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Bruce Bennet, a senior researcher at the RAND Corporation, joins the podcast to discuss just how ironclad the U.S.-South Korea alliance really is, the growing plausibility of limited nuclear use by Pyongyang and the risks of miscalculation in a changing security environment. He also delves into what North Korea military is learning from the war in Ukraine, its chemical and biological weapons posture and his insights from years of wargaming Korean conflict scenarios. Dr. Bruce Bennett is a senior international and defense researcher at the RAND Corporation and a specialist in Northeast Asian security, military strategy and asymmetric threats — particularly weapons of mass destruction. He has conducted extensive research on deterrence, Korean Peninsula conflict scenarios and regime collapse planning for North Korea. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists. NK News subscribers can listen to this and other exclusive episodes from their preferred podcast player by accessing the private podcast feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide at nknews.org/private-feed.
Part 1:We talk with Linggong Kong, aa Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Auburn University. My research focuses on international relations, including U.S.-China relations, China's grand strategy, and Northeast Asian security, as well as comparative politics, with a particular emphasis on political culture.We discuss the tariffs being imposed on Chines goods, and how this is likely to be perceived by the Chines government. The Chinese economy has been weakened, and now Trump may be perceived as the cause, thus helping the Chinese government shift blame, if any, on him. Weaknesses in the China are due to to export orientation, depopulation, the influence of Russia. However, China has many advantages that it can use to counter the problems. We discuss these advantages and opportunities that can help China "win" this trade war.Part 2:We talk with Chris Lehmann, who is the DC Bureau chief for The Nation and a contributing editor at The Baffler. He was formerly editor of The Baffler and The New Republic, and is the author, most recently, of The Money Cult: Capitalism, Christianity, and the Unmaking of the American Dream(Melville House, 2016).We discuss the pattern of the Trump administration of RENDITION, as opposed to deportation. Americans should be worried, because the pattern seems to be to simply kidnap people from their lives, and WITHOUT DUE PROCESS, or any evidence of wrong-doing, send them to another country, such as El Salvador. Trump has already raised the idea of doing this to American citizens. Music David RovicsWNHNFM.ORG PRODUCTION
January 24, 2025 - Join us for a discussion on the Trump Administration's economic security policy towards Asia with Navin Girishankar, president of the Economic Security and Technology Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and former Counselor to the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Yeo Han-koo, former trade minister of the Republic of Korea and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The moderator for the program is Korea Society president and CEO Tom Byrne. The discussion will cover US-China economic competition and its impact on Northeast Asian countries like Korea and Japan, plus: tariffs, international trade, and the impact on critical next generation technologies including semiconductors, EVs, and batteries. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1949-what-to-expect-the-trump-administration-economic-security-policy-on-asia
Jean Lee is a Korean American journalist and researcher based at the East-West Centre in Hawaii. She has spent a large part of her career covering North Korea and Northeast Asian affairs, and is co-host of the award-winning “Lazarus Heist” podcast for the BBC World Service, which delves into the Lazarus Group, a shadowy consortium of cyber-criminals working on behalf of the North Korean state. Jean was in New Zealand recently to speak at the Asia Summit, held in Wellington to mark the 30th Anniversary of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.She sat down for a chat on the North Korea issue, and what's at stake in 2024, dealing with leader Kim Jong Un and his regime. Tweet us at @AsiaMediaCentreWebsite asiamediacentre.org.nz Email us at media@asianz.org.nzWhakawhetai mo te whakarongo .. thanks for listening !
In this podcast Tobias Harris of Japan Foresight discusses the political situation in Japan and the potential impact of the new Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishida. Tobias then considers the various geopolitical concerns that Japan faces in the Northeast Asian region and the wider world. In particular, he assesses the potential impact of sharply higher crude oil prices on the Japanese economy if the military conflict in the Middle East escalates further. Tobias also reviews the scope for the Japanese government to adjust economic policy, with reference to both the monetary and fiscal policy outlook. In addition, he assesses the demographic trends that are impacting on the longer-term outlook for the economy and Japanese society.
In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Dr. Elizabeth Wishnick joins us to discuss recent Sino-Russian activities and what they mean for the overall China-Russia relationship. Dr. Wishnick analyzes the May 2024 Xi-Putin meeting in Beijing, noting that the joint statement the two countries released had significant areas of continuity and some areas of change compared to 2023. She then analyzes the meeting between the two leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit and the nearly half a dozen military exercises the two countries engaged in in July and August 2024. Dr. Wishnick emphasizes that the recent surge of China-Russia military exercises are meant to signal China-Russia political and strategic coordination, with some scheduled in advance as part of their normal annual exercise plans and others scheduled in response to U.S. activities. Finally, Dr. Wishnick shares her predictions for developments within Sino-Russian relations in the coming months. Dr. Elizabeth Wishnick is a Senior Research Scientist in the China and Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Division at CNA. She was a Professor of Political Science at Montclair State University from 2005-2024 and the Coordinator of MSU's Asian Studies Undergraduate Minor from 2010-2019. Since 2002, she has been a research scholar at Columbia University's Weatherhead East Asian Institute. She previously taught undergraduate and graduate courses in international relations, Chinese politics, and Chinese foreign policy at Barnard College, Columbia College, and SIPA. Dr. Wishnick has dual regional expertise on China and Russia and is an expert on Chinese foreign policy, Sino-Russian relations, Northeast Asian and Central Asian security, and Arctic geopolitics. She received a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University, an MA in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University, and a BA from Barnard College. She speaks Mandarin, Russian, and French.
