Part 1: NATO failed in Ukraine against Russia. Now it's targeting China (Youtube/Invidious)
Part 2: Anti-China hawks' drive to expand NATO into Asia may destroy Western military alliance (Youtube/Invidious)
Personally I found some of Escobar's comments in part 2, around @8:03 regarding DPRK to be pretty interesting. He talks about how although the Western media focuses on the military aspect of relations between Russia and DPRK, that recently, signs are showing of Russia's intention to help with getting DPRK re-integrated into international trade and especially his comments in regard to building a trans-Korean railway to link with the trans-Siberian railway and how this topic is likely to come up on the next Eastern Economic forum in September. (This railway concept isn't a new one, but I found his comments about recent events interesting) as well as potential inclusion in other trade deals/organizations, etc.
::: spoiler click to see a transcript of his comment on this
[Note: transcript is auto-generated and I didn't clean it up completely]
Escobar: I'd like to focus on something that happened these past few days, which is enormous, and I would say for most of the planet, quite unforeseen: which is Russia bringing back North Korea, the DPRK, to the rank of a very important Global south power with enormous reach...
So, we have Ministry of Defense Sergei shoigu, received like Mick Jagger in Pyongyang. he got a true rock star welcome. the whole thing, including a private audience with Kim Jong-un. and obviously the whole leadership of the dprk.
What leaked, of course, was the possibility of many military agreements and increasing their military collaboration what did not leak is the best part of them all because it's the geo-economic part.
What do the Russians really want to do with the Pyongyang? they want to integrate Pyongyang with South Korea, with Seoul, and of course this will mean Russia developing a sort of go-between diplomacy between both--and they have the possibility to do both because they are also respected in Seoul.
And something that has already been discussed at the Eastern economic Forum in Vladivostok--these discussions they started at least three or four years ago in Vladivostok--and what they're all about, basically, is to build a trans-Korean Railway which is going to connect with the Trans-Siberian and connect both koreas to the Russian Far East and then all the way across Eurasia.
So, imagine that you are a Samsung businessman in Seoul you look at that and said "wow, I'm gonna have--I don't need to to use a cargo tankers anymore, I can have direct access to the enormous developing Market in the Russian Far East, not to mention the whole of Eurasia via Russia just by building a Railway." very very simple.
Which, sooner or later, with--and I would say, with Chinese input, could become a high speed rail. Considering that the Chinese are already investing in a High-Speed Rail in Russia, and considering that if there is a a duplication of the Trans-Siberian into a Trans-Siberian high-speed rail is going to be built by the Chinese, this is a trans Korean Railway could also be built with Chinese input, technical input as well. And financed via a Chinese a Silk Road fund the brics Development Bank, Russian Banks--and it could be a a reorganization of Finance, East Eurasia style.
So, they were discussing that of course. and this is going to be rediscussed and they're going to get deeper into it at the next Eastern economic Forum in Vladivostok in early September. so, it's a around the corner. literally. so so the fact that this is happening now, it's very, very important because this is a sort of uh, preamble to what they're gonna get into at the next Eastern economic Forum.
So, everybody is happy with this Arrangement; North Korea because they are brought back to the Forefront of trade in the parts of, Eurasia, the possibility of having some sort of geo-economic deal between North Korea and South Korea, Russia developing the Far East and integrating the Far East with the koreas, and China, of course, because this also integrates this part of Eurasia this North in Eurasia uh, framework. and it's part of brics. it's part of the Shanghai Corporation organization.
And this opens, I would say, this leaves us with the possibility of North Korea, sooner or later, getting integrated into the Eurasia economic Union. and that's fantastic. because this I see that happening in uh at least two stages. the first stage, the EAEU strikes a free trade agreement with North Korea, just like the ones they have with Cuba, or with Vietnam in Southeast Asia. and they are also working with Indonesia, to have an EAEU free trade deal with Indonesia.
They could also do the same thing with North Korea and--fantastic--this bypasses U.S sanctions! because it's going to be EAEU basically, uh Russia is 80% of the Firepower of the EAEU. they can devise a settlement mechanism involving in North Korea that bypasses the US dollar completely. you have expansion of EaEu to North East Asia which is very important.
The Chinese are going to love it as well because they can also, um, even if they are not part of the EAEU, don't forget that Putin and Xi have already said,and the directives are already there, the Belt and Road initiative--BRI--and EAEU they have to converge. and this would be a perfect example of convergence between BRI and EAEU. so that's why the way I see this visit by shoigu as Mick Jagger, it's extrapolates it everywhere, geoconomically and geopolitically, and it's no wonder that it was not even mentioned, I would say, or barely mentioned in Western mainstream media.
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Anyway, just sharing these. They cover a lot of topics in this discussion.
https://archive.is/20230723204437/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-23/video-trans-man-beaten-la-county-sheriff-deputy
KCTU announces 400,000-strong general strike protesting Yoon administration
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said it would be launching a two-week general strike on July 15
The administration and employer groups have demanded a stop to what they have characterized as an “illegal political strike” by the KCTU
::: spoiler Excerpts
In a press conference in front of Yoon’s presidential office in Seoul’s Yongsan District on Monday, the KCTU presented a “declaration of a KCTU general strike to demand the resignation of Yoon Suk-yeol administration, which has been destructive to labor, livelihoods, the masses, and peace.”
In remarks on June 28, Yang stressed the point that the general strike was a battle specifically against the administration.
“While strikes have traditionally been a way for workers to make their own gains by reducing gains for employees [in labor-management relations], this strike is directed at the Yoon Suk-yeol administration,” he said at the time.
