightest of care.

Once more she shrilled, as if talking to the sea, in a tone of voice reminiscent of the Banshee.  Across the cliffs she let fly, out of sight in the twinkling of an eye. 

How I wish I could fly like a bird, dashing across every continent in the world.  At sight of a fish I would dive, a happy life without the nine to five.  No bills to pay or house to clean, on some rocky outpost I would lean.  Wondering where next I would go, I’d then thrust my wings and set off in full flow. 

On China...

A top ranked football team hires a manager to much acclaim at considerable cost.  But despite all the fanfare, no matter what he does, things just don’t go right on the pitch, and the team are languishing near the relegation zone, despite being the most successful team in the league, with the most titles won and so forth.  As the losses continue to be racked up, the supporters start demanding their highly paid manager be sacked.  Some on the board start making noises in reference to the mass clamour of supporters for the manager head, but don’t actually call for him to be sacked.  Many on the board acknowledge the situation privately, but are held back by the fact that, should he be sacked, they’d have to pay said manager a massive pay off, and that is something they felt they could ill afford to do. 

That sort of, to an extent quantifies China’s current problem, vis-a-vis the mammoth mountain of US Debt it currently “owns”.  Many people have said to me that China simply will not be selling the US Bonds it holds, as to do so would be suicide.  They also say that they need to keep buying up the debt, so that a lot of it can be recycled back, with US consumers buying Chinese goods, and thus helping to prop up further the Chinese Manufacturing Sector, amongst others.

 The US economy and it’s stockmarket etc, are in freefall, with no signs of it stopping anytime soon.  But in tying with the fall in it’s economy, US imports of Chinese goods is falling all the time too, as consumer demand is simply nowhere near the levels it used to be.  This means that the value of it’s bonds are also heading south too.  Thus the “investment” China made in buying these bonds, is devaluing all the time.  There must be senior mandarins (pardon the pun) in State economic circles who are watching the US situation unfold, like a hawk, and are in a deep sweat over it all as I type.  If the US cannot stablise the situation – and that looks every more unlikely as the days pass; China will have no choice but to take decisive action.   

Do some economists really expect us to believe that China will just sit on it’s hands, and do nothing, as the value of the US bonds it holds, hurtles evermore towards zero? The Senior economic strategists in Beijing must surely have already drawn up the line that “cannot be crossed”,  a level at which, should the value of the US Bonds, fall below it, they will sell.

It is surely inevitable, that as the days passes, the cursor on the Chinese Mouse, is moving ever closing to the sell button.  In my opinion, given how things stand re the US, and how they are projected to go in the future, it’s a matter of when, not if, they left click on that “sell” button.  One can’t even begin to imagine the mass turmoil in the markets that would occur should that happen.  Even the mere mention of a ratings agency, or senior government figure of a major country, that the scenario of China selling it’s US Bonds was now in play, would alone send the markets into freefall.  China will not keep buying up the debt of foreign states indefinitely.  It has not got an infinite treasury supply to allow it to do that.  

Yes, the Pro-Capitalist financial magazines will fill their pages with razzmatasmic articles banging on about the further Growth rates in China, and how it’s still on the up, while most of the rest of the world falls further.  But look at the enormous lengths the Chinese state has had to go to make this all possible.  It has overseen an unprecedented stimulus plan, but there are only so many areas of the economy you can try prop up, and even at that there is only a certain level upon which it can rise, even if being artificially propped up. 

A further big worry for China is the rapid slowdown in consumer sentiment and purchasing in the US and Europe.  Factories still manufacture goods like there’s no tomorrow;  But more and more of these items are ending up in containers and the like, gathering dust with nowhere to go.  I always laugh when I read articles from people proclaiming that the Chinese consumer is going to save us all, and that they’ll simply be the ones to buy all those excess electronic and other goods that are currently massively overbloating the market.  Take a farmer in Rural China, who farms in a similar way to the way they did here in the middle ages, and is lucky if he earns €600 in a year.  Can you really picture him, suddenly stopping the two oxen he’s been hauling around his field, and fumbling in his satchel to take out his new Ipad to read what the “Peoples Daily” has to say, via their App?  

China is like a train hurtling at vast speed, who’s brakes are wearing thin, and if something drastic is not done in the short term, there will be no brakes at all, and no way of stopping the juggernaut when serious danger comes it’s way. 