After the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act loosened discriminatory restrictions, people from Northeast Asian countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and eventually China immigrated to the United States in large numbers. Highly skilled Asian immigrants flocked to professional-managerial occupations, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math. Asian American literature is now overwhelmingly defined by this generation's children, who often struggled with parental and social expectations that they would pursue lucrative careers on their way to becoming writers. In Asian American Fiction After 1965: Transnational Fantasies of Economic Mobility (Columbia UP, 2024), Christopher T. Fan offers a new way to understand Asian American fiction through the lens of the class and race formations that shaped its authors both in the United States and in Northeast Asia. In readings of writers including Ted Chiang, Chang-rae Lee, Ken Liu, Ling Ma, Ruth Ozeki, Kathy Wang, and Charles Yu, he examines how Asian American fiction maps the immigrant narrative of intergenerational conflict onto the “two cultures” conflict between the arts and sciences. Fan argues that the self-consciousness found in these writers' works is a legacy of Japanese and American modernization projects that emphasized technical and scientific skills in service of rapid industrialization. He considers Asian American writers' attraction to science fiction, the figure of the engineer and notions of the “postracial,” modernization theory and time travel, and what happens when the dream of a stable professional identity encounters the realities of deprofessionalization and proletarianization. Through a transnational and historical-materialist approach, this groundbreaking book illuminates what makes texts and authors “Asian American.” Christopher T. Fan is an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, in the Departments of English, Asian American Studies, and East Asian Studies. He is a cofounder and senior editor of Hyphen magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
After the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act loosened discriminatory restrictions, people from Northeast Asian countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and eventually China immigrated to the United States in large numbers. Highly skilled Asian immigrants flocked to professional-managerial occupations, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math. Asian American literature is now overwhelmingly defined by this generation's children, who often struggled with parental and social expectations that they would pursue lucrative careers on their way to becoming writers. In Asian American Fiction After 1965: Transnational Fantasies of Economic Mobility (Columbia UP, 2024), Christopher T. Fan offers a new way to understand Asian American fiction through the lens of the class and race formations that shaped its authors both in the United States and in Northeast Asia. In readings of writers including Ted Chiang, Chang-rae Lee, Ken Liu, Ling Ma, Ruth Ozeki, Kathy Wang, and Charles Yu, he examines how Asian American fiction maps the immigrant narrative of intergenerational conflict onto the “two cultures” conflict between the arts and sciences. Fan argues that the self-consciousness found in these writers' works is a legacy of Japanese and American modernization projects that emphasized technical and scientific skills in service of rapid industrialization. He considers Asian American writers' attraction to science fiction, the figure of the engineer and notions of the “postracial,” modernization theory and time travel, and what happens when the dream of a stable professional identity encounters the realities of deprofessionalization and proletarianization. Through a transnational and historical-materialist approach, this groundbreaking book illuminates what makes texts and authors “Asian American.” Christopher T. Fan is an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, in the Departments of English, Asian American Studies, and East Asian Studies. He is a cofounder and senior editor of Hyphen magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-american-studies
After the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act loosened discriminatory restrictions, people from Northeast Asian countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and eventually China immigrated to the United States in large numbers. Highly skilled Asian immigrants flocked to professional-managerial occupations, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math. Asian American literature is now overwhelmingly defined by this generation's children, who often struggled with parental and social expectations that they would pursue lucrative careers on their way to becoming writers. In Asian American Fiction After 1965: Transnational Fantasies of Economic Mobility (Columbia UP, 2024), Christopher T. Fan offers a new way to understand Asian American fiction through the lens of the class and race formations that shaped its authors both in the United States and in Northeast Asia. In readings of writers including Ted Chiang, Chang-rae Lee, Ken Liu, Ling Ma, Ruth Ozeki, Kathy Wang, and Charles Yu, he examines how Asian American fiction maps the immigrant narrative of intergenerational conflict onto the “two cultures” conflict between the arts and sciences. Fan argues that the self-consciousness found in these writers' works is a legacy of Japanese and American modernization projects that emphasized technical and scientific skills in service of rapid industrialization. He considers Asian American writers' attraction to science fiction, the figure of the engineer and notions of the “postracial,” modernization theory and time travel, and what happens when the dream of a stable professional identity encounters the realities of deprofessionalization and proletarianization. Through a transnational and historical-materialist approach, this groundbreaking book illuminates what makes texts and authors “Asian American.” Christopher T. Fan is an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, in the Departments of English, Asian American Studies, and East Asian Studies. He is a cofounder and senior editor of Hyphen magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies
After the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act loosened discriminatory restrictions, people from Northeast Asian countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and eventually China immigrated to the United States in large numbers. Highly skilled Asian immigrants flocked to professional-managerial occupations, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math. Asian American literature is now overwhelmingly defined by this generation's children, who often struggled with parental and social expectations that they would pursue lucrative careers on their way to becoming writers. In Asian American Fiction After 1965: Transnational Fantasies of Economic Mobility (Columbia UP, 2024), Christopher T. Fan offers a new way to understand Asian American fiction through the lens of the class and race formations that shaped its authors both in the United States and in Northeast Asia. In readings of writers including Ted Chiang, Chang-rae Lee, Ken Liu, Ling Ma, Ruth Ozeki, Kathy Wang, and Charles Yu, he examines how Asian American fiction maps the immigrant narrative of intergenerational conflict onto the “two cultures” conflict between the arts and sciences. Fan argues that the self-consciousness found in these writers' works is a legacy of Japanese and American modernization projects that emphasized technical and scientific skills in service of rapid industrialization. He considers Asian American writers' attraction to science fiction, the figure of the engineer and notions of the “postracial,” modernization theory and time travel, and what happens when the dream of a stable professional identity encounters the realities of deprofessionalization and proletarianization. Through a transnational and historical-materialist approach, this groundbreaking book illuminates what makes texts and authors “Asian American.” Christopher T. Fan is an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, in the Departments of English, Asian American Studies, and East Asian Studies. He is a cofounder and senior editor of Hyphen magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
After the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act loosened discriminatory restrictions, people from Northeast Asian countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and eventually China immigrated to the United States in large numbers. Highly skilled Asian immigrants flocked to professional-managerial occupations, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math. Asian American literature is now overwhelmingly defined by this generation's children, who often struggled with parental and social expectations that they would pursue lucrative careers on their way to becoming writers. In Asian American Fiction After 1965: Transnational Fantasies of Economic Mobility (Columbia UP, 2024), Christopher T. Fan offers a new way to understand Asian American fiction through the lens of the class and race formations that shaped its authors both in the United States and in Northeast Asia. In readings of writers including Ted Chiang, Chang-rae Lee, Ken Liu, Ling Ma, Ruth Ozeki, Kathy Wang, and Charles Yu, he examines how Asian American fiction maps the immigrant narrative of intergenerational conflict onto the “two cultures” conflict between the arts and sciences. Fan argues that the self-consciousness found in these writers' works is a legacy of Japanese and American modernization projects that emphasized technical and scientific skills in service of rapid industrialization. He considers Asian American writers' attraction to science fiction, the figure of the engineer and notions of the “postracial,” modernization theory and time travel, and what happens when the dream of a stable professional identity encounters the realities of deprofessionalization and proletarianization. Through a transnational and historical-materialist approach, this groundbreaking book illuminates what makes texts and authors “Asian American.” Christopher T. Fan is an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, in the Departments of English, Asian American Studies, and East Asian Studies. He is a cofounder and senior editor of Hyphen magazine.
➡️ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingGeopolitics Jean H. Lee is a journalist and foreign policy analyst renowned for her expertise in covering North Korea and Northeast Asian affairs. She is co-host of the award-winning Lazarus Heist podcast for the BBC World Service and a former Pyongyang bureau chief for the Associated Press news agency. Jean began reporting on the ground in North Korea in 2008. In 2011, she became the first American journalist to join the Pyongyang foreign press corps in North Korea. In 2012, she opened AP's Pyongyang bureau, the first and only US news bureau in North Korea. Her work in North Korea from 2008 to 2017 included nearly three years working alongside North Korean staff and colleagues in Pyongyang on assignments that took her across the closed nation to visit farms, factories, schools, military academies, and homes in the course of her exclusive coverage.
