Kim Jong-un Promises War

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HOLLYWOOD, California -- Could James Franco and Seth Rogen start a war? Until yesterday, that notion seemed absurd. But now, Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea, has promised 'merciless' retribution if Columbia Pictures releases the film The Interview, which stars both Franco and Rogen.

In a nutshell, The Interview is a comedy in which the two superstar's characters team up in order to assassinate Kim Jong-un. After realizing that the press are given unparalleled access to international dignitaries during media ops and conferences, the two plan to murder the North Korean leader during an interview. Admittedly, the nature of the movie is combative, and should be expected to draw criticism, especially from the real-life man who is caricatured and assassinated in the film.

But, is the movie an "act of war," as Kim Jong-un alleges? Few think so. But for years, North Korea has inflated their international ego with empty [yet still terrifying] threats. In March 2013, Kim Jong-un warned that he would attack parts of South Korea using nuclear weaponry which he did not yet possess. Since then, Kim Jong-un has proudly planned nuclear attacks on Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Obviously, the film is controversial, even to many who do not sympathize with Kim Jong-un or his agenda. To me, The Interview is a more inflammatory version of Team America World Police, which featured marionette characters, including a crew of American special forces who penetrate North Korea in order to foil Kim Jong-il's fictitious attacks against America. A main difference between The Interview and its predecessor are that the new movie stars a Kim Jong-un lookalike, which is more provocative than a war between puppets. And also, the fictional plot in Team America is actually true-to-life today, where Kim Jong-un promises war against those who oppose or disrespect him, even Hollywood creatives.

Essentially, Kim Jong-un is playing a dangerous game of chicken with Columbia Pictures, which is almost certainly a lose-lose proposition for North Korea. Either Kim Jong-un engages the United States government in so-called catastrophic attacks, or Kim Jong-un will publicly undermine his brawny remarks with failure to follow through. Inaction, following such severe threats, will certainly show the limitations of Kim Jong-un, no matter his Herculean confidence. Both outcomes will augment doubts about Kim Jong-un's executive rationale and international image.

While I understand how the movie can be incendiary to a North Korea audience, I feel that making a movie, a piece of art, about assassinating a world leader is far less offensive than a national government guaranteeing nuclear warfare against the people of the world. Kim Jong-un has little room with which to point fingers, especially in terms of needless threats against oppositional nations.

It is unlikely that Columbia Pictures will withhold the release of The Interview. After all, the First Amendment protects free speech and those who practice it. But as human beings, I believe we should be promoting love and peace more than division and homicide, especially in the art we produce.

Follow Michael on Twitter Twitter: @nahmias_report Contributing Editor: @MAndrewRansom

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Scant Support in Taipei for Liu Xiaobo Release

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Sam Hargadine, ContributorLast Modified: 11:51 a.m. EDT, 1 March 2013

CHINA - The Taipei Times reported Thursday that several human rights activists from Mainland China have forFree Liu Xiaobo Poster, Photo by Tim72mally petitioned the Taiwanese President to assist in the release of Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel laureate.

Liu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 for his work criticizing one party rule in China. He was unable to collect his prize due to his current eleven-year prison sentence.

In Taipei, exiled Chinese are pressuring the island’s democratically elected President, Ma Ying-jeou, who they say ought to file grievance with Beijing over the treatment of Liu.

Wang Dan, a petitioner, stated: “As a nation that stands behind universal values of human rights, I hope that Taiwanese will not forget their obligations to help promote human rights protection around the world, including in China.”

Wang later asserted that it would be unwise for the Taiwanese people to ignore Liu Xiaobo’s plight because it could harm cross-strait exchanges if China “remains a superpower in human rights violations.”

The opposition party in Taiwan, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), emphasizes differences with the mainland and flirts with the idea of declaring independence from China. They have taken to the petition and are also pressuring the current President to make an official statement of support for Liu.

Despite this, President Ma is unlikely to act. He did not formally receive the petitioners when they delivered their appeal to the Presidential Office. Additionally, Ma’s democratic mandate largely rests on Taiwan’s desire for peaceful and profitable relations with the mainland. Antagonizing Beijing on this subject will do little to help that aim.

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North Korea Halts Nuclear Program For Food

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Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 22:33 PM EDT, 29 February 2012

Trident II MissileWASHINGTON, DC - On Wednesday 29 February 2012, the United States and North Korea have reached a nuclear disarmament agreement which hopefully signals a new era of open access to a country that grew increasingly insular under the iron rule of Kim Jong Il.

Under Kim Jong-un's leadership this move seems to signify North Korea's willingness to admit that it is in desperate need of international food aid. This deal, once finalized, will result in the delivery of 240,000 metric tons of food aid.

In the 1990's the country was hit by famine and more than 1 million North Koreans starved to death. Following Kim Jong Ils refusal to participate in nuclear disarmament talks, sanctions against the nation were devastating for the populace but left the ruling elite unscathed.

