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Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call Alejandro Cao de Benós

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Re: Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call Alejandro Cao de Benós

#21

Post by DavidVoid »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #3

“He rejects all questions about extrajudicial killings or humanitarian atrocities as propaganda: “The media is often reporting that we execute people, which is not true,” he claims.” Interesting article. I often wonder about the mindset of people who deny the obvious facts. Does he really believe it or is he just cynical?

>I often wonder about the mindset of people who deny the obvious facts. Does he really believe it or is he just cynical?

This just made me think of Baghdad Bob so I looked him up and apparently he is still alive and allegedly living in the UAE. It would be interesting to hear what he thinks now of all the obvious lies he told almost two decades ago.

Re: Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call Alejandro Cao de Benós

#22

Post by virgilp »

therealissues wrote: post #9

"Lately, Cao de Benós says he’s fostered agreements with European companies to use cheap, skilled labor on technology projects. “We develop a lot of apps for Android and iOS, and very cheap,” he says. “And we are very strong in animation. We export a lot for all kinds of modern cartoons.” He cites an example, but obliquely: “Let’s say you’re making a cartoon, and you are outsourcing the work. So you go to Romania, be…

> We know it's a shady country

You think it is - in reality, it's not really so shady. He probably picked the name not because it's true but because it's believable.

Re: Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call Alejandro Cao de Benós

#23

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

DavidVoid wrote: post #21
Ididntdothis wrote: post #3

“He rejects all questions about extrajudicial killings or humanitarian atrocities as propaganda: “The media is often reporting that we execute people, which is not true,” he claims.” Interesting article. I often wonder about the mindset of people who deny the obvious facts. Does he really believe it or is he just cynical?

>I often wonder about the mindset of people who deny the obvious facts. Does he really believe it or is he just cynical? This just made me think of Baghdad Bob so I looked him up and apparently he is still alive and allegedly living in the UAE. It would be interesting to hear what he thinks now of all the obvious lies he told almost two decades ago.

> It would be interesting to hear what he thinks now of all the obvious lies he told almost two decades ago.

“If only I was in America, then with my talents I would have had an awesome career in law, politics, or business.”

Re: Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call Alejandro Cao de Benós

#24

Post by chrischen »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #3

“He rejects all questions about extrajudicial killings or humanitarian atrocities as propaganda: “The media is often reporting that we execute people, which is not true,” he claims.” Interesting article. I often wonder about the mindset of people who deny the obvious facts. Does he really believe it or is he just cynical?

The guy is clearly lying considering that even the US does extra-judicial killings both inside (citizen-citizen) and outside the country (Drone strikes, CIA assassinations), regular executions of people (death penalty, even for treason).

Most Americans don’t bat an eye that they pay taxes to fund this. As long as it’s in our interest we turn a blind eye. As long as it’s someone else we look down on them.

Re: Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call Alejandro Cao de Benós

#25

Post by Ididntdothis »

DavidVoid wrote: post #21
Ididntdothis wrote: post #3

“He rejects all questions about extrajudicial killings or humanitarian atrocities as propaganda: “The media is often reporting that we execute people, which is not true,” he claims.” Interesting article. I often wonder about the mindset of people who deny the obvious facts. Does he really believe it or is he just cynical?

>I often wonder about the mindset of people who deny the obvious facts. Does he really believe it or is he just cynical? This just made me think of Baghdad Bob so I looked him up and apparently he is still alive and allegedly living in the UAE. It would be interesting to hear what he thinks now of all the obvious lies he told almost two decades ago.

Baghdad Bob came to mind too. Do you know more? I bet he is doing really well. People like him are very useful as propagandists.

Re: Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call Alejandro Cao de Benós

#26

Post by anonu »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #3

“He rejects all questions about extrajudicial killings or humanitarian atrocities as propaganda: “The media is often reporting that we execute people, which is not true,” he claims.” Interesting article. I often wonder about the mindset of people who deny the obvious facts. Does he really believe it or is he just cynical?

> people who deny the obvious facts

Not a DPRK apologist. But I wouldn't really say "obvious" with respect to anything coming out of there... Just two weeks ago rumors ran rampant that the leader was dead... We just have no clue.

Re: Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call Alejandro Cao de Benós

#27

Post by DavidVoid »

I'm a bit surprised that companies are even doing business with North Korea considering how unreliable they have been in the past. In the 70s, when they at least seemed to be on par with South Korea in terms of development [1], they imported mining equipment and 1,000 cars from Sweden but never fully paid for them [2].

I guess the risk is worth it for some companies/individuals if they're only spending a few thousand dollars to potentially save many more.

> “Let’s say you’re making a cartoon, and you are outsourcing the work. So you go to Romania, because you know it’s very cheap.” But the Romanian company knows of an even cheaper option. Its representative flies to Pyongyang and makes a deal for the same work at half the cost—and then gets 50% of the fee without employing anyone. “This has happened,” he says. He will not name movies. Nor popular video games. North Korean labor is also behind websites and crypto, he says. The shadow hands of globally sanctioned socialist labor are all around us.

The Onion was right all along [3].

And I know this is a pretty stereotypical nitpick, but I wish they (both the author and Cao de Benós) would be more specific and refer to DPRK's ideology as Juche [4], instead of just calling it socialism. Ignoring nuances in political ideologies just makes them more difficult to discuss.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_North_Korea#/media/...

[2] https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/12/04/547390622/...

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYaZ57Bn4pQ

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche

Re: Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call Alejandro Cao de Benós

#28

Post by therealissues »

virgilp wrote: post #22
therealissues wrote: post #9

"Lately, Cao de Benós says he’s fostered agreements with European companies to use cheap, skilled labor on technology projects. “We develop a lot of apps for Android and iOS, and very cheap,” he says. “And we are very strong in animation. We export a lot for all kinds of modern cartoons.” He cites an example, but obliquely: “Let’s say you’re making a cartoon, and you are outsourcing the work. So you go to Romania, be…

> We know it's a shady country You think it is - in reality, it's not really so shady. He probably picked the name not because it's true but because it's believable.

Nope, it is. I am from there and can certainly tell you that it's true. Nice job trying to cover it up though. Virgil! It is full of bullshitters, thieves, and good people who are misled by their government which plays on their hopes and fucks them up the ass while they protest their hearts away every year. Then again I could substitute any other country name and the sentence would still make sense wouldn't it? Definitely doesn't help that a lot of scams originate there.

Re: Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call Alejandro Cao de Benós

#29

Post by q92z8oeif »

therealissues wrote: post #9

"Lately, Cao de Benós says he’s fostered agreements with European companies to use cheap, skilled labor on technology projects. “We develop a lot of apps for Android and iOS, and very cheap,” he says. “And we are very strong in animation. We export a lot for all kinds of modern cartoons.” He cites an example, but obliquely: “Let’s say you’re making a cartoon, and you are outsourcing the work. So you go to Romania, be…

> cartoons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSU1IJk70i4

Re: Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call Alejandro Cao de Benós

#30

Post by tptacek »

anonu wrote: post #26
Ididntdothis wrote: post #3

“He rejects all questions about extrajudicial killings or humanitarian atrocities as propaganda: “The media is often reporting that we execute people, which is not true,” he claims.” Interesting article. I often wonder about the mindset of people who deny the obvious facts. Does he really believe it or is he just cynical?

> people who deny the obvious facts Not a DPRK apologist. But I wouldn't really say "obvious" with respect to anything coming out of there... Just two weeks ago rumors ran rampant that the leader was dead... We just have no clue.

We have firsthand accounts of the abuse of North Korean citizens.
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