About the Lecture: **This lecture is part of the Asia Initiative Lecture Series** For 25 years after the end of the Cold War, most of the national security community assumed that nuclear weapon use was unlikely to be part of any future war. But over the last few years, North Korea has made regular threats of nuclear weapon use and Russia also threatened nuclear weapon use associated with its invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, the Chinese nuclear weapon force is rapidly expanding. These developments appear to make future nuclear weapon use more possible, especially limited nuclear weapon use. The escalatory implications of limited nuclear weapon use have not been well researched. This situation forces us to reevaluate more broadly the national security risks in many regions, and especially in Korea. This briefing addresses four major security developments on the Korean peninsula that contribute jeopardy to the national security of South Korea, the United States, and other U.S. allies. Nuclear weapon use is of course a major issue, but so is North Korean instability. Another issue is the dramatic decline in the size of the ROK Army, the result of demographic challenges and political choices, especially when coupled with the ROK decision to only partially fund its plan to offset its manpower reductions with technology versus manpower tradeoffs. And the potential for third party intervention, and especially Chinese intervention, further complicates Korean security. These four issues are developed, and suggestions made for how South Korea and the United States can at least partially mitigate these challenges.” About the Speaker: Bruce W. Bennett is a Senior International/Defense Researcher at The RAND Corporation. He is an expert in Northeast Asian security issues, having visited the region over 125 times and written much about Korean security. His research addresses issues such as the North Korean military threats, countering the North Korean nuclear threat and provocations, future ROK military force requirements, Korean unification, the Korean military balance, and potential Chinese military intervention in North Korea. Dr. Bennett specializes in “asymmetric threats” such as weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and how to counter those threats with new strategies, operational concepts, and technologies. He has recently completed reports on the current North Korean nuclear, chemical, biological, and cyber threats, and teaches a class at the Pardee RAND Graduate School on “Understanding Nuclear Forces.” He has worked with the Pentagon and with US commanders in Northeast Asia and the Persian Gulf on these subjects. He has facilitated a large number of seminar/war games to address these issues. Dr. Bennett received a Ph.D. in policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School (1979 dissertation on “Uncertainty in ICBM survivability”) and a B.S. in economics from the California Institute of Technology.
KEI is pleased to hold a program on Economic Security and U.S.-China Competition: The View From North Korea. One country is conspicuously missing from existing discussions about the dilemmas and opportunities that U.S.-China strategic competition poses to various stakeholders in matters related to global economic security: North Korea. North Korea is an interesting piece of the puzzle because it is certainly not a key player in the regional or global economy. Quite unlike its neighboring states, North Korea's place in global supply chains is minimal at best. Yet, North Korea remains important because it is a major player in the Northeast Asian security landscape. Any key political and economic decisions this nuclear-armed state makes in this volatile region have profound implications for the security and economy of the world. And Pyongyang's views of U.S.-China competition and its economic and political fallout will be a central component of its near- to long-term policy calculus. North Korea's view of the Russia factor in U.S.-China competition and the shifting global order is also of relevance. Listen to KEI's October 11, 2023 program with Rachel Minyoung Lee, which offers a discussion of how North Korea perceives “economic security” and U.S.-China strategic competition; how its views of U.S.-China relations and the changing global order have reshaped Pyongyang's foreign and economic policy; and the opportunities and challenges that the geopolitics and geoeconomics of U.S.-China competition pose to Pyongyang.
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Legalize butanol?, published by bhauth on December 21, 2023 on LessWrong. ethanol Alcoholic drinks are popular in most of the world. Excessive consumption of them is also a major public health problem. Bans have been attempted, sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully, but some people argue that alcohol plays a necessary role in social interactions. Alcoholic drinks contain ethanol, which is metabolized to acetaldehyde, which is metabolized to acetate. In cells, ethanol is mostly unreactive but can bind to receptors. Acetaldehyde reacts with lots of stuff, mostly reversibly but sometimes irreversibly. Small amounts of acetate are essentially irrelevant, mostly providing calories. Acetaldehyde can inactivate enzymes by causing crosslinking. Large amounts of it are generally bad. We can separate out the effects of ethanol itself and acetaldehyde by looking at people who metabolize acetaldehyde slowly. About 50% of people of Northeast Asian descent have a dominant mutation in their acetaldehyde dehydrogenase gene, making this enzyme less effective, which causes the alcohol flush reaction, also known as Asian flush syndrome. A similar mutation is found in about 5-10% of blond-haired blue-eyed people of Northern European descent. In these people, acetaldehyde accumulates after drinking alcohol, leading to symptoms of acetaldehyde poisoning, including the characteristic flushing of the skin and increased heart and respiration rates. Other symptoms can include severe abdominal and urinary tract cramping, hot and cold flashes, profuse sweating, and profound malaise. Individuals with deficient acetaldehyde dehydrogenase activity are far less likely to become alcoholics, but seem to be at a greater risk of liver damage, alcohol-induced asthma, and contracting cancers of the oro-pharynx and esophagus due to acetaldehyde overexposure. Wikipedia alternatives to ethanol Ethanol is what's in drinks because it's produced naturally by a common type of fermentation, it prevents growth of most harmful microbes, and the yeast produced has some nutritional value. But our modern industrial civilization is no longer bound by such prosaic concerns. Can we do better? ether Studies, including that of an ether addict in 2003, have shown that ether causes dependence; however, the only symptom observed was a will to consume more ether. No withdrawal symptoms were prevalent. Wikipedia Diethyl ether has the same direct effect as ethanol, but mostly isn't metabolized in the body. Some of it gets metabolized (by a monooxygenase) by oxidation to (ethanol + acetaldehyde), but more of it gets exhaled. Thus, it's similar to what ethanol without acetaldehyde production would be like. Diethyl ether isn't expensive to make, and there's lots of knowledge about its effects because it was widely consumed in the past. But it does have some problems: It's volatile and has a strong smell, so it's obnoxious to other people. It has fairly low water solubility, ~6%. Above 2% in air, it's inflammable. Pure diethyl ether exposed to oxygen can slowly form explosive peroxides. It's already been banned most places, and unbanning things might be harder than not banning them. butanol At sub-lethal doses, 1-butanol acts as a depressant of the central nervous system, similar to ethanol: one study in rats indicated that the intoxicating potency of 1-butanol is about 6 times higher than that of ethanol, possibly because of its slower transformation by alcohol dehydrogenase. Wikipedia Some butanol occurs naturally in fermented products. Yeasts could be engineered to produce mostly butanol instead of ethanol, but the maximum practical concentration from fermentation is low, ~1%. If it's 6x as effective as ethanol, then 1% would be enough for drinks. It would then provide a similar effect to ethanol with less aldehyde pr...
Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Legalize butanol?, published by bhauth on December 21, 2023 on LessWrong. ethanol Alcoholic drinks are popular in most of the world. Excessive consumption of them is also a major public health problem. Bans have been attempted, sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully, but some people argue that alcohol plays a necessary role in social interactions. Alcoholic drinks contain ethanol, which is metabolized to acetaldehyde, which is metabolized to acetate. In cells, ethanol is mostly unreactive but can bind to receptors. Acetaldehyde reacts with lots of stuff, mostly reversibly but sometimes irreversibly. Small amounts of acetate are essentially irrelevant, mostly providing calories. Acetaldehyde can inactivate enzymes by causing crosslinking. Large amounts of it are generally bad. We can separate out the effects of ethanol itself and acetaldehyde by looking at people who metabolize acetaldehyde slowly. About 50% of people of Northeast Asian descent have a dominant mutation in their acetaldehyde dehydrogenase gene, making this enzyme less effective, which causes the alcohol flush reaction, also known as Asian flush syndrome. A similar mutation is found in about 5-10% of blond-haired blue-eyed people of Northern European descent. In these people, acetaldehyde accumulates after drinking alcohol, leading to symptoms of acetaldehyde poisoning, including the characteristic flushing of the skin and increased heart and respiration rates. Other symptoms can include severe abdominal and urinary tract cramping, hot and cold flashes, profuse sweating, and profound malaise. Individuals with deficient acetaldehyde dehydrogenase activity are far less likely to become alcoholics, but seem to be at a greater risk of liver damage, alcohol-induced asthma, and contracting cancers of the oro-pharynx and esophagus due to acetaldehyde overexposure. Wikipedia alternatives to ethanol Ethanol is what's in drinks because it's produced naturally by a common type of fermentation, it prevents growth of most harmful microbes, and the yeast produced has some nutritional value. But our modern industrial civilization is no longer bound by such prosaic concerns. Can we do better? ether Studies, including that of an ether addict in 2003, have shown that ether causes dependence; however, the only symptom observed was a will to consume more ether. No withdrawal symptoms were prevalent. Wikipedia Diethyl ether has the same direct effect as ethanol, but mostly isn't metabolized in the body. Some of it gets metabolized (by a monooxygenase) by oxidation to (ethanol + acetaldehyde), but more of it gets exhaled. Thus, it's similar to what ethanol without acetaldehyde production would be like. Diethyl ether isn't expensive to make, and there's lots of knowledge about its effects because it was widely consumed in the past. But it does have some problems: It's volatile and has a strong smell, so it's obnoxious to other people. It has fairly low water solubility, ~6%. Above 2% in air, it's inflammable. Pure diethyl ether exposed to oxygen can slowly form explosive peroxides. It's already been banned most places, and unbanning things might be harder than not banning them. butanol At sub-lethal doses, 1-butanol acts as a depressant of the central nervous system, similar to ethanol: one study in rats indicated that the intoxicating potency of 1-butanol is about 6 times higher than that of ethanol, possibly because of its slower transformation by alcohol dehydrogenase. Wikipedia Some butanol occurs naturally in fermented products. Yeasts could be engineered to produce mostly butanol instead of ethanol, but the maximum practical concentration from fermentation is low, ~1%. If it's 6x as effective as ethanol, then 1% would be enough for drinks. It would then provide a similar effect to ethanol with less aldehyde pr...
Support us on Patreon --- In 1869, the Meiji Emperor declared the northern island of Hokkaido to be sovereign territory of Japan. In a process direclty inspired by American colonization, Japanese settlers were brought in to "civilize" the territory, a process which would have terrible consequences for the indigenous inhabitants -- a non-Japanese people known as the Ainu. Japanese colonists and western onlookers derisively viewed the Ainu as isolated primitives, at best isolated remnants of the ancient Jomon people ancestral to the mainland Japanese. This is nonsense. The Ainu and their predecessors have a rich history of interaction with the peoples of Asia, including the Japanese, and have an illustrious history that goes back many hundreds of years. This episode of Gladio Free Europe charts the course of Ainu history before the conquest of Hokkaido. Using archaeology and archaeogenetics, cover the ancient mingling of various Northeast Asian peoples who populares the island and investigate longstanding claims that the Ainu are related to various outside groups. Chinese early Japanese sources also give us incredibly insights into early relations between Hokkaido and the outside world. We discuss the fearsome Emishi people, a medieval community that has long been associated with the Ainu, who feature prominently in the film Princess Mononoke, and recount how the expansion of Ainu people into mainland Siberia led to a long war against the Mongols. By the Sengoku Era, feudal warlords began competing for access over the growing Hokkaido trade, which led to the establishment of Japanese settlements on the island. In this period, the Ainu came under Japanese occupation without falling under the protection of Japanese law. This exploitative situation had profoundly negative consequences for the indigenous people, leading to two major revolts against the settlers. While the Ainu remain colonized by Japan today, their survival exposes the myth of homogeneity central to Japanese nationalism. Please join us for this discussion on one of Asia's most intriguing and inspiring peoples.
What do we treasure so much that we're willing to go all in on it? Peacebuilding efforts in South Korea are as exciting as fine pearls or buried treasure worth investing in. The vibrant and diverse work for peace in South Korean society, on the Korean peninsula and in the Northeast Asian region that Scott and Cheryl witness is organic and emerging and not always aligned with peacebuilders' expectations. But could that be okay too? Could it be that the net bringing in all the fish — of all types, shapes and size — is part of the excitement? If we don't focus on starting with sorting out the fish, can we work together and learn from different peacebuilding streams how to pull both new and old out of the storeroom?
Soft demand, economic headwinds and limited output define Europe and Asia Pacific's oxo-alcohols and plasticizers spot markets. Northeast Asian market participants are optimistic the markets will see seasonal improvements in Q3 but European sources' outlooks are gloomy as economic pressures persist. Asia Pacific market editor, Julia Tan, joins Europe market reporter, Nicole Simpson, to discuss production, trade flows and demand outlooks for the oxo-alcohols and plasticizers markets.
Professor Kim Byung-joo at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies shares insights on Wagner rebellion and its impact on Northeast Asian affairs.
Alexander Titov, Lecturer in Modern European History at Queen's University Belfast, discusses imperialism in the Northeast Asian region, Russian imperialism, common mechanisms of appropriation of former imperial territories, and possible echoes of patterns of imperial territorial conquest in Russia's current full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Alexander Titov on Ukraine: Putin isn't mad - he's following a long-established great power playbook for conquest Alexander Titov on National appropriation of imperial lands in Northeast Asia in forthcoming edited volume Competing Imperialisms in Northeast Asia Alexander Titov on twitter: @titovalexander Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer More about the host: Jessica Genauer
Today we're talking about another region of the world competing for the title of "worst demographics" - and that, of course, is none other than Northeast Asia.Full Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/zeihan/demographics-part-7-the-northeast-asian-crash
The U.S. and North Korea seem incapable of moving past the status quo, with neither side willing to concede to the other's demands of either complete denuclearization, complete sanctions relief, or some combination of the two. The two countries haven't spoken in years and appear no closer to a breakthrough despite several summits and other engagements from 2018 to 2019. To Simone Chun, a researcher in Northeast Asian political affairs, the U.S. is largely to blame for this stalemate and has perpetuated a hostile policy toward Pyongyang since before the Korean War and ever since. She joins the NK News Podcast to discuss why the Trump-Kim summits did not lead to lasting change, the legacies of U.S. imperialism on the peninsula, the momentum of the military-industrial complex, the cause-and-reaction cycle of U.S.-ROK “war games” and North Korean missile tests, why the shared culture, history and bonds the two Koreas have are the best hope for peace in the future, and more. Dr. Simone Chun (@SimoneChun) has over 30 years of teaching and research experience in U.S. foreign policy. She has served in various academic and research roles at Suffolk University, Northeastern University and Harvard. Her other affiliations include the Korea Peace Network, CodePink, the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea and the Korea Policy Institute. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.
Darcie Draudt, Ankit Panda, and Ayumi Teraoka join the show to explore the complex economic and security dynamics between China and its neighbors in Northeast Asia, Japan, North Korea, and South Korea.
