Friday Post

 A happy Gwangbokjol to all y'all.

And a happy Independence Day to India.

And a happy National Acadian Day.

All of these things on the Feast of the Assumption, too.

Coincidence?

I think not.


Speaking of coincidences:

North Korea suggested Friday that a series of rocket tests that coincided with the arrival of Pope Francis in South Korea were actually conducted to mark the anniversary of liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

In a brief despatch, which made no mention of the pontiff's five-day visit to the South, the North's official KCNA news agency said leader Kim Jong-Un had personally supervised the testing of a high-precision tactical missile.

The test was timed to mark the 69th anniversary Friday of the Korean peninsula's liberation from Japanese rule in 1945, it added.

The North fired three short-range missiles just minutes before the pope's plane touched down in Seoul on Thursday morning at the start of the first papal visit to Asia for 15 years.

Another two rockets were fired later in the day.

Sure, Kim Jong-Un. Sure. Everyone believes you.

Pope Francis was greeted by President Geun-Hye Park prior to saying Mass for the Feast of the Assumption in Dajeon, met with families of the Sewol disaster and beatified one hundred and twenty-four martyrs.

Quite a busy week.


Related:

Dire economic straits compounded by a weakening regime have led to an increase in prostitution, drug abuse and human trafficking in North Korea. The regime blames the negative influence of capitalism and is cracking down hard on offenders.

Intelligence officials here say these problems are spreading especially in parts of the North close to the Chinese border.

Also:

About 100 Chinese had planned to attend the Asian Youth Day hosted by the pope. But on Thursday, Heo Young-yeop, a spokesman for the papal visit to Korea, said half of those had been unable to attend.

Moving on...


Obama is far more passionate about a local matter concerning the shooting of a rather iffy victim than he is about the continuing slaughter of Christians and Yazidis by ISIS:

The executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police criticized President Obama Thursday for his remarks about law enforcement in Ferguson, Mo.

"I would contend that discussing police tactics from Martha's Vineyard is not helpful to ultimately calming the situation," director Jim Pasco said in an interview with The Hill.

It's easier to race-bait than to vaporise ethnic cleansers, I guess.

(Merci)


Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki has stepped down:

Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister for the past eight years, relinquished the post to his nominated replacement late Thursday, ending a political deadlock that has plunged the country into uncertainty as it fights a Sunni militant insurgency.

Standing alongside fellow Dawa Party member, Haider-al-Abadi, al-Maliki said he was stepping aside in favor of his "brother," in order to "facilitate the political process and government formation."

Again, why wouldn't Ukraine trust Russia?

Meanwhile a Russian convoy of about 260 trucks is currently halted some 30 km short of the border. Russia claims it is a dispatch of humanitarian aid to war-torn eastern parts of Ukraine. Kiev, on the other hand, fears it may be a covert shipment of military supplies to Moscow’s separatist allies, or equipment to be stockpiled ahead of a future Russian invasion. Russia has amassed around 20,000 troops along the border, and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned Monday that there was a “high probability” of further intervention from Moscow.

And now, your wistful freak-out on this National Acadian Day....