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South Korean president declares martial law, parliament votes to lift it

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Re: South Korean president declares martial law, parliament votes to lift it

#151

Post by aurareturn »

aurareturn wrote: post #67
bloomingkales wrote: post #32

Orwell being so right about governments using the constant threat of a virtual enemy has got to be one of the all time top on the money predictions ever. Up there with gravity and shit. I wish we could do something with this information, but alas, knowledge isnt power. Cersei Lannister: Power is power.

Orwell being so right about governments using the constant threat of a virtual enemy has got to be one of the all time top on the money predictions ever. Who is that virtual enemy for the US?

Eight replies to my post and no one has mentioned China yet.

Has China been accepted as a "real" enemy? To me, China is the main virtual enemy that politicians trout out to create fear and distraction.

Re: South Korean president declares martial law, parliament votes to lift it

#152

Post by readthenotes1 »

dtquad wrote: post #60
cdiamand wrote: post #25

Can someone familiar with South Korean politics give us some context for what is happening here?

1. Very low trust in politicians after it was revealed former president Park Geun-hye was secretly a crypto-Christian cult member despite claiming to be atheist. 2. South Korea has a bizarre large-scale "gender war" going on that extents into mainstream society. Imagine the Western online MRA/redpill/incel vs. radfem circles but as core identities in national politics. For some reason a high-trust society has decided…

It was the religious thing and not all the other scandals that caused the low trust? That's fascinating!

Re: South Korean president declares martial law, parliament votes to lift it

#153

Post by tclancy »

aurareturn wrote: post #67
bloomingkales wrote: post #32

Orwell being so right about governments using the constant threat of a virtual enemy has got to be one of the all time top on the money predictions ever. Up there with gravity and shit. I wish we could do something with this information, but alas, knowledge isnt power. Cersei Lannister: Power is power.

Orwell being so right about governments using the constant threat of a virtual enemy has got to be one of the all time top on the money predictions ever. Who is that virtual enemy for the US?

How much time ya got? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

Re: South Korean president declares martial law, parliament votes to lift it

#154

Post by kevstev »

dataflow wrote: post #54

I feel like I'd seen absolutely nothing about South Korea in the news for a long time, and then suddenly woke up to this, with zero context. Do folks have any recommendations for how to keep up with global news at a high level so that you're not completely clueless when something like this happens? Like I mean some sort of "international edition" of an aggregator like Google News, I guess.

I don't read it regularly, but The Economist is a great source that covers pretty much every corner of the world. In fact I don't subscribe because its just a firehose, and I just can't keep up with the internal squabbling of parties all over the world.

I went to check to see if its available online- even via my local library, but it seems The Economist was pulled from major online sites around 2023 due to their pricing model. So I can't verify if this was covered. That said, what information has trickled out points to this being a big surprise, so there may not have been storm clouds brewing that could have foretold this.

Edit: Got past the paywall on the site and did a search and there appears to be no articles published that would have predicted an issue like this: https://www.economist.com/search?q=south+korea&sort=date&pag...

Re: South Korean president declares martial law, parliament votes to lift it

#155

Post by fredoralive »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #114
bhouston wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just domestic politics, not related to international events as far as I can tell. Even the North Korea sympathizer line from the President seems forced.

> This is just domestic politics, not related to international events as far as I can tell Korea is the largest shipbuilder in America's system of alliances [1]. Seoul would be critical in a war in the Pacific [2]. Korea flipping from democracy to conservative autocracy has geopolitical implications. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_shipbuildi... [2] https://www.voanews.com/a/us-navy-looking-to-s…

But conservative autocracies have traditionally been America's allies, like, erm, South Korea during the cold war. So same old, same old?

I guess it might piss off China though if they do go truly looney.

Re: South Korean president declares martial law, parliament votes to lift it

#156

Post by JumpCrisscross »

wesselbindt wrote: post #127

The reason given is to root out pro-North Korean elements. How is red scare stuff still a thing?

> How is red scare stuff still a thing?

You can't compare McCarthyism to Korean politics because Canada wasn't the USSR.

Re: South Korean president declares martial law, parliament votes to lift it

#157

Post by ilotoki0804 »

cuuupid wrote: post #4

Can someone ELI5 if this is a huge deal (like declaring martial law would be in the west), or if this is the equivalent of a "government shutdown" when similar budget impasses occur in the US?

The last martial law in South Korea was because of a coup d'état in 1979. No one can believe this is happening.

Re: South Korean president declares martial law, parliament votes to lift it

#158

Post by ken47 »

intoamplitudes wrote: post #11

Transparent coup d'etat attempt rumored to happen for months. The only option when the mouse is cornered. Approval rating in the <10% range, Japan whispering in his ear and pulling the puppet strings, crazy selfish wife abusing state resources, it is almost comically predictable if not for how serious it is. North Korea is always the convenient excuse... only hope Westerners don't get fooled by the rhetoric. Guy digg…

> rumored to happen for months

Source?

Re: South Korean president declares martial law, parliament votes to lift it

#160

Post by bhouston »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #114
bhouston wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just domestic politics, not related to international events as far as I can tell. Even the North Korea sympathizer line from the President seems forced.

> This is just domestic politics, not related to international events as far as I can tell Korea is the largest shipbuilder in America's system of alliances [1]. Seoul would be critical in a war in the Pacific [2]. Korea flipping from democracy to conservative autocracy has geopolitical implications. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_shipbuildi... [2] https://www.voanews.com/a/us-navy-looking-to-s…

That may be the case, but the reason for the coup seems to be domestically motivated and claims of foreign influence seem to be made up to create an "enemy within" scenario to justify the coup.
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