On this new episode of The Fisheries Podcast, co-host Mirella Leis speaks with guest Dr. Yinji Li about the launch of Girls Who Fish Japan, a sister program to Girls Who Fish Canada that aims to bring girls and women into fisheries! Main point: Women's participation is essential for securing small-scale fisheries sustainability. Dr. Yinji Li is a marine social scientist with a Master's in Fisheries Science and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology in Japan. She is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Marine Science and Technology at Tokai University. Her research interests and expertise lie in small-scale fisheries in Northeast Asian regions centered on Japan. Li is also the Too Big To Ignore (TBTI) Japan Research Network coordinator and the Japan country coordinator of the Vulnerability to Viability Global Partnership (V2V) project and a member of the board of trustees of International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF). To learn more about Dr. Yinji Li's projects and get in touch, check out the Too Big To Ignore Japan website http://toobigtoignore.net/tbti-japan/ and Twitter https://twitter.com/TBTI_Japan ___________________________________________________________________________ Get in touch with us! Want to be on the show? Contact co-host Mirella Leis on Twitter @mirellaleis. The Fisheries Podcast is on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @FisheriesPod. Support the show Become a Patron of the Fisheries Podcast Buy podcast merch Acknowledgements Thanks as always to Andrew Gialanella for the fantastic music. Disclaimer The Fisheries Podcast is a completely independent podcast, not affiliated with a larger organization or entity. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the podcast. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by the hosts are those of that individual and do not necessarily reflect the view of any entity with with those individuals are affiliated in other capacities (such as employers).
We speak with researcher and author Dr Peter Li from the University of Houston-Downtown. Peter specialises in East Asian Politics whose research covers elite politics of China, Northeast Asian security, U.S.-China relations and China’s environmental and animal welfare politics. He also consults international animal welfare organizations. In march 2021, Peter published the book ‘Animal Welfare in China’ through Sydney University Press. The book explores the key animal welfare challenges facing China now. Chapters include broader discussions of culture, history and policy, as well as deeper dives into specific issues including China’s ‘civil war’ over dogs and the controversy of bear farming.Find a copy of the book here - https://sydneyuniversitypress.com.au/products/84677 The songs from the day were:Silent Forest, by Su Dan - song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44HNzxI78QU&t=235s, lyrics - https://www.animalsasia.org/au/media/news/news-archive/moon-bears-find-their-%E2%80%9Cvoice%E2%80%9D-on-prime-time-chinese-tv.htmlBird and Fish, by Yisa Y KeWei - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxZPKDB63UU
GLAMMUMP - Generic Leftist APIA Music and Media of the Upper Midwest Podcast
Recorded in fits and starts on Wednesday March 17th after 9pm CST. Joan, Việt name Thùy Nam, shares how working at her mom's nail salon was more formative to all the work she does now than any formal education could ever give her. We mourn and speak to the forces that may have been active in the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings that claimed the lives of eight people, six of whom were women of Northeast Asian descent along with a White man and woman, with one survivor. Check out The SEAD Project, a Southeast Asian Diaspora focused org that Joan leads Vietnamese language learning programming at, and where Tri currently serves as a digital organizer. Find us at www.theSEADproject.org. Learn about Taproots Collective, the self-defense training community group that Joan and two fellow Viet co-founders are piloting as a private Facebook group with hopes of healthy and meaningful growth. From their About Us: "Xin chào các bạn! Taproots formed out of a collaboration between the Viet Healing Network and Viet Solidarity Action Network With sensitivity to personal lived experiences and the inherited traumas from the colonial history of Vietnam, we provide space for Vietnamese in the movements to build strength through self-defense and self care practices. By offering collective training and peer support we empower each other to form resilient communities that can adapt, heal, and address systemic issues that lead to interpersonal violence." Email glammump@gmail.com if you'd like to get in touch with Joan about Taproots Collective or any of the other cool and go-getter things she's building today, owing so much to the nail salon that her má built. In/outro music is "Stereotype" by Mayda. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/glammump/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/glammump/support
Macro Crude: Understanding Finance and The Global Economy (Oil, Stocks, Commodities, Currencies)
The premium of Asian LNG spot prices (JKM) over the US Henry Hub benchmark has widened to the highest level in nearly two years (spread >US$5/mmbtu). This is partly a function of Pacific basin supply outages coinciding with congestion at the Panama Canal. As a result JKM contracts are pricing in the cost of securing US cargoes through longer transit routes around the Cape of Good Hope (costing an extra US$2.4/mmbtu at current freight rates). Wait times outside the Panama canal have been around nine days recently (Chart of the day), adding almost $0.40/mmbtu to using the route to Northeast Asia without waiting. Panama Canal congestion is causing delays to LNG deliveries from the US to Asia, driving up freight rates Higher than average arrivals, seasonal fog and COVID-19 linked staffing reductions is causing congestion at the Panama Canal. Waiting time for vessels with unbooked slots is as long as 10-15 days and some US cargoes are now transiting through the Cape of Good Hope. The extra shipping cost associated with a 97-day round trip for a US cargo to Northeast Asia via the COGH relative to delivering to Europe is $2.40/mmbtu at prevailing freight rates and boil-off costs. The Panama route costs $1.16/mmbtu extra at current rates. The less time vessels spend holding position, the more tonnage can be freed up and made available to the spot market, in turn reducing spot freight rates. Below factors could help ease strength in the JKM Feb-21 contract to reflect the cost of securing the marginal cargo through the Panama route, rather than pricing on more longer routes at present: A sequential increase in Pacific basin supply equivalent to around 8-14 cargoes per month compared to today will help cut Northeast Asia's call on US cargoes. 3.6 Mtpa Prelude is expected to return by year-end, followed by the return of Gorgon's 15.6 Mtpa capacity at the end of Jan-21 (assuming no weld faults are found in trains one and three). The restart of production at Qatargas' 7.8 Mtpa train four at Ras Laffan next week will also boost supply, as will the ramp-up of Egyptian output—particularly from Idku, with some potentially from Damietta. Sequential declines in Northeast Asian demand for LNG over the rest of winter is also likely. Japan and Korea are expected to see improving availability in nuclear, and both countries will be drawing down LNG terminal stocks. China will also be partly relying on drawing down their undergrounds gas inventories – which have been boosted y/y by heavy injections. Per the below LHS chart, the JKM-TTF spread is incentivising transit through the Cape of Good Hope (green line). Costs of using the Panama canal have risen. With higher transit times through the Panama Canal – ships are using the route through the Cape
Korea24 – 2020.08.04. (Tuesday) - News Briefing: In the fight to contain skyrocketing housing prices in Seoul and the greater capital area, the government will build more than 130-thousand homes in the region. Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki on Tuesday announced a plan to turn state properties into residential complexes. (Robert Koehler) - In-Depth News Analysis Part 1: Dr. Axel Timmermann, Director of the Center for Climate Physics of the Institute for Basic Science(IBS), discusses what is causing the heavy torrential rains that have pounded South Korea as well as other countries in the Northeast Asian region. - In-Depth News Analysis Part 2: According to a recent post on the IMF Blog, the pandemic has widened gender gaps by rolling back on women's economic opportunities. One of the post's writers, Dr. Cheng Hoon Lim, Assistant Director in the Western Hemisphere Department of the International Monetary Fund(IMF), discusses the issue further. - Korea Trending with Lee Ju-young: A survey reveals people's preferences for South Korean presidential candidates(차기 대권주자 선호도), the South Korean consulate general in Los Angeles, California closes for a day due to COVID-19(LA총영사관 긴급폐쇄), and Hyundai Motor Group wins big at the Red Dot Design awards(레드닷디자인어워드). - Touch Base in Seoul: Author Hallie Bradley talks about her book "The Sun & The Moon Story," a bilingual bedtime story. She shares how her daughter helped create the story and how it differs from a lot of the current educational English/Korean materials made for children. - Morning Edition Preview with Mark Wilson-Choi: The Korea Herald covers an online exhibition that showcases the priceless relics of a treasure ship that sank in Sinan in 1323.