China faces many critical junctures over the next while, and you can be sure the world will be watching VERY closely, as what actions/decisions it takes when they arrive at them. To me, in a way, it’s like a meteorite hurtling in the direction of Earth, upon which astronomers believe part of it will surely hit the earth, but just how many parts of it, and if these parts will be minimal or massive nobody knows...

Murdoch, NoTW, and the media in General

SPEECH I MADE AT SP MEETING ON MONDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER 2011

Murdoch and the media:

Ask someone what the word “Media” conjures in their mind, and they’ll talk about newspapers, Television, and some might also reference the radio. Many old people would trust what Anne Doyle says on the 9 o’ Clock news as Gospel, and if she reads out a story that looks bad on Fine Gael or Fianna Fail – for example – their spin doctors would be leaping for their phones straight off and they would be going into over drive! Certain newspaper journalists also have a large following, and a lot can hinge on their word. For example, coming up to the UK Elections, there were certain prolific “commentators” who wrote for various newspapers, of whom - on twitter and so forth - people had strewn a lot of hot air pondering who they might plump for come polling day. Said commentator putting out a passionate argument in favour of voting for a particular party for example, could mean the difference between Labour narrowly holding onto a seat, or narrowly losing it. Then we have the famous words of Homer Simpson, when Marge questioned him over a news story he told her about “But the TV said so, so it MUST be true!”

But obviously the media is now spread about far wider than it would have been, say, 20 years ago. Some people such as Rupert Murdoch, and Kerry Packer made massive fortunes through newspapers, and were well placed to invest in newer forms of media in the 80’s when Newspaper sales began to noticeably decline. And as their tentacles seep further and further into the various formats, their reach extends to more and more people, and the power and influence they wielded grew stronger and stronger.

Kerry Packer ran the most successful Newspapers by far in Australia, and was also the owner of the very popular 9 Television Network. He had power and influence like no other in Australia. Through this, for years he was able to ensure that nothing was being done about the fact that he was paying feck all tax. He was simply avoiding pay what he was legally supposed to, and many millions in tax bills were outstanding. Then in the early-mid 90’s, newspapers owned by his major rival, Rupert Murdoch, began printing stories of his tax avoidance, coupled with lurid tales of his lavish lifestyle, kickbacks to politicians, and went to town on him. There was enormous anger in Australia over this. Back in his heyday in the 80’s, Kerry Packer would simply have to pick up the phone, name what minister he wanted to see, and when, and whatever the minister had previously in his diary for that time, would have been cancelled.

When the massive scandal broke out in the 90’s, current and former ministers rushed to distance themselves from the Packer organisation, but via various stories in the newspapers, people found out to an extent about the relationship between politicians and the Packer Group, and were having none of it. Kerry died in 2005, and his son James took over the Packer Corporation. Most of their newspaper business has been sold off, and the family now own less than 1% of channel 9 TV Company, after flogging that too. The son has decided now to spend money investing in massive casino projects worldwide. The Kerry Packer tax scandal still rankles with many in Australia to this day, and it’s like a bad smell that still lingers on.

Fast forward around 20 years since then, and the man who’s Australian arm, led the charge against the Packer Empire, is himself having to adopt the bunker mentality, with no end to the battle seemingly in sight. The insatiable desire to increase newspaper circulation, and with it profits knew no bounds in News International, the company spearheaded by Murdoch. The more people who bought his publications, the more sway he had over them, and the more coveted by the British Government, and others with their hands on the levers of power, he would become. Between 1995 & 1996, Tony Blair attended numerous meetings with News Corporation Executives, in a desperate effort to get their newspapers to endorse him, and his party in the run up to the 1997 General Election. A secret deal was brokered, which lead to The Sun, and The Times printing many articles that were scathing of the then government, and some of the columnists in the paper, wrote articles in support of Labour etc. No one has yet been able to find out what was actually discussed at these meetings, but they definitely took place. The close links between Murdoch and the political hierarchy has only made the public’s perception of politicians fall even lower, and the popular view that “they are all on take, and only in it for the money” has hardened. Many politicians who were closely associated with News Corp in the past, have rushed to try and distance themselves from the company and the scandal; But like in Australia, the public at large simply are not buy it.

