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Thanks. One of the reasons I do this is because I always wanted to be a pundit. If anyone ever offers to pay me for this work, and I need a secretary, I'll call you, but don't give up your day job yet.....
If you noticed, the guy who did the commentary was a "radio producer"; in other words, part of the family. It's hard to break into the NPR commentator group now (used to be easier, but not for a while).
Jonathan, If you keep posting comments as smart as this and several at other posts, I'll simply have to volunteer my services as your secretary. As I listened to the NPR commentary on today's Doonesbury, I kept wondering "Why don't they have Jonathan reading his post at Cliopatria for their commentary?"
I'm fascinated by the lack of speculation, both in NKZone and in the Korean press, about the possibility of external sabotage. All the speculation is about either accidental causes or deliberate causes related to DPRK's internal situation. But this incident was very near the "trade development zone" which China opposed, and involves energy importation, which China pays for. Also, if DPRK was looking for an excuse to ratchet up pressure on the west, claiming international sabotage would be trivial; a little predictable, perhaps, but using an otherwise unrelated event to ratchet up nationalism and a sense of threat has worked before. Somewhere, I'm sure, though I can't think of examples.....
Right, Oscar. It is amazing how difficult it is for any of the media to get information on the story, especially considering reports that North Korea actually cut telephone communications in order to contain news of the story. McKinnon seemed to me to be about as close to covering the story as we can get.
Thanks for the Blog tip. A good source.
And another exhibit for the good Blogs do.