The dangers of global wildlife trafficking have made global headlines. From an obscure wildlife wet market in Wuhan China, a frightening message jumped from the wild and right into a global pandemic crisis: COVID-19, a new zoonotic virus highly contagious to humans.My guest Dr. Peter Li specializes in Northeast Asian security, U.S.-China relations; China's environmental governance and animal welfare politics of the People's Republic of China. Dr Li's decades of work highlight the direct relationship between income, social status and the importance of meat consumption to the Chinese consumer. China has become the world's largest animal farming nation- from captive bred wildlife farms to large scale breeding of pork, beef and chicken. The message is clear: burgeoning human populations intersecting with wildlife in novel ways requires globally enforced environmental and wildlife protection laws. Nature has secrets, and we are not prepared to lift the lid on her zoonotic pandora's box.
How can we even assess the economic damage, and what forecasts should we believe? Which parts of Japans economy will be hit the hardest, and what are the long-term implications of the likely economic crisis, and Japans role in Northeast Asian competition? Can Japan avoid the mass unemployment and corporate bankruptcies that are now befalling the U.S., and if so, what can we learn from any differences in trajectory? Learn from leading economists and practitioners from the field. Series: "COVID-19 in Japan" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 35971]
How can we even assess the economic damage, and what forecasts should we believe? Which parts of Japans economy will be hit the hardest, and what are the long-term implications of the likely economic crisis, and Japans role in Northeast Asian competition? Can Japan avoid the mass unemployment and corporate bankruptcies that are now befalling the U.S., and if so, what can we learn from any differences in trajectory? Learn from leading economists and practitioners from the field. Series: "COVID-19 in Japan" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 35971]
How can we even assess the economic damage, and what forecasts should we believe? Which parts of Japans economy will be hit the hardest, and what are the long-term implications of the likely economic crisis, and Japans role in Northeast Asian competition? Can Japan avoid the mass unemployment and corporate bankruptcies that are now befalling the U.S., and if so, what can we learn from any differences in trajectory? Learn from leading economists and practitioners from the field. Series: "COVID-19 in Japan" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 35971]
How can we even assess the economic damage, and what forecasts should we believe? Which parts of Japans economy will be hit the hardest, and what are the long-term implications of the likely economic crisis, and Japans role in Northeast Asian competition? Can Japan avoid the mass unemployment and corporate bankruptcies that are now befalling the U.S., and if so, what can we learn from any differences in trajectory? Learn from leading economists and practitioners from the field. Series: "COVID-19 in Japan" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 35971]
How can we even assess the economic damage, and what forecasts should we believe? Which parts of Japans economy will be hit the hardest, and what are the long-term implications of the likely economic crisis, and Japans role in Northeast Asian competition? Can Japan avoid the mass unemployment and corporate bankruptcies that are now befalling the U.S., and if so, what can we learn from any differences in trajectory? Learn from leading economists and practitioners from the field. Series: "COVID-19 in Japan" [Show ID: 35971]
How can we even assess the economic damage, and what forecasts should we believe? Which parts of Japans economy will be hit the hardest, and what are the long-term implications of the likely economic crisis, and Japans role in Northeast Asian competition? Can Japan avoid the mass unemployment and corporate bankruptcies that are now befalling the U.S., and if so, what can we learn from any differences in trajectory? Learn from leading economists and practitioners from the field. Series: "COVID-19 in Japan" [Show ID: 35971]
How can we even assess the economic damage, and what forecasts should we believe? Which parts of Japans economy will be hit the hardest, and what are the long-term implications of the likely economic crisis, and Japans role in Northeast Asian competition? Can Japan avoid the mass unemployment and corporate bankruptcies that are now befalling the U.S., and if so, what can we learn from any differences in trajectory? Learn from leading economists and practitioners from the field. Series: "COVID-19 in Japan" [Show ID: 35971]
How can we even assess the economic damage, and what forecasts should we believe? Which parts of Japans economy will be hit the hardest, and what are the long-term implications of the likely economic crisis, and Japans role in Northeast Asian competition? Can Japan avoid the mass unemployment and corporate bankruptcies that are now befalling the U.S., and if so, what can we learn from any differences in trajectory? Learn from leading economists and practitioners from the field. Series: "COVID-19 in Japan" [Show ID: 35971]
How can we even assess the economic damage, and what forecasts should we believe? Which parts of Japans economy will be hit the hardest, and what are the long-term implications of the likely economic crisis, and Japans role in Northeast Asian competition? Can Japan avoid the mass unemployment and corporate bankruptcies that are now befalling the U.S., and if so, what can we learn from any differences in trajectory? Learn from leading economists and practitioners from the field. Series: "COVID-19 in Japan" [Show ID: 35971]
How can we even assess the economic damage, and what forecasts should we believe? Which parts of Japans economy will be hit the hardest, and what are the long-term implications of the likely economic crisis, and Japans role in Northeast Asian competition? Can Japan avoid the mass unemployment and corporate bankruptcies that are now befalling the U.S., and if so, what can we learn from any differences in trajectory? Learn from leading economists and practitioners from the field. Series: "COVID-19 in Japan" [Show ID: 35971]
In the first episode of the second season of Asia Unscripted, Vivien and Isabelle speak to Dr. Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Associate Professor in International Relations at King’s College London and the KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Institute for European Studies of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (IES-VUB). Dr. Pacheco Pardo has held visiting positions at Korea University, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and Melbourne University, and his publications include the book North Korea-US Relations from Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong Un, published in 2019. He has participated in various international relations dialogues and is also a frequent media commentator on Northeast Asian affairs and EU-East Asia relations. In this episode, Dr. Pacheco Pardo discusses South Korea's foreign policy and its position amidst changing geopolitical dynamics.Support the show (https://www.usasiainstitute.org/support-usai-ch)
The dangers of global wildlife trafficking have made global headlines. From an obscure wildlife wet market in Wuhan China, a frightening message jumped from the wild and right into a global pandemic crisis: COVID-19, a new zoonotic virus highly contagious to humans.My guest Dr. Peter Li specializes in Northeast Asian security, U.S.-China relations; China's environmental governance and animal welfare politics of the People's Republic of China. Dr Li's decades of work highlight the direct relationship between income, social status and the importance of meat consumption to the Chinese consumer. China has become the world's largest animal farming nation- from captive bred wildlife farms to large scale breeding of pork, beef and chicken. The message is clear: burgeoning human populations intersecting with wildlife in novel ways requires globally enforced environmental and wildlife protection laws. Nature has secrets, and we are not prepared to lift the lid on her zoonotic pandora's box.