As newspaper sales are declining, this in turn also means profits are falling in the newspaper industry, and massive job and wage cuts have done little to stem the tide overall. Thus the battle to increase sales, no matter what the cost, has become a key mantra from the boardrooms. Many people have a fixation with Celebrities, and what they get up to. A lot of celebrities are PR managed to within an inch of their lives, and “acceptable” public personas are carefully crafted by people paid large sums of money to do so. So when this persona cracks, and they are shown to be not so holier than thou, sadly a lot of people crave the whole ins and outs of what happened. Thus when Rebekah Brooks, then editor of the News of the World, was offered a simple easy way to be able to obtain information on celebrities that would be lapped up by the general public at large, she grabbed it with both hands. Generally news stories have to be glanced over by legal eagles upstairs before they can be printed. One wonders, what the highly paid legal team of News International were up to then. Surely some of them must have known what was going on? Why did they not shout stop? Then again money, and lots of it put their way, has been known to make the once most principled of people do 360* turns in an instant.

The News of The World, thus became the biggest selling Sunday Newspaper by far, and that’s all that mattered, full stop. So the lust for even more stories of “celeb’s gone bad” grew stronger and stronger, and Brooks and Co wanted the pages filled with as much of that stuff as they could get their hands on. Thus this required people like the Private investigator Glen Mulclaire to wade deeper and deeper into the cesspool NoTW had created, using even more underhand, and totally illegal methods to fulfil the orders from above. The Guardian printed a story about an unnamed celebrity, who had told them he did everything possible to try and keep an affair top secret, and literally told no one about it, and picked isolated discreet places to meet his mistress. He was thus in shock when the News of the World splashed his affair all over their front pages. How on earth did they find out, whilst neither his wife, or his very closest friends knew a thing? He now knows that his phone was tapped.

Murdoch’s reaction as the scandal unfolded spoke volumes as to his character, and attitude as a whole. He initially merely reacted as if it was akin to an annoying fly that could be easily swatted. He simply did not see the intensity and pace at which the story grew, and became quite overwhelmed by it in the end. His desperate attempts to keep Rebekah Brookes in Situ, just one example as to how out of touch he was as to the enormity of the scandal.

Thanks to the internet, the role of the media has changed dramatically. Politicians or other activist organisation no longer need to rely solely on the press to get their message across to a wide number of people. Could you imagine how different things might have been had the people of Guatemala in the 50’s, and El Salvador & Honduras in the 70’s had access to the Internet and Smart Phones back then?? Things which only came to light many years later, would have been made public knowledge there and then, and domestic actions by people in the US against their countries involvement could well have been huge.

Through this medium, more and more information to do with the phone hacking scandal, and other problematic events for newspapers, have come to light. In some cases, journalists, with significant information that they feel is not kosher enough (legally and so forth) to be printed in the paper, will discreetly pass it onto a trusted 3^rd party, who would then publish it online, and from there the story may or may not gain legs. Then referencing the internet posting the journalist will then print the story in the paper, ensuring to quote the internet piece and fairly good length to keep things A-ok on the legal side. This has ensured more stories of a seemingly anti establishment nature, have appeared in the press, than would have otherwise been the case. But we still have the usual “Balance” of about 6 Right wing Attack dog stories, for 1 even mildly left wing article and so forth in our papers.

The role and influence of the press is diminishing, though it still fairly strong, and should never be underestimated. A good example of this is the fact political parties now spend vast sums of money trying to get their message across via many formats on the internet, and the amount of money they now spend on press advertising would be sizeably smaller than it would have been in the past. The development of the internet, and the vast array reporting and commenting sources contained within it, has to be a welcome development. Left wing groups like the Socialist Party have now been able to get our message across in a broader, much more coherent way than in anytime previous. One only has to look at the amount of “likes” on the Youtube Clip of Joe Higgins giving Jose Manuel Barrosso a right dressing down, to appreciate this fact. We now hear stories, and see footage of events in Syria, and have a much clearer picture of what is going on there, in a way we simply could not have, say regarding the mass slaughter of people in Indonesia by the Suharto Regime, with a lot of covert support from the US in the late 60’s/ early 70’s.

Some say “Money is power, and power is money”, and regards politicians relationship with Big Business, and the NoTW scandal in general, this has never been more clear. Some also say “The Media is King”, but the “Established” Media may well have lost it’s crown, while the paupers that are you and I, with our smartphones, blogs, Twitter accounts and what not take our piece of it’s throne one by one...