Stories of 'people eating grass,' were reported and the UN's World Food Programme said in a statement that "North Korea faces its worst food shortage in a decade, with six million people at risk - a consequence of poor economic management of its centrally planned system, a series of bad harvests caused by harsh winters, flooding and exhausted agricultural land, and the regime's unwillingness to spend its dwindling hard currency reserves on buying food for its 24 million people."

In 2009, under his father's leadership, North Korea withdrew from the negotiations and increased its nuclear testing program and refused entry to the country by International Atomic Energy (IAE) Inspectors. As a prerequisite for assistance, the North Korean government must reengage with the 6 nations disarmament talks which were suspended 3 years ago.

The agreement between the US and North Korea will require the immediate suspension of nuclear activities, a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests, and unfettered entry into the country by IAE inspectors so they can verify and monitor the moratorium on uranium enrichment and confirm disablement of its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.

The announcement follows talks in Beijing last week between U.S. and North Korean negotiators, the first since negotiations were suspended after Kim's death in December from a heart attack.'

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Yu Jie, Chinese Dissident | U.S. Asylum?

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Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 22:43 PM EDT, 16 January 2012

Yu Jie

CHINA - Yu Jie, age 38,  is a writer and Chinese dissident who was born in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Yu has been a strong proponent of freedom of speech and an active participant in China's human rights movement. In 2006 as vice-president of the Independent Chinese PEN Center he and two other dissidents met with President George W. Bush at the White House.

On Friday, January 13, 2011, Yu petitioned for exile in the United States, vowing to give a graphic account of the year he was confined under house arrest, including episodes of torture endured by he and other Chinese dissidents during last year's crackdown.

Yu has openly expressed his own views about the increased suppression of free speech in China, and as one of China's most prominent Christian dissidents, he is vociferous in his condemnation of the Communist Party's antipathy toward religion and political criticism.

Unlike Liu Xiabo, who is currently jailed by the Chinese government, Yu is allowed to travel. Liu was convicted in 2009 on charges of inciting subversion and sentenced to 11 years in jail. His jailing and secretive house arrest of his wife Liu Xia, have become the focus of an international outcry over China's punishment of dissent.

Yu said authorities became heavy-handed after Liu Xiaobo, won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Similar to Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi; Yu was confined under house arrest in an attempt to intimidate and silence him. As the Arab Spring spread across the Middle East the Chinese Communist Party directed police to detain hundreds of dissidents, activists and protest organizers to quash similar uprisings.

The announcement by Yu of his desire to seek asylum, precedes a possible visit to Washington by Chinese leader-in-waiting, Vice President Xi Jinping. China's Communist Party is preparing for a leadership handover late this year to Vice President Xi, and the party is determined to fend off challenges to its rule by tightly controlling its media image.

Yu's writings have been censored in mainland China, and 5 years ago after he drew nationwide attention because his dissidence, his works were banned completely. However, his writings continue to be published in Hong Kong and abroad.

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Liu Xiaobo | The Power of Words

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Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 14:07 PM EDT, 27 December 2009

CHINA - This blog addresses many issues regarding human rights and seeks to encourage the reader to act even if it is through sharing a post or video. Somewhere in the world today, some person or group of people are being treated inhumanely. We blithely read about such abuses, but we live in a society where we can insulate and anesthetize ourselves to their suffering.

It is true that sometimes all of the evil and hatred in the world seems ubiquitous and insurmountable, and the natural human reaction is to shrink away and adopt a protective sphere around family and personal friends, or to remain silent and bury one's head like the proverbial ostrich. These however are not the only choices available to us.

In Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the spoken word is accorded with reverence because of the creative power inherent in thought, which leads to spoken communication, which leads to action otherwise known as creation. It is a simple concept, but in our current world where spiritual, faith-based, intangible concepts are under attack as being childish and atavistic, the need to control our thoughts and words and thus what we creatively manifest is of the utmost importance and urgency.

In the recent past, we have had many great souls stand up on behalf of humanity, however, just as many quietly but effectively work in the shadows and are never elevated onto the world stage. People like Nelson Mandela, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr. are notable and internationally recognized figures. Now Liu Xiaobo joins their ranks as one who is less known today, but who may in the future be the defining face of freedom of speech in China.  Because of this Xiaobo was  sentenced this past Friday to 11 years imprisonment by the Chinese government.

The video below was disseminated to Amnesty International supporters with instructions to share it with as wide an audience as possible. Although I am not an ardent supporter of the United Nations, because I feel it has not lived up to the ideals for which it was created; I also recognize that its ineffectiveness lies in its membership, which is composed of individuals who are representatives of governments and corporations with interests that are often contrary to human dignity and well-being.  This does not, however, diminish the power of the dream, for in dreams are the realities of tomorrow.

The poem by Martin Niemöller, a Protestant pastor and social activist sums up the essence of this post, and will I hope provide you with a reminder that tyranny and abuse does not stop with its intended victim.

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

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