On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California and author of "Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression." In the latest escalation of a long-running and savagely bitter bilateral dispute that has already bounced from the historical space to the economic, Seoul took a cleaver on Thursday to a military intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo, shifting the damage into the military space. So, the General Security of Military Information Agreement was up for renewal on Saturday, but Seoul, in a move that had been widely signaled, announced Thursday that it was “terminating” the pact. It was the brainchild of US President Barack Obama's administration, which sought to promote greater defense cooperation between its two Northeast Asian allies. Both shared separate treaties with Washington, but no official ties linked Seoul and Tokyo until GSOMIA went into effect in 2016. It had been renewed yearly since then. How have we gone from the historic to the economic to the military sphere?This has been the summer of crippling ransomware attacks. Wilmer — a town of almost 5,000 people just south of Dallas — is one of 22 cities across Texas that are simultaneously being held hostage for millions of dollars after a sophisticated hacker, perhaps a group of them, infiltrated government computer systems and encrypted their data. More than 40 municipalities have been the victims of cyberattacks this year, from major cities such as Baltimore, Maryland; Albany, New York; and Laredo, Texas; to smaller towns including Lake City, Florida. What's going on here, what's at stake, and is the national government taking appropriate action?The Trump administration is planning to hold migrant families in detention for the entire duration of their immigration proceedings. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan says the current standards incentivize illegal entry, which has "caused and fueled" the family crisis at our southern border. Here we go again. Almost every day, or at least every week, there's a new assault on immigrants.The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland is weighing in on the possible return of a surveillance plane to help spot crime in Baltimore. In a statement, the group says the program is a privacy nightmare come to life, and it's the equivalent of requiring residents to wear GPS trackers whenever they leave home. The ACLU says a city with a terrible history of racism and lack of accountability by police should be the last place a secret program of mass surveillance is used. ACLU Maryland Executive Director Dana Vickers Shelley says surveillance technology designed for a military battlefield has no place in American cities, adding that Baltimore is not a battlefield, and its residents are not the enemy. A group of miners is continuing to block a coal train from leaving a mine in eastern Kentucky in protest of unpaid wages. Miners with Blackjewel LLC have been stationed along a section of track outside the Cloverlick Mine in Cumberland, Kentucky, since Monday afternoon and say they aren't leaving until they get paid. According to local outlet WYMT, several supporters have brought food and water to the protesters, including members of a church in South Carolina. The mayor of Cumberland told the station Monday that as many as 100 people were blocking the tracks. Is this part of a larger economic landscape?GUESTS:Dr. Jack Rasmus — Professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California and author of "Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression." Robert Fantina — Pro-Palestine activist, peace and human rights leader, journalist and author of "Essays on Palestine." Attorney Mark Shmueli — Manages a solo practice dedicated exclusively to immigration law. Shmueli represents asylum seekers before the Asylum Office and Executive Office for Immigration Review and handles employment-based non-immigrant and immigrant visa petitions. He has authored articles on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions and the Violence Against Women Act for the Maryland Bar Journal and is a frequent lecturer at national and local conferences on immigration law. Chris Garaffa — Web developer and technologist. Eugene Puryear — Co-host of By Any Means Necessary. Nathan Brown — Owner of mobile kitchen JonEvan Jack's.
John & David are joined by Prof. Purnendra Jain, internationally renowned Japan scholar & Northeast Asian security expert from the University of Adelaide, Dept. of Asian Studies Following is a list of some useful factoids regarding our Northeast Asian security special for those unfamiliar with some of the terms used: KOREA UNDER JAPANESE RULE - 1910-45 the Korean Peninsula was one indivisible territory under Japanese imperial rule. It has been considered an ambivalent period. While Japanese rule was often considered extremely harsh, it did bring with it a degree of social and economic modernity to the Korean people. COMFORT WOMEN - Between 1932-45 Japanese military conquests in Asia brought about the systemic exploitation of women from occupied territories - many forced into prostitution, but more properly, sexual slavery, to satisfy the requirements of the Japanese Imperial Army. Japan has failed to fully recognise this atrocity or adequately atone for it. DIVIDED KOREA - In 1945 Korea was divided into Soviet and American occupation zones. By 1948 the Soviets and Americans failed to reach an agreement on reunifying the country. Two forms of government, one communist, one non-communist were declared, each one stating that it was the legitimate voice of the Korean people. KOREAN WAR - 1950-53. Ended in a stalemate. ABDUCTION ISSUE - Between 1976-83, North Korean agents abducted a number of Japanese citizens. Officially acknowledged figures are low (in the teens), though unofficially there may have been hundreds of Japanese abductees. These people were allegedly brought to North Korea to teach Japanese to North Korean spies. Former North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, father of current leader Kim Jong-un admitted to 13 Japanese abductees and apologised for this. Some 5 of the 13 admitted Japanese abductees returned to Japan in 2004. Issues surrounding compensation and the full disclosure of this North Korean activity remains a sore point between Tokyo & Pyongyang. HUBS & SPOKES - This wheel-like analogy describes the network of US alliances that keep the contemporary strategic balance of power in Northeast Asia. For example, the United States being the largest strategic power in the Pacific is considered 'the hub' while America's smaller Asia-Pacific allies, such as South Korea, Japan & Australia are considered the spokes. 1994 AGREED FRAMEWORK - A Clinton era initiative designed to smooth North Korea-US relations by promising energy aid to North Korea in return for North Korea freezing its nuclear program. This agreement ended in 2002 after North Korean and American officials accused each other of violations. 6 PARTY TALKS - Established in 2003, this multilateral forum between North Korea, China, Russia, the US, Japan and South Korea was created to move forward the idea of dismantling North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea pulled out of this forum in 2009. NORTH KOREA - Becomes a nuclear power in 2006. It test-fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) 4 July 2017. RSS feed: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users: 141166782/sounds.rss STRATEGIKON can also be found on the SAGE International Australia (SIA) website: www.sageinternational.org.au For more information from SAGE International Australia, follow SIA on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn. If you are enjoying our podcast, please help us out by liking us on our various social media and podcasting platforms and by telling your friends and colleagues about STRATEGIKON. Many thanks! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