This situation was behind the core agenda of the strike, which includes calls for livelihood protections, amendments of legislation, and demands for changes in the administration’s stance such as stopping suppressions of unions, amending Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union Act, raising the minimum wage, and reversing privatization and hikes in public utility charges.
The KCTU general strike is not expected to have an enormous impact on industrial operations, as the format involves dividing up dates during the two-week period for individual industry unions to go on strike.
Six major business groups, including the Korea Enterprises Federation, issued a joint statement Monday insisting that the “objectives of the strike are unfeasible political demands” and the KCTU general strike itself was an “illegal political strike that forfeits any legitimacy.”
Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jung-sik declared that the KCTU general strike “cannot be called a legitimate strike.”
“We have responded sternly to illegal actions based on law and principles in the past, and this strike will not be an exception,” he stressed.
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Tens of thousands of south Korean health care workers go on general strike
The union announced that 45,000 union members belonging to 122 branches and 140 workplaces across the nation were participating
Among their demands include a nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:5 and the strengthening of public health care
::: spoiler Excerpts
The Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union (KHMU), which is affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and comprised of various health care workers such as nurses, nurse’s aides, radiology technicians, and admin workers, began its general strike on Thursday.
The KHMU last went on general strike 19 years ago, when it fought to prevent the privatization of health care and to urge the protection of the five-day workweek in 2004.
The KHMU is demanding the expansion of the nursing and caregiving integrated service system, which aims to lower the cost of caregiving for patients, as well as the institutionalization of a nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:5 for patient safety.
Other core demands include increasing the number of doctors in the workforce to put an end to illegal practices in the medical field, such as nurses performing procedures or providing prescriptions instead of doctors; strengthening public health care, which is responsible for essential medical services that directly tie into the lives of the public; and government support for the normalization of hospitals dedicated to COVID-19 treatment.
Workers performing essential services in emergency rooms, operating rooms, intensive care units, and delivery rooms continue to perform their work duties even during strikes according to the law.
During a closed-door meeting between the government and the ruling party at the National Assembly, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said, “It is not fair for a labor union to force the government to announce policy in time for a KCTU strike,” adding, “It would be proper for [the KHMU] to not join in on a KCTU strike but to propose opinions in order to come up with reasonable policies.”
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Related:
S. Korea levels up partnership with NATO, tacitly endorsing alliance’s strategy in Asia
::: spoiler Excerpts
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol adopted a new partnership with NATO on Tuesday to establish cooperation in eleven areas related to national security, including cyber defense and emerging technologies. Given that Korea’s increasing cooperation with NATO seems aimed at countering China and Russia, critics say that Yoon is aiding NATO with its plans to expand into Asia.
Experts said that more cooperation with NATO will not have many practical advantages for Korea.
“Korea is dancing to the tune of NATO as it seeks to expand into Asia through such projects as setting up a liaison office in Japan,” Kim Dong-yup, a professor with the University of North Korean Studies, told the Hankyoreh on Tuesday. “Unlike a military alliance with the US and Japan, there are no meaningful security benefits to be gained from cooperation with NATO. If anything, it’s troublesome because it means joining the front against China and Russia.”
“NATO has been stepping up its efforts to counter China and Russia since last year, and South Korea seeks to follow suit under the name of ‘values diplomacy.’ Since the Yoon administration has placed importance on forging military ties with countries with which it shares values, it seems to be stressing cooperation with NATO as well,” said Kim Joon-hyung, a professor at Handong Global University.
On Tuesday morning, the first day of the NATO summit, Yoon met with six US senators from the Senate NATO Observer Group at a hotel in downtown Vilnius. “The evolution of the ROK-US alliance into a ‘global comprehensive strategic alliance’ shows that the alliance is moving onto a larger stage,” Yoon said during the meeting.
Yoon then discussed options for security and supply chain cooperation in separate bilateral meetings with the heads of countries including Norway, Portugal and the Netherlands.
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Yoon seats N. Korea hawk at helm of Unification Ministry
::: spoiler Excerpts
Kim Young-ho is a hard-liner on North Korea who has argued for the overthrow of the Kim Jong-un regime and has stressed that South Korea should arm itself with its own nuclear weapons
Critics point out that his appointment dulls the value and meaning of the unification ministry, which should carry out unification policies aimed at North Korea.
On a YouTube video posted on Feb. 20 this year, he contended that US tactical nuclear weapons should be redeployed to the Korean Peninsula, arguing that “the time has come for the US to actively consider redeploying tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea and for South Korea to strongly make such demands to the US.”
Kim Young-ho’s claim that the road to unification should be opened by “overthrowing the Kim Jong-un regime” due to the fact that relations between the two Koreas are “hostile” can be summed up as a position advocating for coercive unification through absorption. This runs counter to the Yoon administration’s official stance against pursuing unification through absorption.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korea Studies, commented that Thursday’s personnel appointments “signal the launch of a ‘ministry of confrontation’ or a ‘ministry of North Korean absorption’ that aims to unify [Korea] through absorption via antagonism and confrontation rather than a unification ministry seeking peaceful unification through dialogue and cooperation.”
The atmosphere within the ministry as it welcomes outside figures for its two chief positions is uneasy. One official told Yonhap News that “it seems like the unification ministry is being demanded to completely change its organizational identity, such as what it does, its approach, and the mindset of its members.”
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https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/1098521.html
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1090255.html
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1040480.html
A survey found cultural differences, psychological isolation, and economic issues were prevalent issues among those regretting their decision
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/01/18/outrage-mounts-after-korean-confederation-of-trade-unions-is-raided-by-intelligence-and-police/
In a major escalation of the ongoing anti-trade union witch-hunt in South Korea, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) was raided by the National Intelligence Service on charges of violating a Cold War-era national security law
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgWn5mVEwrQ
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