John & David are joined by Prof. Purnendra Jain, internationally renowned Japan scholar & Northeast Asian security expert from the University of Adelaide, Dept. of Asian Studies Following is a list of some useful factoids regarding our Northeast Asian security special for those unfamiliar with some of the terms used: KOREA UNDER JAPANESE RULE - 1910-45 the Korean Peninsula was one indivisible territory under Japanese imperial rule. It has been considered an ambivalent period. While Japanese rule was often considered extremely harsh, it did bring with it a degree of social and economic modernity to the Korean people. COMFORT WOMEN - Between 1932-45 Japanese military conquests in Asia brought about the systemic exploitation of women from occupied territories - many forced into prostitution, but more properly, sexual slavery, to satisfy the requirements of the Japanese Imperial Army. Japan has failed to fully recognise this atrocity or adequately atone for it. DIVIDED KOREA - In 1945 Korea was divided into Soviet and American occupation zones. By 1948 the Soviets and Americans failed to reach an agreement on reunifying the country. Two forms of government, one communist, one non-communist were declared, each one stating that it was the legitimate voice of the Korean people. KOREAN WAR - 1950-53. Ended in a stalemate. ABDUCTION ISSUE - Between 1976-83, North Korean agents abducted a number of Japanese citizens. Officially acknowledged figures are low (in the teens), though unofficially there may have been hundreds of Japanese abductees. These people were allegedly brought to North Korea to teach Japanese to North Korean spies. Former North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, father of current leader Kim Jong-un admitted to 13 Japanese abductees and apologised for this. Some 5 of the 13 admitted Japanese abductees returned to Japan in 2004. Issues surrounding compensation and the full disclosure of this North Korean activity remains a sore point between Tokyo & Pyongyang. HUBS & SPOKES - This wheel-like analogy describes the network of US alliances that keep the contemporary strategic balance of power in Northeast Asia. For example, the United States being the largest strategic power in the Pacific is considered 'the hub' while America's smaller Asia-Pacific allies, such as South Korea, Japan & Australia are considered the spokes. 1994 AGREED FRAMEWORK - A Clinton era initiative designed to smooth North Korea-US relations by promising energy aid to North Korea in return for North Korea freezing its nuclear program. This agreement ended in 2002 after North Korean and American officials accused each other of violations. 6 PARTY TALKS - Established in 2003, this multilateral forum between North Korea, China, Russia, the US, Japan and South Korea was created to move forward the idea of dismantling North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea pulled out of this forum in 2009. NORTH KOREA - Becomes a nuclear power in 2006. It test-fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) 4 July 2017. RSS feed: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users: 141166782/sounds.rss STRATEGIKON can also be found on the SAGE International Australia (SIA) website: www.sageinternational.org.au For more information from SAGE International Australia, follow SIA on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn. If you are enjoying our podcast, please help us out by liking us on our various social media and podcasting platforms and by telling your friends and colleagues about STRATEGIKON. Many thanks! Support the show.
This week we covered Spotify's long-awaited launch in Vietnam and how this will change local listening habits, as well as the impact it could have on the Vietnamese music industry. Then we dive into Vietnam's close cultural and economic ties with Japan. From Doraemon to manga and Saigon's first metro line, Japan's presence is impossible to miss here. But there are flaws in this relationship, as evidenced by recent news regarding Vietnamese workers in the Northeast Asian country. Our interview is with Long Nguyen, an International Relations major at Tokyo International University and co-host of the Bento Bureau Podcast, which covers Japanese culture, history, and current events. We chatted over Skype about what draws so many Vietnamese students to Japan, as well as his experience living there. Find Long's show at bentobureau.com. Finally, we end with Banh Mi Banter.
In this Events @ RAND podcast, RAND's Bruce Bennett, an expert in Northeast Asian military issues, discusses efforts by the U.S., its allies, and China to defuse the current situation and halt North Korea's development of nuclear weapons.
Senior editor Michael Cooper and associate editor Mia Corazon Aureus give an overview of Asian thermal coal markets, including the latest in Japan's benchmark contract negotiations, South Korean imports and coal consumption tax updates, Indonesian prices, and our newly-launched Northeast Asian...
Recorded one week before his now-infamous interview on the BBC, Robert Kelly is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Pusan National University. Dr. Kelly’s research interests include international relations theory in East Asia, U.S. foreign policy in Asia and the Middle East, Korean Foreign Policy, and international financial institutions. Dr. Kelly has written for Newsweek in Korea and Japan, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, and The Diplomat, and he contributes to the Lowy Institute for International Policy and the Economist Intelligence Unit – Asia Group. He is also an avid blogger who runs the Asian Security Blog.
Since withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003, North Korea successfully conducted three nuclear tests and officially declared in 2009 that it had developed a nuclear weapon. Beyond Pyongyang’s rhetorics and the rumors around its atomic program, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s true nuclear capabilities remain largely unknown. Does North Korea have the technology and the weapon systems to deliver a nuclear warhead on targets in South Korea or, even further, in America? What would be the actual destructive power of these payloads? What is the current American and South Korean doctrine regarding nuclear deterrence? And perhaps more importantly, is effective deterrence towards North Korea and its nuclear weapons even feasible? To answer these questions, there is probably no one more qualified than our guest for this episode: Dr. Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation and a Professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He specializes in “asymmetric threats” such as weapons of mass destruction, and Northeast Asian military issues. These include the future military force requirements in South Korea, the Korean military balance, counters to North Korean chemical and biological weapon threats in Korea and Japan, dealing with a North Korean collapse, changes in the Northeast Asia security environment, and deterrence of nuclear threats. Dr. Bennett has worked with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, U.S. Forces in Korea and Japan, the U.S. Pacific Command and Central Command, the ROK and Japanese militaries, and the ROK National Assembly. He received his Bachelor of Science in Economics from the California Institute of Technology and his PhD in policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School.
Background: Myanmar is the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia with a population of 55 million people subdivided into more than 100 ethnic groups. Ruled by changing kingdoms and dynasties and lying on the trade route between India and China, Myanmar was influenced by numerous cultures. Since its independence from British occupation, tensions between the ruling Bamar and ethnic minorities increased. Results: Our aim was to search for genetic footprints of Myanmar's geographic, historic and sociocultural characteristics and to contribute to the picture of human colonization by describing and dating of new mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups. Therefore, we sequenced the mtDNA control region of 327 unrelated donors and the complete mitochondrial genome of 44 selected individuals according to highest quality standards. Conclusion: Phylogenetic analyses of the entire mtDNA genomes uncovered eight new haplogroups and three unclassified basal M-lineages. The multi-ethnic population and the complex history of Myanmar were reflected in its mtDNA heterogeneity. Population genetic analyses of Burmese control region sequences combined with population data from neighboring countries revealed that the Myanmar haplogroup distribution showed a typical Southeast Asian pattern, but also Northeast Asian and Indian influences. The population structure of the extraordinarily diverse Bamar differed from that of the Karen people who displayed signs of genetic isolation. Migration analyses indicated a considerable genetic exchange with an overall positive migration balance from Myanmar to neighboring countries. Age estimates of the newly described haplogroups point to the existence of evolutionary windows where climatic and cultural changes gave rise to mitochondrial haplogroup diversification in Asia.
On 20 September 2013 the Lowy Institute hosted a workshop in Beijing on political and security relations between China and South Korea, China and Japan as well as the broader dynamics in Northeast Asia as viewed from Australia. Following the workshop the Lowy Institute's Linda Jakobson spoke with Dr Kang Choi, Vice President of Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Topics include China-South Korea relations and South Korean perspectives on the US rebalance to Asia. More information on the workshop is available here: http://www.lowyinstitute.org/events/northeast-asian-political-and-security-dynamics-flux